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Google Unveils Acer's Chromebook Tab 10 Ahead of Apple's Education-Focused Event Tomorrow (cnet.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Maybe Acer knows what Apple is up to tomorrow, maybe not. Regardless the information and communication tech company announced today the world's first Chrome OS tablet made for the education market, the Chromebook Tab 10. Designed for use in K-12 classrooms, the 9.7-inch tablet could potentially add to Google's Chromebook lead in the US education market and take some of the wind out of Apple's education-focused press conference on March 27. [...] Acer's new tablet, which will sell for $329 in April, is built around a 2048x1536-resolution IPS touchscreen with 264 pixels per inch. A durable Wacom EMR stylus comes standard and stores in the tablet's chassis that's only 0.39-inch thick (9.98 mm). Running on a Rockchip OP1 processor, 4GB of memory and 32GB of storage, the Tab 10 fully supports Google Play giving schools access to educational Android apps.
That said the cost is not going to be a big deal. it is durability. On reason tablets are so popular is that they are relatively tougher than laptops. If nothing else, the reluctant student is mot going to be able to tear up the keyboard. Any damage on a tablet is intentional.
The second issue is tool to manage the devices. MS is a winner in schools now because they have leveraged their corporate management tools to the classroom. iPads are a winner in the classroom because there are tools to manage them in the classroom.
That said, winning the tablet market is going to require something lower than $300. This is around what laptops costs in the quantities school district buy. But tablets have yet to catch on because they are not yet as usefu, and even $330 retail still quite expensive.
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