New Acer Chomebox CXI3 series lands with 8th Gen Intel silicon

First announced in January, the Acer Chromebox CXI3 series is starting to pop of for pre-order at various US retailers. The new models run the latest 8th Gen Intel Core-series chips, although an entry-level model can be had equipped with a lesser Intel Celeron. They still feature a compact footprint and can also be mounted to the rear of a PC monitor with the included VESA mount.

All told, there are four new models of the Acer CXI3. The Celeron model starts from US$279; the Core i3 model starts from US$469; the Core i5 model starts from US$511, and the Core i7-8550U starts from US$744. System RAM varies between 4 GB to 16 GB, while internal storage is between 32 GB and 64 GB and is provided by M.2 SSDs. Each model incorporates two USB 2.1 ports, three USB 3.0 ports, one USB-C port, HDMI and Ethernet ports. A microSD slot is also included.

While its always tempting to buy a more high-powered chip, the advantage of Google’s Chrome OS is that it does not put particular strain on system architecture, meaning that even the entry-level model should be fine for mainly browsing and Google Docs work. However, since Chrome OS now supports Android apps natively, the additional processing horsepower of the i5 or i7 models could come in handy.

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