Practical Experience: Acer Chromebook 714 and 715 [Gallery]

Before Google launched Google Pixel Slate, we discovered that two other Chromebooks under development were incorporating fingerprint support. During today's Next @ Acer event, these two devices equipped with fingerprint sensors came up as Acer Chromebook 714 and 715, and we were able to use them.

With Google Pixel Slate, the door opened for easy and secure fingerprint authentication on Chrome OS. Unfortunately, although the Pixel Slate was not as well received as Google hoped, the basics of future Chromebooks with fingerprint authentication were discarded.

At the Next @ Acer annual event, the company unveiled two high-end enterprise Chrome OS devices in the Chromebook 714 and the Chromebook 715. Both of these devices are distinguished from other Chromebooks in the market by offering a fingerprint sensor located just under the keyboard.

We could not test the fingerprint sensor in the living room, so we can not talk about its usefulness, but its position just below the keyboard should allow for convenient authentication.

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Both Chromebooks feature fully backlit keyboards, but the Acer Chromebook 715 is unique in being the first Chromebook with a full numeric keypad. This keyboard also includes additional keys that are not typically found in Chromebooks, such as Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down. This could make the Acer Chromebook 715 more attractive to developers because Chrome OS increases support for its Linux applications.

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The keyboard is certainly a bit cramped on the 715, because of the extra keyboard, but overall it was still usable. Both devices have a keyboard almost identical to that of the recent Acer Chromebook 514. If you're a fan of touch keys, it's not the Chromebooks that are right for you.

Overall, however, the build quality seemed excellent, while remaining in sync with what we saw in the Chromebook 514. The all-aluminum chassis allows a lightweight and robust construction.

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Both Chromebooks are available with an Intel Celeron, Pentium, Core i3 or Core i5 processor. To match the potential of high-end processors, the Acer Chromebooks 714 and 715 can include 8GB or 16GB of RAM and eMMC storage options of 32GB, 64GB and 128GB.

In our brief performance tests (on top-of-the-line Core i5 models), the Chromebooks 714 and 715 have been lively, but we will reserve our final performance judgment for further review.

Beyond the inclusion of a numeric keypad, the main difference between the Chromebook 714 and 715 lies in the screen. Both feature a 1080p IPS display with optional touchscreen, the 715 measuring 15.6 inches and the 714 displaying a 14-inch display.

The Acer Chromebooks 714 and 715 will be marketed in the United States by July. Basic models will be available starting at $ 499.

Alex Allegro contributed to this post

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