It achieves this by a 360-degree dual torque hinge and some smarts to flip audio and video to the right orientation.

According to Acer Australia’s Web site there are three models starting at $699 for a Pentium Dual core with 4GB RAM and 500TB HDD, then $999 for a Core i5, and $1499 for the top specified Core i7, 8GB RAM and 1TB HDD. Acer is good like that – local assembly makes choice possible.

The Core models have NVidia GeForce 820M GPU with 2GB RAM. The 3560 mAh battery is rated at 7.5hours for the i7. Screen definition is 1366x768 – closer to 720p but fine for a notebook.

Overall weight is 2.2kg and it is 23.8mm high. Installed with Windows 8.1 64-bit. It is Skype certified – that just means it works well with Skye and its front camera and microphone is optimised.

Opinion

It is aimed at the home market – tent style in the kitchen, tablet mode in bed, flat for the kids to play games and back flip for showing photos (display mode) to friends – and clamshell for normal use.

The specifications are fine for this machine – to have upped screen resolution or made it thinner and lighter would have added more cost. In all a good, honest machine with local support – Acer has its Australian HQ in Sydney and strong representation around Australia.