Ahead of the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, PC maker Acer Inc (宏碁) on Saturday unveiled the world’s first 15.6-inch laptop running on Google Inc’s Chrome operating system, which is set to expand its lineup of the Web-centric computers.
Unlike previous Chromebooks that are less competitive in computing power, the Acer Chromebook 15 is set to be available with either a fifth-generation Intel Core i3 processor or the next-generation Intel Celeron processor to deliver fast performance and is set to allow multitasking for apps and online games, Acer said.
The Chromebook 15 is to offer two options in display resolution: a full-HD display with 1920 x 1080 pixels that enables sharp videos and photographs, and an HD display with 1366 x 768 pixels that is ideal for customers seeking high quality on a budget, Acer said in a press release.
Photo: Hu Shun-hsiang, Taipei Times
The price for the new larger-sized Chromebook will start from US$249.99 in the US. Several models in the product line will be available with either a 16GB or 32GB solid-state drive, and either 2GB or 4GB of RAM.
“The Acer Chromebook 15 is a true powerhouse — it provides fast mobile performance and a large display to help customers accomplish more every day,” Acer Notebook Business Group president Jerry Kao (高樹國) said.
“Acer has been a leader in the Chromebook market, from providing the latest in technology and trailblazing battery life to designing new form factors. We’re driving the category forward again with the world’s first 15.6-inch display Chromebook, the Acer Chromebook 15,” Kao said.
Also on Saturday, the Taiwanese manufacturer expanded its 13.3-inch Chromebook with a touchscreen, which will be available later this month for 329 euros (US$395) in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Data from market intelligence firm ABI Research shows that global shipments of Chromebooks, which emphasize Internet connectivity more than traditional Windows-based computers, have been forecast to reach about 4.1 million units last year, almost double the 2.1 million units shipped in 2013.
The top three Chromebook vendors — Acer of Taiwan, Samsung Electronics Co of South Korea and Hewlett-Packard of the US — accounted for 74 percent of the shipments during the first half of last year, ABI Research said.
According to Amazon’s listing based on sales from Nov. 1 to Dec. 19, the bestselling laptop over the Christmas holiday season was the 11.6-inch Acer C720 Chromebook, followed by the 13.3-inch Asustek Chromebook C300 and the 11.6-inch HP Chromebook 11.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day