Acer C7 Chromebook C710-2847 11.6-inch WiFi – Iron Gray

Pros: 1. Price... cheapest laptop on market.
2. Great keyboard.
3. Lightweight.
4. Great battery.
5. Light comes on when web-cam in use.
6. Front SD card slot.
7. HDMI out.

I've become a fan of Acer products lately... their products are generally affordable and work very well. This product works well as a Google Chromebook.

Cons: 1. No key to disable trackpad.

While this may sound like a minor detail, it makes it difficult to do continuous touch-typing. This is perhaps not an issue for hunt-and-peck people. However, you are not going to get much typing done via hunt-and-peck.

2. Access to shell.

There is something called "crosh" that gives you some simple shell access. Using "crosh" you can get the MAC address of the wireless interface. It appears that if you want more you have to enable "developer" mode. This apparently will subsequently void the warranty on the device with Acer. This is absolutely ridiculous. I can obtain more shell access with other products that this.

3. Lack of out-of-box support for Netflix

I think Netflix is a great service. I'm going to lean away from products that don't consider the market share that Netflix has.
I was able to get Netflix up and going fairly quickly. I don't think other members of my family would be able to do the same.

4. Lack of Applications

I reallized that even if I wanted to install some RPM's ... I can't because I don't have that level of access in the shell.

5. Web-Cam

Although this is a small resolution web-cam, it still seems grainier that it should be.

6. Admin Assignment

The first account you create becomes the admin for that computer.
This is not flexible and can become a problem if someone needs to gain system access as a different user.

7. Function Keys

The function keys are a completely different layout from other laptops. Maybe this is an IP issue ... I don't know. For example, the F5 key is not "refresh".

8. Rough Edges

There are litterally rough edges on the C7. Does it really add much cost to the product to buff those out?

9. File System Access

The only access to the file system is to the "root" area which is the downloads area. This seems odd to me. You would think you could have something like "my stuff" or "drive". Nope, downloads folder ... that's what you get.

Other Thoughts: Wished it was just a little better.
I simply can't use this for what I wanted.

Pros: The cheap, competent netbook has finally arrived. It no longer feels like you have to make major sacrifices on performance to have an inexpensive web browsing system.

Perfect for parents or grandparents who just need something to check their email. Rolling updates to the OS ensure they never have to worry about antivirus or exploits. OS Verification ensures you never have to worry about them destroying the system and needing a restore.

With ChrUbuntu, this machine gets even better. Nothing you can't do on this. The Celeron is Sandy Bridge based, so you're not exactly settling when it comes to CPU power. (SB Celeron 1.1Ghz is roughly equivalent to a 1.6Ghz Core2Duo) The hardware is very well supported in ChrUbuntu and the only real issue has been some keymappings not carrying over from ChromeOS. (Brightness and volume, for example)

Steam for Linux runs well, with some tweaks you can easily get 40-70fps in TF2. More complex maps and maps with higher player limits will cause framerates to drop, obviously. Minecraft gets a very solid 30-40fps.

Plays Youtube 720 streams fluidly. (1080 exceeds screen resolution and wouldn't give much benefit in the end unless you use HDMI to a TV, which I don't have the ability to do.)

Cons: Squishy keys, chicklet keyboard, blue LEDs (ugh! stop using blue leds! they suck!), lousy speakers, uneven backlight that is to be expected with cheap laptops. Given what you get for just under 200 bucks, it's hard to fault things like this.

Other Thoughts: Throw in an 8GB stick, install ChrUbuntu on the system and you have yourself an extremely good system for almost a blister-packed-compulse-buy-item on the shelf price.

The system is more than good enough that I'm pretty much going to stop advising family members on what other systems to get if all they're going to do is get online. Because no matter how well a Windows system is set up, I still end up having to do tech support. I've always wished I could recommend a system that is completely hands off for me and enough for other people to use when getting online. This is it.

Pros: if you need light, small, simple, cheap laptop and if you using only for internet, hulu, youtube, fb, doc writing, pdf reading it best what you can buy for 200$. its fast boosting, it can play 1080p video, simple os, quiet, 320gb... web page will fly if you have fast internet. you can forget antivirus, because it dont need it....

if you using torrents, watching avi or etc. files you may think installing ubuntu os (linux) and you can do that also! almost like win! also you may put more rams or ssd to make it event faster.

