Acer has announced a pair of new laptops that are set to provide access to Windows 10 at a very reasonable price point. Known as the Aspire One Cloudbook 11 and 14, the systems are designed to used in a similar way to a Chromebook, with a focus on cloud storage.
Both the 11 and 14-inch versions of the Aspire One Cloudbooks are powered by Windows 10, with Intel Celeron processors, 2 GB RAM and 1,366 x 768 LED backlit displays. There's also built-in 802.11ac wireless, a full-sized HDMI port, a pair of USB ports and an SD card slot included.
The systems will ship with a choice of just 16, 32 or 64 GB internal storage, but that's combined with between 100 GB and 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage (dependant on storage tier) for one year. The highest tier internal storage option is reserved for the larger of the two notebooks.
These machines are essentially designed to function in the same way as Chromebooks – not offering much in the way of internal storage space, but instead relying on the cloud. Chromebooks have the benefit of running on Google's stripped-back Chrome OS platform, though, meaning they don't need much horsepower to run smoothly.
Acer's Cloudbooks on the other hand, run the more power-hungry Windows 10. While that opens the door to much more local functionality, we'd expect these machines' performance to hit some roadblocks under stress.
Still, with prices starting at just US$169 for the 11-inch model and $199 for the 14-inch, the race to the bottom is alive and well. The smaller laptop is set to arrive later this month, while the larger machine will hit shelves in September.
Source: Acer
