Acer AC700-1099 Chromebook (Wi-Fi)

In my experience so far, the Acer Chromebook has great battery life and Internet connectivity, is truly instant-on, and has required virtually no maintenance or fiddling to set it up or to get my work done quickly on it.

But it might not work that way for you.

Over the past year or so, I've progressively moved all of my work files online; and everything else I do is online too, mostly using Google's services (Gmail, Google Calendar, et cetera). I also use Google's Chrome browser--which is set up with the apps, bookmarks, and passwords I use daily already, and synced to Google's servers.

So when I turned on the Chromebook, I was instantly using all of my files and apps with no setup work whatsoever, and with basically no risk of data loss since all of my work is posted online. Everything else I wanted also worked out of the box: music players on the web, video, and now Netflix.

Furthermore, it's as close to instant-on as you can get. I press the power button and before I've sat up straight to type in my password, the prompt is there.

Finally, if you are a Linux or command line person and have server access somewhere, it's very easy to get to those resources on the Chromebook since a reasonable ssh terminal is built-in. It just gets you to an SSH server--what you can do on the Chromebook itself is very limited from the shell--but that's what I really need (for Vim, scripts, etc.).

If you live online, this is a fantastic computer. If you like, you certainly could get a cheaper netbook with comparable specs. You could even install Chromium OS on it and get a very similar experience to this one. But if you live online already and you want everything online to work perfectly, quickly, out of the box, with no ongoing maintenance (like you'd get, for example, with Windows!) I think the Chromebook is worth the small price premium.

When I first got the Chromebook, I was unimpressed. Pages crashed constantly, it didn't really have much in the way of word processing except for Google docs (something called scratchpad, which essentially allowed you to take little notes down), Flash was barely functional, and I couldn't help but wonder why a computer that does the internet and only the internet wouldn't be able to at least run quickly.

I took a twelve day trip out of the country, and when I came back, all these problems were fixed. I haven't had a single page crash, scratchpad has been synced to Google docs and works wonderfully offline now, flash is still not perfect but always at least functions, and the whole thing seems to be moving a lot faster. I think Google has kept its promise about the constantly improving system, because I've noticed large improvements.

There are some things to note about Chrome OS. First and foremost, yeah, it doesn't run programs. If you are a photographer, work heavily in technology, or a video-game player, then this isn't the computer for you. If you want to cut yourself off from distractions (I personally wanted to keep off the video-games while I'm in college), then this computer is wonderful. To add to the focus aspect of this computer, I recommend the app StayFocusd, which you can get for free from the app store and which allows you to ration and/or entirely block superfluous internet use. The App store is surprisingly good in general, and I suspect that it will only get better. Personally, I'm an aspiring writer going through a pretty rigorous education, so a streamlined, useful tool like this is perfect for me.

A lot of people criticize the Chromebooks because computers with similar/slightly more expensive pricing can do the exact same things. They're missing the point. This computer is about doing the things you need to do really well, not about doing all sorts of things decently. Sometimes less is more. That said, if it doesn't have what you need (i.e. programs) then I don't recommend it. Also, it can't charge iPods and that would be a drag, but I recently lost my iPod and honestly, with Google music (which really is amazing), I haven't missed it. If you treat your iPod like an appendage dangling from your ears, you might find that troublesome.

Worth noting: Out of all the companies on earth, I would put Google as the most likely to take over the world. It's worth getting on their good side.

Hardware-wise, The touch-pad is functional and don't let anyone tell you otherwise, the caps lock key was always useless, and it doesn't take much time to get used to the slightly different key placement. The screen is wonderful and the speakers are surprisingly good for the thing's size. Speaking of size, the Acer Chromebook strikes the perfect balance between laptop and netbook.

In summary:

Always improving software,
Streamlined, less-is-more kind of product,
useful app store,
decent hardware

I would take this over any other computer.

