Acer is launching several new convertible Chromebooks with touchscreen displays and 360-degree hinges.
The new Acer Chromebook Spin 311 is a budget model with an 11.6 inch display and a MediaTek processor and a $260 starting price, while the new Acer Chromebook Spin 713 is a premium model featuring a 13.5 inch high-resolution display and support for up to an Intel Core i7-10610U Comet Lake processor and a starting price of $630.
Both of those convertible laptops should be available in North America in July. They’ll be joined in August by an Acer Chromebook Enterprise Spin 713 version that will sell for $1100 and up.
Acer Chromebook Spin 713
The new Acer Chromebook Spin 13 is a premium Chromebook designed to meet Intel’s Project Athena standards.
It has a 13.5 inch, 2256 x 1504 pixel touchscreen display with a 3:2 aspect ratio and supports up to 16GB of DDR4 RAM and 256GB of PCIe NVMe solid state storage.
The laptop measures 11.8″ x 9.3″ x 0.7″ and weighs about 3 pounds.
Other features include support for WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0, stereo speakers and dual microphones, and ports including two USB 3.1 Type-C ports, HDMI, USB 3.0 Type-A, and a microSD card reader.
Processor options include:
- Intel Pentium Gold 6405U
- Intel Core i3-10110U
- Intel Core i5-10210U
- Intel Core i5-10310U
- Intel Core i7-10510U
- Intel Core i7-10610U
Acer says the Chromebook Spin 713 is also MIL-STD 810G tested and designed with a shock absorbing bumper so the laptop can survive a drop from about four feet or up to 132 pounds of downward pressure.
The Enterprise model is pretty much the same, except it will come with Google’s Chrome Enterprise Upgrade.
Acer Chromebook Spin 311
The 2.2 pound Chromebook Spin 311 is a lot less impressive, but it’s also a lot cheaper.
Acer’s new entry-level convertible Chromebook features an 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel IPS touchscreen display with a 16:9 aspect ratio, an MT8183 octa-core processor, and ARM Mali-G72 MP3 graphics.
It has 4GB of RAM and 32GB or 64GB of eMMC storage.
The laptop measures 11.4″ x 8.1″ x 0.7″ and weighs about 2.3 pounds. It supports WiFi 5, Bluetooth 4.2, and has stereo speakers and a single microphone.
I really loved my Pixelbook, when I first got it. It seems that the more they add to ChromeOS, the more they seem to slow it down. Chrome tabs still run well, but Linux and Android containers feel like they are a fraction of the speed they should be. Both also really heat up the device. When it came time to look at a new 2-in-1, I got a Lenovo C940 instead. Considering just putting a Linux image on the Piixelbook now.