Google and its partners are commercializing Chromebooks by making them affordable. The new Samsung Chromebook is the perfect example of this new strategy, but if you want something a bit more affordable you might want to check out the brand new 11.6-inch Acer C7 Chromebook.
This bad boy brings all the benefits of Chrome OS without breaking the bank. At only $200, it is officially the cheapest Chromebook you can find – but is it really worth the discount over Samsung’s $250 Chromebook? In short, it depends.
For one, it is a bit thicker and heavier than Samsung’s alternative. The Acer C7 measures in at 1 inch in thickness and weighs 3 punds, which is only a slight increase over the 0.7-inch, 2.42 pound competitor. But then again, many of us would happily carry a bit more for a $50 discount.
The main difference lays in the internals and ports. The C7 does not have a solid state drive, but it does hold much more storage with 320 GB of internal memory. This means the computer will be a bit slower, but some of us can benefit from the extra space. And if you want some port flexibility, the Acer C7 offers 3 USB ports (while non are 3.0), an ethernet port, an HDMI port and even a VGA port. The Samsung Chromebook definitely lacks in this department.
There is one factor that simply kills the deal, though… at least for me. The C7 only offers an average of 3.5 hours of battery life, which is abismal compared to any other Chromebook out there. Users were already complaining about the Samsung Chromebook’s 6.5-hour battery life, so the same users will readily pass this one up after they see the battery life it offers (or lacks).
We would say this Chromebook is ideal for those that don’t plan to move the device around much. For $50 less you get almost identical specs, more ports and a bigger hard drive. You might prefer an SSD hard drive for speed, but 16 GB is too little for others – especially those who like installing Linux on their Chromebooks. In that case, those 320 GB of storage will feel like heaven. By the way, anyone who purchases one of these will also get 100 GB of Google Drive cloud storage.
It could be a good deal, but that depends on your needs. If you are sold, you can go ahead and purchase it straight from the Google Play Store starting November 13. Best Buy will also have it available through their website, while stores will start getting it throughout the week. If you live in the UK, you can go ahead and grab it from Google Play, Amazon UK, PC World and Currys.
So what do you guys say – Will you bite?
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[Source: Google Official Blog]
