Acer Updating C7 Chromebook Line with SSDs

News
By Kevin Parrish
published

Best Buy is showing an Acer C7 Chromebook with a 16 GB SSD for the same low price.

Although Acer hasn't announced anything officially, Best Buy is currently listing the 11.6-inch C7 Chromebook with a 16 GB solid state drive (SSD) for $199 USD. Google Play, on the other hand, still shows the C7 Chromebook with a 320 GB 5400 RPM hard drive for the same price. Perhaps this is a Best Buy exclusive? Regardless, reports claim that the retailer's SSD-based version is "coming soon," but a quick check with Best Buy clearly shows that customers can take the $199 plunge now.

According to Best Buy's listing, the Acer Chromebook sports a 1.1 GHz Intel Celeron 847 processor with 2 MB of L3 cache, 2 GB of DDR3 memory (expandable to 4 GB), Intel HD graphics with 128 MB of dedicated video memory, a 2-in-1 card reader and three USB 2.0 ports. The 11.6-inch LED-backlit LCD screen features CineCrystal technology and supports a 1366 x 768 resolution.

The specs also show that the C7 Chromebook includes a built-in HD webcam capable of 1280 x 720 video capture, a built-in analog microphone, 10/100 Ethernet and Wireless N network connectivity, a 4-cell lithium-ion battery, and the Google Chrome OS platform. It weighs only 3.1 pounds and measures just 1.1 inches thin.

Over on Google Play, the Acer C7 Chromebook listing shows it to offer HDMI output, VGA output, stereo internal speakers, headphone and microphone jacks, and Gigabit Ethernet. It also comes packed with 100 GB of Google Drive storage for two years, and 12 free sessions of GoGo Inflight Internet. That said, did Acer reduce the Ethernet aspect to keep the overall cost from rising once the HDD was replaced with an SSD? Or is Best Buy's Ethernet listing just a typo?

Regardless, the Best Buy model will trade in high-capacity storage for speed, meaning that although the Chromebook will be a lot zippier than the HDD-based model, owners will likely rely on external storage devices to house all their files and media. What this SSD-based Chromebook needs is a shot of USB 3.0, but maybe that will arrive in another hardware refresh in the near future.

Kevin Parrish
7 Comments Comment from the forums
  • frillybob101
    I know these are meant to be used on the web only but this is a really crappy laptop/webdevice. Basic browsing+email only.
    Reply
  • xero141
    With tablets and smartphones capable of so much more, i still can't figure out why they still make Chromebooks... The Chromebook: not exactly the best thing to replace a laptop, also not exactly the best thing to get instead of a laptop...
    Reply
  • Chris Brown
    The first two comments on this article are extremely shallow. I purchased a Chromebook just to see what it was really capable of and "kick the tires" so to speak. I ended up retiring my second generation i7 w/ 16GB ram and touchscreen... basically a solid well-built laptop. It's just so much easier to grab the Chromebook and get 90% of what I need to done. Most basic features (editing documents, working through emails, organizing calendar, etc) are available off-line even. For work stuff I RDP into our server and runt he application (Quickbooks, ERP, etc.) faster than I did on my i7.
    I understand there's a real mental shift and stigma to running a "browser OS" but honestly, I never did anything of any value on my laptop offline anyway. People need to really understand what this environment is offering before so quick to dismiss.
    Reply
  • michael112
    The chromebook is designed to be a cheap and portable device. That's what it does and it does it well. It's a great fit for students that are on a budget have a full sized desktop that handles their more computer intensive programs. I use it at school for typing and basic web browsing. When i get home i use my desktop for everything else.
    Reply
  • Rieln
    I cannot believe the shortsightedness of many responses. The Chromebook is really here to stay. IT is changing and it starts with the middle and small companies we serve. It is getting easier and easier to propose a set of Chromebooks, and áll employees using one do not want to go back. They are reliable, very fast, maintenancefree devices and any IT department should love them. The managementconsole makes managing every aspect of the browser quite simple.

    Yes, you need to work on the web. That's the big deal here. But more and more people do use web-services for everyday work, like CRM and Accounting. Then the need for a full-fledged laptop dissapears, and a Chromebook is the perfect match.

    So instead of nagging about a flop, garbage or bad displays, just realize a browserbased OS will be gaining terrain. Fast.
    Reply
  • MyTakeOnTech
    Here is a comparison between the samsung and acer for a school lab: ow.ly/lGaVh
    Reply
  • I have a Samsung and wished I had the Acer. At least with the Acer you can more easily install a Linux version that a more full experience. But Google still makes things harder then they need to be. So much for open source. With my Chromebook I have to wonder why it can stream video to a 46" TV perfectly but be choppy when scrolling on a heavy Flash content page? I can definitely say Chromebook's are nothing to brag about. They are just the next cheap netbook.
    Reply