Acer's AC700 Chromebook Shipping This Week
Although Samsung already released a Chomebook, Acer America claims its new AC7000 is the first Chome-based device to hit North American shelves.
Monday Acer America announced that its new Acer AC7000 is the first Chromebook to hit North American retail shelves. The Wi-Fi version will supposedly be available this month, followed by a 3G model sometime later this summer. The current model costs a mere $349.99, cheaper than many Android-based tablets already saturating the market.
Under the hood, the new Acer AC7000 features the Intel Atom N570 dual-core processor and 2 GB of DDR3 memory. There's also a built-in 16 GB SSD for installing apps and storing files, an 11.6-inch HD Widescreen CineCrystalLED-backlit LCD, two USB 2.0 ports, a 4-in-1 card reader, an HD 1.3 MP webcam w/ LED indicator, HDMI output, Acer'sInviLink Nplify 802.11b/g/n adapter, and more.
"We are pleased to be one of Google’s leading launch partners delivering a new experience in cloud computing for customers of our new Acer AC700 Chromebook," said Arif Maskatia, CTO, Acer. "As a leader in the mobile computing space, we strive to offer customers the widest range of mobile computing devices to support the many ways our customers connect to their world. The Acer AC700 represents the future of computing as it shows how they can access the cloud to vastly improve the simplicity, security and speed of their online experience."
Additionally, Acer's Chromebook weighs 2.95 pounds, measures just one-inch thick, and uses a 6-cell battery promising six hours of constant use. The company also claims that the device will boot in less than 10 seconds, naturally thanks to Google's thin Chrome operating system that doesn't rely on bloated code but instead depends on the Internet aka cloud-based storage and web-based applications like Google Docs, Gmail and Google Calendar.
"The Acer AC700 running the Chrome operating system is designed to defend against the ongoing threat of malware and viruses by employing the principle of "defense in depth" to provide multiple layers of protection, including sandboxing, data encryption, and verified boot," the company added.
Amazon currently has the Acer Chromebook listed for the $349.99 pricetag, but the company doesn't plan to ship the Acer product until mid-July. Amazon also has a dedicated Chromebook store which can be accessed here.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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house70 A 3G model... he, he, that will burn through your monthly data allowance in about 1 hour. Good luck with that!Reply
The Chrome OS idea is good, but just way ahead of the times... It needs internet access so redundant, it's virtually free. Until then, not gonna happen. -
the_krasno I think the 3G streaming is more for business and people that rely on their chromebooks to access their email, calendar schedule and documents. Lightweight things compared to youtube videos.Reply
I am a student and I would gladly pay for one of those and use the 3G whenever I need to do some work outside a wi-fi hotspot. -
notuptome2004 toBlurr91 umm i havea CR-48 chromebook that google sent out and it will as some have done got windows 7 Pro running on it with full Aero as the GPU inside is a intel DX 10 based GPU also the Acer has a dual core HT enabled CPU so yes it will run windows 7 any version once someone figured out how to get it on thereReply -
Nintendork Not with the Atom crap please, minimum a AMD Fusion Ontario or maybe the new Fusion Z series, same power as Ontario with half the power consumption.Reply
Dual core 1Ghz C-50 + HD6250 5.9w Fusion Z / Ontario 9w (same specs)
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the_krasno Reply9296722 said:Not with the Atom crap please, minimum a AMD Fusion Ontario or maybe the new Fusion Z series, same power as Ontario with half the power consumption.
Dual core 1Ghz C-50 + HD6250 5.9w Fusion Z / Ontario 9w (same specs)
Why Fusion? It's a waste of GPU, consider that Chrome is more of a web browser than a full fledged OS. I doubt that Flash 10 requires such graphics horsepower. -
Anomalyx dashipNote to Acer, Netbooks are dead. People want the touchy feely tablets.Epic Fail!!!Note to commenter, tablets are a fad. People want computers they can actually do stuff with, not oversized smartphones that can't make calls.Reply