Acer is bringing Nvidia into the Chromebook game in a big way with a new laptop that may find itself on the top of the pile.
The Acer Chromebook 13 is the first of its kind to house a Nvidia Tegra K1 processor. It's also Acer's first Chrome OS laptop with a 13.3-inch display.
For those who don't remember the Tegra K1 from CES 2014, the processor includes a 192-core GPU that should provide enough oomph to get you through your day.
And a long day it might be; keeping with the hard-luck number theme, the Chromebook 13 has a logged battery life of up to 13 hours, the longest of any comparable size model.
Acer Chromebook 13 specs
Users will be able to choose between a 1920 x 1080 display resolution Chromebook 13 or one with a less appealing, 1366 x 768 resolution.
With greater screen resolution comes shorter battery life, though, as the higher-res model lasts up to 11 hours while the lower-res version can make it all the way up to that 13 hour mark.
The Chromebook 13 is fanless and built svelte - it weighs 3.31 pounds and measures 0.71 inches wide.
To stay connected, the Chromebook 13 features 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and 2x2 MIMO antenna for more reliable throughput. As for what you can stick in and send out, the new Chrome OS laptop counts two USB 3.0 ports and an HDMI port.
There's also webcam with 720p HD audio/video recording capabilities and two built-in stereo speakers and microphone.
Tegra K1 K.O.
The Tegra 1 grabbed headlines at this year's CES, but finding it in a device is still a rarity.
The one housed in the Chromebook 13 is divided into two parts: a Nvidia 4-Plus-1 quad-core ARM Cortex-A15 "r3" CPU and 192 CUDA core GPU based on Kepler architecture. The CPU side's max clock speed is 2.3 GHz.
A third-gen battery-saver core helps bring the machine up to its 13 hours of possible battery life.
According to Nvidia, the Tegra K1 brings graphical prowess, power efficiency and a mobile processing shot-to-the-arm to the Chromebook 13. Plus, it's Google Hangout optimized, as an added bonus.
Pricing and availability
Getting down to brass tacks, the 1920 x 1080 model (Acer Chromebook 13 CB5-311-T9B0) will be available with 2GB of memory and a 16GB SSD. It's up for pre-sale on BestBuy.com for $299.99 (about £178, AU$323).
A 4GB/32GB SSD version of the same screen resolution (Acer Chromebook 13 CB5-311-T1UU) comes to $379.99 (about £225, AU$410) and is up for pre-sale on Amazon.
Finally, the Acer Chromebook 13 CB5-311-T7NN with a 1366 x 768 display, 2GB of memory and a 16GB SSD will cost $279.99 (about £165, AU$302). It too is available on Amazon.
Education and commercial customers will be able to grab a special configuration through resellers with a 1366 x 768 display, 4GB of memory and a 16GB SSD for $329.99 (about £196, AU$356).
Full availability will happen in the US in September followed by a release in several regions, including the UK, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, France, Germany, Russia, Italy, Spain, South Africa and Switzerland.
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