Today we launched the AMD Center, a portal on AnandTech that aggregates all of our AMD content in one place. Thanks to AMD's sponsorship you'll get a cleaner interface on all AMD articles, as well as reduced advertising on those pages. The portal will also serve as a way for AMD to reach out to you all directly as we're pulling in AMD tweets and have a feed of AMD's own blogs on the right hand side. AMD also wants to hear from you, and we've got some opporuntities to help with that going forward. Finally, the AMD Center serves as a destination for a bunch of pretty awesome AMD giveaways we've got planned. With AMD's support we've got better prizes and more of them to give away. We're kicking off the giveaways with three ultra thin 11.6-inch notebooks: Acer's V5.

The V5 features a touch enabled 11.6-inch 1366 x 768 IPS display, 4GB of DDR3L memory (2GB on board, 2GB in a single SO-DIMM slot, expandable to 6GB total) and normally ships with a standard SATA hard drive. I asked AMD if they would be willing to swap out the hard drives for SSDs and they agreed - so if you win, your V5 will ship with a 128GB Samsung SSD 840 drive (you can thank me later ;)). 

The 2.65 pound Acer V5 features AMD's quad-core A6-1450 APU. That's four Jaguar cores running at 1GHz (1.4GHz max turbo) with a Radeon HD 8250 GPU. It's a nice little system with a very power efficient APU.

Here's the deal. To enter, simply post a comment below (US residents only, please only make a single post, contest requirements below) explaining your current PC setup and why you want, or need to win a V5. What I'm looking for here is an understanding of what you currently own in terms of computing devices (PCs, notebooks, tablets, etc...), how you use them and how winning a V5 would change/improve your current setup. Make your entries good as they may come in handy for some other stuff we've got planned in the future.

If you win, AMD wants your feedback on the machine after you get it. You'll be asked to provide a short review (a paragraph or two) talking about your experience with the system. Do a good job and your feedback may even be featured on AnandTech.

Good luck!

Entries will be accepted from 6:30 PM ET on 9/5/2013 through 6:30 PM ET on 9/9/2013. We will draw 3 winner(s) who will be selected by 9/10/2013.

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Upon entering any contest, sweepstakes, or promotion (a “Promotion”) offered by anandtech.com (the “Site”), a website owned and operated by AnandTech, Inc. (“AnandTech”), you must agree to the following Official Rules and Regulations (the “Rules”) as well as any additional rules governing a specific Promotion that AnandTech publishes on the Site.

BEFORE ENTERING A PROMOTION, READ THESE RULES AND THE SITE’S TERMS, CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY INFORMATION.   BY ENTERING THE PROMOTION, YOU AGREE TO COMPLY WITH THE RULES AND THE SITE’S TERMS, CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY INFORMATION. 

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN.  PURCHASE DOES NOT INCREASE CHANCES OF WINNING.

  1. Eligibility.  Promotions are open to entrants who are 18 years of age or older at time of entry, and a legal resident of the United States (excluding Puerto Rico).  Entries are limited to individuals only who are not presently banned from AnandTech’s website or comments section; commercial enterprises and business entities are not eligible.  Directors, officers, employees, contractors, and agents of AnandTech (excluding volunteer AnandTech forum moderators) and members of their immediate families (spouses, parents, siblings, and children) are not eligible.  Subject to all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations.  Void where prohibited.  Participation constitutes entrant’s full and unconditional agreement to these Rules and AnandTech’s decisions, which are final and binding in all matters relating to a Promotion.
     
  2. Entry Period.  Each Promotion will contain a specific time period within which entries will be accepted (a “Promotion Period”).   The Promotion Period for this Promotion shall run from 6:30 PM ET on 9/5/2013 through 6:30 PM ET on 9/9/2013.  Only entries received during the Promotion Period will be accepted. 
     
  3. How to Enter.  Each Promotion will describe an entry procedure.  AnandTech is not responsible for lost, late, illegible, stolen, incomplete, invalid, unintelligible, misdirected, technically corrupted or garbled entries, which will be disqualified, or for problems of any kind whether mechanical, human or electronic.  Proof of submission will not be deemed to be proof of receipt by AnandTech.  All entries must be in English. Individuals are automatically entered in this Promotion by signing up for AnandTech’s Comments at http://anandtech.com/Account/Register and posting a reply to this post. If randomly selected as a winner individuals must provide full name, complete mailing address, telephone number, AnandTech user name and birth date within 3 days of being contacted.
     
  4. Limits on Entry.  An individual may enter a Promotion once only.  The use of any automated launching or entry software or any other means that permits an entrant to automatically enter repeatedly or in excess of the entry limitations is prohibited. 
     
