Acer C7 Chromebook

[CougTek]

I'm very tempted to get an Acer C7 Chromebook. I can get it for 237$ locally. Yes, it's a shitty laptop, but since I don't have a laptop at all and not much money to spare, I guess it would be better than nothing. I'd replace the internal 320GB hard drive with my spare Corsair Neutron GTX 240GB SSD after I'll have completed my tests on the servers. I'd also replace Chrome OS by Lubuntu, because it's probably more usable and I'm familiar with it.

It's either that or I wait for an Haswell-based laptop with a FullHD screen and hope that I won't have to spend a thousand $$ for it.

 

[ddrueding]

Proper laptops around here are available for ~$450 most of the time (usual discounts from Dell or Lenovo). I would consider the performance difference worthwhile.

 

[CougTek]

The only things I'd do on a laptop would be net browsing and office work. For that, I don't need much speed. Besides, the biggest speed impact is from having an SSD instead of an HDD and 450$ laptop don't have SSDs. Also, my main criteria is the screen definition and there again, 450$ laptops all have shitty 1366x768 displays, just like the C7 Chromebook. 450$ laptops also are bluky for their screen size and only more expensive models have decent keyboards and general chassis.

The only things I'd get from spending 200$ more for a 450$ laptop are things I don't really need. It's probably different for someone else, but for me the question is "Am I ready to spend 3x-4x as much for something nice or can I live with a laptop wannabee".

 

[LunarMist]

Why do you need HD display for Web and Office?

 

[CougTek]

Screen estate is very useful for spreadsheets and for watching videos.

 

[timwhit]

I think it looks like a nice ultraportable for the price. Let us know how it handles Lubuntu.

 

[Mercutio]

The only issue I'd like to raise is the possibility of finding a Samsung, Asus or HP rather than an Acer device, solely because I hate the idea of giving those bastards money.

Regardless, I think an Android/Linux machine is probably a great idea. I want so much to tell my students to Just Give The Fuck Up On Windows. They can't handle the security issues. They no longer need or use the application compatibility (most of them have never installed a program, even). And for the most part the conversation on backup and/or storing data locally starts with "I told you that was going to happen" and goes downhill from there. Coug clearly isn't in that place, but I bet he's more interested in a web appliance to occasionally type on rather than a full-spec desktop replacement and that sounds exactly like Chromebook to me.

 

[timwhit]

What did Acer do to you?

 

[timwhit]

There's a Samsung Chromebook that is similarly priced, but it doesn't have an x86 processor.

 

[CougTek]

Yeah, I klnow about the Samsung. While the chassis is probably a bit better and it has a USB 3.0 port (which the Acer misses), the ARM CPU is significantly weaker and I'm not sure about the compatibility with alternative OSes. I won't invest twice the price in order to get a more powerful processor, but spending 20$ more to get something weaker, not such a good deal to my eyes. The ARM processor inside the Samsung Chromebook fares well compared to an Atom, but it pales next to anything Core-something. The dual-core Celeron inside the Acer C7 is based on either the Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge architecture.

 

[P5-133XL]

Perhaps I'm missing something for I do not see the appeal of a Chromebook. Isn't it just the new "netbook" with Google caching (i.e. monitoring) every thing you do.

 

[timwhit]

He's going to install Lubuntu on it.

 

[Chewy509]

FYI, The Acer has an Intel Celeron 847 (Sandy Bridge).

http://ark.intel.com/products/56056/

 

[Mercutio]

What did Acer do to you?

I fix way too many broken ones. Especially screens. And I have to say Acer/Gateway/eMachines stuff is generally about as sturdy as a wet tissue. And this is Coug we're talking about.

Also, Acer is really awesome for magical mystery hardware. Give them a model and serial number and the best their support services can do is come up with a list of hardware that MIGHT be in a particular computer. And I have at times found out that their rough guesses aren't even terribly accurate.

 

[Mercutio]

Perhaps I'm missing something for I do not see the appeal of a Chromebook. Isn't it just the new "netbook" with Google caching (i.e. monitoring) every thing you do.

The obnoxious thing about Netbooks was the MS-imposed limitation on screen resolution, RAM and CPU speed. Yes, they'll run real Windows, but only at about the same speed as a 10-year-old Pentium 4, with at most 2GB RAM and with no more than 768 vertical pixels. Chromebooks don't run Windows and can support real hardware. The models that use ARM CPUs can be extremely light and last a very long time on even a small battery, which makes for some pretty interesting form factors as well.

 

[timwhit]

Can the RAM be upgraded on the Acer C7?

 

[timwhit]

Sounds like you can.

With 4GB RAM and a fast SSD, this seems like it would be a nice little Linux box. I would prefer a higher resolution screen though.

 

[CougTek]

I finally passed on the deal. I'll get a nicer laptop when I'll have the resources to buy one.

 

[timwhit]

I got a HP Chromebook 14 for my Dad. His 5 year old Lenovo had numerous problems that I don't have time to fix. He tends to acquire malware, rootkits, viruses, etc very frequently, so I'm hoping he will never have an issue with that again.

 

[Mercutio]

Chromebooks run Android apps now, so IMO, they're vastly more credible devices than they were six months ago. My mother does really well with an Android tablet instead of a Windows PC.

 

[sedrosken]

I kind of want a C720. It'd be a nice little upgrade over my T4300. And for a not too terrible price, as I've seen a 16GB model go for $180 new on Amazon, with free shipping to boot. I'd have to upgrade the RAM and replace the storage (or, barring that, putting all my files on external storage), but even after all that I can't imagine it costing me more than $250. And it has a real BIOS, so I can put Windows on it. Or put Linux on it a bit easier.

 

[timwhit]

I wasn't aware that you can install Android apps, thanks for the tip.

 

[Mercutio]

A few companies are now talking about extremely inexpensive x86 machines with small SSDs and low-res screens that will run full-blown Windows 8 in the ~$200-$250 range. They'll be limited to 2GB RAM, which basically makes them Netbooks redux, but they're probably closer to what a lot of people think they want out of a notebook shaped device: cheap, light and capable of running full blown MS Office. The HP Stream is one such model.

I can see that Microsoft is trying to bridge a gap that only it can bridge with support for real Microsoft Office, but if all the application development is done in Android, ChromeOS or iOS I suppose that doesn't matter.

 

[Mercutio]

Android Apps for ChromeOS are now available, sorta.