Acer will be the first of many to ship Windows 10 PCs with pre-loaded Alexa. The first PCs to get will include the Switch 7 (Black Edition), Aspire 5, Nitro 5 Spin, Spin 5, and Spin 3. Essentially, it will available on a huge spread of devices, from laptops to tablets, gaming notebooks, and ultrabooks. New laptops will have the functionality on-purchase, while existing owners of the Spin 5 and 3 will get an update on May 23 and 26. It will work via an onboard audio chip, and you’ll be able to wake Alexa with the usual command. The only caveat is that only the Spin 5 will support far-field voice recognition, meaning no cross-room activation.
Coming to Other Manufacturers Soon
The question now is which users find more valuable to the desktop experience. Microsoft is working to make Cortana more proactive, guiding users through tasks rather than working as a smart home device. It’ll be interesting to see if users end up disabling the assistant entirely in favor of Alexa, or keep it the other way around.
