Thoughts on the Acer c720?

[Essence_of_War]

Has anyone picked up the new acer chromebook w/haswell?

Any thoughts/reviews? Does it retain any of the user serviceability of the IB ones?

 

[FwFred]

Pretty good reviews other than the display. Seems like easily the best option for a Chromebook. I'm sure you know what you are getting with ChromeOS.

 

[ninaholic37]

I'd like to test this out, but all the stores in my area still have the Celeron 847 and Celeron 1007U versions on display (not sure if it's even available in my country yet at all). They're both on sale for $199 here, I'm hoping this is because they're "trying to get rid of old stock to make room for this one". The C720 doesn't have some keys on it any more (ie. pgup/pgdown/home/end, will be kind of annoying if I have to switch to scrolling up and down on the trackpad), but the 4GB Ram version, USB 3.0, quieter fan, newer integrated graphics, and extra battery life might make up for it. 16GB SSD is better choice for me than 320GB spinning drive version also. The Amazon customer ratings so far are almost all 4-5 stars, which I found pleasantly surprising. I wonder how the upcoming Asus and Toshiba Haswell Chromebooks will compare.

 

[VirtualLarry]

If you're going to spent money in a single-tasking Chromebook, consider an Ubuntu laptop. That's what I did. It's a lot more versatile, and yet retains more of the auto-update and virus-proofness of Chrome OS.

 

[Essence_of_War]

I've seen some of those celerons w/ ubuntu on newegg, VirtualLarry, but I haven't seen any with the Haswell celerons yet.

How are you liking yours?

 

[VirtualLarry]

How are you liking yours?

It's actually quite nice. I like it a lot; use it every day.

The Asus one I purchased on Shell Shocker from Newegg is disappointing in a couple of areas. RAM is only 2GB, and soldered on, no upgrading, no replacing. I wouldn't have minded so much if it were 4GB. The battery is likewise not really user upgradable. Most laptops, the battery is a separate removable piece, this one, it's inside the case somewhere.

It's clear that it was designed to a certain price-point. Which makes me wonder why the normal, everyday price, isn't $200 like most Chromebooks, but $250.

But otherwise, it's quite versatile, and one thing I like about it over Chromebooks, is that I can install Skype, which is one of my requirements that prevents me from using a Chromebook. Sure, someone pointed out Google Hangouts, but no-one I know uses that, and I really don't want a Google account.

 

[ninaholic37]

squirrel

 

[jlee1]

i say go for it. i was extensively looking at the c710. it's everything i(or most people) ever need. if not, you can install linux and dual boot anytime.

 

[gsethi]

i got one couple of days ago. Its nice and small. Screen is the only issue (its not IPS, and on the grainy side). Other than that, it is perfect. Build quality is better than many laptops and quite good(considering the price).

I also installed ubuntu on it and it ran perfectly fine.

I also bought a Asus T100TA win 8.1 and am trying to decide between the two. For what I do mostly on laptop (general browsing, emails, videos etc), these are perfect for the price.

Ultimate chromebook would be:
11" format
Haswell
IPS 1080p screen
backlit keyboard
under $300.

 

[t-ray]

My wife's laptop recently died. Initially she replaced it with the Asus T100TA (^^^^ lol). Great hardware, but she hates - HATES Wndows 8. She returned it a day later and grabbed the acer variant with the touchscreen. She loves the thing. Regularly sees a legit 8 hours of use between charges.

It doesn't have the form factor of a tablet - and it's not a full Windows PC. She's having to come to terms with things like the google apps instead of Office, but she's much happier with this unit than with Windows now.

One thing that is freaking sweet is how responsive it is when waking. She takes my kid to appointments all over town, and totes this chromebook around as a companion. She'll start up a movie on netflix on the chromebook via a hotspot, then when the kid gets in the car she just shuts the lid. When she gets home, she opens the lid, and the netflix resumes almost instantly. No fuss. Pretty rad IMO.

