Chromebooks are widely known for their incredibly affordable nature, and while Google itself might be trying to buck the trend with the Pixelbook, other OEMs like Acer are sticking to their guns of delivering quality, affordable laptops without compromising the overall experience. The Acer Chromebook 11 is the 2018 refresh to Acer’s existing Chromebook line, and keeps the price at an incredibly affordable $249 or €249. A visual refresh here includes the new blue color that goes with the already nice brushed metal look, although the device is still solidly made of plastic all around.
Acer’s Chromebook 11 measures in at 18mm thin and weighs only 2.4lbs, making this a super light and thin Chromebook. It also sports the latest Intel Celeron line of processors, as well as 4GB of RAM and 16GB of included storage, and of course features a microSD card port on it for storage expansion. All the ports you would expect are here, and Acer has mirrored the configuration on each side for convenience. On one side you’ll find a USB type-A port, USB type-C port, microSD card slot and a Kensington security lock. The other side sports the same USB Type-A and USB Type-C port configuration, but features a 3.5mm audio jack next to the ports instead. Both USB Type-C ports can be used for either charging or video output via a Thunderbolt cable to HDMI or DisplayPort.
The included 13.3-inch touchscreen display has a 1366 x 768 resolution, so while it’s not the highest resolution screen in the world, it’ll certainly keep the experience quick throughout the lifetime of the product. The latest ChromeOS that powers the experience has full Google Play Store support; a big deal that adds millions of available apps to ChromeOS’s already existing Chrome Extensions and web apps. The European release of the Chromebook 11 should be in the coming weeks, while the US release is a little further down the road, slated for sometime in April. Acer will also be offering a model without a touch screen, and an additional 32GB internal storage model as well for unknown prices at this point in time. Check out the video below to see it in action!