Acer has announced a slew of new PC’s as well as a new Chromebook here at CES 2018 in Las Vegas. We’ve spent some time with the new Acer Chromebook 11, and it’s actually a pretty good looking and performing machine. Now This was in a controlled hands on area, so things might differ once we get one to review and load it up with apps and such. But it performed pretty well, and that’s thanks to Acer using Intel’s latest Celeron processor (though the exact processor model number was not mentioned). It is also paired with 4GB of RAM and 16GB of storage, pretty normal specs for a Chromebook, and that’s because a Chromebook doesn’t need a ton of power to remain fast, since it is already lightweight.
The outside of the Acer Chromebook 11 is definitely a looker. This model here is available in blue, which looks really good. It’s also a color you don’t see too often. It is also very lightweight, weighing in at just 2.43 pounds. It’s also 18.15mm thick (or 0.71 inches thick), making it super thin and lightweight, great for travel. It’s so lightweight that you can balance it on your hand pretty easily. As far as ports go, you get a USB-C port on the left side, as well as a USB 3.0 port, a micro SD card slot and a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the right side, you also get another USB-C and USB 3.0 port, as well as a Kensington lock. Since these are likely being aimed at education customers, that Kensington does make plenty of sense here. It’s great to see that Acer has given us a USB-C port on each side, so no matter where the outlet is, you can charge from either port. Definitely a good idea there.
When it comes to the display, it’s an 11.6-inch 1366×768 resolution display, so suffice to say it is not the best screen out there. It’s actually not very good at all. In the gallery below, you can see an image that is a close up of the display, and clearly see pixels. Which is not the best thing, but remember that this is going to be retailing at $249, so it’s definitely one of the cheaper Chromebooks out there. It’ll definitely get the job done, especially since it is a touchscreen. Which makes it easier for using Android apps and games. And yes, the Google Play Store is available on the Chromebook 11 here. So you can use all of your Android apps and games on your Chromebook now.
Acer’s keyboard has never been the best out there, but it has done its job, and that seems to be the case with the Chromebook 11. It is actually pretty spacious considering this is an 11.6-inch Chromebook, but the bigger bezels around the display help make it larger for the keyboard (even though many would prefer the smaller bezels and a larger display, this does help make the Chromebook 11 a bit more rugged). The touchpad also works as intended. We didn’t notice any jank or lag with the keyboard or the touchpad, or even on the touchscreen. Which is something you shouldn’t need to worry about on a laptop in 2017, but with Chromebooks under $300, you do sometimes need too.
Acer has stated that the Chromebook 11 is going to be available in the EMEA market first and will cost €249, while it’ll be available in the US come April for $249. But it has not announced pricing for the different configuration options (touch screen versus non touch, 16GB versus 32GB of storage, etc).
