Pros: Working great, I have it setup on a Linux (Ubuntu 10.04) box getting a great (full bars) connection. It doesn't work out of the box with Ubuntu 10.04 you need to follow 4 steps (see Other Thoughts).

Cons: None yet.

Overall Review: How to get it to work on Ubuntu 10.04: Step 1: sudo gedit /etc/udev/rules.d/network_drivers.rules Step 2 (add the follow text to the file and save): ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="0b05", ATTR{idProduct}=="1784", RUN+="/sbin/modprobe -qba rt2870sta" Step 3: sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/network_drivers.conf Step 4 (add the follow text to the file then save): install rt2870sta /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install rt2870sta $CMDLINE_OPTS; /bin/echo "0b05 1784" > /sys/bus/usb/drivers/rt2870/new_id

Pros: Worked for a whole 2 hours. Maybe it's just a coincidence (bad luck) that everything relatives' or myself buy that is HP brand has issues with the power coard, charging, and/or the power brick.

Cons: Died after a few hours with this message on a white screen during boot "your power adapter isn't giving enough power please use the correct power cord".

Overall Review: Bought this to replace a burnt out HP nettop for a relative (they were having issues with the power cord and charging; after about a week the motherboard fried). This chromebox has issues with the power adapter as well, luckily they manifested almost immediately so I can return it without issue.

Pros: Build quality is better than the similarly spec'd HP version.

Cons: It's a little bigger/chunkier than the HP version. Printing in ChromeOS can be painful if you don't have a PC to setup Cloud Print with your old printer.

Overall Review: I bought the HP brand Chromebox first and got burnt by HP's poor quality control (it died in 2 hours). After the RMA I bought this ASUS brand Chromebox and wish I spent the extra $10 in the first place. It costs a little more but it will actually work.

Pros: Easy setup, fair price, solid build quality.

Cons: none

Overall Review: Turned it on with a USB thumb drive with a Ubuntu 14.04 ISO plugged in and it booted immediately. Fast install thanks to the SSD. The wireless in the specs say just 802.11ac, but it supports 802.11n as well. Note: It ships from CA, so cross country to East Coast took a while (8 days) using standard shipping.

Pros: Cheap. Fairly well built. NewEgg shipping (free 4-7 day): ordered on the 15th received on the 16th.

Cons: Copious amounts of crapware pre-installed by Acer. Windows 8.1 forces you to create a 'Microsoft' (read: outlook.com or hotmail.com) account. The harddrive is a bit slow, but for the price it's acceptable.

Overall Review: I boot up the laptop, allow it to connect to my wifi and I am rewarded by Windows forcing me to create a 'Microsoft' account to log into the computer. Here's some bonus grief, I'm setting up the laptop for a family member, so I was going to create another Microsoft account for them (this account would run in the standard user group and have OneDrive cloud backup). Of course, outlook.com won't allow the same IP address to register 2 accounts in one day; rather than try to sign up on a cell phone browser using 3g I decided to just wait 24hours. (+15 minutes) Once I'm finally booted into Win 8.1 the Acer Portal nag screen loads (another web account is required for Warrantee/Registration). (+10 minutes) Here comes the Windows updates. (+30 minutes) All updated, two restarts later I'm left with about an hour and a half of uninstalling all of the garbage that was pre-loaded onto the laptop: McAfee AV software, MS Office, Acer branded crapware, useless 'Windows Modern Apps' (bing, e1bay, ama1zon, kindle, wildtangent). Misc configuration and installing LibreOffice and iTunes went smoothly. (+90 minutes) Ok, we're on day two now (I had to wait 24hrs to create the second Microsoft account). Some obscure netlogon GUID error (possibly a side-effect from the McAfee uninstall) in any case, a restart fixed it and I was able to log into the user account I added. (+10 minutes) Then I get the genius idea to relocate the OneDrive folder to 'Documents' for convenience , what could go wrong? 'Sync error, the My Music folder cannot be read'. Apparently the hidden link to the My Music folder is now broken. The error seems pretty benign, so I'll try and repair the problem (read: search Google). After wasting some time I simply deleted the user account and re-added it. (+30 minutes 'my fault') 185 minutes (3 hours 5 minutes)

Pros: Easy to use interface. Accurate maps and directions.

Cons: Expensive for what it is, considering the same tech is in every smart phone now. Map updates take a long time if you're on sub-par broadband (like DSL). Garmin Express software is a little cumbersome. - If you want a male voice you have to go to the Device tab, then the Advanced sub tab, then scroll through the giant list and check Voice - English Jack, then click Install, then you won't see any progress until you go back to the main tab.

Overall Review: If you notice the voice navigation is a little too soft (loud car, hard of hearing, etc) go to the volume and tap the settings for it on the left side. You can disable auto adjust and increase the navigation voice volume (which is defaulted to 70%).

Good job eForCity