I have to admit this was a bit of an impulse purchase. 12 months ago we were looking for a new laptop for when we go on holiday but didn't want to spend a lot of money so ended up with a standard Windows operating system unit. Unfortunately the balance of windows 10 and the cheap price means that it is getting slower and slower to boot up, constantly nags about upgrading - which is a real nuisance as we only use it when away for a few nights and are generally on a metered connection. So, for the last 2 or 3 months my other half has been going on and on about getting a Chromebook. I finally snapped after the laptop gave me a blue screen of death whilst installing yet more Windows updates and the battery was more or less flat so I couldn't retry there and then.
So, Chromebook it has to be and I will admit I knew nothing about them before searching online for one. As we use either Android based phones or tablets (unless it is my Kindle addiction) and realising that basically a chromebook is a tablet with perks I decided that it would be a good idea to get one. The next consideration was screen size. We still have an old 11" Notebook (so old it runs under XP - and YES it does still work just fine) so I knew that 11" was just too small a screen if we were going to be doing an streaming off either catch up TV sites or content providers. Then the next criterion was cost and, lets face it this one has an excellent price point - even better if you chose the gold version which was on offer when I purchased.
The first thing it tells you to do is plug the unit in before switching it on the activate the battery. The charging cable comes in two parts and the kettle lead is a tight fit to the transformer, took a bit of a shove but you know it isn't going to come free accidentally. Because it is a two part lead you get a nice long cable for charging so it was easy to plug it in and then sit with it on my knee without worrying anyone would trip over an ankle or knee height cable as it trailed nicely on the ground.
The instruction leaflet (and it is a leaflet) warns you set up could take 30 minutes. Honestly, from booting up to being online took me less than 5. Just make sure you have your google account details to hand (username and password for your G-Mail account) and the password for your wifi connection. Once logged in it invites you take an online tour but I skipped this, figuring I would work things out as I went along and there is an Help app installed where you can access all the functionality details. Even better no booting up and immediately being prompted to install updates - BLISS!
The touchpad is HUGE and has a smooth operation. I'm not a fan of touchpads as my manual dexterity is not the greatest these days but I did like that there is no dedicated left click or right click buttons you just tap anywhere on the pad to left click with one fingertip and anywhere with two fingertips simultaneously for the right click. Okay so I had to go to the help app to find this out but that's what it's there for.
To access the settings you click on the time in the bottom right hand corner - which is still amusing me, it is kind of out there. Bluetooth connection was simple and my 12 month old Sony headphones connected easily (once I figured out how to set the headphones to pairing) and my brand new mouse was easy to set up too. Both work as expected.
You have links along the bottom already set up for Gmail, Chrome and the Play Store. Nice and easy to set up as it is all through your linked account so no interminable adding your usernames and passwords from your desktop device or trying to remember which apps you have on your phone that you want on here - the Play Store even prompted me to select which apps I wanted to download that I already had on my phone and tablet.
Browsing was fast through my home wifi connection. However, it will rarely be used at home so I turned that off and put my Huawei (yes, I know!) dongle in as it still had credit from our last holiday on it. It connected straight away - no waiting like I had with my Windows laptop which confused me and made me think it wasn't working until I tried going online. The dongle does show up as being an Ethernet connection though in your network connections.
Turning the unit off is a two stage process. You press the power button and it logs you out of your account, then you need to click on Turn Off to fully power the unit down. As soon as you click it turns off, no waiting it is OFF. Turning it on is just as speedy. I have to admit I was tempted to just sit turning it on and off as compared to a standard Windows operating system unit this is a breeze.
The design of the chromebook itself is sleek and feels nice in your hands. I also love the brushed gold finish of the case, the only drawback is the raised Acer logo which looks a bit naff to my eyes.
Basically this is an overgrown Android tablet that is perfect for everyday usage. We purchased this for a unit to use when on holiday - checking social media and email, streaming catch up TV and playing games when you wake up at 4am and can't get back to sleep and there's nothing to do until breakfast at 8am. For our needs this is perfect and I can fully see us taking it out and about if we are having a pub crawl and will be in one place for a couple of hours as it is so much better than relying on your phone to watch that horse race that isn't on the pub TV.
Does everything we need it to for a second machine but if you are looking for something more geared towards preparing documents and for working on I am not convinced that Google Docs yet provides an adequate solution. Although you could grab the Open Office App and you really will be good to go then. All I really need now is for Firefox to release a truly Android compatible version (my husband uses Chrome and I use Firefox so we can both be logged in simultaneously on the desktop and have our own bookmarks - yes, I did get the worst of this deal as Chrome is a far superior browser).
For the price point this is an impressive unit and I am VERY happy with my purchase.
| Marca | Acer |
|---|---|
| serie | Chromebook 14 |
| Dimensioni prodotto | 23,66 x 34,1 x 1,7 cm; 1,55 kg |
| Pile | 1 Polimero di litio pile necessarie. (incluse) |
| Numero modello articolo | NX.GJEEK.007 |
| Fattore di forma | Ultra-portatile, Chromebook |
| Dimensione schermo | 35,56 Centimetri |
| Risoluzione schermo | 1366 x 768 pixel |
| Marchio processore | Intel |
| Tipo processore | Celeron |
| Velocità processore | 1,6 GHz |
| Numero processori | 2 |
| Dimensioni RAM | 2 GB |
| Tipologia di memoria computer | DDR3 SDRAM |
| Dettagli audio | Altoparlanti |
| Descrizione scheda grafica | Integrato |
| Interfaccia scheda grafica | Integrato |
| Tipo di connettività | Wi-Fi |
| Tipo wireless | 802.11b, 802.11a, 802.11g |
| Sistema operativo | Chrome |
| La vita media della batteria (in ore) | 12 Ore |
| Le batterie sono incluse | Sì |
| Capacità della batteria al litio | 45 Wattora |
| Confezione della batteria al litio | Batterie contenute nell'apparecchiatura |
| Peso della batteria al litio | 1 Grammi |
| Numero delle celle agli ioni di litio | 10 |
| Peso articolo | 1,55 Kilograms |
| Aggiornamenti software garantiti fino a | sconosciuto |
