Acer Aspire Timeline: A thin-and-light notebook with 8 hour battery, gestures for $598

The world’s second-largest laptop manufacturer, Acer, introduced the U.S. availability of its Aspire Timeline series of business notebooks that average more than 8 hours of battery life, the company says.
The Aspire Timeline is a thin and light mainstream notebook that combines Intel’s ultra low-voltage processors with a palatable price tag: the series ranges from $598 to $899. The company is calling the series “all day computing” notebooks because you can (theoretically) work from 9 to 5 without stopping to plug in and recharge.
(Wondering about those battery life figures? The company says it measured systems using Bapco’s MobileMark 2007 Productivity benchmark test and got more than 9 hours per notebook.
There are three flavors of Timeline: the 3.5-lb., 13.3-in. AS3810 is a road-warrior companion; the 4.2-lb., 14-in. AS4810 is best for bigger hands (and those who need an integrated optical drive); and the 15.6-in., 5.3-lb. AS5810 manages a dedicated numeric keyboard on the old laptop size standard.
All models are less than an inch thin (and just over an inch at their thickest).
Outside, a brushed aluminum finish provides a little bling and a multi-gesture touchpad (pinch, flick, swirl, scroll) provides the power to manipulate the system. Inside, you’ll find either Intel Pentium, Intel Core Solo or Intel Core 2 Duo ultra low voltage processors and 3GB or 4GB of memory, a high-definition CineCrystal LED backlit widescreen display (16:9 ratio), Gigabit Ethernet or Wi-Fi 802.11b/g Draft-N, a Crystal Eye webcam, built-in digital microphone and two built-in stereo speakers.
The systems are also lead- and mercury-free.
Like Dell, Acer offers many configurations, but here are some examples:

Acer Aspire Timeline AS3810T-6415
Intel Core 2 Duo processor SU9400 (1.40GHz, 3 MB L2 cache, 800MHz FSB, 10 W)
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit with Service Pack 1
13.3-inch HD Acer CineCrystal LED-backlit TFT LCD (resolution 1366 x 768, 16:9 aspect ratio)
Mobile Intel GS45 Express Chipset
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
4 GB of DDR3 1066MHz dual channel memory (runs at 800MHz)
500GB SATA hard drive
Acer Crystal Eye webcam
Multi-in-1 digital media card reader
Intel WiFi Link 5100 802.11a/g/Draft-N wireless LAN WiFi certified
Bluetooth 2.0
3 – USB 2.0 ports
HDMI port
Multi-gesture touchpad pointing device supporting circular-motion scrolling, pinch-action zoom, page flip
Acer touch-sensitive hotkeys (Touchpad Lock, Backup Manager, PowerSmart)
Standard 6-cell Li-ion (5600 mAh) Battery
3.5 lbs.
12.67” (W) x 0.92” to 1.13” (H) x 8.97” (D)
Energy Star 5.0 compliant
MSRP $899.99

Acer Aspire Timeline AS4810T-8480
Intel Core 2 Solo processor SU3500 (3MB L2 cache, 1.40GHz, 800MHz FSB, 5.50 W)
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit with Service Pack 1
14-inch HD Acer CineCrystal LED-backlit TFT LCD (resolution 1366 x 768, 16:9 aspect ratio)
Mobile Intel GS45 Express Chipset
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
4 GB of DDR3 1066MHz dual channel memory (runs at 800MHz)
320GB SATA hard drive
Acer Crystal Eye webcam
Multi-in-1 digital media card reader
8X DVD SuperMulti double layer drive
Intel WiFi Link 5100 802.11a/g/Draft-N wireless LAN
3 – USB 2.0 ports
Multi-gesture touchpad pointing device supporting circular-motion scrolling, pinch-action zoom, page flip
Acer touch-sensitive hotkeys (Touchpad Lock, Backup Manager, PowerSmart)
Standard 6-cell Li-ion (5600 mAh) Battery
4.2 lbs.
13.32” (W) x 0.94” to 1.13” (H) x 9.44” (D)
Energy Star 5.0 compliant
MSRP $699.99

Acer Aspire Timeline AS5810TZ-4657
Intel Pentium processor SU2700 (2MB L2 cache, 1.3 GHz, 800MHz FSB, 10 W)
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit with Service Pack 1
15.6-inch HD Acer CineCrystal LED-backlit TFT LCD (resolution 1366 x 768, 16:9 aspect ratio)
Mobile Intel GS45 Express Chipset
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
3GB of DDR3 1066MHz memory (runs at 800MHz)
320GB(3) SATA hard drive
Acer Crystal Eye webcam
Multi-in-1 digital media card reader
8X DVD SuperMulti double layer drive
Acer InviLink Nplify 802.11b/g/Draft-N wireless LAN
4 – USB 2.0 ports
HDMI port
Multi-gesture touchpad pointing device supporting circular-motion scrolling, pinch-action zoom, page flip
Acer touch-sensitive hotkeys (Touchpad Lock, Backup Manager, PowerSmart)
6-cell (5600 mAh) Li-ion Battery
5.3 lbs.
14.88” (W) x 0.97” to 1.16” (H) x 10.19” (D)
Energy Star 5.0 compliant
MSRP $598.00

Leaked Flip Mino camcorder official, touch sensitive

The leaked Mino camcorder from Flip is now official, and from the looks of it, it’s still got the stripped-down appeal of its sibling Video.

New features on the Mino include touch sensitive buttons (as opposed to click) and an increased video bit rate of 4.0 Mbps (doubled from before), giving the user an hour of capture.

What’s more, the built-in sharing function will now upload to MySpace, YouTube and AOL. Dimensions are a lithe 3.94″ x 1.97″ x 0.63″.

On the flip side (no pun intended — well, okay, maybe a little), the camera’s resolution is still 640 x 480, and the lens and 2X zoom remain the same.

One change in particular should be noted: AA battery capability has been swapped for a non-user replaceable Li-ion cell, doubling battery life to four hours at the expense of quick-fire, on-the-go replacement. It will take a minimum of two hours to recharge using a new power adapter or three hours plugged into a USB port.

The Mino is available now for $180.

Andrew J. Nusca is an assistant editor for ZDNet.com.