Nvidia’sTegra K1is an absolute attack in anAndroid tabletand now the Acer Chromebook 13 is slap it in a laptop body too . The result is n’t gross , but it ’s a promising look at where Chromebooks could go .
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What Is It?
A Chromebook with Nvidia ’s impressive K1 mobile chip for a brain . A $ 380 laptop with a 1080p screen that can handle eight hours of pretty ponderous usance on a undivided charge . A Chrome O machine that brook a chance at maybe behind able-bodied to handle 3D games . But not the most herculean machine ever because , of course , it is a Chromebook after all .
Why Does It Matter?
Chromebook - country is exploding with form . by from theludicrous Pixel , Chromebooks started as a bunch of super mobile laptop with low resolutions and generally mediocre guts . Now , we ’re seeing more and more alternative with large , beautiful screen door and more muscular desktop - grade internals . The Acer Chromebook 13 is right in the midriff of the affray , with a(n optional ) 1080p screen door and a processor that has its centre set on slur the wrinkle between mobile and background . mayhap , just maybe , the Chromebook 13 is in a position to be the best of both worlds .
Design
Acer ’s Chromebook 13 is white and blockish , with a smooth lustrelessness stopping point on the top of the hat , and a rougher one on its underbelly . The manner did n’t do much for me at first , but over the course of a hebdomad or so I really come to dig it ; I ’m a sucker for minimalism and the Chromebook 13 ’s design is spartan in a way that ’s refreshfully deliberate . The same stark , white , and tilt face cavity to the interior where black keys and a few stickers ( and the screen , duh ) are the only affair to cut off the same lustrelessness field of study of ashen you ’ll find on the lid .
Speaking of that 1080p screen , it ’s relatively high resolution for a Chromebook ( though screens like this are becoming more common ) but it also has a matte finish that throw up glare - free in direct sunshine but that really knocks the display down a few oarlock in term of flavour . you may see a little matrix of second power around the pel — you do n’t even have to take care especially closely — and it gives the show the unpleasant effect of attend like it ’s covered with a thin film of soap . specially when you ’re looking at something white-hot . It ’s hard on the eye .
The full - sized keyboard is a fiddling bit squishy , but the frame around the keys is remarkably substantial ; there ’s a little flex to be come up on either side of the keyboard , but it only show up if you ’re poke around and actively looking for it . The flexible joint is nice and solid too . The covert does n’t bobsled around ( like it has a propensity to do on the HP Chromebook 11 ) unless you are REALLY HAMMERING off AT THAT KEYBOARD . The keys themselves have a lot of peak to them , and that height ( and the full - sizing ) makes touch - typewriting on the Chromebook 13 pretty easily ; I ’ve hammered out this whole critique on it and have few charge .
alike , the trackpad is wholly viable , if also nothing to spell home base about . When I ab initio got a mitt - on with the Chromebook 13 , the unit had an topic where the trackpad would betray to come home if my hired hand were resting too heavily to either side of it , but thankfully I had no clicking problem with the trackpad on our review unit .
larboard - wise you could find a USB port and Mount Rushmore State card time slot on the left side , a power socket and a headphone jack on the rightfulness , and a second USB and an HDMI connector on the back , in case you desire to secure into a TV or a bigger monitor lizard . The rearward placement is a little strange for a laptop computer , but I did n’t find it to be any unspoiled or bad than a more ceremonious side - embrasure .
Using it
The big merchandising point of the Chromebook 13 is n’t anything about its outsides though , it ’s the Nvidia Tegra K1 brain . We ’ve seen this potato chip kick ass in the Shield Tablet , but power a Chromebook is a snatch of a different challenge . Mostly the K1 holds its own just fine , but it ’s nothing that blow away vie Chromebooks that run Intel chips or even Samsung ’s ARM - based Chromebook 2 in day - to - mean solar day use . school text can still take a while to show up when you ’re type . juggle more than 6 or 7 tabs will still pop out to make your carrying into action get a little hitchy , though not in a elbow room that ’s consistently bad ; the lag come and goes depending on how many of your tabs are trying to load up at any given time . Always - updating tabs like Tweetdeck or Slack can be vicious on carrying into action . I ultimately had to close Pandora so that typing this recap out in Google Docs would be a little more pleasant .
I put the Acer Chromebook 13 up against a Samsung Chromebook 2 ( with an Exynos 5 Octa - core processor ) , loaded each up with ten identical tabs including some Gmail , Tweetdeck , and Slack , and the two performed reasonably much the same . Throw something 3D into the mix though — especially something that apply WebGL for rendering — and the Chromebook 13 can treat it unusually well . BioDigital‘s impressive spin human bodies work terrifically ( once they load ) , where on the Chromebook 2 ( and even an Intel Celeron - powered Toshiba Chromebook ) , there was a lot more hitching going on . The Chromebook 13 also plow full 1080p pour picture admirably , so long as there ’s not too much belong on in the background .
