C720 or C720p Chromebook?

[the tall guy]

Hey,

I'm going to be picking up my first Chromebook at the weekend and I was curious to see if anyone has experience with either the Acer C720 or C720p?

Looking at the spec sheet and a few review videos the only difference I can tell is the C720p has a touch screen, which imo doesn't warrant the extra price increase.

does anyone own a C720 or C720p and regret it? also does anyone own any other recent Chromebook models from HP or Samsung?

thanks

 

[B. Diddy]

Funny you should ask--I have the C720 (nontouch), and just got an HP Chromebook 14 (with HSPA+ mobile data). I think they're both excellent--no regrets.

The C720 is a capable little machine, very lightweight, perfect for using on the go. Mine has 2 GB RAM and 16 GB SSD, which is perfectly adequate for what I do. I usually have 4-5 tabs open, (G+, FB, Android Central, Google Play Music, and maybe Gmail), along with the Hangouts extension. Performance is fine--there might be music stutter when loading a webpage, but not horrible. Build is not premium, but serviceable, and it's hard to beat the value ($199). The trackpad is very good. Screen is ok. Speakers are not good, but they're actually better than my cheap Win8 laptop.

Personally, I don't think the C720P is worth it, because I don't like going from keyboard to screen with my fingers. On Win8 laptops with touchscreens, I end up using the trackpad anyway.

Initial impressions of my HP 14 are very good. Much better screen, keyboard, speakers. This unit has 4 GB RAM and 32 GB SSD, so probably a little better performance than the C720. It comes with 200 MB of free data (HSPA+ on T-Mobile, which is pretty fast) per month for life, which is a nice perk. I got it for $219 refurbished on woot.com. Looks brand new to me!

 

[the tall guy]

Excellent, thanks very much for the above info! I found it really hard to find comparisons online, so its refreshing to hear that you have experience with both HP and Acer. I was considering the HP 14 until a few reviews said the screen was terrible, but I would prefer the 14 inch size.

I've went from wanting the C720p, to the C720, then to the HP 11 - until I noticed it didn't have an HDMI port - now I'm back to the HP 14 lol

 

[B. Diddy]

The HP 14 screen is nice and bright, although viewing angles aren't great. Not horrible, but not great.

 

[the tall guy]

I find that I use my chromecast a lot so when it comes to watching movies etc I tend to watch them on my tv so this was why I was aiming towards a smaller 11 inch chromebook, but I feel the 14 inch would benefit me if I were to use the chromebook to create documents etc.

Is the HP 14 heavy? I know it's heavier than the C720, but is it a lot heavier?

 

[B. Diddy]

4.2 vs 2.76 pounds. It's not light.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[the tall guy]

thanks again for the advise, think I'll go with the C720 - it's lightweight and compact, so it should be good