Apple is expected to unveil new low-cost 9.7-inch iPad for the education market tomorrow. Stealing Apple’s thunder, Google has unveiled a new Chrome OS tablet meant for students. This is Google’s first Chrome OS tablet as the company had previously only launched convertibles and laptops running Chrome OS.
The first Chrome OS tablet is made by Acer and called the Chromebook Tab 10. The 1.21-pound heavy tablet features a 9.7-inch IPS LED display with a 2048 x 1536 resolution. The tablet features a quad-core OP1 processor, 4GB RAM, 32GB of storage, USB-C port, and a 9-hour battery life.
Other specs include a microSD card slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack, Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 4.1, a 2MP front camera, and a 5MP rear camera. The 9.98mm thick tablet also features front-facing stereo speakers.
Since the tablet is targeted towards the education market, Google bundles a Wacom-branded stylus with the tablet. It is not an active stylus which means it does not need to be charged. Sadly, unlike the Surface Pro, there is no way to tuck the stylus to the side of the tablet which means most students will end up losing it within a few days of use.
Google and Acer will be selling the Chromebook Tab 10 for $329 in the United from April. In Europe, the tablet will retail for €329 and will go on sale from May.
The stylus does help justify the $329 price tag of the Chromebook Tab 10 and gives it an edge over the allegedly $259 iPad that Apple will be launching tomorrow. While this new low-cost iPad will also feature Apple Pencil support, it is considerably more expensive at $99 as well.
