14 DAY TRIAL // After months of teasing and talking about it, Acer has finally gotten around to officially launching the AC700, its Chromebook, even though availability will take a while to ramp up.
Chrome OS netbooks are finally an actual reality on the IT market, even though they are still in a fairly low number.
Of course, this is not that great an issue, what with Chromebooks being still a niche market that is unlikely to grow exponentially any time soon.
Nonetheless, there are definitely users who like the instant-on capabilities and the fact that everything is stored in the cloud and, thus, accessible from anywhere.
Samsung already has a Chromebook on sale, the Series 5, but the price tag of 399 Euro in Europe ($499.99 in the US) does not exactly attract many customers, not with $199 netbooks on sale or on the way.
Meanwhile, Acer has decided to play the affordability card, or at least made its own Chromebook more affordable, priced at $349.99.
Needless to say, $70 is quite the price advantage, especially considering the hardware that lies inside the products.
For those that want a reminder, an Intel Atom N570 is present, along with 2 GB of RAM, a 1.3 megapixel webcam, USB 2.0, 16 GB of flash storage and a 4-in-1 card reader.
"We are pleased to be one of Google's leading launch partners delivering a new experience in cloud computing for customers of our new Acer AC700 Chromebook," said Arif Maskatia, CTO, Acer.
"As a leader in the mobile computing space, we strive to offer customers the widest range of mobile computing devices to support the many ways our customers connect to their world. The Acer AC700 represents the future of computing as it shows how they can access the cloud to vastly improve the simplicity, security and speed of their online experience."
Sales will start this month and a 3G version will show up later this summer.