Acer Announces Aspire R7 Convertible Laptop With Movable Screen

After teasing the Aspire R7 in a Star Trek-themed ad, the PC maker has finally made the convertible laptop official. And it’s released a new YouTube video – one that goes into a little more detail about what the R7 is meant to be. Whether or not this laptop succeeds, the R7 is a bold move by Acer.

As the video’s narrator explains, Acer was looking for a way to bring R7’s touch screen closer to the user so that it’s easier to take advantage of Window 8’s touch capabilities. It came up with the Ezel hinge, which is a stand that shifts the screen from the back of the laptop closer to the front. The result is that you can lift your fingers from the keyboard and touch the screen without stretching. If you’re wondering how that would work with a traditional keyboard layout, the answer is that it wouldn’t – which is why Acer moved the touchpad to the other side of the keyboard. Bring the screen closer, and you’ll have a difficult time reaching that mousepad, but it looks like the idea is that you won’t need to – you’ll be able to touch the screen instead. You can also flip the screen to show it to someone across from you, or drop the screen into tablet format.

Windows 8 gave PC makers a chance to do something new with the ailing laptop market, and we’re seeing some experimentation with the likes of the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga, and now the R7. Check out the video – would the new touchpad placement throw you, or does this look like a good idea?