Acer South Africa has launched the new ‘Acer Education Centre’ partner certification in line with its drive to ensure that South Africa’s education sector benefits from the latest technologies.

The Acer Education Centre channel programme will see Acer South Africa strive to recruit a network of regional dealers able to sell, implement and support complete solutions in the education market. Programme partners will offer schools and other learning institutions access to products and solutions tailored to their needs, as well as specific expertise around technology in the educational sector.

 ”Acer’s partner programme takes into account that we can’t take a one-size-fits-all approach to the market and that we need tailored solutions for verticals such as education,” says Eric Blom, Education Sector BU Manager at Acer Africa.

 ”With this new certification, we want to create a set of partners who have a deep understanding of the specific technology needs of the education market and how Acer’s products can address these requirements.”

Blom says that the education market offers a host of exciting opportunities for Acer and its business partners, with a growing number of learning institutions integrating technology into their teaching methods and curricula.

“Technology has a vital role to play in education by supplementing classroom teaching, giving learners access to information sources and preparing them for a tech-driven workplace,” he adds.

“It also helps teachers and administrators to carry out administrative tasks more efficiently, and can fill gaps in subjects and areas where there aren’t enough teachers on hand.”

But it is vital for institutions and schools to choose the right technologies, ones that are simple to install and easy to use, reliable and affordable. Acer has a set of solutions perfect for the education sector, including some that are tailor-made for this strategic market.

Blom says that the characteristics of Acer’s netbooks make them the ideal companion for schools. Affordable, lightweight and compact, they offer completely wireless connectivity, up to 10 hours of battery life and adequate performance for web browsing and email.

The range of Acer products includes a range of notebooks, traditional desktop models, projectors and all-in-ones with built-in monitor, many of which are perfectly priced and specked for classroom settings. “We’ll be rolling out a strong portfolio of solutions for the education market over the next few months,” Blom adds.

“Acer’s approach to the education sector is to work closely with the channel to enhance learning through technology and provide support that will allow teachers and schools to develop even more efficient teaching methods,” concludes Blom.

Acer South Africa has announced the immediate local availability of the Acer K11 ultra-portable projector, a tiny projector that offers great performance for mobile professionals.

This compact little projector weighs a mere 610g and measures just 122×116 mm, meaning that you can simply slip it in your laptop bag and take with you wherever you go. With the Acer K11, you’ll be ready to enjoy crisp video or to make professional presentations in a range of settings, from the classroom to the boardroom.

Says John Geypen, product manager at Acer: “The pocket-size Acer K11 is the world’s smallest projector to offer 200 lumens brightness. It’s so small that you can project vibrant visuals from one hand. This mini projector features an intuitive UI, rich media functionality, and easy setup in various environments.”

Acer K11 combines ultra-portable DLP technology with micro-sized chipsets to create a slimmer, lighter projector for demanding businesses and home entertainment users. Thanks to its mercury-free LED light source, the Acer

K11 offers a long lamp life of up to 30,000 hours.

The projector’s USB reader enables the Presentation To Go function, which provides full access of multimedia contents, including videos (MJPEG, MPEG-4 SP, H263, H264, AVI, MOV, 3gp), audio (PCM, ADPCM, WMA, OGG, MP3) and photos (JPEG, BMP). Users can simply carry the portable projector, along with the USB flash disc, and they’ll be able to display whatever they want to share without carrying a laptop PC or video player with them.

Acer South Africa has announced the immediate local availability of the Acer K11 ultra-portable projector, a tiny projector that offers great performance for mobile professionals.

This compact little projector weighs a mere 610g and measures just 122×116 mm, meaning that you can simply slip it in your laptop bag and take with you wherever you go. With the Acer K11, you’ll be ready to enjoy crisp video or to make professional presentations in a range of settings, from the classroom to the boardroom.

Says John Geypen, product manager at Acer: “The pocket-size Acer K11 is the world’s smallest projector to offer 200 lumens brightness. It’s so small that you can project vibrant visuals from one hand. This mini projector features an intuitive UI, rich media functionality, and easy setup in various environments.”

Acer K11 combines ultra-portable DLP technology with micro-sized chipsets to create a slimmer, lighter projector for demanding businesses and home entertainment users. Thanks to its mercury-free LED light source, the Acer

K11 offers a long lamp life of up to 30,000 hours.

The projector’s USB reader enables the Presentation To Go function, which provides full access of multimedia contents, including videos (MJPEG, MPEG-4 SP, H263, H264, AVI, MOV, 3gp), audio (PCM, ADPCM, WMA, OGG, MP3) and photos (JPEG, BMP). Users can simply carry the portable projector, along with the USB flash disc, and they’ll be able to display whatever they want to share without carrying a laptop PC or video player with them.

