MediaTek, the company known for making mid-range and affordable chips is now trying to break it into the premium segment and has also revamped its lineup of chipsets to compete against market leaders like Qualcomm.

The Taiwan-based company isn’t only making smartphone chips but has also launched chips for tablets, smart TVs, routers, etc. Now, the company has announced a new chip for premium Chromebooks — MediaTek Kompanio 1380.

While MediaTek already has a presence in the Chromebook segment, it is mostly limited to entry-level or budget products. With this new Kompanio 1380 chip, the company is now trying to set foot in the premium segment.

MediaTek is claiming high performance and low power consumption with the Kompanio 1380 chipset. It features an octa-core CPU with four high-performance Arm Cortex-A78 cores with speeds up to 3GHz for improved responsiveness.

It packs a five-core Arm Mali-G57 GPU that supports fast and vivid visuals, while the quad-channel 2133MHz LPDDR4X ensures plenty of data bandwidth. There’s also a multi-core AI processor that accelerates AI-camera and AI-voice applications.

The chip supports up to two 4K 60Hz displays, or one 4K 60Hz display plus two 4K 30Hz displays. With A1 Hardware Decoding, users can stream 4K movies and TV shows. It also comes with a dedicated audio digital signal processor (DSP) that provides an ultra-low-power voice on wakeup (VoW) capabilities for voice assistants.

The new Acer Chromebook Spin 513 is the first device to come powered by this MediaTek Kompanio 1380 chipset and will go on sale from June. The company has added that more devices powered by this new processor will soon get launched in the market.

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Acer has launched three new Chromebooks just in time for the CES 2022 and the company says that these new devices are made for consumers who need secure, easy-to-use, and affordable devices for productivity, entertainment, and communication.

All three devices — Chromebook Spin 513, Chromebook 315, and Chromebook 314 come with different screen sizes and form factors.

The Acer Chromebook Spin 513, which carries model number CP513-2H, comes with a 13.5-inch VertiView display that offers a 2256 x 1504 pixels screen resolution and a 3:2 aspect ratio. It has narrow 7.7mm bezels and thanks to the aspect ratio, there’s 18 percent more vertical screen space.

Under the hood, the device is powered by the MediaTek Kompanio 1380 chipset which comes with eight cores for enhanced multitasking and productivity and is claimed to offer exceptional performance.

It is designed in such a way that the device can be used in four different modes. It features military-grade MIL-STD 810H durability. There’s Wi-Fi 6 support as well as a USB-C port for connecting peripherals, transferring data, and charging devices.

As for the battery life, the new Acer Chromebook Spin 513 offers 10 hours of usage on a single full charge, which is a downgrade from its predecessor’s 13 hours of battery life. It is priced at $599.99 and will be available for purchase in North American from June.

Acer Chromebook 315 comes with a larger 15.6-inch Full HD IPS anti-glare display. There’s also an optional touch-screen display that allows for easy navigation, while the large keyboard has room for a dedicated numeric keypad.

It comes powered by an Intel chipset which could be the Celeron N4500, Celeron N5100, or the Pentium Silver N600. This means that the company is moving away from AMD A-series chip as when the first model was launched in 2019, it was the first Chromebook to come powered by the AMD silicon. As for the pricing, the Acer Chromebook 315 is priced at $299.99 and will so go on sale in North America later this month.

Lastly, there’s a new Acer Chromebook 314 that features a 14-inch Full HD IPS anti-glare touchscreen display with narrow 8.1mm side bezels. Similar to the 315, this one too features an OceanGlass touchpad that offers a sleek touch experience.

The device is powered by the Intel chip but the exact model number has not been revealed by the company. This one too has MIL-STD 810H ratings for durability. For connectivity, it supports Wi-Fi 6 which is about three times faster than Wi-Fi 5.

It has two built-in microphones with noise-reduction technology, along with a webcam that helps in reducing distracting lighting issues. As for the battery life, the laptop offers 10 hours of usage on a single charge. This one too is priced at $299.99 and will go on sale in North America from June this year.

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Acer has announced two new Chromebooks that are powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7c processor. The two devices, the Chromebook Spin 513 and Chromebook Enterprise Spin 513 are the first Chromebooks powered by Snapdragon processors.

The Acer Chromebook Spin 513 starts at $399 and has the 8nm Snapdragon 7c Compute Platform powering it. The 2-in-1 has a 13.3 FHD IPS display with moderate-sized bezels, Gorilla Glass protection, and a 360° hinge that allows you to fold it completely backward. The Chromebook comes with up to 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.

For ports, the Chromebook Spin 513 has a full-sized USB 3.0 port, two USB-C ports with one serving as a power input port, and a microphone+headphone combo jack. It has an island-style keyboard with an optional backlight and a trackpad that is also covered with Gorilla Glass.

There is optional LTE and Acer claims a battery life of up to 14 hours on a single charge. The Acer Chromebook Spin 513 weighs under 1.2 kilograms and will be available for purchase in the EMEA in January 2021 for €429. Those in North America will get it the following month. The Enterprise Edition will be available in March for $699.99.

Following Acer’s announcement, we expect more manufacturers will announce Chromebooks with the same processor in the coming weeks or months. Maybe they will hit the market before Acer’s own.

UP NEXT: Lenovo launches a new Enterprise Chromebook ThinkPad C13 Yoga for $579

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