Following on HP's announcement this week of new education Chromebooks[1], rivals Dell and Acer have launched new Chromebooks for schoolkids as well. Just to make sure they leave no stone unturned in the burgeoning market segment, the two companies are each introducing a new Windows-based educational laptop as well. The slew of new education Chromebooks are timed to correspond with the Bett education technology event going on in London.this week.
Like HP, Acer's new offerings include Intel and AMD[2] processors -- AMD chips having just started showing up in Chromebooks at the recent CES event -- while Dell chooses to stick with Intel inside. All three manufacturers have embraced the idea of making their educational portables rugged enough to deal with the messy. clumsy hands of schoolchildren, as the new systems tout compliance with military levels of durability. Such touches include spill-resistant keyboards, drop protection, and in the case of Acer Chromebook Spin 512 and Dell Chromebook 3100 2-in-1 Gorilla Glass displays.
The Spin 512 is joined by the Chromebook 512 among Acer's new Intel-based systems, both sporting 12-inch screens and either a quad-core Pentium N5000 or Celeron N4100 processor. (The Chromebook 512 can alternatively be equipped with a dual-core Celeron N4000 CPU.) Using a unique 3:2 aspect ratio that Acer claims provides 18 percent more vertical screen space, the screens have a resolution of 1,366x912. The Spin 512 comes with a 360-degree hinge that allows it to be used in tablet mode with the included Wacom digital stylus.
Acer hasn't abandoned the traditional 16:9 aspect ratio, as it has a Spin 511[3] edition slated as well, with specs similar to the Spin 512, and the more budget-friendly Chromebook 311 and Spin 311. The