This is Acer Chromebook, 11.6-Inch, CB3-111-C670 (Intel Celeron , 2GB, 16GB SSD, White), one of Best-Selling Laptop on Amazon.com
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| Image by Amazon.com |
Features or this item is:
- Intel Celeron 2.16 GHz Processor
- 2 GB DDR3L SDRAM
- 16 GB SSD Storage; No optical drive
- 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixels, LED-lit Screen
- Chrome Operating System; Moonstone White
Review Including comparisons to the C720 Acer released last year.
The size and basic hardware of this Chromebook are pretty much in line with the other options out there that are in a similar price range. If you were to actually look closely at the specs and compare them to what you'd typically find in an OS X or Windows laptop, they'll seem pretty weak. It works out really well, though, because ChromeOS is designed to be a limited operating system that's mostly used to access the web, doing things like visiting websites and watching videos. Since it doesn't have to do things like complicated video editing tasks that someone might want to do on a desktop, it doesn't need high end hardware to get the job done.
The benefit that comes with the hardware that they did choose is that it doesn't require very much power to run. I charged this thing up and then carried it around the house with me doing all of my normal computer tasks (I spend a lot of time online taking classes and doing my professional work) and you can use it for hours, glance at the battery indicator, and feel like you've hardly put a dent in it. The company claims 8.5 hours on a charge, and I think I might've actually been able to go longer than that if I'd really wanted to push it.
I have also used the C720 from the same company (which is one of the more popular Chromebooks out there) and performance-wise the two are honestly pretty similar. I can open a dozen tabs easily on 2GB of RAM without feeling like I'm giving the device trouble or having it slow down on me.
It feels like they boosted the build quality a little going from the C720 to this CB3. The keyboard feels a little nicer under my hands. I still don't love the way their trackpads feel when you actually press them down for a click, but they also accept a quick tap as a click and that feels fine. (I think they assumed most people would tap, so making the track pad click feel perfect may not have been a huge priority.)
The CB3 is also very slightly wider than the C720. It seems to be because they made the bezel a little thicker around the screen. It's also available in white, and I don't think the C720 ever was, so if you hate grey/black laptops, that's a nice bit of variety. The size/shape difference is subtle, and you should still be able to fit it into things like sleeves made for 11" laptops. (The C720 got a lot of 3rd party support for accessories and decals and cases specifically for it, but I don't know if that'll happen for this edition as well.)
They also moved the power and HDMI ports to the back, instead of the side.
For the most part, honestly, I've had the chance to try a few different Chromebooks and the performance doesn't generally vary much if you're just looking to do things like visit social media sites, read the news, watch Netflix, write documents, and that sort of thing. They all use the same ChromeOS, so they all have the same basic features as far as what it's possible to do. If you're using sites with a lot of complicated scripting or something like that, you should worry a little more about the specs, but for the average person just about any Chromebook that's out there is going to do a good job performance-wise.
If you're planning to make it run a more standard form of Linux instead of using only ChromeOS, though, you will want to at least make sure you pay attention to what processor you're getting. There are some pieces of software for Linux that aren't available at all for non-Intel architectures. If you're planning to run something like Ubuntu on your Chromebook, then, it's probably worth going for an Intel Chromebook (and this is one). This only applies to a small sliver of the overall shopping population, though, so don't worry about it if this whole paragraph made no sense to you.
The price/performance ratio you get with Chromebooks is fantastic. I have Windows and Linux going on desktop computers that are much more powerful on paper, and I still spend a fair part of my day using ChromeOS. I even find myself sometimes grabbing a Chromebook to do something even if I'm physically at the desk where the more powerful computers are set up. It's nice to have this environment that's somewhat locked down (you mostly can't install software programs, for example) because that reduces security issues.
ChromeOS does a limited number of things, but it does them very well. If you rely heavily on the Internet to do things that are important to you, this device is well worth what they're charging for it.