Today at IFA in Berlin, Germany, Acer announced a new Chromebook that looks pretty impressive. The new Chromebook R13 will be hitting stores in October and it sports not only a touchscreen but also has a folding design so you can use it as a slate. This is the combination that many Chromebook users have been waiting for from the platform and with a price tag of around $400, it is still reasonably affordable.
As the name suggests, the R13 has a 13″ LCD display that provides 1080p HD, has 4GB of RAM and will start out with 16GB of storage. Acer plans to have 32GB and 64GB models available at the time of the release. The R13 is powered by a MediaTek MT8173C quad-core processor, has a USB Type-C port, HDMI port and a 720p webcam.
The R13’s touchscreen is likely going to make it a big hit once it does hit the market. With Android apps slated to come to Chrome OS later this year, touchscreens on Chromebooks will become
Acer Chromebook R13
more of a need instead of a want. It looks like Acer has timed the release of the R13 just about perfectly.
I think the biggest question that most users will have on this new Chromebook will be the choice of processor. MediaTek is still what I would consider up-and-coming (although they’ve been around a while) and performance has been a bit lackluster. That said, this is a new chip and obviously Acer feels confident enough to go with it on a premium device. Once the device is out and benchmarked, we’ll see if it was a wise choice.
Or Not.
Look for the Acer Chromebook R13 sometime in October with a starting price of around $400
