The big winner in Australia is Acer the #1 supplier of
Chromebooks to both schools and business. Among Acer clients is Woolworths who
18 months ago dumped the Microsoft OS and the Office suite of products for
Chrome and Google apps running on a new generation of Chromebooks. The move to
change from Microsoft to a Google Docs environment has saved the Company
millions according to Woolworths IT staff.

Next month Acer will launch the first ever 15.6? Chromebook
in Australia with several education departments already keen to place orders.
Both the Victorian Government and Victorian teachers are set to take delivery
of new Acer Chromebooks.

The new 15.6″ model is powered by a dual-core Intel
Celeron N2830 processor and it comes with 2GB of RAM.

It also has an Intel HD graphics card and 16GB of storage as
well as an SD/SDXC Card slot which will take up to a 128GB card. If needed a
user can plug in a 500GB Samsung external SSD card which is smaller than a
credit card and still get change from $1,000.

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The Chromebook also comes with a HD Webcam and front-facing
speakers and can withstand up to 60kg of force and can handle drops up to 45cm
drops which makes it ideal for schools.

The spec list is rounded off with Bluetooth 4.0, a USB 3.0
port, USB 2.0 port and HDMI port.

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According to market research firm Gartner, the Chromebook
market in Asia-Pacific last year represented less than three percent of global
sales, with most regional demand coming from Australia and New Zealand where
Acer dominate Chromebook sales.

The education sector, makes up 69pc of sales in the
Asia-Pacific region.

Globally, education represented a major proportion of the
Chromebook market in 2014. Gartner says that in 2014, the education sector
purchased 72 per cent of Chromebooks in EMEA, 69pc in Asia/Pacific, and 60pc in
the US.

In the past it was Apple who dominated in the education
markets, now Chromebooks are stripping share away from both Apple and
Microsoft.