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Acer Announces Tegra-Based Chromebook

Acer, the current leader in Chromebooks, has just announced today that it will be the first to release a new Chromebook with NVIDIA’s new Tegra K1.

Acer, the current leader in Chromebooks with its popular C720, announced today that it will be the first to release a Chromebook with NVIDIA’s new Tegra K1 processor. The K1 is a newer mobile-branded CPU that’s also in NVIDIA’s Shield Tablet, a gaming device that has thus far been hailed by experts for including the fastest mobile processor on the market, closely matched to some laptops, according to AnandTech. Last month, Acer also released its first Chromebook including the Intel i3, a higher-end desktop-grade processor than the standard Celeron-based chips.

Utilizing a new mobile processor enables Acer to hit some remarkable specs for its new Chromebook 13: 13 hours of battery life, a full-HD display, a quad-core processor, support for the faster 802.11ac Wi-Fi protocol, and better gaming support thanks to the K1’s 192 graphics processor cores. Chromebooks are not known for gaming, though games do exist as apps on Chrome, so it’s unclear what benefit a higher-powered GPU will provide.

What it Means for Users

Today’s Chromebooks are already inexpensive, typically starting at $300, and they provide anywhere from six to nine hours of battery life. Normally, building any device with a mobile processor that currently uses a laptop CPU in favor of gaining battery life would lower performance, but based on the numbers of the K1, that may not be the case.

For buyers interested in not just high-speed but also a long-lasting battery, the new Acer Chromebook 13 may be an excellent choice, starting at $280, with models going up to $380. Even if this new laptop only achieved 11 hours of continuous battery life it would be better than today’s top Chromebooks by several hours, and match even Apple’s MacBook Air, which is three times the price.

What do you think of Acer’s new Chromebook 13? Is it a worthy purchase?

Image courtesy of Flickr

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