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Google Adds Two New Chromebooks To Its Education Line-up

By 6 Comments

by Gabriel Brangers
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Out of the blue, Google announced the release of two new Chromebook models aimed at the Education market. The Acer Chromebook 11 Spin and the ASUS Chromebook C213 will be available in late spring and are being touted as “next generation” devices.




Here’s Why

These two new Chromebooks will be featuring the latest Apollo Lake chips from Intel. As the replacement for the Braswell line, these chips are targeted at low-cost models and have found themselves very comfortable in the education sector.

That doesn’t mean these devices don’t have a few tricks up their sleeves. The reason the Acer and ASUS are being labeled “next gen” is the features they offer that aren’t found in any other devices in their target market.




What’s New

According to Google’s Official Blog, these two Chromebooks come equipped with a low-cost Wacom Stylus and each device has been equipped with a pressure-sensitive digitizer. This makes them the first, outside of the Samsung Chromebook Plus/Pro, with this feature included.

USB-C is quickly becoming the new standard in mobile and computing devices and both the Acer and ASUS are equipped with one each for charging.

The new line-up of Chrome OS devices also include what is called a “world view camera.” Essentially a keyboard mounted camera that can be used in tablet mode so students can use the display as sort of a viewfinder while using the camera. This feature could be implemented as a microscope or even used in basic mapping projects.

The Acer Chromebook Spin is already available for order through the Google Education product store. According to sources at Google they will be shipping sometime in early spring. This is just another sign that Google and manufacturers aren’t afraid to go all-in on Chrome OS

  • I couldn’t find the display resolution/ration mentioned anywhere. I’m guessing both are 16:9, but I would like to know. Definitely planning to get the Chromebook Pro, but options are always nice.

    • Happy Gumdrops

      The specs still seem to be unclear but Liliputing and a few other outlets yesterday seemed to indicate that both the new ASUS C213 and Acer Spin 11 (R751T?) come with 1366×768 16:9 displays. To the best of my knowledge, this hasn’t been confirmed by either manufacturer, but it seems like the Dell Chromebook 11 convertible will also have similar specifications suggesting a possible Android One-style common platform for the upcoming generation of education-focused convertible Chromebooks with styli.

      • I know that it helps affordability, but we really need to try to change the 16:9 standard to 16:10 or 3:2. IMHO, 16:9 doesn’t get usable until you hit 1080p with a fairly large screen (15 inch and greater). It isn’t comfortable till something like 24 inch.

        Especially if we want tablet mode to be a commonly used thing, we need 16:10 or 3:2.

  • DumbledorBoB

    I saw an article earlier today about Microsoft trying to ‘crash’ the Chromebook education party with a management product named “Intune for Education.” It sounds very similar to Google’s cloud management for education. They are also showing four new laptops for the new program, too::

    https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2017/01/24/announcing-intune-education-new-windows-10-pcs-school-starting-189/#2HrrpsEeoDdlHkXk.97

    It may work for high-end software that are still not on Chromebooks (graphics), but I would think that would be more for higher ed than K-12.

    One thing they are taunting is ‘Inking’ which is kind of what the new Samsung and the models mentioned in this article are all about.

    But is it too little too late? Let the battle begin! 🙂

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  • Kyle

    “The Acer Chromebook Spin is already available for order through the Google Education product store.” The link is no longer functional, it shows Acer Chromebook C738T-C5R6 NX.G55AA.003 11.6 Inches (Black)(Touchscreen).