Acer C720

First Focus

Hi, can anyone tell me anything about the acer C720 , I think its a chrome book thingy, my daughter has problems with writing continuously due to a connective tissue disorder and she will eventually need a laptop for 100% of schooling, anyway, as she is only 11 I don't want to be spending a whole load of money on a laptop that may hit the ground after a few days and a tablet will not allow her to keep up her typing practice, I googled chromebooks and the acer seemed to jump out at me and they say it is pretty well priced, can anyone tell me when or even if it will be released in this country and how much, sorry for the long post.

alaimacerc

PC World has these in, and even knocked a tenner off the price in their Jan sale. I was on the cusp of getting one of these, but the local PCW -- though still having one on display! -- is OOS. So, the sale price is moot here already, as it'll be back up when they restock.

I think it'd like make an excellent "starter laptop", unless you're for some reason wanting to lock her into the Windows or Mac "infrastructures".

It looks pretty good to me. The screen is a reasonable resolution -- standard "HD Ready" 768p, but in such a small formfactor that looks OK. I like that it's fairly matte, so much better than most "consumer grade" laptops for reading text (as opposed to watching vids, etc). Keyboard is very shallow and short-travel, but seems OK using it a little in the shop. Build quality, appearance, weight all struck me rather favourably.

Downsides are that RAM and SSD drive are both rather small. PCW advertises the memory as "2GB expandable to 4GB", but I'm hearing that the RAM is soldered down, which makes it a much trickier job, and in any case any such swap is a guarantee-voider. 2GB is low by current standards, but serviceable for everyday purposes. (I can easily bloat just my web browser to use about that much... at which point, time to go on a tab diet.) For storage, there's at least the option of using the SD slot, which will take at least 32GB (I think, and "confirmed" by the not-super-savvy-sound assistant in PCW), and possibly larger. (Anyone know if it'll accept SDXC cards?) Nuclear option is to replace the internal SSD, which is confirmed doable (without soldering!). Of course, what you're supposed to do is pony up for Google Drive storage (starter pack included with), but that could be annoying if you're often out of wireless coverage.

Would be happier to be offered an option for 4GB, so as I was moving up from my current laptop in that respect. But if I were laptopless, I think I'd be more than content with this.

Anyone bought one and able to give a more meaningful review?

alaimacerc

Positive experiences reported by one user over here.

Lenin Skynard

I had a "mess around" with one recently and I was impressed by it, especially for the price. Most of the reviews online seem to base any criticism on the fact that you can't modify the hardware inside the laptop. Honestly I don't know too many people who are bothered to modify laptops when the pace of new technology is so fast. It seems silly to debate the merits of 2gb RAM against 4gb RAM when in two years from now they'll probably all have 16gb RAM.

I'd absolutely go for it if I were you. I'm not sure how many 11 year olds have laptops (maybe they all do?) but surely she's doing well to have her own. Also, using an OS other than windows/mac OS can only be a good thing in the long run, she'll come across those other operating systems plenty.

alaimacerc

Lenin Skynard wrote: »

Most of the reviews online seem to base any criticism on the fact that you can't modify the hardware inside the laptop. Honestly I don't know too many people who are bothered to modify laptops when the pace of new technology is so fast.

I hear what you're saying. Obviously actual self-modders are in the minority, but I think it's a legit criticism nonetheless. After a while, someone thinks "dang, I need more storage space" or "why's it running so slow?", and they ask a slightly more tech-savvy friend to help, or take it to the local computer shop and ask "economic upgrade?" There's a big difference between a modular HDD and DIM RAM that can just be popped out and replaced, and something that involves opening the case (thus voiding the guarantee, if it's still in place) and getting out a soldering iron. (Especially given that PC World claim it's "expandable to 4GB" without troubling to mention such details.) In the one case, they'll quote a moderate amount of cash to do it... in the other, they'll say "don't bother, get a new puter".

It seems silly to debate the merits of 2gb RAM against 4gb RAM when in two years from now they'll probably all have 16gb RAM.

And what's worse, the way browserbloat and webcrap is going, you'll *need* 8GB just to have two tabs open at once.

I'd absolutely go for it if I were you. I'm not sure how many 11 year olds have laptops (maybe they all do?) but surely she's doing well to have her own. Also, using an OS other than windows/mac OS can only be a good thing in the long run, she'll come across those other operating systems plenty.

I'd tend to agree, myself, but I'm rather anti-Windows, and "sick and tired of up-themselves iOS types", so I try to correct for own biases.