Installare Ubuntu sul nuovo Chromebook Acer C7 non è affatto un’operazione complessa. L’ultimo nato in casa Google usa una CPU Intel Pentium, quindi vengono meno tutte le difficoltà che invece possono usare sul fratello ARM prodotto da Samsung. Il fatto è che questo modello costa solo 199 dollari, ed in molti avranno pensato di comprarlo per poi affiancare a Chrome OS un sistema Linux o uno dei Microsoft.

Il tutto è reso ancora più semplice dal disco HDD da 320GB – installato per la prima volta su un Chromebook – buono ad ospitare più sistemi alla volta. Il video sotto mostra proprio un Acer C7 con Ubuntu Linux in azione. La distro scelta è ChrUbuntu, derivata della 12.04, già vista in azione su Chromebook ARM. La procedura passo-passo (si inizia attivando la modalità sviluppatore nel BIOS e nel bootloader del Chromebook) è online su liliputing.com; ci sono anche le istruzioni per creare il dual-boot con Chrome OS.

Il sistema è chiaramente reattivo e veloce con ChrUbuntu (in fin dei conti l’hardware non è scarsissimo) ma si perdono le ottimizzazioni di Chrome OS, soprattutto quelle relative al risveglio dalla sospensione e alla gestione energetica. Ci può stare, in cambio di un ambiente desktop completo. Sarebbe interessante vedere Acer C7 in Italia a 199 euro, ma non ci sono ancora informazioni sulla distribuzione europea.

Hardware

Die Chromebook-Familie von Google wird erweitert: Der jüngste Zuwachs ist ein 11,6 Zoll-Netbook von Acer um 199 US-Dollar. Es kommt mit einem Intel-Prozessor, 320 GB Harddrive und 100 GB zusätzlichen Speicherplatz bei Google Drive. Abstriche gibt es bei der Akkuleistung.

Google hat am Montag das Acer C7 Chromebook veröffentlicht. Es ist neben dem Samsung Chromebook und dem Samsung Chromebook 550 das nächste Gerät mit dem cloud-basierten Betriebssystem von Google.

Das Acer C7-Chromebook kommt mit einem Intel-Prozessor, einem Keyboard in natürlicher Größe sowie einem anklickbaren Trackpad. Es hat 320 GB Harddrive und kommt mit 100 GB zusätzlichen kostenlosen Speicherplatz auf Google Drive. Das C7 bootet laut Hersteller-Angaben in 18 Sekunden und der Akku hält insgesamt 3,5 Stunden.

Chromebook von Acer

Die geringe Akkuleistung ist auch eines der größten Abschläge, die durch den billigen Preis zustande kommen. Das Samsung Chromebook kostet nur 50 US-Dollar mehr, hält aber drei Stunden länger durch. Das C7 ist zudem dicker und verfügt über keine 3G-Fähigkeit.

Der Verkauft des C7 startet am Dienstag im US- und UK-Store von Google Play und Best Buy-Geschäften in den USA. Google kündigte an, dass das C7 auch “bald” in mehr Ländern verfügbar sein werde.

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Google’s Play store played host to the UK’s first live orders of the Nexus 4, 3G Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 this morning. This led to the LG Nexus 4 smartphone selling out in the first 30 minutes of retail, with high traffic bringing malfunctions in the online store.

Disgruntled consumers lamented the unresponsive site that produced frequent shopping cart errors at the checkout stage. This resulted in the users’ orders being usurped by other lucky customers as the site failed to register certain purchase requests.

The site users’ ire was further exacerbated when the initial stock of Nexus 4s appeared to sell out just as the store’s site errors were being resolved. Current attempts to purchase any models of the smartphone are met with the “Notify Me” option, as the “Buy Now” icon no longer appears.

The Play store sold out of the 16GB model in 15 minutes while the smaller capacity 8GB version went out of stock a further 15 minutes later.

All other products are still in stock with the 3G Nexus 7 available for £239, and the larger Nexus 10 priced at £319 for the 16GB model and £389 for the 32GB variant.

The relatively cheap pricing is a contributing factor to the high demand for the LG handset which is around half the price of some competitors, starting at £239 for the 8GB model and £279 for 16GB capacity.

The Play store is also offering the previously reported Acer C7 Chromebook which is presently still in stock.

November 12, 2012, 2:40 PM — Acer has started shipping the C7 Chromebook netbook starting at US$199 with Google’s Chrome OS and Intel’s Celeron processor.

The low-power laptop has an 11.6-inch screen, and is for those who do most of their computing on the web, Acer said Monday. the C7 Chromebook is mainly designed to be a secondary mobile device for those who want to browse the Web, check email or access social networks.

The C7 Chromebook will face competition from Samsung’s Chromebook, which starts at $249 and also runs on Chrome OS. Samsung’s Chromebook, which was announced last month, has the Exynos 5 Dual chip, which is based on ARM’s Cortex-A15 processor design. ARM, which dominates tablets and smartphones, is now trying to enter the laptop market, which is dominated by x86 chips from Intel and Advanced Micro Devices.

