Acer - C7 11.6" Chromebook - 2GB Memory - 16GB Solid State Drive - Iron Gray

This is the third of these computers that we've added to our family. The first one I got for my husband to check email, watch TV online, etc. It's perfect for what he needs, it fires right up and the automatic updates and built in anti-virus are great- not having to think about that. His only complaint about it is that the sound quality isn't that great when he's watching tv, but he's a sound engineer so he's probably a little extra critical. I suppose you could always hook in better speakers. The second one we bought was for my father-in-law. After getting over the initial hump of "Old People vs New Technology" (going from desktop with a mouse to a touch pad) he seems pleased with it and it does everything he needs it to. The only hitch with his was the first one we got had a defective "F" key but easily returned to Best Buy for an exchange. When I expanded my business to a second office, I got one to have quick and convenient internet access with out having to haul my bigger, heavier laptop around. I love the quick and easy start up. My only hitch was not realizing that it would not work with the printers at the office as it doesn't have any software. I have a complete home office set up so it's not the end of the world. Overall- good little machine for those that just want internet, a full keyboard and don't want to pay a lot of money.

Ok should you buy a Chromebook? Sure its the wave of the future. If you need email, you have Gmail or can access any web based client. If you need a word processor, you have Google Docs/Presentations/Spreadsheets/Draw etc. In the app store you have scientific calculators, remote access, drawing apps, file converters, and even a few games. If you are a big gamer, then yes Chromebooks still have a way to go. However if you do online gaming no problem. One major concern people have is regarding not having an internet connection. This is really much ado about nothing. Unless you live in BFE you can find wifi just about everywhere, from malls, to stores to coffee shops, airports etc. even in your own home! And in those rare occasions where you don't have wifi, use your smartphone as a mobile hotspot. Problem solved. In the event none of these options work, then you are able to use the major functions offline like Gmail and Google Docs, so that when you do get hooked up to the internet again everything is updated! Another great feature is say goodbye to antivirus software. Because everything is on the cloud and goes through Googles servers, any virus would have to infect Google!!!! HA! Good luck! Take the plunge and get one, you'll never look back! PS Not only do I own the Samsung but now the Acer as well.

A $200 laptop? No way. Great performance, Oh sure; I bet. Tons of available apps, many at no cost, remainder at very low cost, You're dreaming. Well , I am dreaming. What a terrific value! I love the Acer Chromebook that I bought for my wife to take to Europe for a month. Now I want one, but in the meantime I have shifted my desktop machine and 2 laptops to Chrome. The only problem I have had is actually with a web application I have to use that doesn't yet support the latest version of Chrome. So I have to remove that one and replace with the previous version. The tools are awesome. As a heavy skype user, I prefer Chrome's Hangout to skype. I still use skype because a lot of people don't have Chrome. There definitely is a paradigm shift to using an "all browser" computer. But it was pretty quick to get my brain around it. My recommendation is to buy it on Friday and then plan to spend ALL DAY Saturday playing with it, trying do do with it what you do with your Windows conventional box. Really it is more about the (free!) apps than anything else. For example, there is no "Save" button: everything is saved to cloud as you type/enter stuff. I have used Access since version 1.0. and I love it. I have not tried to Chrome options such as MySQL, but plan to. Finally, I am moving my desktop to be very Chrome centric before I actually dive into a Chromebook for myself. There are so many good things to say about Best Buy, but my personal top 2 are 1) floor sales/techs not paid on commission and 2) they always have what I am looking for. Ok, not always, but 99 times out of a 100 they do. This is a "must have" for the novice, the casual user, or the professional technologist (I am in the last category).

