Acer Computer C710-2055 11.6-Inch Netbook (Iron Gray)

I bought this as an experiment, to some extent, although having downloaded ChromeOS to fiddle with over a year ago, I knew about what to expect. But I'd never used it exclusively on a dedicated machine. I'm very pleasantly surprised.*The OS: Am learning more all the time, but have found it to be very useful once I resigned myself to using mainly Google Docs, which I had resisted up to now. It was a good thing to learn, because my misconceptions about its limits proved to be pretty much unfounded. Part of this machine's role will be as a travel laptop that will need to access company documents sometimes, and I now know that - while I might not be doing heavy editing or writing a new SMS manual in Google Docs - it will work for what I do need it to do. I also like the speed of the OS, both starting up and on the web.The more I learn about ChromeOS, the better I'm liking it. There is a learning curve, but it's pretty easy. There is also a fun factor. I look forward to continuing updates and improvements, which will come to the machine in free, effortless updates - nothing to keep track of. Freedom from malware is huge, too. Given what I intend to use it for, thumbs-up on the OS.*The Hardware: I had tempered my expectations for the Acer, based on its low price - I told myself not to expect too much refinement. But it's quite nice, really, if a little plain-vanilla looking; I've ordered a skin to jazz it up a bit. Quality seems good, fit & finish are fine, it's solid, I even like the keyboard. The screen is good, and bright enough for outdoor use - I sit and work on the porch at home a lot. Battery life is as advertised - about 6 hours. So no complaints about the hardware.One reason I wanted the Acer instead of the Samsung is that I thought I might put ChrUbuntu on it, for the full OS and apps - and the Acer, with its 320GB HDD, has ample room for the extra OS. It also uses an X86 processor, so it will run standard apps like LibreOffice - unlike the ARM-based Chromebooks. I still might install ChrUbuntu, though I want to sound the depths of ChromeOS first. But even if I don't put the full OS on, I think the extra HDD room will come handy, as I'd like to keep large DrobBox and Google Drive folders on the laptop for off-line access.Another thing I like about the Acer's construction is that HDD, memory and battery are replaceable or upgradeable. I like the idea that when SSDs get cheaper, for example, I could swap one in for a performance increase.This is a good little laptop with surprising quality and speed at a very low price. I'm happy with my purchase and would recommend it.ONE-YEAR UPDATE:Everything above still qualifies. I just had the opportunity to replace the HDD with an SSD (when I accidentally dropped the computer on a desk while it was starting up - guess the head crashed into the platter). Opening it up required removing the warranty sticker, which was OK as it is now out of warranty anyway.Swapping out the drive was easy, just remove the bottom panel and there it is. I thought about upgrading the memory (it came with 4GB originally) but have observed over the past year that I almost never approach the memory limit so I saved my money and left it alone. There was a tiny amount of dust around the fan, so I blew that out. Using a recovery USB stick, recovery took a few minutes - meaning less than 5. That's it! It was the easiest component replacement and recovery I've ever done. I was almost disappointed, like more should need to be done - but there it sat, just as it had been, everything in place! So I got back to work. If this had been an ordinary PC I'd have wasted hours - I've spent two complete evenings restoring Windows computers from scratch after similar operations.This is a great advantage of the Chromebook idea, in my opinion. For instance, the same thing would have happened if I'd needed to replace the entire computer - just open up the new Chromebook and log in. Everything would come right back, just as you'd have left it on the old machine. It's really a new way of doing business, and I like it.The addition of the SSD palpably speeds things up even more. Starts are so rapid that if I look away for a paper or something, it's already ready for login. Full desktop appears within seconds after that. I notice battery life is better, although I haven't measured it. It was good for 6 hours when new; it goes longer than that now.So after a year's use, more than satisfied. With the constant OS upgrades, I feel like it's even gotten faster, so I should get years' more use out of this very small investment. Recommended!

2/27/14 I hate this computer so much I just stopped emailing or writing anything at all. I'm writing this on my phone. It is mainly a problem at this point of a completely nonfunctional track pad but offline is also a joke. These things can't be that costly to correct but the sad truth is that I'm about to shell out 1200 to switch back to Mac.THE LATEST 7/17: Returning this thing to Acer was inconvenient and cost around $35, but relatively straightforward; not having it for two weeks was a pain, but certainly not outside the realm of normalcy in these affairs. It arrived back with a one-line description of what the technicians had done (replaced one of the 2GB "memory sticks" is apparently all...hey I coulda....! well now I know) In any case.. the thing feels like it just had its RAM doubled!! (Whodathunk!?) So (knock wood) it's now operating as it did when it first arrived, before tabs started blacking out whenever I had more than a dozen or so open. Which is awesome, albeit with the obvious reservations. (Still haven't figured out how to print with the thing, for example, but I can do that with my BlackBerry so who cares.) If it keeps on keeping on I might add another star back to the rating because the price is obviously right. I will say this: I don't see how 2GB of RAM is supposed to suffice for a laptop these days. My blackberry has as much, and USES it. So while I'd be tempted to say if I had to do it all over again I'd go with the savvier Chromebook vendor (Samsung) I just don't see how I'd be satisfied with anything less than 4GB of RAM. Not that I know anything about anything, but it's not like I get paid to review these things, which is after all why you can trust my sincerity here.---7/2:Well, it completely died. 35 days after I opened it. No explanation, screen just went all fuzzy/anarchic and I turned it off, never to successfully get it back on again. No idea what even to do. I might as well concede also that before it died the honeymoon phase was decidedly over. Chrome just isn't a robust OS, I think what's made that particularly clear is the fact that I also just purchased a BlackBerry Q10, which by comparison to the Chromebook just feels like an infinitely more resilient little machine.---ORIGINAL REVIEWI should be working but I'm so impressed with this little machine so far I felt compelled to give it my preliminary abridged hearty endorsement.I'm a freelance journalist who writes about a kind of staggering array of unrelated topics. I rarely have fewer than 100 tabs open when I'm hard at work. So yeah, I got the 4GB RAM version and so far no Oh Snap! crap. You might be cool with the 2GB Chromebook.Boots up instantly.Temperature is almost comically cool. If the battery charger didn't occasionally get a teensy bit hot I'd almost be worried. Track pad seems a little over-responsive at times but I think that's just because my macbook air trackpad was horribly warped.I do not edit video. I do not play games. I've watched some Youtube videos without incident; the screen is pretty gorgeous. Between this and the BlackBerry q10 I'm now free of the freaking Genius Bar and it FEELS SO GOOD.

I have never written a review before, due to the fact i have never felt the need to. This is a great supplemental computer. I not sure I would have it for my only computer for now but i can see it becoming one in the near future after some needed upgrades (Skype for one). If it had Skype it would be the perfect computer for deployed military members. I have been deployed multiply times so when i say that i want you to know where i am coming from. It is quick and exceptional for travel. People complained about the weight but that complaint carries no weight. 4 1/2 stars is what it deserves but that's not a choice. I would recommend to other computer users who like to explore new IT solutions. Acer is the way to go with this....not the other choices.

The computer is very powerful for a Chromebook at this price, however, it has some serious drawbacks: 1. The page up/down keys are too close to the arrow keys, making it easy to accidentally press them while editing text. 2. The speakers are on the bottom, making it difficult to hear when, for example, video chatting with friends/family/coworkers. 3. The screen is extremely reflective, making it difficult to be productive when there is even a small amount of back light.While I am generally satisfied with this computer, these design flaws are sufficiently annoying that I'm not sure whether I would chose this computer or a different Chromebook were I to make the choice all over again.