Acer and Samsung announced the first wave of Chromebooks in June last year. Google has coined the term “Chromebook” for netbooks with the Chrome OS.

The C7 will come with Wi-Fi connectivity. Samsung’s Chromebook by comparison comes with Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity, with prices for 3G netbooks starting at $329. Acer did not respond to requests for comment on whether it will introduce 3G or LTE connectivity in C7.

The C7 has Intel’s Celeron 847 processor, which is based on the Sandy Bridge microarchitecture and has a clock speed of 1.10GHz. The laptop has a 1.3-megapixel webcam and 320GB of storage, and Acer is offering 100GB of free Google Drive cloud storage for two years.

The laptop weighs 1.38 kilograms and is 25 millimeters thick. The laptop has an HDMI (high-definition multimedia interface) port and a Secure Digital card slot.

The C7 Chromebook is available from the Google Play online store or Best Buy’s retail and online stores. Acer did not respond to a request for information about C7 Chromebook’s worldwide availability.

Agam Shah covers PCs, tablets, servers, chips and semiconductors for IDG News Service. Follow Agam on Twitter at @agamsh. Agam’s e-mail address is agam_shah@idg.com

Sometimes, you just need to be able to pick up your laptop and keep working as you go. Be it an office, a retail store, or a factory floor, a lot of people do some (or all) of their work on their feet, and Lenovo has done a great deal to make sure that the productive power of its business laptop can also be found as a convertible tablet. Case in point: The Lenovo ThinkPad X230  business laptop has a tablet sibling, the Lenovo ThinkPad X230t , a convertible tablet that packs all of the same hardware and capability into a design that switches easily between laptop and tablet, giving you touch-screen capability and a handy easy-to-carry design as well. While we’ll surely be reviewing new Windows 8 convertibles in the coming weeks, not all businesses are ready (or want) to upgrade to Windows 8 Pro, making this the Windows 7 convertible to choose. The Lenovo ThinkPad X230t replaces the previous Lenovo ThinkPad X220 tablet as our Editors’ Choice for Windows 7 convertible business laptops.

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Design
The X230t will have a familiar design to anyone that has used another Lenovo convertible tablet, such as last year’s Editors’ Choice, the Lenovo ThinkPad X220 Tablet . Instead of two hinges at either bottom corner of the laptop lid (like on the X230 laptop), the X230t uses a single swivel hinge in the center, which allows the display to swivel 180 degrees and then close flat, with the display facing out. Unlike more traditional ThinkPad X230 (a standard laptop), this convertible tablet is also equipped with a touch screen, allowing the use of either a Wacom-style pressure sensitive stylus or finger tips to input directly from the display. The display itself is a 12.5-inch 1366-by-768 panel with a Wacom Digitizer built in. It’s the same resolution seen on the 13-inch Toshiba Portege R935-P322 , but the Toshiba R935-P322 doesn’t offer touch functionality. The swivel hinge is much like that used on earlier models, but with a stronger magnetic latch holding it in place.

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This tablet functionality is supported with several design elements you won’t find on the standard ThinkPad laptop, such as a large grip added to the battery, and the inclusion of a digital stylus and onboard stylus storage. The X230t measures 1.7 by 12.0 by 10.4 inches (HWD), and weighs 3.7 pounds, which is a bit heavy for a tablet, but Lenovo has designed the X230t to be carried in the crook of your arm, much like a clipboard. This is achieved thanks to the oversized battery, which adds a large grip to the top two-thirds of the laptop hinge, but leaves the bottom third without any extra grip, making a niche that nestles into the elbow comfortably.

For those times that you aren’t using it as a tablet, the X230t has Lenovo’s Precision keyboard, a chiclet-style design. In the midst of the keys is a red TrackPoint, for cursor control without having to pull your fingers from the home row. Joining the TrackPoint is also a clickpad that integrates right and left click into the touch surface, with three additional physical buttons above the touch surface for use with the TrackPoint.

The X230t provides decent sound, thanks to quality speakers and Dolby Advanced Audio v2. Additionally, you’ll find that the X230t is equipped with a 720p webcam, which offers wide-angle viewing and has improved automatic focus through face tracking technology.

Features
Unlike convertible ultrabooks, which reduce the number of ports to fit a much smaller frame, the X230t offers a full selection of ports and features. In addition to standard features, like two USB 3.0 ports, one USB 2.0 port with Sleep and Charge, a combination mic and headphone jack, and an Ethernet port, the X230t is also outfitted with built-in stylus storage, a card reader (SD, SDHC, SDXC, MMC), and an ExpressCard Slot.

For connecting an external monitor, you’ll find both VGA and DisplayPort outputs, along with Intel’s Wireless Display, which lets you stream HD video and audio wirelessly through an adapter, such as the Netgear Push2TV. In addition to Wi-Fi (802.11n), the X230t also has Bluetooth 4.0, and optional mobile broadband (3G and 4G) without a contract through Lenovo’s pay-as-you-go Mobile Access service.

Our review unit came configured with a 320GB 7,200rpm hard drive, but configurations are also available with either a 500GB drive, or 128GB solid-state drive (SSD). The ThinkPad X230t has no optical drive.