Cons: speakers dont give you best quality of sounds

Pros: Great laptop if you have available wi-fi. Good price and well built

Cons: This laptop pretty much loses all functionality if you do not have an available internet connection for it

Other Thoughts: Good laptop if you know you will have an internet connection for it whenever you want to use it

Pros: cheap, great on chrubuntu, has external monitor support, light,

Cons: the "enter" key on the keyboard got stuck, now it makes a squeak when pressed.

Pros: Price - at $200 you really can't beat the price/performance ratio. with a 320gb hard drive (albeit 5400RPM) and a Sandy Bridge Dual Core Processor this psudo netbook has some pretty good specs.
Up-gradable - The Acer C7 has 2 ram slots so although it only comes with 2gb ram built it I was able to immediately upgrade to 4 by cannibalizing an old system. The C7 benefits greatly from easy upgrades like adding an SSD and even more ram (I believe it can take 16gb although that is probably overkill)
Software Flexibility - In addition to Chrome OS which I personally like a lot you can also install Ubunti 12.10 on the C7 with relative ease for a more complete desktop experience. Ubuntu coupled with an SSD and a ram upgrade makes this a complete laptop experience that is very portable and very cheap.

Cons: Build Quality - Its not a big deal for such an inexpensive device but the build is cheap. Basically all plastic and it does not feel very sturdy although the look of the C7 is actually not bad.

Other Thoughts: After a ram and SSD upgrade which was less than $100 the Acer C7 is a solid dualboot choice and can run every application I need it to. The extra speed not only makes it a full-fledged Ubuntu powered laptop but it can even run games such as Counter-Strike Source under steam for linux. If you're considering an inexpensive laptop or tablet I would highly recommend this product for portable productivity and even some light gaming.

Pros: I like this chromebook over others, because of the more powerful CPU, larger HDD and the option to upgrade the RAM from 2 GB to as much as 16 GB. Boots up in seconds and has not let me down. I have used this PC everyday since I received it. Perfect for doing Netflix, hulu, facebook, Youtube, e-mail, office software, and games. Comes with 3 USB ports, and other options that I am very happy with.

Cons: No ODD, but I can always plug in an ext.. ODD, when I need one.

Other Thoughts: I bought this chromebook only after doing a fair amount of research. Best chromebook under $400. Beats the other chromebooks, yet is only $2**. I am one Happy Newegg Customer- They mailed it out, and I received it less than 48 hours after putting in the order with Newegg.

Pros: Small, light, runs cool (cooler than any laptop I've owned.) Superfast boot. Sharp display. Not bad build quality. Excellent buy for $199. No virus vulnerability. No Windows-related sluggishness over time.

Cons: Chrome, as an OS, still needs a lot of work. File management is primitive. It's got this sizeable hard drive, but it's really best to focus on cloud storage. I like wireless mice. My 1st one (a Logitech) worked poorly. A different model Logitech works perfectly. Weakest feature of the hardware, by far, is the speakers. Their poor quality an badly located. Basically useless.

Other Thoughts: I have this, a good Toshiba laptop, and an iPad. I spent about 90% of my computing time on this machine. Perfect for writing (Google Docs) and for pretty much anything you can do in a browser. Most of the limits are inherent to the CHromebook concept. Just make sure you understand what you can and can't do with a Chromebook.

Pros: I love the Chromebook-it is fast and responsive. I got it for my GF-she needs a portable computer for browsing, light typing, pictures...etc. This is perfect for that kind of use and it gets the job done. It boots in 20sec and itt's ready to go. It has everything she needs to go trough the day.

Cons: If you expect a full featured PC-don't buy this. Chrome OS has still a long way to go and there are updates released every couple of weeks. It needs some getting used to coming from a Win7 laptop, but it works and for $200 can't go wrong.

Pros: Super fast WIFI and very strong signal from other side of house getting full bars. I have Comcast 105/20 service and getting that speed over WIFI. Love this thing for surfing the internet. So fast I think I'm done the internet!! Thanks Google and Acer!

Cons: None!