Acer South Africa has unveiled the Acer D241H LCD screen, a widescreen 24″

LCD display that allows users to enjoy online media content, organise their schedules and get real-time news even when the monitor is not connected to a PC.

The screen features an integrated computer and Wi-Fi connectivity to give you access to online information even when it isn’t plugged into a computer.

The display features eight toolkits with widget-based functions – calendar, poster, weather, news, clock, video, music, and digital photo frame – allowing users to access online media content even when the D241H is not connected to a PC.

Up to three of these widgets can be displayed on screen at a time, so you can watch a video, keep an eye on the news and see changes to your calendar all at the same time.

Says Josef Chvala, product manager at Acer South Africa: “The Acer D241H is an innovative display that’s more than just a fully-featured PC monitor. It offers a host of new possibilities for home users, from serving as an updated version of the family fridge bulletin board, through to providing an electronic photo frame or an additional screen for watching videos.”

With a native 1920 x 1080 resolution, the D241H is perfect for advanced 1080p Full HD multimedia and productivity applications such as Blu-Ray movies, high-definition gaming, multitasking and document comparison.

With a rapid 2 ms response time delivers high-quality moving images for games and video. The Acer OD (overdrive) technology improves the gray-to-gray level, which is the most important factor in the moving-picture viewing experience.

Thanks to the Acer Adaptive Contrast Management (ACM) technology, the D241H offers a stunning contrast ratio of 80,000:1. Acer ACM analyses every scene and adjusts images frame by frame, optimising contrast by enhancing detail and gradation even in very bright or dim scenes. What’s more, Acer ACM allows the LCD monitor to use less power and save energy.

 The monitor offers an all-digital HDMI interface as well as analogue connectivity. It is packaged with a remote control that provides easy access to all the widget functions.

Acer South Africa has announced the local availability of the Aspire Timeline X range of notebooks, the next generation of its Aspire Timeline notebook series.

The new Aspire Timeline X notebooks build on the characteristics that made the Timeline 2009 range so popular: extreme battery life; thin yet robust form factors; and excellent performance. Selected configurations offer a battery life of up to 12 hours.

“With the Timeline 2009 series, we proved that customers no longer had to choose between battery life and performance. Customers could roam freely with their notebooks for a full day without worrying about running out of power,” says John Geypen, Product Manager at Acer South Africa.

“Now, the new range of Timeline X notebooks offers even better performance and longer battery life than the earlier series, and at a price that is affordable to a range of home and business users.”

The latest Timeline X notebooks use the new-generation Intel Core i7/ i5/ i3 CPUs with Turbo Boost to deliver blazingly quick performance for multitasking and multimedia apps. An Intel GMA HD/ ATI Mobility Radeon graphics solution, meanwhile, offers superb performance for video playback and graphics-intensive applications. With Dolby Home Theater sound, the notebook offers great audio for music and movie playback.

The notebooks weight in at around 2.5 kgs or less, and are a mere one inch thick, making them perfect companions for anyone on-the-go. Aspire Timeline X notebooks have been specifically designed for longer battery life by redesigning the way power is used to make the system more efficient rather than using a bulkier and heavier battery. Cutting-edge components and engineering mean that the Aspire Timeline X delivers excellent performance in a power-efficient notebook.

Aspire Timeline X notebooks feature PowerSmart Technology, which automatically adjusts colour and brightness and switches GPU and UMA depending on application loading and display settings. This allows Timeline X to providing optimal performance and battery life.

Models are available with 13.3″, 14.0″ and 15.6″ high-definition

(1366 x 768 pixel resolution) widescreen displays. Aspire Timeline X notebooks offer a full range of connectivity options including 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Gigabit Fast Ethernet and Bluetooth 2.1/ 3.0+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate).

They also come bundled with value-adds such as the Acer Arcade Deluxe software, which makes it a snap to manage a huge collection of videos, movies, music and photos, and share them with your online community.

Graham Braum, former country manager at Acer South Africa, has been promoted to regional manager responsible for the entire Africa and Levant (Jordan and Lebanon) region.

In his new role, Braum will be responsible for overseeing Acer’s growth across some 27 countries. The organisation expects to name a country sales manager for South Africa in the coming months to take on some of Braum’s current responsibilities at the local subsidiary.

Says Braum: “I’m looking forward to the challenge of growing Acer’s business across this region, which holds so much potential for us. Our presence in many of these countries is still relatively new, so we have plenty of scope to expand. And with affordable solutions such as our netbooks, we have the perfect set of offerings for emerging markets eager to join the Internet revolution.”

Braum joined Acer Africa in 1997 as the company’s first Corporate Account Manager, and subsequently developed his career with the group in a range of roles, ranging from technical and sales, through business development to general management. His career at Acer has taken him to some 25 countries throughout Middle East, Turkey and Africa.