Chromebooks are already a great deal in contrast to traditional laptops, quite simply for the prices. While Chromebooks aren’t the right option for everyone, they provide a great solution for those looking to pick up an inexpensive laptop with more than enough capability to handle web tasks, documents, apps, videos and more. They’re especially great solutions for the education sector because of the low cost and the little to no maintenance needed, and ASUS is on track to apparently launch their least expensive Chromebook ever with the C201 model according to a Troxell brochure that is highlighting education based Chromebook offerings.
The Chromebook is not yet available, but it boasts features like a 10-hour battery life according to the listing, and it’s powered by a Rockchip 3288-C quad-core processor with 2GB of DDR3 RAM, although a 4GB model is also supposed to become available. The spec sheet also states it carries an 11.6-inch HD display with a resolution of 1366 x 768, 16GB of storage space, and of course, a VGA webcam. Those were the only specifications that were listed so there is no telling for certain what ports the Chromebook will have, what kind of WiFi standard it will be using, or whether or not it has an SD card slot and Bluetooth compatibility.
Keeping those things in mind, most Chromebooks have at least one USB 3.0 port and one USB 2.0 port, as well as HDMI out, a 3.5mm audio port, ethernet, and an SD card slot for expandable storage and data/media transfers, so it’s a safe bet those things will likely be included in this model. However, with it being the “most affordable Chromebook from ASUS to date” there is also a chance that some features may have had to be cut out to keep the cost low. Pricing is also a mystery here, but as OMG Chrome points out ASUS current lowest price Chromebook is set at $199, so the price will have to be somewhere under that range if it’s more affordable. How much lower is unfortunately unknown. Those details may not be too far off though. It’s also unknown if this will be a Chromebook that is only offered to the education sector, or if consumers will be able to purchase one for themselves.