 

[gsethi]

My wife's laptop recently died. Initially she replaced it with the Asus T100TA (^^^^ lol). Great hardware, but she hates - HATES Wndows 8. She returned it a day later and grabbed the acer variant with the touchscreen. She loves the thing. Regularly sees a legit 8 hours of use between charges.

It doesn't have the form factor of a tablet - and it's not a full Windows PC. She's having to come to terms with things like the google apps instead of Office, but she's much happier with this unit than with Windows now.

One thing that is freaking sweet is how responsive it is when waking. She takes my kid to appointments all over town, and totes this chromebook around as a companion. She'll start up a movie on netflix on the chromebook via a hotspot, then when the kid gets in the car she just shuts the lid. When she gets home, she opens the lid, and the netflix resumes almost instantly. No fuss. Pretty rad IMO.

I am finding the same after 1 day of use with both. I am not a fan of win 8/8.1. Also, the T100 is little on the smaller side and cramped keyboard.

I thought of getting the C720p (with touchscreen) for additional $100 but figured I dont need touchscreen, so went with c720 for $199. The keyboard and touchpad on c720 is much better and is better/on par with many windows laptops/ultrabooks

btw, updated chrome on windows has the chromeos look and feel (they added the chromeos taskbar under chrome in windows).

 

[s44]

She's having to come to terms with things like the google apps instead of Office, but she's much happier with this unit than with Windows now.

Microsoft's web apps -- and I mean the free versions, not "pay annually for Office 365" are actually pretty good.

The problem with Chromebooks is that the better features are spread out among the various models. Only the HP has IPS, only one of the Acers has touch, only the absurd Pixel has non-crap resolution, etc.

 

[Essence_of_War]

The Acer and the Pixel are the only ones with non-ARM cpu's, right?

 

[t-ray]

Microsoft's web apps -- and I mean the free versions, not "pay annually for Office 365" are actually pretty good.

The problem with Chromebooks is that the better features are spread out among the various models. Only the HP has IPS, only one of the Acers has touch, only the absurd Pixel has non-crap resolution, etc.

I haven't tried any. I transitioned away from Windows a couple of years ago, in favor of linux, but the rest of my family is reluctant to leave windows.

 

[screwd01]

The Acer and the Pixel are the only ones with non-ARM cpu's, right?

The HP 14 has haswell aswell. I own the Samsung S3 3G since launch and recently purchased the c720P since I'm all in with ChromeOS. The 3 negatives from the Samsung were speed, trackpad and screen. These are all improved on the c720P. I installed elementaryOS (linux) just to try it out. If you totally can't get with ChromeOS it's nice to know you can install most flavors of linux comfortably. I don't know if any ubuntu laptop comes close to the build and quality of the low end c720 at$199.

 

[gsethi]

The HP 14 has haswell aswell. I own the Samsung S3 3G since launch and recently purchased the c720P since I'm all in with ChromeOS. The 3 negatives from the Samsung were speed, trackpad and screen. These are all improved on the c720P. I installed elementaryOS (linux) just to try it out. If you totally can't get with ChromeOS it's nice to know you can install most flavors of linux comfortably. I don't know if any ubuntu laptop comes close to the build and quality of the low end c720 at$199.

How do you like the c720p ? I have the c720 and am wondering if its worth the extra $100 for the touchscreen. How often do you use the touchscreen under chromeOS ?

Also, does touchscreen works properly under Linux ?

 

[screwd01]

How do you like the c720p ? I have the c720 and am wondering if its worth the extra $100 for the touchscreen. How often do you use the touchscreen under chromeOS ?

Also, does touchscreen works properly under Linux ?

It works well but I use it maybe less than 10% of the time. It's not essential. If I'm showing someone a document it's nice to scroll thru with it. But I really bought it in thinking Chrome will add more touch gestures and functionality in the near future.

Under Linux the touch screen worked with Ubuntu, unity and xfce, but not with elementaryOS.