Notebook under $ 200
The Chromebook is an excellent computer for those looking for something light. First off the Google Chromebook is computer unlike anything coming from the minds of Apple or Microsoft.
It doesn't have a full-blown operating system like OSX nor is it a mobile platform like Android. It is something in between, it is ChromeOS. It is very fast, very reliable, and is perfect for doing your everyday tasks. If you mostly read e-mail, write notes, run spreadsheets, develop presentations, chat, Facebook, and surf, you should read on.
This laptop is excellent. The build quality is amazing for the price. Build quality is great of which I was surprised. The keyboard reminds me of the Macbook and the track-pad keeps up with my fast paced motions quite well. It's light and I can have four to five tabs open running different processes at ease. It does like to stutter when I do multiple things with a video running though. Expected for a tablet processor though. It keeps cool and charged for a days use. The front camera is great for chatting.
Google Drive and their office version is awesome. If you do a lot of team-based activities, please, just use Google Drive. Keep your documents available to you at all times and collaboration is simple. It has made my life much easier. Just thought I'd let you all know, now all your file is on cloud.
When you open the box and lift the lid it automatically starts up in under 10 seconds. This is not coming up from sleep mode. That's its boot time from a cold start. The setup process is as painless as it can be. Attach it to your wireless network and if you have a gmail account, just login and you are done. I up and reading e-mail in my account in less than 5 minutes. The last out of the box Windows experience took nearly an hour before I was through all of the setup questions, patches, and add-ons.
About the speed: Wow is the best way to describe it. I dare you to find a browser that is as responsive as the Chrome broswer on ChromeOS. All running on a tiny little ARM processor. This tiny little ARM processor is what gives the Chromebook its 7+ hour run time on a single charge. In practice a lot of this depends on what you are doing. If you want to stream 7 hours of YouTube videos, you're probably going to be disappointed, but for practical all-day off the charger use, I'm seeing that performance easily. It also charges like lightening, so if you throw it on the charger for an hour at lunch, you won't need to worry about it into the evening.
The screen isn't great but it isn't a deal breaker. For text, it performs adequately but not spectacularly. For video, it is quite adequate, maybe above average but again, not fantastic. The screen brightness isn't what it could be, I feel like it is a tick or two off what should be standard brightness. But, I am also used to glossy screens and even with the brightness, the matte screen seems to do okay. It gets fairly bright and it seems good in sunny conditions. The viewing angles aren't going to impress anyone but it works for me.
The speakers seem to be pretty good and loud enough. They are optimal for use on a desk rather than a lap though as the sound gets muffled a bit by clothing. I put on Pandora One and the sound through my nice $100 studio headphones sounds pretty good with the top volume topping out just right. Using my Apple headphone/mic combo, it worked well in a hangout. One thing is that the headphone jack seems very tight.
I hit my first snag when I tried to do HDMI out. It didn't seem to work. Then I read a bit more and got it to work with the Ctrl+Full Screen and that seemed to do it. Depending on your monitor, your results may vary. It actually looked great on my LCD TV (including sound) but the resolution needs to be adjusted. It didn't look good (ironically) on my Samsung 21 inch monitor. There might be some settings I'm missing on either side but it's not a huge deal. Testing the video on the 1920x1080 HDTV, it worked great other than the overscanning.
More storage in the cloud
Product Information
Style: Wi-Fi
Technical Details
- Screen Size
11.6 inches - Screen Resolution
1366 x 768 - Max Screen Resolution
1366x768 - Processor
1.7 GHz Exynos 5000 Series - RAM
2 GB DDR3L SDRAM - Memory Speed
1333.00 - Hard Drive
16 GB flash_memory_solid_state - Graphics Coprocessor
Integrated Graphics - Wireless Type
802.11 a/b/g/n - Number of USB 2.0 Ports
1 - Number of USB 3.0 Ports
1 - Average Battery Life (in hours)
6.3 hours - Brand Name
Samsung - Series
Series 3 Chromebook - Item model number
XE303C12-A01US - Hardware Platform
Consumer Electronics - Operating System
Chrome - Item Weight
2.4 pounds - Item Dimensions L x W x H
11.40 x 8.21 x 0.69 inches - Color
Silver - Processor Brand
Samsung - Processor Count
2 - Computer Memory Type
DDR3 SDRAM - Flash Memory Size
16 - Hard Drive Rotational Speed
1 RPM - Optical Drive Type
No optical drive - Battery Type
Lithium Polymer (LiPo) - Power Source
AC - Voltage
110 volts - Batteries:
1 Lithium ion batteries required. (included)
Link for more Information and 3G style
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