Acer’s Gemstome Line Gets Four New Models

The refreshed Aspire 8930, 6930, 5735 and 4730 run the gamut from 1080p media machines to budget books that will sell for $550.

Prepping for the annual holiday rush of notebook buyers, Acer gave its colorful Aspire Gemstone line a fresh face on Wednesday with the release of four new notebooks. The Aspire 8930, 6930, 5735 and 4730 range in size from 18.4 to 14.1 inches and carry price tags ranging from $550 up to $1700.

Much like its predecessor the 8920G, the new 8930 has been positioned as a high-end multimedia notebook, due in large part to its expansive 18.4-inch WUXGA screen that offers native 1080p resolution, and an optional Blu-ray player. Rounding out the performance package, it gets a 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of DDR3 memory, and an Nvidia GeForce 9700M GT video card with 512MB of memory. It will retail for $1700.

Stepping down a notch in size, the Aspire 6930 also caters to movie fans with a large 16-inch screen and movie-friendly 16:9 ratio, though it removes some of the 8930’s fancier features to cut price down to only $700. The processor has been clocked down to 2.0GHz, it gets 3GB of memory instead of 4GB, and the discrete graphic card disappears in favor of an integrated Intel 4500MD model.

On the lower end of the new Gemstone entries, the Aspire 5735 and 4730 will both occupy the same low price point of $550. While the 5735 gets a 15.6-inch screen and the 4730 gets a 14.1-incher, the notebooks otherwise get very similar hardware specs. That includes a 2.0GHz Intel Dual-Core Mobile processor, 2GB of RAM, and integrated graphics. Accessories including an 8X DVD drive, 5-in-1 multimedia card reader, and 802.11n Wi-Fi card also match up, but the smaller computer also gets a smaller hard drive: 120GB to the 5735’s 160GB.

All models are available immediately through Acer retailers.