These new notebooks put the "ultra" into ultraportable.

Acer's everyday mainstream notebook line-up gets stronger and more attractive.

As part of its massive launch event in New York City late last week, Acer announced a bunch of new notebooks and convertibles in its Aspire, Swift, and Switch series.

Acer has expanded its line-up of Aspire laptops with a range of new and affordable models, including the sleek Aspire S 13 that wants to be a cheaper alternative to laptops like the HP Spectre and Dell XPS 13.

The Acer Aspire R13 is a versatile 2-in-1 convertible that comes bundled with an Acer Aspire Active Stylus for quick note-taking and annotations.

The Acer Aspire R13 comes with a specially designed Ezel Aero Hinge that lets the display pivot for six different user modes.

The 13-inch Aspire S7 (2014) is Acer's flagship Ultrabook that has been designed to appeal to users who are concerned with aesthetics. It also has a Gorilla Glass protected lid that prevents scratches and nicks. The 1.3kg S7 also comes with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, as well has a full HD (1920 x 1080p) display.

At IFA 2013, Acer unveils the new 10.1-inch Iconia A3 Android-based tablet with an enhanced cinematic experience; the new Liquid S2 smartphone, Acer's first smartphone with 4K recording; and the refreshed Ezel hinged Aspire R7 notebook with new touch apps and the new Acer Active Pen for more precise touch control.

The Acer Aspire S7 (13-inch) is an Ultrabook that's just 11.9mm thin, and built to be strong. It has a Gorilla Glass 2 protected lid that scratch-resistant and easy to clean. This Ultrabook also has a multi-touch full HD display that's also touch enabled, which is perfect for Windows 8. It also comes with an Intel Core i5 processor (1.8GHz), 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD

Of all of Acer's strengths as a PC manufacturer, design hasn't always stood out as one of them. However all that is set to change with its new line-up of Windows 8 products. We take a closer look at what you can expect in retail stores from this weekend.