The X230t comes with Windows 7 Professional, along with the Windows TouchPack, which adds touch screen integration and handwriting recognition. Companies looking to upgrade to Windows 8 will need to wait, as the X230t is only available (at present) with Windows 7. The system itself, however should be upgradable without issue. While Lenovo doesn’t put a lot of software onto its ThinkPads, the X230t does still have a few extras pre-installed, like Evernote, Google Chrome browser, Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer, along with common programs like Microsoft Office Starter 2010, and a 30-day trial of Norton Internet Security. Lenovo covers the ThinkPad X230t with a one-year warranty. 

Hit up Google’s Chromebook site and you can now choose from a trio of Wi-Fi models, one of which is currently available with a 3G option. Prices widely range from a low of $199 up to $549 for the devices due to different hardware configurations, specifications and battery capacity. Yet all of these run the same Chrome OS: The Chrome browser on top of a Linux build without the ability to install anything beyond web browser extensions.

I’ve been using all three base models for some time now. I spent $449 for the Samsung Series 5 550 model in June and it has become my primary computing device for work purposes. Last month, Google introduced an updated Samsung model, simply called Chromebook, that is lighter, thinner and cheaper at $249. The device runs on Samsung’s latest chip for smartphones and tablets.

And earlier this month, Acer introduced the $199 C7 Chromebook; a repurposed Windows laptop offers less battery life than the other two Chromebook choices. After the latest software update, the C7 is rated for 4 hours of run-time, while I routinely see between 6 and 7 hours on the Samsung models. But how does it perform?

I compared performance of the Samsung models last month, noting that the lower priced model runs a little slower in real world experience, with some benchmarks to validate what I’ve seen. After spending time with the latest model, I’m updating my becnchmark table as the $199 C7 has performed better than the $249 model in most cases, but is still not up to par with the $449 device:

At this point, I plan to stick with my $449 purchase because it offers the best performance and can still run as long on a single charge as the $249 version. If I hadn’t already invested the money, I’d likely consider the lower priced Samsung model over the even less expensive Acer C7, mainly because of the 50 percent boost in battery life. Even with some minor compatibility issues that are the process of being addressed, for me, battery life trumps many features in a mobile device.

I’m also finding that Acer’s use of a hard drive instead of flash memory brings some unwanted noise to the experience and even some web page stutters after opening multiple tabs. Previously opened web pages appear blank every once in while, for example, and I’ve heard some streaming music pauses as the device loads additional web pages. For basic use, the Acer, or even the $249 Samsung model, will surely work fine, but for Chrome OS “power users” — if there is such a thing — paying a premium for the $449 model is money well spent.

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Acer C7 Chromebook Mulai Dipasarkan Rp 1,9 Juta
Tech Info Wed, 14 Nov 2012 11:56:00 WIB

Jakarta - Acer C7 Chromebook, notebook besutan Acer yang menggunakan sistem operasi Chrome, resmi diluncurkan. Produk ini dijual dengan harga lebih murah dari pesaingnya, yaitu hanya $199 atau sekitar Rp 1,9 juta.

C7 Chromebook hadir dengan layar 11.6 inci, dipersenjatai dengan prosesor Intel Celeron 847, dan kapasitas penyimpanan hardisk 320 GB. Sebagai bonus, Acer menawarkan penyimpanan cloud gratis di Google Drive dengan kapasitas 100 GB selama dua tahun.

Laptop berbobot 1,38 kilogram dan tebal 25 milimeter ini juga dilengkapi port HDMI (high-definition multimedia interface), slot kartu Secure Digital, webcam HD 1.3-megapixel dengan LED indikator dan mikrofon, serta keyboard full-size.

Acer C7 Chromebook digadang-gadang cocok untuk mereka yang menginginkan perangkat mobile alternatif untuk sekedar mengakses Web, cek email atau mengakses layanan jejaring sosial. C7 Chromebook disinyalir akan menjadi produk saingan Chromebook milik Samsung yang dibandrol $249, yang juga menggunakan sistem operasi Chrome.

Menurut Google, Acer C7 Chromebook akan mampu bertahan selama 3,5 jam dengan baterai. Berbeda dengan Samsung Chromebook yang mampu bertahan hingga 6,5 jam. Kabarnya C7 hanya dilengkapi dengan koneksi Wi-Fi, sementara Samsung Chromebook dilengkapi dengan koneksi Wi-Fi dan 3G.

Google menambahkan, ada ribuan aplikasi gratis yang ditanamkan untuk Chromebook termasuk integrasi dengan produk Google seperti Gmail, Drive, Maps, YouTube dan Google+. Istilah “Chromebook” sendiri dipakai untuk notebook yang memakai sistem operasi Chrome.

Produk ini sudah mulai dipasarkan di Amerika Serikat mulai hari ini secara online di Google Play, BestBuy.com, dan di beberapa toko Best Buy. Khusus untuk United Kingdom, seperti dikutip dari PC World, Selasa (13/11/2012), Acer C7 Chromebook dapat dibeli di Google Play, Amazon UK, PC World, dan Currys. Menyusul negara lainnya.