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Product Review: Acer Chromebook
What??? A product review that isn’t food? (Hey now, I have written about other items…ok, ok, *one* other item,,,Product Review: Artic Zone Ultra Lunchbox). Yes, indeed, time to expand beyond the world of food.
Although electronics were mentioned as an item *not* to buy at Costco (What NOT to buy at Costco (avoid the “Costco Effect”): Part 1), I have had some success with some products, including my current phone and now this Chromebook.
Now that I have completed graduate school, I no longer use my home computer much for work, so I do not require a complicated office package, statistics software, etc. When I was looking into buying a new computer (my old one was several years old and the keys were “struggling,” I really only cared about being able to use email, read websites, and have some method (even if slightly “clunky”) of creating word documents. I do not watch videos or play games on the computer. I wanted a relatively large screen because I like to be able to see what I am doing. Given that I didn’t anticipate transporting my computer very much, I opted for larger, even if heavier.
I ended up getting a great combination. This Chromebook has a large enough screen that I don’t feel like I am just using a slightly larger smart phone but is extremely light so that (if I decide to) I can carry it places easily. As an added bonus, although I normally use it as a “normal computer,” it can fold over into a tablet-like device, which is nice and enables me to use the touch screen.
Some added features of this device are that it turns on almost automatically (much quicker than even my phone!) In fact, for the first few days I thought I had forgotten to turn it off because there was no delay when I turned it on again. It also charges very quickly (good for me, as I often forget to plug it in) and holds the charge for quite a awhile.
I was able to get this Chromebook for an additional $100 off, making it a great deal (at its advertised Costco price, it was comparable to other stores). And, as you can see in the link, it came with a four-year warranty. Generally, computers come with a one-year warranty, with the option of paying (quite a bit) for additional years.
I do have a few minor complaints. I find the keyboard a bit “flat” (I know this is not a great description, but I have always used PCs and have noticed that when I use other people’s Macs, I find the keys a little soft and it takes some getting used to typing on them). In addition, (I tried to Google this complaint to see if it bothers other people and, if so, how they would describe it) there seems to be a key in the wrong place on the lefthand side of the keyboard. Between the shift and tab keys is a little key with an icon that looks like a magnifying glass. I tend to hit it by mistake and another document pops up and I lose my place. It is not a huge deal and I am getting used to learning how to use the keyboard without looking but it was a change from other keyboards. (On the plus side, because this change resulted in my deleting parts of my writing, I have now learned to use “control z” to undo the most recent “cut” (yes, most people probably knew this trick, but I am not super tech-saavy).
Do any of you have this device? What do you think?
Any tips/tricks for using it effectively?
Anything you cannot do with it that you would like? (Just curious–obviously I have no ability to make it happen!)
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