Acer’s Chromebooks Are Pretty Awesome and Now There Are Three New Ones

Acer’s place within the laptop computer trade is a unusual one. For a very long time, the model was related to price range laptops and sometimes shared design parts with its Taiwanese rival, Asus. Recently, although, the corporate appears to have discovered its area of interest, and in an unlikely place.

Acer now makes among the finest Chromebooks in the marketplace, starting from the premium Chromebook Spin 713 to the tremendous reasonably priced Chromebook R11. It clearly is aware of it’s on to one thing and is releasing three new Chromebooks this week at CES: the Chromebook Spin 513, Chromebook Spin 315, and Chromebook Spin 314.

In case you had been questioning, the explanation this trio is being unpacked earlier than the CES festivities start is that they don’t depend on new Intel, AMD, or Nvidia chips. These are extra budget-friendly than the Spin 713, so as an alternative of Intel Core, they use MediaTek and Intel Pentium/Celeron CPUs. Anyone who has heard these phrases uttered is aware of these aren’t meant to be efficiency beasts, however bear in mind, Chrome OS tends to run simply effective on lesser {hardware}. If that doesn’t trouble you, then let’s take a more in-depth take a look at every mannequin.

Acer Chromebook Spin 513

The Spin 513 is probably the most intriguing of the three. Not as a result of it’s the costliest, however as a result of it prices $599 (not precisely low cost for a Chromebook) but runs on a MediaTek Kompanio 1380 processor.

What the hell is that? I hear you asking. It seems, MediaTek made a line of chips particularly for Chromebooks and named them Kompanio (1,000 factors to anybody who knew that). I haven’t examined one among these earlier than, however $599 for a laptop computer with a MediaTek chip doesn’t sound like a successful recipe. But then, if the processor can run Google’s famously light-weight working system and most Android apps with none hiccups, possibly we shouldn’t care an excessive amount of concerning the numbers.

That’s a giant if, although. MediaTek hasn’t precisely lit up the scoreboard with its laptop computer processors, so let’s hope this “Kompanio” is a major step ahead. It will get an help from 8GB of dual-channel DDR4X RAM and is paired with built-in Arm Mali-G57 MC5 graphics.

If the MediaTek chip doesn’t find yourself being a bottleneck then the Spin 513 could possibly be an ideal mid-range Chromebook, not less than based mostly on its different options and specs. One that stands out most is the 13.5-inch, 2256 x 1504 show with a 3:2 side ratio. That ought to supply loads of element, and if it’s the identical one discovered within the Spin 713 then we’re in for a deal with. The aluminum convertible laptop computer can be comparatively moveable at 0.6 inches thick and a pair of.8 kilos and handed MIL-STD 810H sturdiness checks.

Acer claims the battery lasts for 10 hours on a cost; I’ll be trustworthy, I used to be anticipating an extended runtime given what I think is a low-power processor. We’ll see the way it holds up in our battery check, however something beneath 10 hours could be a disappointment.

The Chromebook Spin 513 might be accessible in North America in June 2022 beginning at $599.

Acer Chromebook 315

If you desire a bigger display, the Chromebook 315 sports activities a 15.6-inch, 1080p anti-glare show accessible in both non-touch or contact choices. This is a normal 16:9 panel so it’s higher for watching motion pictures than scrolling net pages. There are three processor choices: an Intel Celeron N4500, Celeron N5100, or Pentium Silver N6000.

These pair with 8GB of DDR4 RAM, UHD graphics, and both 64GB or 128GB of eMMC storage. What these specs say is that the Chromebook Spin 315 was made to get a conveyable 15-inch Chromebook into clients’ palms for as little cash as potential. But if even this factor isn’t massive sufficient, try the Chromebook Spin 317, which has, you guessed it, a 17-inch show.

While the Spin 315 isn’t highly effective, it’s pretty moveable at 0.8 inches and three.5 kilos. Better but, there may be sufficient room on its chassis for a USB-A port and 4 USB-C inputs, two on all sides. Again, Acer charges the Chromebook 315’s battery life at a decent 10 hours.

The Chromebook Spin 315 might be accessible in North America this month beginning at $300.

Acer Chromebook 314

Let me spare you the suspense: the Chromebook 314 is actually the Chromebook 315 however with a 14-inch show. You get the identical processor choices, battery life can be 10 hours, and the chassis handed military-grade sturdiness checks.

The foremost distinction is that the Chromebook 314 has a 14-inch, 1080p anti-glare touchscreen show versus the 15.6-inch panel on the bigger mannequin. Also, based mostly on the pictures, twin audio system flank the keyboard whereas the 315 cramps in a numpad as an alternative.

Geared extra towards college students, the Chromebook 314 might be accessible in June beginning at $299.