Acer AC700-1090 11.6-Inch Chromebook (3G)

This is a great product built around the new paradigm of cloud computing in its truest form. I would recommend it for both business and personal use. Everything is on the web. You lose the entire book and all you need is another notebook or just any computer with a Chrome browser to start working again, INSTANTLY. Same goes for future upgrades, or when your dog decides to bury it in your backyard.

There are not any software packages to install or maintain, hard drives to de-fragment or virus software subscriptions to update or to bog-down or interfere with applications. It all just works! No more having to bug your family or neighborhood IT Guru and no more trips to Best Buy that cost as much as this single machine on a service invoice from the Geek Squad.

If you have a 3g/4g phone that you can tether it to, buy the WiFi only model and save $100. Acer AC700-1099 Chromebook (Wi-Fi)

While both the Acer and Samsung are great machines, it's worth the extra $50 for the extra 1/2 inch of display. (And I think the battery is a little stronger in the Samsung too.) Samsung Series 5 Wi-Fi 12.1-Inch Chromebook (Black)

It's the last "technology" change you'll ever have to go through! And you'll actually be happy you did.

This product is amazing. I have been using this for about a month now and I have only spent about 15 minutes on another computer since I got it. The Chromebook is simply that good. You cannot beat 8 second start-up time. There are times where I miss a feature or two from my old Windows computer, but I cannot bring myself to use it because 8 seconds is so much better than 6 minutes. For surfing the internet, the Chromebook is best. For streaming music, it is still best, provided you use an external speaker. Google Docs is great for typing reports and making presentations due to the auto-save feature. The Chromebook CAN play games, but only casual online games. What one must understand is that this is not a total replacement for a PC, only about a 95% replacement. Most of the problems stem from not being able to use iTunes or Java, two programs that we have grown to use quite a bit. This makes downloading music, syncing with an iPod, and playing games hard (and in the case of syncing with an iPod, impossible). Other than that and other programs you might need for a job, this thing is glorious. You want to use the internet? Just flip open the lid and you'll be on in 10 seconds. You done? Hit the power button, close the lid, and walk away. The battery life is also really good (not as good as advertised, but still good). For somebody who wants a lightweight,low-cost, fast computer for casual browsing that they can take anywhere, this is the item for them. You will inevitably be annoyed by what it cannot do for time to time, but remember how annoyed you were by your PCs slow start-up time and viruses. This is better. Much better.

Buy Acer AC700-1090 11.6-Inch Chromebook (3G) Now

Never before has "caveat emptor" been more true than in the case of the Chromebook. Personally, I love the Chromebook, and am writing this review from my own Acer AC700. The key to enjoying this, and similar, devices, is knowing what it is, and what it is not.

What is it? In short, it's a cloud computer. If most of your work is done online (as mine is) or you're looking for a device to connect to the internet, freeing up your primary computer for someone else to use, this is nearly perfect. What I needed was a small device with a true keyboard that could get me online when I needed to be, and the AC700 delivers exactly that.

What is it not? It's not a computer. If you're expecting Windows, MacOS, or Linux, do not buy any Chromebook. You will be frustrated, you will be angry, and you will sound like you did no research on the unit when you review it. If you need a computer to run programs or games, like Photoshop or SWToR, you need a computer, not a cloud client.

All said and done, my AC700 does exactly what I expected it to, and I could be happier with it.

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For reference this review is written by a road warrior. I travel throughout the southwest United States in an unforgiving environment. The laptop is exposed to extreme heat (think 170 degrees in the car when it is 120F outside) during the day and can be transitioned into a colder environment at night. Most of my customer visits usually last about 10 minutes.

The reason I love this Acer is primarily the boot times and battery life. If you close the lid the laptop automatically enters standby and can remain in this state for a few days without a charge. When opening the lid the laptop is ready to go in less than a second. I also noticed my other 2 Netbooks occasionally have problems connecting via wireless when coming out of standby or occasionally hang while this Netbook has never needed to be rebooted.

The display is excellent with great brightness control. It has a little glare in full sunlight but the screen is still usable by turning up the brightness.

If you have an alternative Netbook from Dell or Toshiba you may also notice all the keys are smaller. Acer compromised. The Acer keyboard is missing function keys (you don't need them anywhere on this machine), a delete key, CAPS LOCK and Windows key. By removing these keys Acer was able to give us a full size keyboard with standard size keys. (For those of you who are older and remember the old IBM keyboards.. this keyboard feels more clicky which I love).

I will also note the integration in Google apps is really impressive. The webcam works right out of the box with gTalk or Gmail's webcam app. When uploading and downloading files it connects directly to Google Docs (as well as a local storage folder if you need it). It also supports memory sticks with drag-and-drop support between the local machine and Google Docs / GDrive.

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Unlike this model, the Samsung Series 5 550 is fast enough to watch Youtube reliably and use some WebGL apps. It also scrolls more smoothly.

Within the same generation of common Intel reference design or whatever (clusters of these netbooks tend to have about the same specs), I prefer Acer's appearance to Samsung's. I also trust their brand more because they've been attempting to offer Linux laptops (the Aspire One) almost as long as Asus has, and because they offer the dignity of a removable battery unlike Samsung and Apple. But the performance gap between generations is too wide to act on this preference right now. I hope this will change because I enjoy supporting Acer.

Samsung Series 5 550 Chromebook (Wi-Fi)