Acer Upgrades C7 Chromebook Line for Education and Business Customers

It wasn't that long ago when netbooks ruled the low-cost laptop market. For the most part, that fad has fizzled out, though not before passing the torch to Chromebooks, which are low-cost laptops running Google's cloud-oriented Chrome operating system. Acer has been riding the Chromebook bandwagon ever since it came out of the gate, and today the PC maker announced that it's expanded its line of C7 Chromebook models for its commercial customers, including schools and businesses.

There are two new models -- C710-2826 with 2GB of DDR3 RAM and C710-2815 with 4GB of DDR3 RAM -- both now boasting a fast 16GB solid state drive (SSD). You'll also find a 6-cell battery in each of the new models, which is good for up to 6 hours of battery life, according to Acer.

Acer C7 Chromebook

"Our new Acer C7 Chromebooks deliver exactly what the K-12 education market and so many businesses require -- solid performance at an affordable price with up to 6-hours of battery life," said Gregg Prendergast, vice president, U.S. Commercial Sales, Acer America. "Acer C7 Chromebooks will help our customers at schools -- students, teachers and administrators -- as well as our business customers, get to work and be productive right away for longer."

Acer's C7 Chromebook models feature an 11.6-inch LED-backlit display with a 1280x720 resolution, Intel Celeron 847 dual-core processor clocked at 1.1GHz, HDMI output, three USB ports, SD card slot, and a few other odds and ends.

The C710-2826 and C710-2815 are available now for $259 and $279, respectively.