Acer Chromebook R 11 Convertible, 11.6-Inch HD Touch, Intel Celeron N3150, 4GB DDR3L, 32GB, Chrome, CB5-132T-C1LK
- Intel Celeron N3150 Quad-Core Processor 1.6GHz with Intel Burst Technology up to 2.08GHz
- 11.6″ HD Widescreen LED-backlit Display, Multi-touch screen, supporting 10 finger touch
- 4GB DDR3L Onboard Memory, 32GB Internal Storage
- Up to 10-hours Battery Life
Acer Chromebook R11 CB5-132T-C1LK comes with these high level specs: Intel Celeron N3150 Quad-Core Processor 1.6GHz with Intel Burst Technology up to 2.08GHz, Chrome, 11.6″ HD Widescreen LED-backlit Display (1366×768 resolution; 16:9 aspect ratio), Multi-touch screen, supporting 10 finger touch, Intel HD Graphics, 4GB DDR3L Memory, 32GB internal storage, Secure Digital (SD) card reader, 802.11ac WiFi featuring MIMO technology (Dual-Band 2.4GHz and 5GHz), Bluetooth 4.0, Built-In HD Webcam, 1 – USB 3.0 Port, 1 – USB 2.0 Port, 1 – HDMI Port, 3-cell Li-ion Battery (3220 mAh), Up to 10-hours Battery Life, 2.76 lbs. | 1.25 kg (system unit only) (NX.G54AA.002)
List Price: $ 299.99
Price:
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Gamer
New to Chromebooks, but becoming a convert. Acer packs value into a small package,
I want to give a brief background of where I’m coming from and what I think about the new Acer Chromebook 11. In the past I have owned a Thinkpad laptop, a Dell notebook with a touchscreen and pen, and a couple of tower desktop computers. I have also owned two Android devices. These days I mostly use an Ipad for web browsing and apps, and a desktop for word processing, printing, Microsoft office needs, the occasional game, etc. I needed something at my work that was small and light and did not need a lot of computing power. I didn’t want to spend much money. After hearing about Chromebooks for a while, I did as much research as I could and decided a Chromebook fit the bill.
Amazon has a ton of Chromebooks, and I was about to buy the Chromebook 11 from last year, then found an article that was 1 day old saying that Acer had just released their new 2016 version of the 2 GB Chromebook 11. They explained that this one was built to be quite durable with an aluminum lid, and that it would feature an IPS screen, for only $179. They said a 4 GB version was bound to be released soon, and I wish it were available, but I figured 2 GB is adequate for my needs. I followed the link to Amazon, and found it here.
First impressions:
Build quality – It is not as tightly put together as say a tablet or a high end laptop, but it feels very well made. The screen articulates well and the lid feels sturdy. The keyboard has a nice feel to it, much better than my Logitech for my iPad, and I’d say just about as good as any laptop I’ve used. It does have a strip of plastic between the track-pad and the space bard which is somewhat flimsy, though, and when I press down with moderate pressure, the whole middle of the keyboard flexes. Overall, though, I am impressed, especially for $179. Haven’t dropped it yet, but I think it would survive.
Ergonomics – The keyboard feels like a full size; the volume and power buttons are in a good place, and the keyboard is comfortable to type on. The trackpad is larger than I’m used to and even the fastest setting doesn’t feel fast enough for me as I usually have to lift my finger off the trackpad to get from one side of the screen to the other. I like the “no buttons” choice of the trackpad though, and how the whole pad just clicks down if you feel you need a click. The SIZE and WEIGHT are incredible! I guess most chrome books are this way, but I am amazed. It feels lightweight but not cheap. The keys are not backlit. Webcam is stationary, and I doubt I will ever use this with Facetime on the ipad / iphone so simple and easy. Maybe they could do a version without this and drop another $20?
Display – The display looks very bright, crisp; just what you’d expect from an IPS screen. Now if I can only manage to stop poking it with my touch-screen trained fingers, I expect it to last. The fact that it is not a touch-screen makes this feel more like a laptop to me.
