Like it or not, but Chromebooks are a big deal. Even more so now that
Acer has announced the first-ever 15.6-inch laptop running Chrome OS.
Starting at just $249 (about £162, AU$306), the Acer Chromebook 15
introduces not one, but two firsts for the category.
This
Chromebook is also the first to feature the 5th generation Intel Core i3
– well, that and Celeron chips built using that architecture. But back
to that screen, a 15.6-inch anti-glare panel starting at 1,366 x 768
resolution with a 1080p option available too. (Protip: go for the FHD.)
But what about the battery?
With a screen that's 27% larger than the Acer Chromebook 13
(by the company's own measure), Acer is still promising all-day battery
life. That could be possible through the power-sipping Broadwell CPU,
but we'll have to be the final judge of that.
Backing up that Core
i3 or Celeron chip is either 2GB or 4GB of RAM and your choice of
either a 16GB or 32GB solid-state drive. Shiny new Intel chip aside,
it's essentially standard fare for this (or most other) Chromebook.
Rounding
out the Chromebook 15's connectivity features are dual-band, MIMO
802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0. As for hard connections, this model
offers one USB 3 and USB 2 port each, along with HDMI and an SD card
reader.
Looks aren't everything, but…
For whatever reason,
Chromebook makers are doing whatever they can to make their Chrome OS
notebooks look as slick as possible within the confines of their budget
price tags. While not quite as drastic as the Samsung Chromebook 2's pleather, the cross hatch, milky white plastic shell on the Chromebook 15 looks mighty nice for 250 clams.
Plus,
that extra space allowed Acer to plop upward-facing speakers on this
model for (hopefully) far better sound than competing Chromebooks. But
what good is a shell that can't protect what's inside? So, Acer
reinforced the frame to withstand up to 132 pounds of force and just
over 1-foot drops without damage.
Acer managed to keep the
Chromebook 15 just under 5 pounds at 4.85 pounds and 15.4 x 10.08 x 0.95
inches (W x D x H). Not too shabby for a 15-inch laptop. Acer doesn't
have any word on when exactly the Chromebook 15 will land. But what we
do know is that the floor just collapsed on the 15-inch laptop price –
and that's probably a good thing.
Touching up the lineup
To
up the ante even further, Acer threw in news that its Nvidia Tegra
K1-powered Chromebook, the simply-named Acer Chromebook 13, now comes
with a touchscreen option. But for $329 (about £214, AU$405), be sure of
how badly you want touch control on a Chromebook.
And finally,
the company announced a new version – so soon? – of its Acer Aspire V 17
Nitro gaming laptop, now featuring an Intel RealSense 3D camera. This
new piece of imaging tech enables three dimensional gesture control and
3D scanning for eventual 3D printing.
Of course, the laptops now
come with demo apps to show off what the camera is capable of. Acer is
mum on pricing, but this version of the gaming notebook will be
available worldwide later this month.