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Acer launches $199 15-inch Chromebook with claimed 12-hour battery life

If you’ve been trying to choose between a cheap Chromebook and one with a larger screen, Acer may have solved your dilemma. The new Acer Chromebook 15 CB3-532-C47C provides a 15.6-inch display for just $199.

The catch is that the resolution is just 1366×768 (you get what you pay for), so don’t expect to have too many windows on-screen at any one time. But if you just want a larger screen to better see what you’re doing, view movies and create room for a larger keyboard, it may well be all you need …

You get an Intel Celeron N3060 dual-core processor, 2GB RAM and just 16GB of storage, but there’s built-in SD card reader and 100GB of free Google Drive storage to reduce your reliance on the internal flash drive. The keyboard has LED backlighting. On the wireless side, there’s 802.11ac WiFi and Bluetooth 4.2, and for wired accessories there are two USB 3.0 ports and an HDMI port.

The claimed 12-hour battery-life is based on the standard Chromium power test, which provides realistic usage patterns bar the fact that the brightness is set to the battery-powered default, which can be as low as 40%.

Acer says that the model is on the list to receive support for Android apps, but didn’t specify a date. It does mean that the unofficial workaround ought to work in the meantime.

The Chromebook weighs 4.3 pounds (1.95 kg) and measures 15.08Wx10.08Dx0.95H inches (383Wx256Dx24.2H mm), and Acer says that it has been tested to withstand 23-inch drops.

The company believes that the attractive pricing for a large-screen device will make it a popular choice as a holiday gift.

The Chromebook 15 CB3-532-C47C goes on sale at Walmart today, with other models in the range available at other retailers.

 

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