Tag Archives: Acer
Acer Finally Launches Its Chromebook: Was It Worth The Wait?
Posted on 28. Jun, 2011 by Nicholas Greene. 
1 Comments
So Acer’s finally arrived to the party. Problem is, it showed up at 3 AM, completely sloshed, bearing the news that it might have crashed its truck into your patio and run over your cat. But hey, at least it brought drinks for everyone. This metaphor doing anything for you? No? That’s a shame.
Almost two weeks after it was supposed to launch, Acer’s finally delivered a Chromebook, which they’ve christened the “Acer Cromia 700.” or “AC700″ for short. Personally, I liked it better when it was just plain “Cromia.” Anyway, the news of this debut comes almost immediately on the heels of an announcement that they’d be delaying the model until some time in mid July. So…basically, Acer’s still trying to get their act together. But hey, at least they’re trying.
As for the press release, it contains some very interesting implications. Have a look:
The first in a planned line of products that will utilize Google’s Chrome operating system, the Acer AC700 Chromebook is ideal for savvy mobile consumers, educational institutions, and business people that spend most of their time on the Internet for cloud computing such as using web-based email, uploading photos to sites like Flickr and Picasa, and keeping up-to-date on the latest news and events.
The first in a planned line of products, eh? I presume they’re referring to Google’s plans for Chrome OS, but it is entirely possible that Acer’s aiming to release more Chrome-based devices. There’s also the boot time- ten seconds instead of eight. Still, it’s faster than any Windows PC on the market. but this isn’t limited to just Acer. Other than those little tidbits, there’s very little of note here. Basically, it praises Acer on a job well done, and offers details about the system and about Chrome that by this point most of us already know. Pretty much what you’d expect from a press release, really.
You can read it here, if you’re so inclined.
Now, enough about Acer’s flaws and foibles. Let’s take a look at the computer they’ve built. Was it worth the wait?
The AC700: Technical Specifications
Here’s the spec list that Acer released when they first announced the Cromia:
- 11.6-inch 1,366×768-pixel 16:9 screen
- Intel Atom N570 dual-core 1.66GHz CPU
- 2GB RAM
- 16GB SSD drive
- 1.3 MP HD Webcam
- Two USB 2.0 Ports
- HDMI Port
- 8 hours of battery life
- 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi
- 3G Optional
- HD Audio Support
- Stereo Speakers
- 2.95 pounds
Now, here are the AC700′s specifications. The differences are in italics.:
- 11.6-inch 1,366×768-pixel 16:9 screen
- Intel Atom N570 dual-core 1.66GHz CPU
- 2GB RAM
- 16GB SSD drive
- 1.3 MP HD Webcam
- Two USB 2.0 Ports
- HDMI Port
- 6 hours of battery life
- 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi
- No 3G
- HD Audio Support
- Stereo Speakers
- 2.95 pounds
Uh, yeah. Looks like the AC700′s battery life is a full two hours shorter than their original estimate. I’m…just a touch unimpressed here. I could understand a discrepancy of a half hour, maybe, but two full hours? Something’s not right here. Now. while six hours is actually pretty damned good for your run of the mill notebook…Chromebooks aren’t your run of the mill notebook. Originally, I said the battery life advantage that the Series 5 had over the Cromia was negligible, at best. But now that gap has widened from half an hour to two and a half hours- much more noticeable, and far less negligible. And considering that the Series 5 has almost the exact same specs as the AC700…what the hell, Acer?
Now, the second thing you folks have probably noticed is that the AC700 doesn’t have 3G. According to the press release “A model with 3G broadband wireless capabilities will be coming this summer.”
Final Thoughts
Back when I compared the two systems, I concluded that the AC700(then unnamed) was the superior of them. And you know what? In spite of everything, I’m standing by that verdict-at least for the moment. In spite of its disadvantages, it’s still got a better screen and HDMI capabilities, for eighty dollars less. Still, the AC700′s considerably shorter battery life does make the S5 look much more attractive in comparison, particularly if HDMI isn’t all that important to you. I guess it all depends on what you want to use your Chromebook for.
So, was the AC700 worth the wait?
You’re going to hate me for this, but…at this point, I honestly don’t know. See, how the AC700 looks on paper means absolutely nothing if it doesn’t work. To that end, we’re going to have to wait a bit- to my knowledge, there haven’t yet been any reviews posted of the AC700. I’ll definitely keep you folks posted, and let you know how the AC700 stacks up when it comes to actual performance.
Then, and only then, can we determine if it was worth waiting two weeks for Acer to finally get itself in gear.
(via Marketwire)
Acer Announces First Chrome OS Device, and it’s Not a Laptop
Posted on 21. Feb, 2011 by Daniel Cawrey. 12 Comments
Acer, which has long said that it hopes to be the first computer manufacturer to have a product with Chrome OS, is announcing their first device. Surprisingly, it is not a laptop, but a digital display. It’s called the DX241H, and it will run with an ARM processor instead of an Intel chip.
