As someone who works with technologies daily across a broad stratosphere of operating systems and equipment (Windows, macOS, iOS, Ubuntu and a myriad of other Linux flavors) - I have to say that this is my favorite "tech thing" I've bought. I was really on the fence.. and the price was a bit steep for to me was a top-of-the-line-Android-phone-without-a-phone, but I kept on reading the reviews and seeing the press so I had to at least try one.
I own 2 Microsoft Surface Notebooks (love them both too), a MacBook Pro & a MacBook Air, and a few desktops running various Linux derivatives. They are useful for very different things. I work in CG quite a bit, and for pure horsepower in a laptop the Microsoft Surface's are definitely the way to go (built in higher end nvidia GPUs). Pure horsepower for pure horsepower's sake can best be done at a desktop, but I like working from a laptop moreso than sitting at a desk all day. Having a full scale OS works great for certain things and a Chromebook will never be a full laptop replacement for that reason.
But this is what the Chromebook can do that not even a good iOS device can do: speed, speed, speed on "routine" tasks (email, web, Asana, Evernote, etc). It works - like an android phone - in that opening up gets you right to work. Even an iOS device with a lock code or face recognition process (or thumbprint or whatever) will cause a near minute delay in getting down to work.
This is important for a VERY important reason for me - at least. I still find that a pencil and pen, up until this purchase, was simply the quickest way to jot a note. No longer - I can type more legibly than I can write and with this device being simply wicked fast, I can open it up and I have Asana, Evernote and Google Keep open all the time and they just let me jot something down. This is Chromebook's "killer app" is that it just works, and works quickly.
Specific to this model, the Asus Chromebook, I am happy with the screen (it appears almost as nice as my MacBook Pro or MS Surface) in terms of color quality, radiance and overall clarity. It's not a large screen and the bezel is a bit thick around the screen. Asus did a good job of trying to keep it small without making the keyboard too crammed, and they didn't explode the screen to the edges likely for cost reasons. All in all, this makes sense - had this been a $700 purchase or more I would have just gone with Google's own offering.
The build quality is nice. It's up there with an Apple Macbook. My only complaint is that it's not super-thin (MacBook Air's seem to still have this niche figured out) which is useful when you have a space-saving travel need. But for the most part, you could write your next novel on this thing, carry on with code development (if that was done in a cloud based shell) or anything else you really need to and if you stick to the rules and try to keep most of your life in the cloud, you don't have to worry if you lose the device that you've lost your entire livelihood.
Bottom line? If you already have a notebook, laptop, desktop, and a myriad of other ways to get your work done, this is a great buy that'll introduce the "fun" back (just because it's so fast) into the mundane. 10 hours (and those are real hours, not a made-up number from marketing) of battery is a great thing. I'm not sure that this is a device for a student (I see a lot of people putting this into the hands of college kids) unless they are a CS major or just need a way to talk to Mom & Dad via email. While it's nice to have the Google appstore, a linux shell, etc., it's not going to be as flexible as a laptop in the end (like a MS Surface or a Macbook). To me, this is like the fun convertible to drive to work when I already have a truck or van in the garage.
| Standing screen display size | 12.5 Inches |
|---|---|
| Screen Resolution | 1920 x 1080 pixels |
| Max Screen Resolution | 1920 x 1080 Pixels |
| Processor | 1.1 GHz core_m |
| RAM | 4 GB LPDDR3 |
| Hard Drive | 64 GB Embedded MultiMediaCard |
| Graphics Coprocessor | Intel HD Graphics |
| Chipset Brand | Intel |
| Card Description | Integrated |
| Graphics Card Ram Size | 4 GB |
| Wireless Type | 802.11ac |
| Average Battery Life (in hours) | 10 Hours |
