Acer

Europe faces increasing competition from Asia for natural gas supplies as high summer prices and dwindling reserves strain EU storage levels. Centralized Asian economies like China, Vietnam, and South Korea are better positioned to secure spot-market gas, leaving Europe at a disadvantage despite EU efforts to coordinate purchases.

Acer is addressing two maximum-severity zero-day vulnerabilities in its Wave 7 mesh routers. The company is working to patch these critical security flaws affecting the router models.

Computex 2026 in Taipei features major tech announcements including Nvidia's RTX Spark chips for laptops and mini PCs, Intel's Arc G3/G3 Extreme chips for handhelds, Qualcomm's Snapdragon C platform targeting MacBook Neo, and AMD's extended AM5 support. Acer, MSI, and Dell are launching new devices like the Predator Atlas 8, OLED gaming monitors, and XPS 13 revivals.

Acer is launching the Nitro Blaze Link, a Linux-based handheld designed for streaming PC games rather than local play. It features a 7-inch display, Wi-Fi 6, 1GB RAM, and 8GB storage, with a Q4 2026 release. The device is compared to Logitech's underperforming G Cloud handheld.

Acer has introduced the Swift Air 14, a Windows laptop positioned as an alternative to the MacBook Air, and the Swift Spin 14 AI, a new 360-degree convertible model.

Acer has announced a new budget laptop featuring Qualcomm's Snapdragon C chip. The laptop is positioned as a competitor to the MacBook Neo.

Acer is developing the Nitro Blaze Link, a handheld companion device designed to pair with its gaming PCs. The new product is positioned as an accessory for gaming purposes.

Acer has launched the Swift Air 14, a $699 laptop designed to compete with the MacBook Neo. The device features Intel's Core Series 3 'Wildcat Lake' processors, 8GB of RAM (upgradable to 16GB), an all-aluminum chassis, and color options including green, pink, purple, and gray-ish blue.

Intel is entering the handheld gaming PC market with two new Arc G-series processors, designed to utilize the company's Arc B-series integrated GPUs. The processors will power upcoming devices from MSI, Acer, and OneXPlayer, starting in June 2026. Unlike previous Intel-based handhelds, these chips are specifically marketed for gaming handhelds and integrate CPU, GPU, NPU, and other components under the Arc brand.

The Acer Predator Atlas 8 is among the first handheld devices to use Intel's Arc G3 chips, featuring support for up to Arc B390 graphics and XESS 3 upscaling technology.

Intel has announced its first handheld gaming chips, the Arc G3 and Arc G3 Extreme, which will power a new Acer device. The chips are rumored to have fewer CPU cores than Panther Lake laptop chips but feature full Xe3 GPU cores for gaming. Intel is entering the handheld gaming PC market after mixed reactions to earlier MSI Claw models.

LG has announced the world's first Full HD gaming monitor with a native 1000Hz refresh rate, the UltraGear 25G590B, which will be launched in select markets in the second half of the year. This monitor can update with a new frame every single millisecond and hits the 1080p threshold. The UltraGear 25G590B represents a decent step up from other gaming monitors that have to shift down to a relatively blurry 720p resolution to run at a full 1000 Hz.

Google is launching a new line of Android laptops called Googlebooks, which will feature Gemini AI and target the premium laptop market. The laptops will run on a merged Android and ChromeOS platform, offering advanced AI capabilities. Googlebooks are expected to be more expensive than Chromebooks.

Acer is offering promo codes with discounts of up to 40% off accessory bundles and verified student and military discounts on laptops and monitors. The discounts are available on Predator, Nitro, and Swift laptops and monitors at Acer.com. Customers can save on various products with these promotions.

The Acer Swift 16 AI (2026) features an unusually large touchpad but falls short in practical usability despite its ambitious design.

Microsoft is responding to Apple's $599 MacBook Neo (discounted to $499 for students) with a new 'Microsoft College Offer' bundling 12 months of free Microsoft 365 Premium and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate with discounted Windows 11 PCs. Partners include Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Best Buy, with some Surface devices also discounted despite recent price hikes.