This 24″ 16:9 display unit runs an ARM Cortex A8 and can play back HD video. It has USB ports, a VGA jack and HDMI output. There’s no information available regarding RAM or local storage, although the number of GBs in a product like this is sure to be small. It uses Acer’s clear.fi technology to stream media from other PCs.
The DX241H is expected to cost around $400. But for that amount one would expect it to be something more akin to a television than a computer that you could use back and forth. It doesn’t appear that the device does that and is just a media device. It comes bundled with a remote, however.
I’m taken aback that this is the first commercial Chrome OS device. Google has long said that the first products would have keyboards, which this clearly does not. At the same time, I can see why Acer would want to release something like this because it’s different and could be useful for certain purposes. We’ll probably learn more about the DX241H during CeBIT, which takes place next week.
Would you buy the DX241H?
UPDATE: I’ve moved this to the rumor category. Read my follow up here.
via ConcievablyTech, Hesie.de
Acer Shows Off a Tablet/Laptop
Posted on 07. Jan, 2011 by Daniel Cawrey. 0 Comments
Is it any coincidence that Acer and Samsung, both companies slated to have commercial Chrome OS devices in 2011, are showing off this tablet/laptop form factor?
Acer is showing their reference design, which looks a lot like the Samsung Sliding 7 we brought you earlier. Of course, these devices are being touted as Windows machines for now – at least until Chrome OS gets more refinement during the course of this year.
via Lilliputing
thechromesource Daily: Links for 9/30/10
Posted on 30. Sep, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 0 Comments
Here’s a look at the Googleplex in full color pictures.
The Beta Channel has been updated; fixes are available for all platforms on numerous issues.
Is Google really open or are they closed like other tech titans?
Acer refuses to give up on netbooks; we’re convinced that they’re going to release a Chrome OS netbook soon.
Google CEO Eric Schmidt plans on having searches happen before you ask for them.
Schmidt on Chrome OS: The PC Industry is not Like the Phone Industry
Posted on 05. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 1 Comments
Everybody’s working for the weekend, so it kind of flew under the radar last week a quote by Google CEO Eric Schmidt about the reluctance to try another Nexus One-type branded phone, or say, Chrome OS device for that matter.
Speaking to the Telegraph, Schmidt said, ”we have a reference spec for Chrome OS, we have a couple of hardware partners all lined up and the open source is all out there. It’s on schedule and it will happen later this year. Let’s see how well those partners do first. My guess is we won’t need to. The PC industry is different from the phone industry. The PC industry is used to working with Microsoft, whereas the mobile industry was not used to working with software.”
Now the mobile industry is working with software, and that software called Android sure is working out well.
What Schmidt said is really the same thing that we’ve been hearing since Computex. Acer, HP and (although not listed as an official partner) Dell are the three most likely companies at this point to put out Chrome OS devices in Q4.
Back to the topic of software. Because the fact that we’re hearing that Google is ramping up its music and news services only seems to solidify how important user experience is going to need to be to make these Chrome OS machines an ultimate success. We’ve seen a bit already of Picasa adding some cloud computing functions, and there will be no surprise that we will see more of this as we move along the third quarter.
So, in its continued fight against Apple’s massive dominance in apps, Google keeps those Chrome Apps in an ever-evolving state.
Who’s Going to Compete With Apple’s Tablet?
Posted on 22. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 1 Comments
The current state of the tablet market is pretty stale. And let’s not even go into the JooJoo.
I say this because when I was at Taiwan’s Computex 2010 conference less than a month ago there were some formidable competitors in terms of hardware, but the leading manufactures for these devices didn’t really offer a whole lot in terms of software.
Sure, the Acer tablet that allows one to flip the netbook-style form factor over to a table was impressive, but the touch functionality of Windows 7 for it was quite lackluster: I asked a product rep to reboot the device because there seemed to be a problem with the touch software, only to have the same problems crop up again once it started up.
Asus offered up a beautiful tablet design that had potential to compete with Apple, but they kept a product manager closely hovering over the device running a new version of Windows CE that looked surprisingly Android-like, but because of the people and Asus employees holding a close grip on the tablet, no one was really able to test the paces of Microsoft’s UI.
MSI had a winged version of a tablet running Android that seemed surprisingly comfortable in my hands, but we all know that Google’s smartphone operating system isn’t really meant for tablets – it just seemed like a supersized stock version of the OS. An MSI product manager also told me that the MSI Wind tablet was just a concept for now.
This is problematic. The reason why I say this is because since Apple has taken the world by storm plugging an already existing operating system with the iOS to a tablet form factor, that have essentially beaten the entire computer manufacturing market with the iPad. There is no one else that has an operating system that is fully compatible with touch on a tablet.
That’s not to say Android is far behind Apple’s touch-based operating system, but it is clear that unlike the iOS, there was no plan for tablets in its future. We’ve seen early on Google’s Chrome OS tablet concept, and we can only hope that Chrome OS will offer a stylishly-designed slate from the likes of HP, Dell or Acer in the coming months, hopefully something that is just as functional, open source for app developers and creatively designed mobile gadget that can compete with the iPad.