Previous to this I was using a HP laptop as my sole computer. The hard drive finally failed on it. I read the reviews on this, everyone saying it was NO replacement for a primary computer. Theyre right. Its not. I thought I might be able to swing it. I couldnt. Of course, it depends on what you use your primary for. Some of the things I realized I wouldnt be able to do with this:

upload to google music
torrenting
anything other than simple saving to an external drive/sd/usb
any kind of major photo editing
easily taking photos outside of a social network profile picture upload
thats pretty much it

A few other drawbacks/cons:

-keyboard takes some getting used to. No caps lock, end, del, pg dwn, buttons. In the place where the capslock usually is, is a search button. Press it and a new tab pops up ready for you to search. Once youre used to it, I can see how that might be handy, esp on THIS unit and what youd primarily be doing with it. However, I still sometimes press it out of habit when typing, forgetting its not the caps lock. Which opens a new tab, and throws me all of for a second. Not that much of a biggie though. Also, the keyboard button sizing is a little bit different. so where my fingers are used to being able to press the shift key for example, is a little off, that took a bit to get used to as well, but it wasnt a huge problem.

-sometimes it gets a little buggy, and you have to log off, turn it off, and turn it back on. Only when youve had a lotta tabs open, been doing a lot, as you would kind of expect. HOWEVER, because this thing boots so freaking fast, you can do that in under a minute. literally. Its pretty freaking awesome.

-The track pad sometimes bugs out, it almost completely stops working. I found on a chromebook google group, that if you turn it off, take the battery out for a min, put it back in, turn it back on, the thing is perfectly fine. Ive had mine about 2 weeks, this has only happened once. Again, because it boots so fast, its not a big deal at all to do this really quickly. You can even have it set to reopen what you were doing when you logged off, so you dont even lose that.

-The only way to take decent pictures with the webcam is via google+, fb, etc. When you use it to take your default photo in google plus, the picture comes out great. If you use an outside site that lets you take webcam pics and save them (which I had never attempted to use before having this) the picture quality is horrible.

-Saving/moving things between the "file shelf" and external storage, or between external storages is a bit tricky but possible.

Thats pretty much it. Frankly, imho those few drawbacks are nothing compared to the benefits you gain. The pros:

-so light, so small, so portable. I really have decided to take most of the apps, off of my android power phone, and just use this guy for that. Im sewing a super cute little case, he'll be toted around with me like my phone, wallet, keys, & hotspot (I use clear 4g wifi, so my modem, is practical the same size as my phone, and it holds a charge well) No more shopping, wanting to comparison shop, and having to wait on my phone. Whip this bad boy out and bam ive got a super fast, much CLEARER way to compare or do whatever else you feel like doing.

-Quick start. Im also a student. So being able to bring this to class, whip it out and in seconds Ive got google docs up ready to take notes. It holds a charge so well that I no longer have to worry about being able to snag a seat close to an outlet, dont have to wait for it to boot up, shut down. etc etc etc. Its also so small its not as obtrusive as using a full sized laptop can be in some classes.

-Trackpad. I was nervous about some of the comments regarding the trackpad before I purchased, but I actually really really like the trackpad and how it works vs. your usual laptop track pad. It does take a bit to get used to, but I like it. It was easier to get the hang of the trackpad, than it was the keyboard.

-The power cord. It doesnt have that big box in the middle, I guess thats the converter of some sort on most laptops. Where the plug from the outlet goes into, and then the cord that goes into the laptop comes out. Yea, its a straight shot pretty much from the outlet to the chromebook. Theres a little cylinder shape towards the end, very small though. Which makes bringing a charger places, if you need to (I havent), easier because its going to take up much less space as well.

As noted in another review, the battery does have bumps that elevate the back end, but its only like 1/4 of an inch. To me, its hardly noticeable.

On the right you have where the power cord plugs in and one usb. On the left side theres another usb, sd card slot(the kind that you push it in to eject it, which I prefer), an HDMI out, mic in, and 3.5mm audio out. As noted in another review, its a lot like having chrome open on your computer, but you just cant close it. The options in the wrench button are A BIT different, but thats pretty much it.

Overall, I love it. I think the drawback are what you have to lose in order to gain the functionality & price that this chromebook offers. If anything significant occurs in the future I will absolutely come back and update. Also, ill do my best to reply to any comments/questions I get on this review. I know this kind of purchase can be a big one, I rely on reviews quite a bit, so ill do my best to pay it forward. :)

***EDIT August 1st 2011***

I found an awesome feature. You can "print to google docs" right click to print just like you would on any other computer and you have an additional option to "print to google docs" and it saves the webpage, pdf, etc into your google docs, usually as a pdf. I LOVE this feature. So when you need to print something, but arent actually READY to print it (in the vicinity of a printer) you can print to google docs. Then, later just go to google docs and print it from there.. from another computer or whatever.