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

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.

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.

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).

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!

First of all, let me start of by saying that this is NOT a Windows machine. What that entails is a lack of being able to download any programs. This is Chrome OS which means everything is done within the cloud or on the internet. This is based on the assumption that many have an internet connection when they are on the computer. Which, I know this is very true (at least, this is true in my family's case). Despite the fact that you must have an internet connection to do most of what you do on this little machine, that doesn't mean it doesn't have great cloud based alternatives to all that you need. In fact, just over the past week I've grown very fond of living in the cloud. There are many upsides to living in the cloud. The biggest is no need for on board storage or a need for very little. This not only makes it easier to keep viruses off your computer (which Chrome OS does a beautiful job) but it also keeps your computer fast. The other upsides are obvious through user experience and you'll discover them as you get more in-tune with the Chrome OS. There is, however, one major downside. This is the lack of being able to work offline. However, you can work offline with Google Drive which makes this downside a lot more bearable. At first, I honestly thought Chrome OS was going to be very difficult to adjust to and when I first learned about it, I thought it was a dumb idea. However, I've grown very fond of it's user friendliness. It's a simple set up and it only takes roughly 2 minutes for you to get your Chromebook set-up. Chrome OS also does something many Windows users have been requesting for a very long time. It updates itself quietly, quickly, and most importantly, in the background. No confirmation needed and no annoying pop-ups that bother you every time you turn the computer on. It also has a built-in feature that when it senses a virus (which is quickly looks for on start up), it will basically refresh the system and although you will lose all local data, once you enter your Google credentials, you'll have everything else back. Now I move on to the performance part of the review. Do not be fooled by the 1.1 GHz processor. In performance tests, this Chromebook outperforms all other Chromebooks except the Chromebook Pixel (which is $1000 dollars more, go figure). Do not go and purchase this thing to play games, either. It runs Netflix and YouTube videos without skipping a beat, but of course it has a low power processor so it's going to struggle with PC gaming such as Steam. The only problem I have run into with this machine is a lack of RAM. The 2 GB is fine, but I'd like it better at 4 GB or 6 GB. I like to multitask and with Netflix, a Google Hangout, and a YouTube video, it started to lag. Once again, this was not because of the processor, but because of the lack of RAM. However, when I keep the machine within what the RAM can handle, everything runs smooth and I've never had a problem. The battery life is a little weak at just under four hours in my tests with it. So, as long as you can deal with that, its not a problem. This thing also boots up within 8 seconds and resumes almost instantly, making all Windows machines look extremely slow! Now I move on to aesthetics. Personally, I think less is more with a laptop or computer. So, I think the gray finish is quick attractive and though it won't turn heads, I can appreciate it. The keyboard isn't as bad as some people make it out to be. Yes it isn't as well spaced out as a Macbook's keyboard, but after a day or two with it, you easily become accustomed to it and find that it is an easy keyboard to type on. The trackpad is stellar for a $200 machine. It, once again, won't blow you away, but it gets the job done and is fairly responsive. The only time I've head trouble with it is when I've booted up Ubuntu from a flash drive. This could be a problem with Ubuntu and not having a good driver for it, however. The screen is also impressive for a $200 machine. It has a glossy finish (which I prefer over a matte finish) and it has good viewing angles. My reflection really hasn't been a distraction for me and the screen is well lit, also. Overall, I think its aesthetics for the price go way above and beyond what I expected. Lastly, are the Chromebook's cloud or internet based equivalents to certain downloadable software. First, we have SkyDrive. It's a cloud based service offered by Microsoft that allows you to basically have the Office Suit for free! The only problem is you have a limited amount of space with 7 GB, but I'll never use all of it. You can find SkyDrive here: https://skydrive.live.com/. Next, we have a Google + service called Google Hangouts. I have come to prefer this service over Skype. Mostly because all you need is a Google account and it takes 2 seconds to set-up a hangout. It also has a better selection of applications and what have you to keep your friends and family entertained (you can even read your kid a bed time story). Here is a link to the Google Hangouts page: http://www.google.com/hangouts/. Lastly, there is Google Music. Another cloud based service from Google that allows you to very easily upload your iTunes/Amazon music quickly to the cloud. It's great and I haven't had any problems with it. It's very easy to use and I almost prefer it over iTunes, but I sadly can't sync my iPod or iPhone to it. That's my only complaint though. Here is a link to Google Music: http://www.google.com/music/. Just a few last notes (sorry, I'm very scatter brained): this is a re-branded $400 Acer machine. The only difference is the processor, which, the people at Acer realized that you don't need a 2.6 GHz processor for a Chrome OS machine. Don't be thrown off by the price, either. The reason it is so cheap is because it lacks a Windows/Mac OS. Although this isn't a Mac or a high-end Ultrabook, it completely fits my (and most people's) needs for a computer. Unless you want to do some hardcore gaming on a machine, you'd be well suited to buy it as a secondary computer or even a primary computer for a student, someone knew to computing, or an elderly person just looking to use Facebook and what have you. Also, this machine lacks a CD/DVD drive because of it's size, but supports an external CD/DVD drive. The port selection is great with 3 USB 2.0 ports, an Ethernet port, and HDMI port, an SD Card slot, an audio jack, and believe it or not, it also had a Kingston memory lock. Basically, if you were like me and were going back and forth about buying this thing, go ahead and do it. You'll be pleasantly surprised if you know what you're getting into.