I bought this box because I want a 'beater box' for trips to the coffee shop on my bike, and tooling around town where I don't have to totally freak out when I accidentally leave it behind in a restaurant (like I did last night). I'm a web developer, so nearly everything important I do is on the cloud (though not absolutely everything). This device allows me to stay in touch, take care of most of my business (the part that uses Google docs anyway) and also do a surprising amount of development. This last part is because I can use ssh to log onto my servers and do development there. In order to use ssh, I had to enable developer mode, which is not documented in the chromebook base docs, you've got to go poking around. There is a fair amount of online information from other folks who have this and predecessor hardware that is useful--but not for the faint of heart. I still can't do two things that I could do with my old laptop: edit images locally, and tether to my phone over USB using PDAnet. I did manage to use a Franklin 770 to get internet service, though it was a tad fussy interacting with the ChromeOS--it took a few tries to get it set up correctly, and I'm not sure what I did to get it to work. Still, the display on this is amazing for the price; the keyboard is servicable enough; and I've done at least one client meeting with it using the VGA display. So, not too shabby for the price at all. And while I might cuss a bit if it gets smacked up or taken, I won't be crying, at least. I have an associate who upgraded the memory on his identical box and is setting up an entire dev box. He likes 'sleeper boxes' that look cheap but have lots of power. You could even swap out a much larger drive, if you wanted to, and I'm told there is a bigger battery available. Bluetooth does not appear to work on ChromeOS as installed, but I have it on good authority that the hardware is there, if you don't mind getting techy to enable it. So, all in all, a great box if you know what to do with it. In addition to a beater box, it'd be great for a young kid who wanted to play with development on a small budget.

This is a GREAT little computer. My husband and I purchased it so that I could pay bills online. We both have laptop computers and a big desktop, but my laptop has been blacking out recently, so we figured we would replace it with a cheaper computer, since I use my phone for most of my internet needs. To my surprise, this computer is faster than my laptop! It's a little tough getting accustomed to the applications and not having a real desktop, but other than that, I LOVE it. I use it for pretty much everything now. It's tiny and easy to cart around. The only issues I have found so far is that you have to download a special program from ANOTHER computer in order to be able to print from this PC (however, I could be misunderstanding the instructions--I still can't figure out how to print to my wireless printer from this thing!). Also, because it has a Google OS, some programs can't be downloaded to it, such as Skype. If you're looking for a small computer to pay some bills and browse the internet--look no further! Although the processor doesn't sound impressive, this little computer is FAST! And for the price, you cannot beat it!

I needed to replace an older laptop that I use primarily for travel and internet, but didn't want to spend a fortune. I had bought a tablet to try, but just didn't care for the touch screen interface and the display size. I missed having a keyboard, and my eyesight is not the greatest. Plus I missed the main feature of a laptop, for it to sit in my lap instead of having to hold it. I'm already familiar with Google products, so I thought I'd give this a try. I'm very happy with it, the size is perfect for travelling and it met my needs perfectly. I have used it for business travel as it will do light duty business functions, just be aware you cannot download any programs other than what is in the Google store. There is a ton of apps though that will work for most mainstream programs such as MS products or Adobe. I did take off one star, because the fit and finish could be a bit better, the bezel around the screen doesn't align quite perfectly with the lid leaving a sharp edge. I also manged to scratch the lid within the first 24 hours (and I'm very gentle on my equipment) so I would strongly suggest a skin for it. This is NOT a laptop replacement, but a good supplement for your regular PC or laptop if you want something more than a tablet or net-book.

The Chromebook is sold as a web browser. And that's exactly what it is. It uses all facets of the Google Services, so access to docs, cloud printers, mail... it's all there. If you want this to run applications, like Microsoft Office, go elsewhere. This is not the machine for you. This Chromebook is not my primary computer. It is a computer for outside in the screen house and on vacation. It serves those purposes well. Google has Google Hangouts which have much of the functionality of Skype. But it is not Skype. Your friends don't need a Google Account to join a hangout, but if this is a deal breaker..... the deal is broken... go elsewhere. I appreciate the fact that Google has a representative now in the Best Buy store ready to talk to folks about the Chromebook and what it is, and is not. Don't bother buying a Chromebook with a large hard drive. It's not meant to store your stuff. If you adopt the Chromebook mentality, much of your stuff will be stored in the cloud. You cannot store applications ("portable apps") on a flash drive to run on the Chromebook. Portable Apps are .EXE files, and run under the Windows Operating System. They will not run on Chromebooks. Before you purchase a Chromebook, make sure it can do what you want it to do. THEN, when you make your purchase, you will be as happy as I am.

I bought this mainly to write my casenotes on. I save them on my home computer in my Drive. I like this machine for what it is. When people say it is useless or a waste of money, it is because they wanted a *real* laptop. This machine runs on the Google Chrome system and everything has to be configured for it. No biggy and at the price, it works well. My only real problem is trying to use a headset for doing my casenotes. I use voice recognition software, which I downloaded at the Google Store, but cannot get my Bluetooth headset, or my usb headset to be recognized by the system. I found some cool skins on Amazon, as well as an uber-cool carrying case. I like this machine.