The Chromebook 13 ’s graphical prowess is determine to a few specific uses right now though , specifically web practical software that apply WebGL — a smallish , but grow collection of gimmicky websites and technical school - demo - ish plot , with the periodic useful tool thrown in for good measure . But try running Bastion or From Dust , or any other “ Native Client ” app from the Chrome Store , and you ’re entirely out of luck . Those game notoriously convey Intel - powered Chromebooks to their knees , but on the Chromebook 13 they do n’t even run , thanks to some superannuated genus Apis and developers who have n’t gone back to fine-tune their apps to play nice with ARM chips .
It ’s not a dealbreaker — newer apps do n’t have this problem , and devs can always go back an update — but it ’s a handy admonisher that horsepower does n’t matter if mutual exclusiveness means you ca n’t use it . Just like how we knowthe K1 can run Portal just ok , but only if it ’s got the right operating system ; you ca n’t do that on Chrome OS ( yet ) .
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If you ’re looking for an laptop computer that ’s got firm barrage fire life , the Chromebook 13 fill the recess pretty well . The official line is a 13 - minute figure ( via a Google PowerLoad test ) , but that ’s specifically for the example with the 1366 x 768 screen . The manakin we tested had the full on 1080p , which plainly take a pungency out of battery life , but with tripping usage ( one Chrome windowpane , four tabs — Facebook , Tweetdeck , Gmail ,
and a 10 - hour YouTube video playing in non - fullscreen , all at 70 percent brightness ) the Chromebook clock in at a very respectable 8 time of day . Well , just shy by 13 seconds . Under heavier function ( I blogged with it for a sidereal day , so we ’re babble ~12 simultaneous tabs including Tweetdeck , Gmail , and a half - dozen static newspages ) the Chromebook 13 give up the ghost four minutes unsure of six hour . Not a full daytime of work , but plenty of time to chill at a coffee shop class or recover an outlet to hang out by for a little snatch .
Like
The K1 ’s functioning on WebGL applications is really promising . The idea of make a laptop computer computer that ’s comparatively cheap , can treat all your daily web - crop and emailing well enough , but that wo n’t seize up if you stress to go to a webpage that has some 3D tricks up its arm is awful . And while the Chromebook 13 ’s performance on just stock web - browsing can still be a little sluggish , it almost feels like a dissimilar ( better ! ) political machine when you load up something likeHexGL .
The Chromebook 13 await really prissy . It took a while to originate on me but now I really labour it . Maybe I ’m just a sucker for fatal and snowy , but I ca n’t suppose of a Chromebook I ’d rather be ascertain with except maybe an HP Chromebook 11 .
The battery life is strong . Eight hours of light usance is middling beneficial , and the lower - res example probably has some serious chops in that department . We have n’t seen what the battery living on the small - res model look like first - hand ( yet ) , but the public presentation we consider on the 1080p model is foretell for sure .
No Like
That matte screen . 1080p is cracking and all but the shoddy matte finish really pour down it for me . The Samsung Chromebook 2 ’s calendered 1080p is just so much near in almost every scenario . Yeah , the Chromebook 13 is pretty imperviable to glare , but at the price of making white - ground website and things like Google Docs unpleasant to read . It peck at me when I was watching telecasting too . you may kind of strain it out , but when you point out it , it really sucks .
The K1 is good at handling WebGL hooey , but for average web - browsing and other flavors of Chrome usage it ’s just OK . Using the Chromebook 13 side - by - side with the Exynos 5 octa - powered Samsung Chromebook 2 and the Intel Celeron - powered Toshiba Chromebook I was able to find some instances — load that 10th or 11th tab , for illustration — where the Chromebook 13 has a little extra peppiness , but not enough to observe on its own . And it still falls dupe to typical Chromebook pitfalls like the older “ I have type three words but they have not shown up . Are they going to show up ? hold back , oh there they are . ”
Should you buy it?
Probably not . The Acer Chromebook 13 depict the K1 has promise as a Chromebook brain , but the Chromebook 13 ’s screen is really disappointing , and K1 could very well show up in a machine with a expert one . In the meantime , the potential of K1 is not a braggart enough draw to nibble the Chromebook 13 over something like the slightly more expensive Samsung Chromebook 2 , which has a screen door that look nifty and wo n’t scrape on you . Or something cheaper with a lower - res screen if the showing does n’t matter that much to you .
Yet . K1 has a ton of potential in Chromebooks and other web - browsery twist . WebGL — what the K1 and the Chromebook 13 excels at — is only go to become more prevalent . It ’s stomach by all the major web browser , and is brace to labor more and more of the interactional web as time start on . Not to name that when Google gets around toporting Android apps over to Chrome , the K1 will regain some of the world power it showed off withthe Shield Tab .
Google Is go to Bring Android Apps to Chrome(books )
For the meter being , K1 seems like a pretty good bet for a Chromebook brain , but the Chromebook 13 is n’t quite the body it ’d be best in . The $ 280 base model ( with a 1366 x 768 screen , 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of storage ) might be a good buy based on K1 graphic power and battery spirit alone , but we ca n’t really talk to what that one ’s really wish to use . The $ 300 , 1080p model we did test ( 2 GB RAM , 16 GB memory board ) deserves a better screenland for the damage . Here ’s hope it gets one soon .
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