Hands On With the Acer Chromebook 13

Do you want a laptop powered by the same processor as the Nvidia Shield tablet? Acer, long a proponent of the Chromebook concept, has just announced the availability of the Acer Chromebook 13 powered by Nvidia’s Tegra K1 processor.

As the name suggests, the Acer Chromebook 13 has a 13.3-inch screen built into a sleek white polycarbonate body that weighs a svelte 3.3 pounds. It’s 0.71 inches thin, but what makes it notable is something that it lacks: a cooling fan. That’s right, the Chromebook 13 is totally fanless due to the thermal properties of the Tegra K1 processor, which currently is found in the Nvidia Shield tablet. It runs so cool that it doesn’t need a fan or make you suffer its associated noise.

The Chromebook 13 will have three retail models initially, one with a 1,366-by-768-resolution screen, 2GB of memory and a 16GB SSD for $279.99 at Amazon.com. The Best Buy exclusive model has a 1,920-by-1,080-resolution full-HD display, 2GB of memory, and a 16GB SSD for $299.99. The top-of-the-line model has a 1,920-by-1,080-resolution display, 4GB of memory, and a 32GB SSD for $379.99, also at Amazon.com. All three are available for order now.

Acer is also offering a commercial and education model, with a 1,366-by-768-resolution screen, 4GB of memory, and a 16GB SSD for $329.99.

The 1,366-by-768 models promise 13 hours of battery life, while systems with the 1,920-by-1,080 screen have a slightly shorter 11.5 hours of battery life. Both will have an anti-glare coating, and will not have touch screens. While Acer offers a touch screen Chromebook in the C720P-2600, Chrome OS still isn’t touch optimized at this time.

We had some hands-on time with the Chromebook 13 with a 1080p screen, and it didn’t disappoint. While screen angles were somewhat narrow, images and video looked fine when viewed from the sweet spot. The keyboard has a nice feel, comparable to the feel on Acer’s midrange laptops. The one-piece trackpad is responsive and comfortable to use, and the system’s 802.11ac Wi-Fi had no problems connecting to our lab’s 5GHz network. An HDMI port, headset jack, SD card slot, and two USB 3.0 ports make it one of the better- connected Chromebooks on the market.

We look forward to putting the Acer Chromebook 13 through our formal testing in the weeks to come.