  5. Prizes.  Winning a gift, prize, or other promotional item (a “Prize”) in a Promotion is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements in these Rules.  Winners will be selected in a random drawing of eligible entries received during the Promotion Period.  AnandTech will notify Prize winners using the contact information provided in the winning entry.  Failure to claim a Prize by the time or in the manner specified in the particular Promotion will invalidate any claim to the Prize.  Prizes are not transferable.  The odds of winning a Prize or the Grand Prize depend on the number of entries received by AnandTech.  TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, ALL PRIZES ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND ARE NOT EXCHANGEABLE FOR FAIR MARKET VALUE.  TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, ANANDTECH DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE PRIZES, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. For this Promotion, 3 winner(s) will be selected by 9/10/2013 and will each receive a Acer V5 Notebooks described above (“Grand Prize”).  The Total U.S. Retail Value of the Grand Prize is $450.  The Grand Prize may not be substituted for cash.  The Grand Prize winner will be solely responsible for all applicable taxes, fees, and surcharges associated with receipt and/or use of the Grand Prize.  After the Grand Prize winner has been notified and has complied with all applicable Rules, AnandTech will post the Grand Prize winner’s name on this website.
     
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  8. General Terms.  Any failure by an entrant, including any prize winner, to comply with any of the Rules or the Site’s Terms, Conditions and Privacy Information may result in disqualification from the Promotion.  All entries, whether they are eligible entries or ineligible entries, are the exclusive property of AnandTech.  AnandTech is not responsible for any typographical errors in the Rules or in any other communication surrounding a Promotion or for any technical malfunction or error relating to the Promotion.  AnandTech reserves the right to amend or interpret the Rules at any time, upon published notice to participants on its website.  Promotion participants agree to release, indemnify, and hold harmless AnandTech and its directors, officers, employees and agents from any and all liability regarding the Promotion, including any injuries, losses, or damages (compensatory, direct, incidental, consequential, or otherwise) regarding the use or misuse of any Prize, any event beyond AnandTech’s control resulting in the disruption, cancellation, or postponement of the receipt of the Prize, or any typographical errors or technical malfunctions associated with the Promotion.  AnandTech reserves the right to disqualify any entry that it, in its sole discretion, determines (i) to be in violation of the Rules, (ii) submitted by fraud or by tampering with the entry process, or (iii) contains inaccurate or fraudulent information.  ANY ATTEMPT BY ANY INDIVIDUAL TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE THE SITE OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THE PROMOTION IS A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS.  IN THE EVENT SUCH AN ATTEMPT OCCURS, ANANDTECH RESERVES THE RIGHT TO SEEK DAMAGES FROM SUCH INDIVIDUAL TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

 

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  • Argy - Thursday, September 5, 2013 - link

    My current main machine is a ThinkPad W530 mobile workstation. It is powerful enough to do all my work related stuff (some image analysis, bioinformatics) and still somewhat mobile. But smaller and lighter system for note taking on the go, on the conferences and so on would be really useful. As I prefer to use Emac/Org mode for both my lab book and personal notes, tablet is not a good option for me. I had Aspire One netbook filling this role before and would really appreciate some replacement (would probably install archlinux on the machine).
  • LDW - Thursday, September 5, 2013 - link

    I currently own a Lenovo E420s (i5, sandybridge) laptop with 14" display, 4 gigs of memory and about 300 gigs of disk. It has been my main system for the last two years and has performed well though its fan is starting to make funny noises. :( It came with Windows 7 and I bought and installed Windows 8 when it became available. And I am looking forward to Windows 8.1 when it becomes available in October. I also own a second laptop, used occasionally by my wife, a Lenovo SL510 (15" display). It is working well except for the battery which has the problems of all laptops of its age. Her primary 'system' has become an IPad 2. She uses it for surfing the web and games. I have a new Nexus 7 (yes the new one) and am enjoying exploring and and learning about Android - and honesty, am very impressed with what Google is doing. My wife and I both have Windows 7.5 phones, Nokia 710s which are about 2 years old now. I am currently getting close to pulling the trigger on new phones and I've decided to go with Android but have not made a decision on which to buy yet.

    One thing I have learned with putting Windows 8 on my non-touch laptop is that Windows 8 really, really, really needs a touch screen. I have also learned from my experience with Android and Google that Google Docs provides a good, albeit basic, word-processor and spread sheet that is quite sufficient for home or simple business use. A third important thing I have learned from my experience in the industry is the importance of Solid State Disks to the future of computing... Spinning disks are so 20th century. *smiles and winks*

    So my plan for my wife and I is to replace our two laptops with one that we will share (each with our own IDs). And forgo MS Office on this new laptop in favor of Google Docs (and Google Drive, of course). The new laptop will need, at a minimum... 1) Touch screen, 2) Long battery life. Long battery life to me is something approaching 8 hours in normal use. I think it requires SoC style processors, with on-board graphics and SSD. Many systems I have seen which do this are very expensive. In the Acer V5 I see a low end system that meets these specifications with an attractive price. The question mark for it is its performance, only experience will tell if it is sufficient or not.

