Acer is busting out all the new toys at Next@Acer, and in between the next-age ConceptD devices and latest generation of Predator gaming machines, the company unveiled the first Chromebook with a number pad, and two models with fingerprint sensors: the Acer Chromebook 715 and 714.
The Chromebook 715 features a 15.6-inch Gorilla Glass screen, a backlit keyboard with a dedicated numeric keypad, and an integrated fingerprint sensor for the starting price of $499 in North America in July and €599 in Europe in June.
The Chromebook 714 features a compact design, a 14-inch Gorilla Glass screen with narrow 6.18mm bezels, a backlit keyboard — no room for a numpad here, sorry — and an integrated fingerprint sensor with prices starting at $499 in North America in July and $549 in Europe in June.
Both Chromebooks feature MIL-STD 810G compliant protection against drops and pressure, moisture-resistant Gorilla Glass touchpads, 12-hour battery life with a USB-C port on each side of the machine, Citrix Ready certifications, and 8th gen Intel Core i5 and i3 processor options. The memory and storage options for both machines will be 8 GB or 16 GB DDR4 SDRAM and 32 GB, 64 GB or 128 GB eMMC storage. Acer is also offering an optional Acer USB-C Dock for easily plugging the 715 or 714 into robust workstations, which makes sense given these are Enterprise-focused machines.
The numpad and durable build on the Acer Chromebook 715 combine for a Chromebook that will look mighty appealing to teachers as well as number-crunching salarymen, and you can bet your boots I'm going to try and get my hands on one for a review as we get closer to the summer.
