Acer unveils first Meteor Lake “AI PC” – an Intel Core Ultra laptop

Acer COO, Jerry Kao, flew from Taiwan to San Jose just to show off the first Intel Core Ultra laptop (codenamed Meteor Lake) and called it an “AI PC.” He joined Intel CEO, Pat Gelsinger, on stage with a hot-off-the-press Acer Swift laptop and ran a (very) quick generative AI demo with it.

Core Ultra laptops are the first to use Intel’s EUV Lithography and ‘3D’ Foveros manufacturing processes for more efficient designs and the first to feature a CPU, GPU and AI-focused NPU (neural processing unit) chips on to a single platform.

Core Ultra Laptop unveiling Transcript

Jerry Kao

First, this is a sneak peak of our upcoming laptop with Intel Pro Ultra in an Acer Swift Series. And, of course, it’s thin and light and also a thin and powerful notebook with all the thin and light features; longer battery life; and very lightweight and, in addition to that, the most beautiful thing is the Intel Core Ultra inside. That means: strong CPU, GPU and NPU which means: AIPC!

[This is] the first time [we’ve seen] an AIPC in the world. And [we’re] not waiting for that kind of a box – Luna Lake – [which will appear] many years later – not many years, just a few! This one is coming! It’s coming!

Talking about an AIPC, you know Pat, AI for a lot of people, it’s just hardware. But, that’s wrong. Because [in] AI the most important thing, is the software to unlock the power of the hardware.

So, for the AI portion, Acer has been working with Intel to develop a suite of the applications to end user to enjoy the AI. Starting from [when they] boot up the computer. In addition to that, by also working with Intel for OpenVino tools, we’ve also created AI libraries, so that end users, or I should say developers, [can] create a lot of applications based on those libraries.

I’ve talked a lot. It’s Showtime.

Pat Gelsinger

Let’s see.

Jerry Kao

OK, let’s try to make a background for this laptop. OK, Craig is going to run the demo and what we see is [an] exactly identical laptop here. We’re going to use the picture of the ballerina there and to add a stable image, right?

Now, originally, people [would] think about using yours or my features there, but my team advised me not to do that.

OK, What we’re going to do now is use stable diffusion and also with the plug in from GIMP, which uses OpenVino to harness the CPU and GPU and the NPU on the platform to create an astronaut with the same pose as a ballerina. And then we’ll upgrade the scale to high definition because we’re going to use it as the wallpaper. OK, Craig, are you ready? Ok, please, press the button.

Craig

OK, this has been generated. Now we’re going to go ahead and minimise. Let’s go ahead and press that button.

Jerry Kao

OK, I think the ladies and gentlemen, professional people like you guys here, you should know how long it normally takes to run stable diffusion on a traditional notebook, but today on Intel Core Ultra, it’s finished!

Pat Gelsinger

Yeah. I just love stable diffusion. Some of the capabilities that it’s going to unleash. We really see it as one of the game changers

Jerry Kao

Yeah, that’s true. And in addition to that, it’s also working with Intel for more AI effects. For example, we have the Acer Parallax View, which will add motion to the picture, like what the astronaut is going to do.

Pat Gelsinger

So, we’re seeing it move real time. And we even do that based on camera angles as well?

Jerry Kao

That’s true. With Acer Parallax View, you can also use the notebook camera to track people’s faces to change the perspective of the image. So, you’re gonna have a 3D look and feel.

Pat Gelsinger

Yeah, it’s just incredible, Jerry. And we’re so excited to do the launch with you later in the year, just game changing platforms. Thank you so much for joining. I get to keep this one, right?

Jerry Kao

No, it’s mine!

We’ll be covering more Intel Core Ultra laptops as soon as they’re avaiable.

Last Updated on 21 September 2023 by Nick Ross