I hold out hope on this, because only one successful tablet in the market does not bode well for innovation. What do you think? Which one of these PC manufacturers has the best chance of offering a tablet running Chrome OS that can compete with Apple?
Those Repository Files Must Mean Something
Posted on 21. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 0 Comments
Last week, DownloadSquad’s Lee Matthews discovered some public repository files that referenced three hardware manufacturers: Dell, Acer and HP. A few days later, those files were then replaced by a different listing that included some legacy hardware such as Amiga, Atari and Commodore, among others.
This has got to mean something. One thing that jumped out in my mind when Matthews first reported this story was that Dell is not on the official list of hardware partners. When I contacted a source who is working closely with some official partners on hardware about Dell, I was told that there are no new announcements for the time being.
It seems the three manufacturers and there repository files on the Chromium site point to the logical conclusion that they will be the first companies associated with official Chrome OS products. It’s a different move than the route that was taken for Android where a more upstart company, HTC, took the first leap into the mobile OS and rode that platform to the success that it is today. I really don’t see HTC having the same spotlight it now holds with smartphones if it had continued down the Windows Mobile path it was on a few years ago.
Regardless, I have a great deal of respect for Dell, Acer and HP as longstanding companies producing computer hardware. The fact that they are getting behind this project further validates to me that Chrome OS will be a strong competitor in the consumer computing market over the coming years.
thechromesource Daily: Links for 6/16/10
Posted on 16. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 0 Comments
Remember the Chromium repository files that listed Dell, Acer and HP? They’ve been replaced by different ones now.
While Google has not launched its own storage service, it has given Memeo permission to use the “GDrive” name for Google Docs.
Social networking-focused browser Flock has replaced its Mozilla underpinnings with those of the Chromium browser.
The next version of Android will be focused on the user interface, hoping to avoid having manufactures put their own UI on devices.
Here’s a video of the the Logitech Revue, which will be a companion device for Google TV.
Dell an Official Chrome OS Partner?
Posted on 14. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 0 Comments
Recently, DownloadSquad deftly discovered that the Chromium repository referenced three manufacturers and their private hardware builds – from Acer, HP and Dell. While the first two companies were already on the list of known partners with Google on the project, Dell was left out for some reason.
However, the Dell Linux team has periodically been releasing updated builds of Chromium OS, announcing this fact in the Chromium discussion board. It is hard to speculate at this point, but one must start to wonder if the three hardware manufacturers plan on announcing releases of their Chrome OS products at the same time. Whatever the case may be, we know to expect any release information to come directly from these manufacturers at some point in the fourth quarter of 2010.
The releases that have been put out by Dell have been aimed at their Mini series of netbooks, so it’s easy to wonder whether they will be launching a Chrome OS product that is a 10″ netbook.
It is really hard to say at this point since we have seen such a precipitous decline in the popularity of netbooks since the arrival of Apple’s tablet, so it would most likely do Dell and the other two companies well to find some middle ground on a netbook/laptop hybrid that encompasses an innovative form factor paired with performance specs to wow enthusiasts, all at a competitive price.
Sounds like a tall order. No wonder Google is letting the manufacturers do the talking on this one.
thechromesource Weekend: Links for 6/13/10
Posted on 13. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 0 Comments
Dell, Acer and HP Chrome OS devices appear to be coming out first, based on Chromium repository info found by DownloadSquad.
Does open source software have more vulnerabilities for hackers to exploit than closed-source?
Potential Chrome OS tablet competitor WePad will come with ad-supported widgets that cannot be removed from the system.
Legal problems are still ahead in the Google wi-fi fiasco, and a class-action may be in the cards.
In order to further push Google Apps, the company has launched the Gone Google site, complete with a “cloud calculator”.
thechromesource Daily: Links for 5/17/10
Posted on 17. May, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 0 Comments
Although I’ve been unable to find an official link from Acer, Engadget reports that the company will not launch a Chrome OS netbook soon.
YouTube is now five years old; it serves up more than two billion videos to users everyday.
Scroogle now has its own Scraper Extension in the Chrome directory; allowing you scraped searches anytime you want.
Could Google TV be “the biggest single change in television since it went color”, as Intel chief Paul Otellini has been quoted?
The Android Market has had its website updated a bit, possibly in anticipation of Google I/O on Wednesday.
Chrome OS Devices to be on Display at Computex
Posted on 13. May, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 0 Comments
Venturebeat is reporting that Acer will show off one, or maybe even several Chrome OS-equipped devices at Computex in June. We have been reporting this for some time that a unknown Taiwan-based manufacturer would be doing this, and Venturebeat seems to substantiate this somewhat.
The fact that they are reporting this information from “multiple sources” suggests this is more than just a rumor. I will be at Computex during the first week of June and will be reporting back all news available about anything related to Chrome OS. Since Computex is one of the largest computer shows in the world and is in the center of the computer manufacturing industry, it makes sense that we would see some concrete devices at this show.
