Acer's New 15.6-Inch Chromebooks Sport Intel Core (Broadwell) CPUs

It's getting crowded in the Acer Chromebook family. Before today's announcement at an event in New York City, the company had eight Chromebook models in its 15.6-inch display line alone, and now it has a few more with the introduction of the Chromebook 15 CB3-531 and new iterations of the CB5-571 and C910 models.

The CB5-571 and C910 are most notable because they both rock Intel Core Broadwell CPUs. Most Chromebooks don't enjoy the power of a Core series chip.

On the consumer-oriented CB5-571, you can get up to a dual-core Intel Core i3-5005U (2 GHz), although there's also a Celeron 3205U option. It has a 15.6-inch (1366 x 768) display.

The education/commercial-facing C910 one-ups the CB5-571, though, with a relatively burly dual-core Intel Core i5-5200U (up to 2.7 GHz) chip. The Core i3-5005U and Celeron 3205U are also options. The C910 is also notable because of its Full HD, 15.6-inch display. Chromebook users (or naysayers, as the case may be) frequently complain about the lower-res displays routinely available on such devices, so releasing a Full HD model is a smart move on Acer's part.

To some, the presence of Broadwell chips on these machines may seem overkill, but in any case, they will certainly add to the cost. Intel's recommended consumer prices for these Core CPUs run from $275 to $281. That's going to pose a price issue for the Chromebooks. (The lower-end Celeron chip comes in at just $107, which gives Acer much more flexibility in nailing down a reasonable price.)

Other specifications, which the CB5-571 and C910 share, include up to 4 GB RAM, 16 GB or 32 GB SSD storage, 9 hours of battery life and an HD webcam with HDR.

Acer also introduced a new little brother with the Chromebook 15 CB3-531. Although it also has a 15.6-inch display, this model's screen resolution is 1366 x 768, and it runs on a dual-core Intel Celeron N2830 (Bay Trail) chip with Intel HD Graphics. There's also 2 GB RAM and 16 GB eMMC storage. Acer said that it's designed to withstand a lot of punishment -- up to 60 kg of force on the chassis, as well as drops up to 45 cm.

The Chromebook 15 CB3-531 promises a remarkable battery life of 11.5 hours, and its LED-backlit TFT LCD display has Acer's "ComfyView" anti-glare screen. On the bezel, there's a webcam that's capable of HDR. 

These new Chromebooks will all have MIMO 2x2 802.1ac Wi-Fi on board, and all three sport upward-facing stereo speakers and large touchpads.

The CB3-531 is most notable for its price; at just $199, it rounds out the bottom of Acer's Chromebook 15 pricing. Acer's Chromebook 15 models now run the gamut from $199 up to a whopping $499. The CB3-531 will be available in July. Acer did not disclose pricing or availability for the CB5-571 and C910.

Seth Colaner is the News Director for Tom's Hardware. Follow Seth Colaner @SethColaner. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.