    To round out the picture, in addition to new Android phones later this year or early next, I plan to replace my wife's iPad 2 with an Android 10" tablet. That's probably a long way off though and it may change. We connect to the internet though a wireless in-home network which connects to Cable. I have regularly clocked the speed of the cable between 25 and 33 mbits/sec. I also have a Wii and PS3 in the basement that I use irregularly. :)
  • Torched - Friday, September 6, 2013 - link

    Hi AMD and Anand,

    Thanks for the opportunity to win this laptop. My wife has been patiently using a broken laptop for a year now after my son broke the weak hinge on the old AMD based laptop. This old rig has an AMD Turion II P540 with AMD Radeon Mobility HD5470 graphics. I was able to afford a replacement desktop that I built for myself, but I now use it exclusively for work. The desktop uses the A8-3870 APU and I love it. I would love to win this laptop and gift it to my wife after providing you with a honest and thorough review as a daily driver for a few weeks. This would make my life easier because I would no longer have her give me long looks for being on the computer with a face full of code when she just wants to check her facebook. It would certainly put smile on her face and in reciprocation, one on mine. Thanks for your consideration.
  • beggerking@yahoo.com - Friday, September 6, 2013 - link

    I'm currently writing this on my Surface Pro. I would love to win this laptop so I can do a comparision between V5 vs The Surface Pro, as per user experience. Also, i'll be able to do a review comparion i5 vs the new gen of AMD CPU, as well as Intel HD4000 vs Radeon HD8250. It'd be interesting to see how much more advanced the new AMD APU is comparing to the decent Intel HD4000.

    Perhaps, if the APU comes out to be on the top, it'd be a valid candidate for the next version of surface pro ??
  • ichbinexpert - Friday, September 6, 2013 - link

    I am a grad student and own a 3 year old Asus laptop. It was a cheap laptop when I bought it, and its usefulness has deteriorated pretty fast. Not only is the battery dead, but the power socket is giving way and has to be wiggled in a certain way to get working, much like Biff's car in BTTF. I need a small, light notebook that I can carry with me to school as my current laptop is heavier than 2 kg and is breaking my feeble back, much like old Biff. The Acer V5 would be perfect for me, as it is fast and portable, and the APU would allow me to play games whilst retaining good battery life.
  • scionic - Friday, September 6, 2013 - link

    As a developer with a keen interest in mobility, I own a number of devices and laptops; but with one gap which this Temash notebook will fill nicely ! I currently use a HP dv6 Laptop (15.6" 1080p, 8GB RAM, Corei7 2.4 Ghz Quad Sandy Bridge, 802.11n, Blu-Ray) as my main development machine - it multiboots Windows 7 as my .Net development environment, and Ubuntu as my JEE and Android development environments. I also own several older thin-and-light laptops that server as servers of different kind (e.g. LAMP, repo). I own a Mac Mini that I use occasionally for dabbling in Cocoa and iOS; and a hackintosh Dell D430. Among the mobile devices, Nexus 4 as the workhorse phone, Nexus 7 as the go-to tablet; Playbook that can never sell as an efficiency nut The key thing missing is a touchscreen laptop - as at the time of my purchase, there were none available with 1080p as well as a full-voltage I7 Quad processor that I needed for my workhorse PC. This AMD notebook will fill that void, and will probably become my goto travel laptop.
  • scionic - Friday, September 6, 2013 - link

    Forgot to mention my Atom-based HTPC and my IPhone 5 (mainly work phone)
  • DanS - Friday, September 6, 2013 - link

    I currently own a core2duo 3ghz desktop that is used for gaming and general computing, a 2ghz amd dual core system that is broken thanks the the kids spilling a can of soda in it while I was swapping out the vid card. If I was to win the Acer V5 it would be a gift for my loving wife and mother-in-law to give them a portable system to use for general computing that is portable so that they can do their thing in the kitchen when cooking/baking and facebook with out having to argue with the children to use the desktop.
  • tattedmex - Friday, September 6, 2013 - link

    I have a 24 inch dual core imac from 2007' that I passed on to my wife after building my PC 2 years ago. My personal rig is custom with an AMD Phenom ll X4 955 CPU, Asus M4A88T-V EVO/usb3 board, 12gigs of G Skill RAM, Asus Radeon 6850 video card and a couple of WD HDDs. We also own an ipad, which the Mrs has to share with my youngest son to avoid pouting and the "Puss in boots eyes." Winning this laptop would mean that there's a device for each person in the house to use and I'd have a computer to use when I have to travel out of town for work. Keeping my fingers crossed!
  • lookingforward - Friday, September 6, 2013 - link

    I had been using an HP dv6700t Special Edition (remember when HP made Special Editions?). Last month, without warning, it would no longer boot up. Instead, it shuts down after less than 5 seconds of being turned on (even when plugged in). I'm not sure if it is a power supply or motherboard issue. It would be great to win this contest to have a working laptop again.

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