Google announces two new Chromebooks designed for students

Google announced two new Chromebooks specifically designed for students at the Bett education technology conference in London.

The launch of the new devices-Asus Chromebook C213 and Acer Chromebook Spin 11 with stylus support, USB-C charging and world-facing cameras comes on the heels of Samsung’s convertible Chromebook Plus and Chromebook Pro that were launched recently.

The first is the Acer Chromebook Spin 11, essentially a convertible variant of the ruggedized Chromebook 11 N7. The device will come with either a dual- or quad-core Intel Celeron processor with either 4GB or 8GB of RAM and 32GB or 64GB of onboard eMMC flash storage. The Spin 11, which charges over USB-C and should get about 10 hours of battery life, was also built to withstand spills and drops from up to 48 inches.

Next is Asus Chromebook Flip C213 with rubber bumpers and “modular construction” so that they could be easily fixed if abused by children. Neither Asus nor Acer announced pricing for their new Chromebooks, though Google notes that they will be priced to be affordable by schools. They’ll be available in late spring.

Meanwhile, Google also announced that it will soon give admins full control over the Android apps that run on the Chromebooks they give to students and that Adobe is launching a new suite of its creative apps for Android that is now optimised for Chromebooks.

More than 20 million teachers and students use Chromebooks and Google Classroom, and G Suite for Education (formerly known as Google Apps for Education) now has more than 70 million active users, Google for Education product manager Naveen Viswanatha wrote in a blog post.