The new Acer C7 Chromebook delivers a hassle-free computing experience with speed, built-in security and the simplicity of automatic updates. It features a full-size keyboard, fully clickable trackpad, an extra bright 11.6-inch display and over 3.5 hours of battery life.
Acer C7 Chromebook powered by an Intel Core processor, the Acer Chromebook is fast—boots up in 18 seconds, resumes instantly and high-definition videos play smoothly (yes, videos like Gangnam Style in 1080p, in case you’re one of the few left who hasn’t seen it). You can easily store your stuff on the Chromebook or in the cloud, with a 320GB hard drive and 100GB of free storage on Google Drive.
Acer C7 Chromebook Hardware Review
Overview
Acer C7 Chromebook, The screen lid and keyboard deck are painted "iron gray" while the bottom shell is made of textured black plastic and the display bezel is finished in shiny black. Strangely, each of these disparate surfaces manages to attract fingerprints to various degrees. Acer's brand is stenciled below the glossy 11.6-inch screen and in the middle of the lid. The Chrome logo is embossed in the top-left corner of the lid -- it's actually a sticker which started peeling off within minutes of us unboxing Acer C7 Chromebook. You'll find a webcam and microphone above the display and the power button with an embedded blue LED above the keyboard to the left.
Acer C7 Chromebook | Credit: google.com
Speaking of which, the keyboard of Acer C7 Chromebook uses black island keys but differs in layout from other Chromebooks, which is problematic (more on this later). The left side is home to a 10/100 Ethernet jack, VGA and HDMI outputs, plus a USB 2.0 port, while the right side features a Kensington lock, the power socket, two more USB 2.0 sockets and a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. In front, there's an SD card slot on the left and a pair of blue / orange status LEDs (sleep and charge) on the right. The removable four-cell Li-ion battery slides into the back of the system and is secured via a sliding lock mechanism accessible from the bottom.
Flipping Acer's Chromebook over reveals a few vents and grilles for the cooling fan and the speakers. What's more interesting is that the bottom shell is largely covered by a plastic door that's fastened with a single Phillips screw located under the warranty seal.
Opening this door provides access to a 7mm-thin 2.5-inch SATA hard drive (320GB / 5400rpm) made by Seagate, two DDR3-1066 / 1333 SoDIMM slots (one of them populated with 2GB of RAM) and an Atheros half-height mini-PCIe 802.11a/b/g/n card (connected to a pair of antennae). This, combined with the Ethernet jack, VGA output and additional USB 2.0 port makes the C7 a lot more tinker-friendly than Samsung's Chromebook. In fact, resourceful hackers are already dual-booting Chrome OS and Ubuntu 12.04 on this laptop -- we're sure Windows 8 is not too far behind.
Acer C7 Chromebook Battery Life
The latest update for the Acer C7 Chromebook enhances battery life to 4 hours. You should get this update when you open your computer for the first time. Thanks to auto-updates, you already have a better computer than the one you bought.
Acer C7 Chromebook battery life is another matter. Samsung's Chromebook comes out ahead by matching its specs and scoring six hours and 33 minutes in our usual battery rundown test (which involves playing a video in a loop from local storage with WiFi turned on). Acer's Chromebook, which is rated for four hours of operation, lasts only three hours and 16 minutes in the same test.
While the Acer C7 Chromebook features a smaller 2,500mAh battery (vs. 4,080mAh), it's also saddled with less-efficient components, like that 2.5-inch hard drive, the Intel Celeron CPU and its associated cooling fan. Speaking of which, the fan is always spinning, and while the speed varies, it's often loud enough to be noticed. While it's somewhat annoying, it keeps the laptop cool even when the vents are partially covered by fabric.
Acer C7 Chromebook Keyboard and trackpad
Acer C7 Chromebook keyboaed | Credit: engadget.com
We've been spoiled by the quality of the keyboard and trackpad on Samsung's $249 Chromebook, which seem to be lifted right from the pricier Series 5 550. The Acer C7 Chromebook falls short in comparison -- the keyboard and trackpad are decent, but we can't see ourselves writing an entire review on Acer's $199 Chromebook.
First, the keyboard deviates from the standard Chromebook layout by losing the power button (it's separate) and including caps-lock (instead of the search key).
Second, it's cluttered with vestigial keys (such as Home, End, Ins, Del) which are too small to be useful and in some cases (like Pg Up / Dn) interfere with the cursor keys, something that quickly makes editing documents extremely frustrating. Third, the Ctrl and Alt keys are too small and are separated by other keys on the left side, while the Alt key is missing on the right (replaced with Alt Gr). Once you're past these niggles, it's a serviceable if somewhat mushy chiclet keyboard.
