A few weeks ago, I was working on a paper with my dog sitting next to me trying to get my attention. Apparently, he was jealous of the laptop getting more attention than he was, because he jumped up and pushed the computer onto the floor. The screen broke. A large chunk of my was paper gone. Great...
I needed to buy a cheap replacement to finish the paper on while mine got fixed (thank goodness we bought the Best Buy protection plan!). The cheapest option was a $199 Chromebook (list price) at Best Buy.
Here are my thoughts so far on the Acer C7 Chromebook (16 GB SSD version -- just released) I bought to finish my paper. It seems to be worth the $200. It is the size of those netbooks that seem to be disappearing from stores, so it is very lightweight. This particular device has a piece of junk touchpad, but a decent keyboard. Also, because of the solid state drive, I can use it all day without it getting hot. The battery life is decent, not great: It's lasted me between three and four hours, usually closer to four than three. I'm not the best person to ask about screen quality. But, hey, it's $199! And that's the regular price! If you're only spending $199, I'm guessing you're not picky about hardware.
In case you're unaware, the Chrome OS is basically just a Chrome browser. This means no Microsoft Office, no Adobe, no iTunes, no real programs aside from Chrome.
There are more advantages to this slimmed-down OS than you might think: the computer boots in about 20 seconds or less; it is extremely simple and easy-to-use; pretty much everything is automatically backed up in the cloud; you don't need antivirus; and you won't be tempted to spend all that money on the latest version of Office (Google Docs is more than adequate for most people, and pretty compatible with Microsoft Office--I've only had minor formatting issues). Also, you can find apps and websites that will perform most of the basic functions you would have done on a laptop, anyway.
The disadvantages are pretty obvious: you need an internet connection to do much of anything; there is very little flexibility (note the aforementioned list of programs that are unavailable); there is very little storage space on the computer; and you have to have a Google account to do much of anything.
Basically, it's a good supplemental computer, and it's meeting my needs in my current "emergency" (i.e. Sheldon destroyed my laptop). I would consider it a good tablet alternative or a great option if you're looking for portability or a 'back-up' device like I was.
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