US$299 Acer Chromebook 13 by Acer - How Nvidia K1 Processor Under the Hood means that Cloud Gaming on the Horizon by 2017

Remember the Touchscreen Dream US$299 Acer Chromebook C720P that came out in October 2013 as I’d written about in my blog article entitled “US$299 Acer Chromebook C720P launched as the Second Touchscreen Chromebook - Affordable Google Pixel Chromebook clone that’s sure to please this Christmas”.

Well, Acer and Nvidia have tag Teamed to create what may be the first Chromebook that’s build for Gaming.

This as Acer has used Nvidia’s new Tegra K1 Processor, 2.2 GHz quad-core ARM Cortex A15 Processor with a 192-core Kepler GPU plus and 2GB of RAM as noted in “Nvidia Joins Forces With Acer For First Tegra K1-Powered Google Chromebook”, published 8/11/2014 @ 8:00AM, Forbes and “Acer's Chromebook 13 runs Nvidia's Tegra K1 processor; prices start at $280”, published Aug 11, 2014 5:00 AM by Melissa Riofrio, PCWorld.

The specs are impressive for yet another well built Acer Chromebook. Aside from the Processor, the 13.3” Acer Chromebook 13 is sleek and slender with a thickness of 18.03mm (0.71”) and weighs 1.5 kg (3.31 lb). However, when compared to the competition, its whisper quiet in operation and gets 13 hours on a single battery charge, great for any late night study outside under the stars.

It’s also great for hanging out on Google Hangouts chatting with your Friends as explained in my blog article entitled “Google merges Google Voice into Google+ Hangouts - How to make Free US and Canada Calls with Google Voice in Hangouts App”!

It’s a little hefty, but still manageable to lug around in your knapsack. 2GB of RAM and up to 32GB of SSD (Solid State Drive) Hard-drive to store all those Apps and files, a HDMI port for watching HD Videos on a flat screen, a 720p webcam for Skype-ing and two USB 3.0 ports for super fast transfer of large files is slowly making the Nvidia powered Acer Chromebook 13 look more laptop and less like a School Experiment.

In case you think Google's not up to the task, they've thrown in the usual 100GB of Google Drive Storage plus 2 months of Google Play Premium Service, though you might want to hurry and get the Google Play Music’s All Access Music Subscription offer of Free Google Music Streaming that runs from Friday, July 24^th 2014 and ends on Tuesday September 30^th 2014.

Acer differentiates the Acer Chromebook 13 into two different models with HD screen sizes of 1366×768 or 1920×1080. Anti-Glare enabled HD Screens aren't the only Divining Rod that separates these two (2) models; price makes its mark at this point:

1.      US$279.99 for the 1920×1080, 2GB RAM, 32GB of SSD

2.      US$329.99 for the 1366×768, 4GB RAM, 16GB Model

Nvidia and Acer’s Gaming Rig – Triple Shipments by 2017 as Cloud Gaming on the Horizon

How do I know this?

This is the same Nvidia Processor being used in the Nvidia Shield Tablet as described in my blog article entitled “Nvidia Shield Tablet to launch August 14 2014 – A Tablet with Video Games for All Seasons with Cover, Game Controller and Stylus needs Content”. Thus it’s obviously clear why they’ve decided to team up.

Chromebooks, albeit they’re less than 1% of the Estimated Computing Shipments for 2014, are on a growth spurt. According to analyst Gartner, their numbers are expected to triple from some 5.2 million units shipped in 2014 to some 14.4 million units shipped by 2017 as predicted in my blog article entitled “Chromebooks Sales to Triple by 2017 – How Rapid Sales Heaven for PC Makers means Apple iPad and Microsoft Surface Pro 3 under attack”.

Thus Nvidia saw this growth potential as an opportunity to put their Processors in what’s essentially a Laptop that’s got a Browser, Chrome OS, as its Operating System. Faster Graphics performance will matter to High School and College Students, especially as many of them, being Millennials (ages 18 to 28 year old), will be Streaming Video and Audio in the Future as predicted in my blog article entitled “Nielsen Stats record continued decline in Music Downloads - Developed World Streaming will catch on in Developed World once we get 4G LTE”.

Later on, on their downtime, they may want to dabble in a bit of Cloud Gaming from even the likes of Steam, which the Google Chrome Browser supports as noted in my Geezam blog article entitled “Google Chrome to do Console Gaming – OnLive and Steam in the Cloudy Post-Console Era”.

Nvidia and Acer are in this together. Like the other PC makers riding the trend of high volume Google Chromebook sales as stated in my blog article entitled “Chromebooks Sales to Triple by 2017 – How Rapid Sales Heaven for PC Makers means Apple iPad and Microsoft Surface Pro 3 under attack”, they know it’s only a matter of time before Chromebooks kill the Traditional Laptop as we know it.