Color – It looks good in white casing with black keys (kind of like a piano), but white would not be my first choice due to the inevitability to show dirt and oil after a while. Also the exterior it textured, which feels cool, but will probably attract more dirt that way.
Sound — Volume is pretty loud. Not sure the decibels, but is is louder than an laptop, phone, or tablet I’ve had. I was surprised to hear what sounded like stereo Left and Right sound coming from a video, when I looked on the bottom and noticed it had two speakers. Only realistic improvement would be if they could have mounted the speakers on the front instead of the bottom. I could imagine it getting muffled if on a blanket or other soft surface. But the sound exceeded my expectations for the price for sure.
Software – having no background in Chrome OS, I find this software simple and easy to understand. You can’t really screw it up. Somewhat disappointed with the app store. Does not seem like a lot of high quality apps to pick from, but that is coming from an apple user (and previously android). UPDATE: the “OK Google” feature which allows voice searches and commands was not working. I spent an hour on a help chat with google, and they couldn’t determine the problem, but finally asked me to “Powerwash” the machine, essentially wiping it and returning it back to factory state. It took about 2 minutes to powerwash and set it up again, and the “OK Google” feature miraculously worked again. I have had no other OS issues.
Speed – The computer starts almost as instantly as a phone. Clicking on anything gives no lag. It is snappy, and I think it will stay that way. Youtube streams beautifully. Webpages load fast. If they had had the 4 GB version, I would have considered it, but 2 GB is not too slow for me right now…
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|Fantastic, capable little laptop.,
Oh man. This is the little laptop that can. I’ve wanted a Chromebook for a while just as a tinker laptop. As a developer, I’m always looking for new tech to experiment with and this hasn’t let me down. I find myself reaching for it more than any other device now. (Including an iPad Pro which used to be my go-to for getting on the web at home.)
The size is perfect. It’s not going to replace my home computer nor my development laptop. But it’s the right size and weight to grab whenever I nee a computer “right now” to look up something, compose a quick email, etc. I even use it for presenting during our daily meetings connected to a projector. Chrome itself is superb if you’re doing nothing more than using the internet. I’ve even found enough solutions for more fringe stuff that I want to be able to do. For example, I have a vast assortment of plain text notes stored in Dropbox that need to be accessed anywhere. I’ve found a fantastic Chrome OS editor (Caret) and installed the Dropbox filesystem support for Chrome OS, and now I have access to all those notes.
I admit to having also opened up developer mode so I could install Ubuntu to create a web server for development as a proof of concept. I won’t get much into that there, but it’s something I’ve done.
I will also admit that this isn’t a fast computer. Web pages (even Google’s own) are slowish to load. For most people, this will be a non-issue. For someone used to gigabit ethernet on an i7 based computer, yeah, you’re going to notice it. And yet I still continue to reach for it.
The keyboard is great, and the trackpad works surprisingly well. Google must have spent some time finessing the drivers because it works better in Chrome OS than it does in Ubuntu. The keyboard is good sized and the keys are adequately responsive with acceptable travel. I really enjoy typing on it.
The display is … well, great for this price point. But even though it’s an IPS, it’s not exactly Apple quality. But, again, at this price point, I’m thrilled with how good it IS. It’s unlikely one is likely to complain about display quality at this price point. I do not believe you can find another IPS Chromebook in this price range.
Battery life is phenomenal. I haven’t measured it, but I have used it heavily and just been amazed that it keeps on going. I can use it all weekend and take it back to work to charge on Monday.
Rather than just ramble, I’ll say that this is a great deal and a fine little computer. It’s not the fastest or the most feature rich, but for the price it gets the job done quite well. Enough that this power user often finds myself going to it to handle all the small tasks throughout the day. If you’re on a shoestring budget (or you like to tinker) grab one and be glad you did. If you need a computer that can run everything in the sun, then you’re still going to want a Windows or Mac – that’s just life. But if you (like so many) do 95% of your computing on the internet, this might be the device for you.
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