IDG News Service - Acer has started shipping the C7 Chromebook netbook starting at $199 with Google's Chrome OS and Intel's Celeron processor.
The low-power laptop has an 11.6-inch screen, and is for those who do most of their computing on the web, Acer said Monday. the C7 Chromebook is mainly designed to be a secondary mobile device for those who want to browse the Web, check email or access social networks.
The C7 Chromebook will face competition from Samsung's Chromebook, which starts at $249 and also runs on Chrome OS. Samsung's Chromebook, which was announced last month, has the Exynos 5 Dual chip, which is based on ARM's Cortex-A15 processor design. ARM, which dominates tablets and smartphones, is now trying to enter the laptop market, which is dominated by x86 chips from Intel and Advanced Micro Devices.
Acer and Samsung announced the first wave of Chromebooks in June last year. Google has coined the term "Chromebook" for netbooks with the Chrome OS.
The C7 will come with Wi-Fi connectivity. Samsung's Chromebook by comparison comes with Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity, with prices for 3G netbooks starting at $329. Acer did not respond to requests for comment on whether it will introduce 3G or LTE connectivity in C7.
The C7 has Intel's Celeron 847 processor, which is based on the Sandy Bridge microarchitecture and has a clock speed of 1.10GHz. The laptop has a 1.3-megapixel webcam and 320GB of storage, and Acer is offering 100GB of free Google Drive cloud storage for two years.
The laptop weighs 1.38 kilograms and is 25 millimeters thick. The laptop has an HDMI (high-definition multimedia interface) port and a Secure Digital card slot.
The C7 Chromebook is available from the Google Play online store or Best Buy's retail and online stores. Acer did not respond to a request for information about C7 Chromebook's worldwide availability.
Agam Shah covers PCs, tablets, servers, chips and semiconductors for IDG News Service. Follow Agam on Twitter at @agamsh. Agam's e-mail address is agam_shah@idg.com
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