Acer C720 Chromebook - Are you interested?

Paul627g

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Yet another entry into the fold at a very compelling price point of $250. Why would you pass on this for a Chromebook that claims to get 8.5 hours of battery life and from a name that's been in the industry for years. Combine that with the rest of the specs and its hard not to give this a second look.

Article and more specs can be found at the link below, thanks to Richard Devine of Android Central.

Acer announces new C720 Chromebook with Haswell | Android Central
 

B. Diddy

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Oooh, stop tempting me! Been thinking more and more about getting a Chromebook. I imagine that the current Samsung, Acer, and HP Chromebooks will start to be discounted as these newer ones come out, so the question will be if I should settle for the older version for cheap, or spring for the newer ones!
 

Ry

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Oooh, stop tempting me! Been thinking more and more about getting a Chromebook. I imagine that the current Samsung, Acer, and HP Chromebooks will start to be discounted as these newer ones come out, so the question will be if I should settle for the older version for cheap, or spring for the newer ones!

I forgot that the new ones come with extra Google Drive space for a couple of years. I don't think the discounted older ones (usually sold as refurbs) come with that extra space.

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B. Diddy

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That's true. But I think there will be upcoming discounts on the older Chromebooks that are sold as new.
 

Algus

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Very much so. Price is fine and the specs were bumped up to the degree that they should have been. I am not particularly enthusiastic about Acer products as a whole but I am hoping that Acer will offer steady competition for other manufacturers. We need 4 GB RAM standard in chromebooks. None of this 2 GB entry-level nonsense anymore
 

dprice95

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Definitely interested in one of these... I've been looking at buying a chromebook since they came out, as a easy living room/starbucks laptop. The ~8 hour battery life is making it seem like a great option, probably don't need to haul the charger room to room, or to the coffee shop.
 
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Seriously considering this as my primary computer. All I really use it for its surfing the Web and streaming so is perfect for that. The only thing I'm concerned about is the 16 gig hard drive. It's the a way to set up a wireless external Hard drive with it? I need lots of room for my music. I know there is Google play music but I just worry that's not enough

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Algus

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Local media player is not very good. I have a bluetooth speaker and generally stream music from my tablet as Android has several more robust media players. Chrome OS recognizes external storage just fine. You can even plug in a disc drive and it will recognize the disc as holding data (there's just no good software for doing anything practical with a disc drive). One option might be to dual boot. Both Totem and Parole ran pretty well on my Samsung 3 when I gave it a go.

You can also back up your music to Google Drive and stream it directly from the Drive with a few apps out there. Again though, the media players that do this are not fully featured enough (at least for my tastes)

THere is no real way to map a network drive to Chrome OS yet AFAIK (funny since it is a "cloud" computer...I guess Google means only their cloud lol). Things may have changed but I did find this post useful when I was looking into this issue awhile back

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/chromebook-central/tLcq6q2onaY
 

dkhmwilliams

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Local media player is not very good. I have a bluetooth speaker and generally stream music from my tablet as Android has several more robust media players. Chrome OS recognizes external storage just fine. You can even plug in a disc drive and it will recognize the disc as holding data (there's just no good software for doing anything practical with a disc drive). One option might be to dual boot. Both Totem and Parole ran pretty well on my Samsung 3 when I gave it a go.

You can also back up your music to Google Drive and stream it directly from the Drive with a few apps out there. Again though, the media players that do this are not fully featured enough (at least for my tastes)

THere is no real way to map a network drive to Chrome OS yet AFAIK (funny since it is a "cloud" computer...I guess Google means only their cloud lol). Things may have changed but I did find this post useful when I was looking into this issue awhile back

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/chromebook-central/tLcq6q2onaY

How is video playback? On my Samsung chromebook, video playback on flash sites was atrocious; very choppy.


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ffejjj

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I just cant see where this would fit in. I have an Htc One, LG G-Pad 8.3 and a laptop. Chrome book is just not a necessity for me currently
 

dkhmwilliams

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I just cant see where this would fit in. I have an Htc One, LG G-Pad 8.3 and a laptop. Chrome book is just not a necessity for me currently

For you, I would say that it isn't a device you would need. But for those who don't have a laptop and can live in the cloud, the chromebook would be perfect.


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ffejjj

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In all honesty i find myself using my tablet with a bluetooth keyboard a lot lately. Just more convenient to carry around with me when i'm out. Then a laptop that is
 

dkhmwilliams

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In all honesty i find myself using my tablet with a bluetooth keyboard a lot lately. Just more convenient to carry around with me when i'm out. Then a laptop that is

Same here. I have the iPad Air with the Zagg Keys backlit bluetooth keyboard and it seems to meet all of my needs. But we have a chromebook as the family laptop computer. It's good for that because you can easily have multiple profiles.


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Algus

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How is video playback? On my Samsung chromebook, video playback on flash sites was atrocious; very choppy.


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Software updates have cleaned that up pretty well on the Samsung and the new Haswell processors that they started putting in the new models that began coming out at the end of 2013 completely did away with some of the choppiness issues. If you're getting video issues on the C720, it's more likely from wifi interference than the hardware getting bottlenecked.
 

dkhmwilliams

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Software updates have cleaned that up pretty well on the Samsung and the new Haswell processors that they started putting in the new models that began coming out at the end of 2013 completely did away with some of the choppiness issues. If you're getting video issues on the C720, it's more likely from wifi interference than the hardware getting bottlenecked.

I don't have the C720, but I do have the Samsung from last year and video playback is still choppy.


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dkhmwilliams

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I have decided to pass on the Chromebook. I looked at the C720 at BestBuy today and although I thought that it was a nice Chromebook, I just don't think that it is worth the money right now. I bought another bluetooth keyboard case for my iPad Mini Retina and called it a day.


Sent from my iPad Mini Retina w/Zagg bluetooth keyboard.
 

B. Diddy

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I finally ordered an Acer C720, and am expecting it from Amazon tomorrow. Will let everyone know about my thoughts later ...
 

dkhmwilliams

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And I changed my mind again. Went back to the store and picked this up and returned the bluetooth keyboard for my iPad Mini. I like it. Don't really have any issues with it. It is definitely better than the Samsung Chromebook that I bought last year.