Acer C720 Chromebook now available for $249, brings Haswell tech and longer battery life

Acer has officially unveiled its $249, 11.6-inch C720 Chromebook that packs an Intel Haswell-based chip and promises both performance and long battery life.

It seems that the Google Chromebook family is extending, as Acer's C720 release follows HP's launch of its own Chromebook 11. The Acer C720 made its initial debut at this year's IDF show, but now the company has offered more details regarding pricing and availability for the device.

"The Acer C720 is a significant step forward for our highly-acclaimed Acer Chromebook line, as it delivers speedy performance, quick boot times, a matte anti-glare display and a slimmer design that is portable enough for anywhere use," Acer America Chief Technology Officer Arif Maskatia said in the press release.

"These key advances allow families and students to continue collaborating, learning and playing in exciting ways, all while staying secure since Chrome OS includes multiple layers of protection from online threats."

As expected, the Acer C720 Chromebook receives constant updates to the latest versions of Chrome OS. According to Acer, the new laptop boots in just seven seconds and its battery life lasts for up to 8.5 hours.

In terms of specifications, the new Acer Chromebook packs 4GB of DDR3L memory and uses an Intel Celeron 2955U processor based on Haswell technology. The laptop comes with 16GB of local SSD storage and supports Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n so users can easily access Google's cloud-based storage.

Other specs include an 11.6-inch anti-glare widescreen with a resolution of 1366 x 728. Users can also connect the Chromebook to an HDTV or external monitor via HDMI, as well as connect external storage and peripherals via the laptop's USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports. The Acer C720 also sports a HD webcam, microphone and SD card reader.

On the software side, Chrome OS enhancements include support for multiple users, allowing IT managers to remotely manage the C720 Chromebook. Gmail is on board as expected, which means that users will have easy access to all Chrome apps in the Chrome Web Store, including utilities, games or some other programs.

The new Acer C720-2800 Chromebook comes with a one-year standard warranty, but users can extend that to three years with the Acer Advantage service.