I am currently experimenting with an Acer Aspire Switch 11 which is a convertible notebook pc.

The Aspire 11 is priced around the £325, and for that you get an Intel Atom Z3745 1.33GHz, 2GB RAM, WLAN, Windows 8.1 and 32gb SSD. You can pay more money and get faster processors and more storage. There is an optional pen for this notebook too. It comes with a comfortable keyboard and touchpad and the hinge allows for easy flip, rotate, or detaching in a snap; the Aspire Switch 11’s unique Acer Snap Hinge uses the invisible force of magnetism to provide a latch-less docking solution that lets you smoothly snap the tablet and keyboard apart, and back together again.

So in case you haven’t grasped what this device is all about, it is simple. It looks like a laptop. But the screen section simply pulls off, leaving the keyboard separated. You now have a tablet, albeit a full windows 8.1 PC tablet operated via touchscreen. The screen has Gorilla Glass 3. In terms of others specs it includes Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, Micro SD, Micro USB, Micro HDMI, 500gb hard drive, WiFi b/g/n, microphone, graphics is LPDDR3, 8,550mAH battery, weight 860g (tablet only or 1.5kg with keyboard), and a USB port. The screen is a 11.6″ LCD HD (1366 x 768). There is a more upmarket version with a 1080p screen, 4gb ram and 60gb SSD. Lastly, the Aspire Switch 11 has a 2mp front facing camera and mediocre stereo speakers. From what I can fathom, the optical hard drive is fitted inside the keyboard.

The screen/tablet section simply pulls off. Once off you can rotate it and push it back on the other way around as per the photos above. You can also use it in cinema/presentation mode or just in a semi raised position. The flexibility of this device is really something not to be overlooked. My usage pattern would be type a few posts including this review in laptop mode. When finished, detach the screen from the keyboard and use it as tablet. Unlike the new super expensive MacBook, this device has plenty of ports to connect up whatever you need, and not just a single USB-C port!

The Acer Switch has been excellent to type with using the physical keyboard and I really love the on screen touch keyboard. As this was a full Windows 8.1 PC, I have been able to install proper PC apps. Battery life varies but typically I am getting around 7 hours with web browsing, YouTube videos and typing. This is the first Windows 8.1 device I have actually enjoyed using. So are they any negatives. Yes predominately its heavy when you have to carry it as a laptop. 1.5kg. And it is relatively heavy at 860g as a tablet and somewhat bulky.

As I have mentioned before, my MacBook Pro is about to quit life as we know it, and end up in its final resting place. When that time finally arrives, this is the type of device I will look to buy. It offers the flexibility/power of a laptop and tablet.

My thanks to Acer for being patient and sending me a variety of laptop types to experiment/trial from their Acer V15 Nitro Black Edition (Gaming Powerhouse laptop) to their Acer C720 Chromebook. Both of these reviews can be found here – https://gavinsgadgets.com/review-links/smartphonetabletlaptop-reviews/ . Now that I have used all 3, the V15 Nitro was too big, the Acer Chromebook was crazy good as the battery never died, but this Acer Aspire Switch is perfect as it gives me a full Windows PC and tablet in one device.

For more information on the Acer Aspire Switch 11 – Click Here