A mere day after images of it leaked online the new Acer Chromebook has been formally announced.
And boy is it cheap.
Acer Chromebook
Acer’s second-gen Chromebook is priced to sell at $199. For this you get an ‘extra bright’ 11.6″ Screen, Intel Celeron 847 processor @ 1.1Ghz, a 320GB 5400RPM HDD and 100GB of free Google Drive storage for 2 years.
Elsewhere there’s a full-sized keyboard, 3x USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet, VGA out and HDMI out.
With the device taking the tried-and-tested Intel route – which may be a good or bad thing depending on your needs – the battery life suffers. Samsung’s ARM Chromebook can touch 7 hours on a single charge, and earlier Atom-based Chromebook’s could managed 5-6, but the latest model Acer can only manage ‘3.5 hours’.
And that’s the manufacturers claim too, so expect real world usage to hit 3 hours tops.
The mechanical hard-drive also means the device is thicker and heavier than the MacBook Air-like design of Samsung Chromebook. It’s also slower to boot, taking some 18 seconds.
Availability
The Acer Chromebook launches at $199 in the US, and will be vailable from Google Play and BestBuy.com.
UK readers can nab it from Google Play, Amazon UK, PC World or Currys.