Acer Releases New Version Of The Chromebook 15 With 12-Hour Battery Life, $199 Price Tag

Acer has announced this year’s version of the Chromebook 15, which is still very affordable at $199. However, the cheap price comes with a lot of compromise which may put off a lot of potential buyers.

Chromebooks have always been the most affordable way of getting a laptop, and the new Acer Chromebook 15 is no exception. The problem lies with how it fares with other models like its predecessor. The new Chrome OS laptop comes with a 15.6-inch display with a screen resolution of 1,366 x 768. The display size is big, but the screen resolution is very limiting when it comes to providing actual screen real estate.

Under the hood, the new Acer Chromebook 15 comes with an Intel Celeron N3060 dual-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage and 100GB of free Google Storage for two years, according to PC Mag. RAM size is disappointing to say the least. Even with the laptop running Chrome OS, it should have at least 4GB as standard.

Last year’s model can be upgraded to come with 4GB of RAM and outfitted with a full HD 1080p display for an additional $80, as pointed out by Engadget. Acer has not confirmed yet if it would be offering the same deal with this year’s model.

As for ports, the Acer Chromebook 15 comes with two USB 3.0 ports, an SD card reader that supports up to 128GB and an HDMI port. The laptop also comes equipped with 802.11 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.2.

Despite some of the disappointing hardware, the new Acer Chromebook 15 still offers something more than just an affordable price. Acer claims that the new model has a 12-hour battery life while also being lighter than its 4.85-pound predecessor at just 4.3 pounds. Another great thing about this model is that it fully supports Android apps from the Google Play Store.

As of now, the new Acer Chromebook 15 is only available at Walmart’s online store and some of its physical stores, according to Digital Trends.