Acer's trackpad almost matches Samsung's. Single-finger tracking and two-finger scrolling work as expected but pressing to click requires more force, which becomes tiring after using the C7 for a while. Of course tapping to click is available in the settings, but we prefer the tactile feedback of a properly calibrated switch.
Acer C7 Chromebook Display and sound
Acer C7 Chromebook display | Credit: engadget.com
There's one major difference between the 11.6-inch, 1,366 x 768-pixel LED-backlit screens on these two budget Chromebooks -- Acer's is glossy and Samsung's is matte. In fact, this is the second Chromebook ever with a shiny display (the first being Acer's AC700). Colors are slightly cooler on Acer C7 Chromebook, but brightness, contrast and viewing angles are similar on both screens -- neither is as bright as the Series 5 550, and you'll probably want to adjust the lid for the best viewing angle once you're in a comfortable position. While Samsung's matte display is easier on the eyes (especially when working outdoors), Acer's screen opens almost flat, which is a nice touch.
Neither Chromebook is going to break any records in terms of audio quality when using the built-in speakers. These sound tinny and are easy to obstruct, being located in the bottom shell near the front edge of the keyboard deck on both systems. Samsung beats Acer on loudness here, but the C7 Chromebook's volume is still adequate in a quiet room.
Acer C7 Chromebook Performance
Acer C7 Chromebook hardware | Credit: engadget.comAcer's Chromebook, which is rated for four hours of operation, lasts only three hours and 16 minutes in the same test.
Acer's $199 Chromebook features Intel's 1.1GHz Celeron 847 processor and a 320GB hard drive. Samsung's $249 Chromebook is built around the company's A15-based 1.7GHz Exynos 5 Dual (5250) SoC with 16GB of flash storage. Both laptops sport a dual-core CPU and 2GB of RAM, so it's really a battle of x86 vs. ARM and HDDs vs. SSDs.
On Chromebooks, the processor speed usually affects things like page rendering and scrolling, the amount of RAM impacts how many tabs you're able to open at the same time, and storage performance generally affects boot times and page caching
In our experience, Samsung's Exynos-packing system slots somewhere between the Atom-equipped Chromebooks and the Celeron-based models like the Series 5 550. Of course, those are all equipped with solid-state drives. The Acer C7 Chromebook, then, is an anomaly -- it's marginally faster than its budget stablemate, both subjectively and as reflected by SunSpider web rendering results (528ms vs. 677ms), yet it takes twice as long to boot (18 seconds vs. nine). We don't remember noticing any hiccups or crashes -- as such, it's a perfectly competent Chromebook that provides middle-of-the-road performance.
Acer C7 Chromebook Software Review
Acer C7 Chromebook software | Credit: engadget.comThere's a certain beautiful simplicity to cloud-based computing.
For many, Chrome OS is an acquired taste -- you really have to live with it for a few days to appreciate it. While it's not for everyone, it's a compelling option once you wrap your head around the idea. There's a certain beautiful simplicity to cloud-based computing that becomes clear once you start using a system designed to do only one thing really well -- the one thing people do the most -- surf the web.
No more worries about managing apps or updating software or lending your laptop -- you're able to focus and be productive. We have several fans in our midst here at Engadget, and this pair of budget Chromebooks is generating more interest than ever among colleagues, friends and family.
Acer's $199 Chromebook runs version 23 of Chrome OS. We reviewed build 19 earlier this year, which marked a significant change for the OS -- the UI evolved from being pretty much a full-screen instance of Chrome to offering a more desktop-like experience, complete with wallpapers, a task bar and a launch menu. It also introduced additional functionality with a photo editor, broader media compatibility, offline documents including Google Books, support for Hangouts, plus tab synchronization with other versions of Chrome (mobile and desktop).
That build of the OS on Acer C7 Chromebook also comes with Chrome Remote Desktop to access remote systems and share your own screen. Version 23, which also ships on Samsung's $249 Chromebook, features a revised log-in screen, additional wallpapers, a calculator app, a camera app (with funky filters) and deep Google Drive integration -- complete with 100GB of free storage for two years.
Buy Online Acer C7 Chromebook
Now, Acer C7 Chromebook available to buy online from Amazon UK. For detail click here: Acer C7 Chromebook (Amazon UK)
Review by: engadget.com
0 komentar:
Post a Comment