Today at its next@acer event, Acer announced the very first Chromebook to use the Snapdragon Compute platform. It"s called the Chromebook Spin 513, and it includes a Snapdragon 7c chipset. That means that it comes with features that only an ARM SoC can provide, such as integrated cellular connectivity, all at a low price.
On top of that, the Chromebook Spin 513 weighs just 2.64 pounds and promises 14 hours of batter life. It has a 13.3-inch HD display with a 78% screen-to-body ratio, and the convertible hinge allows for a variety of form factors.
"Acer is excited to bring to market our first Chromebooks powered by the Snapdragon™ 7c compute platform, with all the performance and efficiencies necessary to maximize the vast benefits of Chrome," said James Lin, General Manager, Notebooks, IT Products Business at Acer. "As employees and students have shifted to working remotely and learning from home, Acer is responding with solutions that meet their needs – in this case, Chromebooks that are powerful enough to take on whatever the day brings with all-day battery life and highly secure cellular connectivity virtually anywhere."
The Chromebook Spin 513 is coming to North America in February starting at $399.99, but there"s also a Chromebook Enterprise Spin 513, which will be available in March for $699.99. Obviously, it"s more secure and supports more management features.
And then there"s the Chromebox CXI4, which uses Intel 10th-generation processors, up to a Core i7. This can also be purchased with a Chromebox Enterprise upgrade, and it has things like Wi-Fi 6, USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, and more.
The Chromebox CXI4 is coming to North America in Q1 starting at $259.99, and the Chromebox Enterprise CXI4 will start at $409.99.
Finally, the Halo Smart Speaker has RGB base lighting and Google Assistant connectivity. It"s one of the first Assistant devices with DTS sound, so it has 360-degree audio. There"s an optional LED display that can show you the weather or something like that, and coming soon is the ability to customize it with a message or an image. The Halo Smart Speaker is coming in Q1, starting at $109.