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.

Here is a quick review of Google’s Chrome and the Chromebook I recently purchased at Best Buy for $199. If you plan to soon buy another computer, it may spark your interest in checking out some alternatives. First off... I recently put my windows Toshiba laptop “back to the factory settings” and it took 8 hours as 125 windows updates had to be redone a few times. This 8 hours did not include burning system DVDs in case of a hard drive failure or backing up personal information such as documents, bookmarks, pictures, etc. Nor did this time include restoring my personal information or any special document creation programs (Word/Open Office). Today I restored my Chromebook to factory settings, it took just one click of the mouse and about 2 minutes. That time includes backup and restore of all my personal data. How can that be? Because I am now using Google Drive to keep my files in the Google cloud, Google docs for document creation, and Google’s Chrome browser to access the web. As a plus, all 85 of my bookmarks were automatically updated on the Chrome browser after the system was restored. In fact, we are now using the free software Chrome drive, document creator, and browser on all our windows based PCs. Everything between all PC’s and the Chromebook looks like one computer. If I would drop one on the floor while editing a document I would not lose more than a few seconds as the other computers would keep going with the same document (where I left off) just as if nothing had happened. Google is constantly syncing every document edit up to the cloud. The Chromebook has a VERY simple operating system that is just used for browsing the web. No data is stored on it unless you want that done for working offline. No programs can be installed on the Chromebook although there are some Chrome apps that may be installed. But if you are mainly interested in web based stuff (browsing, emails, pictures, skype, facebook, documents, etc.) then it is really nice and fast. It has several USB ports, camera, HDMI port, but no hard drive to break or need backup. Remember, this is a $199 laptop so don’t expect the same physical qualities as a $1000 Windows laptop or a $2000 Apple Laptop. But I think Google has blown both Microsoft and Apple away with it’s super ease of use design and low cost. If I were to toss out all my PCs today and start over I would probably use a Chromebox desktop to connect my big 23” display and regular size lighted keyboard, it would be my primary machine. My wife would have a regular sized Chromebook laptop. We would use my Best Buy 11.6” Chromebook laptop for streaming Netflix to the TV, around home, and traveling. My $199 Google Nexus 7 tablet would be used for high mobility as it is has the same features as a Chromebook, GPS, and is great for educational grandchild games. We “may” also need an used inexpensive Windows machine to infrequently run any desired programs we couldn’t run with the Chromebooks. Dave

This Acer Chromebook comes with more features (3 USB ports, VGA external display port, RJ-45 port, HDMI port, Kensington lock slot and a headset/speaker jack) than other more costly Chromebooks. In addition, it has a slot for an SD card for additional storage. It's lightweight, so it's easy to hold in one hand and it's great for travel. Love the SSD's instant on feature. Since it's based on the Chrome operating system, your files are stored on google drive in the cloud which makes for easy coordination between your computer and your Chromebook. And while it doesn't run Word or Excel, Google Docs and Google Sheets allow you to work with Excel and Word files. All in all, a great, low-cost device.