Acer has followed last month's release of its C720 Chromebook with the launch of its first touchscreen variant. In addition to supporting up to 10 simultaneous touch points, the C720P is claimed to boot up from cold in just 7 seconds, has twice the built-in storage of its slightly older cousin and comes with 100 GB of Google Drive storage for two years.
The C720P-2666 Chromebook, as you may have already guessed, runs Google's Chrome operating system. It features a similar 11.6-inch, 1366 x 768 resolution, LED-backlit ComfyView, anti-glare display to its C720 series stablemates, but this one allows users to reach out and pinch, swipe and tap the screen to their heart's content.
The 11.34 x 8.03 x 0.78 in (28.8 x 20.4 x 1.98 cm), 2.98 lb (1.35 kg) notebook has an Intel Celeron (Haswell) 2955U processor running at 1.4 GHz at its heart, with Intel HD graphics, supported by 32 GB of SSD storage and 2 GB of DDR3L SDRAM.
Chromebooks don't run conventional computer programs like Windows laptops or Macbooks, web-based apps are the order of the day. There's an Acer InviLink Nplify 802.11a/b/g/n dual-band Wi-Fi to help users get online, and Google Search, Gmail, Docs, YouTube and Hangouts can be fired up out of the box. Other connectivity options include Bluetooth 4.0, a USB 3.0 and a USB 2.0 port, HDMI, and a media card slot.
The C720P benefits from full-size keyboard, a gesture touchpad, built-in HD webcam and stereo speakers. Acer quotes a good 7.5 hours between charges of its 3-cell, 3950 mAh Li-ion battery. It will be available from next month for US$299.99.
Source: Acer
I think if one only uses a computer to go online, using a Chromebook like this makes sense. Having it made by Acer seems really great.