AMD NOW IN CHROMEBOOK MARKET THANKS TO HP & Acer At CES 2019

Acer Chromebook 315 starts at $279.99, with availability in February.

The A6-9220C APU is a dual-core processor with a base 1.8 GHz and boost of 2.7 GHz, based on AMD Stoney Ridge and featuring Excavator cores built on 28 nm. It offers AMD Radeon R5 graphics. The base offering in this laptop is the AMD A4-9120C, at 1.6/2.4 GHz, and Radeon R4 graphics. The laptop is offered with 4 or 8 GB of DDR4 RAM, and 32 GB or 64 GB of eMMC storage.

At CES 2019, Acer has announced the Acer Chromebook 315, interestingly powered by AMD but not Ryzen. Instead, the Chromebook 315 features the AMD A6-9220C or A4-9120C processors with Radeon graphics in this cost-conscious Chromebook. The Acer Chromebook 315 is a 15.6-inch laptop offering either a 1366×768 TN, or a 1920×1080 IPS display, but unlike the much more expensive Acer Swift 7 they announced, this is not the new thin-bezel design, but a more typical design that is indicative of its target price segment. ANANDTECH

HP Chromebook 14

As the name suggests, the HP Chromebook 14 features a 14-inch SVA display panel with a 1366×768 resolution and anti-glare coating. The notebook comes in a fine-looking chassis with a textured finish and a 1.8 cm (0.92-inch) z-height, though HP hasn’t specified what kind of material it is made of.

The HP Chromebook 14 is based on AMD’s A4-9120C processor, a relatively unknown SoC featuring two Excavator cores running at 1.8 GHz and the GCN 1.2-based Radeon R4 iGPU with 128 SPs operating at 720 MHz (more information about the SoC is available in Ian’s AMD at CES 2019 coverage). Being fabbed on a 28 nm process and a low-end chip overall, this SoC is cheap enough to that AMD and HP can still turn a profit even with the low-end pricing of the system. All told, do not expect too much from this APU (and therefore the Chromebook 14 as a whole): it can handle productivity apps, VP9/H.264/H.265 decode, play some games, but that is about it.

Acer Chromebook 315
Component Chromebook 315
APU AMD A6-9220C
1.8-2.7 GHz, 1MB L2 cache
6-W TDP
Radeon R5 Graphics
AMD A4-9120C
1.6-2.4 GHz, 1MB L2 cache
6-W TDP
Radeon R4 Graphics
RAM 4-8 GB Dual-Channel DDR4
Storage 32-64 GB eMMC
Display 15.6-inch 1366×768 Acer ComfyView

15.6-inch 1920×1080 Acer ComfyView IPS

15.6-inch 1920×1080 Acer CineCrystal high-brightness IPS
Touch Optional
Dimensions 380.54 x 256.28 x 19.95 mm
14.98 x 10.09 x 0.79 inches
Weight 1.8 Kg / 3.97 lbs
Connectivity 802.11ac 2×2 MU-MIMO
Bluetooth 4.2
Battery 54 Wh Li-Ion, up to 10 hours
45 W USB-C Charger
Ports 2 x USB-C Gen 1
2 x USB-A 3.0
microSD Reader
Headset jack
Starting Price $279.99 USD

Tags:

AMD, technology, amd chrombook, amd acer, amd acer laptop, acer chromebook, amd apu

Mohsen Daemi
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