You might have thought it impossible to make a cheaper Chromebook than the Samsung Chromebook Series 3,
but you’d be wrong. With the new C7 Chromebook, Acer has constructed a
slim-and-light laptop running Chrome OS that can be sold for a
ludicrously low £199.
What’s more, it’s constructed one that in some ways outmatches the
Samsung. It has a clearer, brighter and higher-contrast 11.6in screen, a
more notebook-like 1.1GHz Intel Celeron 847 processor instead of the
Samsung’s ARM-based Exynos 5 CPU, and more onboard storage. It even has,
on the whole, better connectivity. Why then, would we prefer the
Samsung of the two?
Physical design
Partly, it comes down to look and feel. With its Chromebook, Samsung
came up with what was effectively a bargain-basement Ultrabook;
lightweight and a little cheap and plasticky, but reasonably robust and
very practical. The Acer has a smaller desktop footprint at 285 x 202mm
against the Samsung’s 290 x 204mm, but it’s thicker at 25mm to the
Samsung’s slimline 17.5mm, and also heavier at 1.4kg to the Samsung’s
1.1kg. The result is a machine that feels closer to a netbook than an
Ultrabook, albeit a larger than average one with a screen and keyboard
to match. It also feels creakier in places than the Samsung, with more
bounce under the keyboard and more flex in the chassis underneath. With
its two-tone black and grey-metallic casing the C7 looks smart, but like
the Samsung, it feels cheaper than it looks. I’d still happily throw
one in a backpack, but I’d be happier carrying the Samsung day-to-day.
There’s also the lesser question of noise. One of the good things
about the new Samsung Chromebook is that, thanks to the kind of
ARM-based processor normally found in tablets and smartphones it runs
completely silent. With its more conventional Intel processor, the C7
doesn’t, and you’ll hear the fans kicking in quite a bit as soon as the
CPU has a little work to do. It’s a surprisingly irritating buzz, and
not helped by the fact that while the Samsung uses solid-state storage,
the C7 uses a standard laptop hard disk. As a result, you’ll hear that
clicking away from time to time.
Connectivity
Connectivity is one area where the C7 improves on the Samsung
Chromebook Series 3. It might not have the Samsung’s USB 3.0 port, but
makes up for it with three USB 2.0 ports to the Samsung’s one, plus
HDMI, VGA and headphone outputs.
There’s also an SD memory card slot at the front and an Ethernet port
on the left-hand side; one thing which the WiFi-only Samsung couldn’t
boast. USB 3.0 is still most useful for connecting external storage, so
on a device designed to work with cloud-based services its omission
isn’t a fatal flaw. Overall, the C7 provides a better balance of ports
and sockets.
Ergonomics
Unfortunately, the C7’s smaller desktop footprint comes at a cost.
Where the Samsung Chromebook has a relatively luxurious keyboard with
generously sized keys, not to mention a surprisingly big touchpad, the
Acer has to manage with only slightly smaller keys, but a more cramped
layout. The Chrome OS-specific function keys in the top row are tiny,
while the cursor keys are ridiculously minute. The hash key is actually
jammed against the return key, and ditto for the backslash key and the
left-shift.
However, It’s not all bad news. The trackpad might be smaller, but it
feels marginally more responsive than the one on the Samsung,
particularly when it comes to two-finger gestures for scrolling or
right-clicking. Meanwhile what’s become a Power button on Samsung’s
Chromebooks, here returns to its original role: Delete. While I prefer
the crisper typing action on the Samsung, I wouldn’t call the C7’s
keyboard a disaster by any means. In fact, I’m using it to write this
review right now, and barely missing a keystroke.
Screen and sound
The screen on the C7 is better than the screen on the Samsung
Chromebook. It’s brighter, there’s more contrast, and whites look
genuinely white and not slightly yellow. While it’s a TN screen with all
the narrow viewing angles that implies, it still beats most netbook
screens and even many budget laptops stone dead. The 11.6in size and
1,366 x 768 resolution match the Samsung, and the only advantage the
latter is left with is that the matt surface will fare better in more
lighting conditions than the Acer’s glossy coating.
When you’re looking at photos or watching video, the C7 delivers
stronger pictures and better colours every time. When it comes to
sound, the C7 is a little less impressive. It’s hard to get a beefy
output out of a laptop this size, and even harder when you’re doing so
on such a tight budget. The Acer’s audio is weak, tinny and lacking bass
and clarity. If you want to stream music or watch a film you’d better
plug some headphones in.
Software
Having only just covered Chrome OS in the Samsung review, we won’t go
overboard on it here. The important thing is that Google’s cloud-based
OS is now ready for primetime. It has apps to cover most needs and
scenarios, it supports a more conventional Windows-like UI with multiple
windows, and the old complaint that a Chromebook is useless without an
Internet connection no longer holds water. You can work on documents,
spreadsheets and presentations offline and sync changes when you next
connect, and you can also read and answer emails. The built-in file
handlers for video, photos and PDFs offer more features and are easier
to use, and file management as a whole is no longer a disaster.
I still wouldn’t want to use a Chromebook to do heavy-duty photo or
video-editing, or even use one as my main PC, but as a cheap, highly
mobile, secondary computer it’s perfectly adequate for everyday use.
There’s zero maintenance, and it doesn’t waste your time. What’s more,
the way Chrome OS works, with everything tied into your Google account
and your desktop and app selection changing to match, makes a Chromebook
perfect for sharing with a family, an office or a class. There’s not
much of a learning curve when it comes to using it, and the more I use
Chrome OS, the more I like it. Understand the limitations of working
across an Internet connection - particularly in low-bandwidth situations
- and you’ll probably feel the same.
Performance
There’s good news and semi-bad news when it comes to performance.
Acer’s decision to go with a 320GB conventional hard disk instead of an
SSD probably makes sense from an economic standpoint - the C7 is clearly
a re-purposed Windows laptop - but it means this Chromebook starts up
slightly slower than the Samsung, taking roughly 19 seconds. This isn’t a
massive issue, and the C7 doesn’t feel at all sluggish in everyday use,
but it is peculiar. After all, it’s not like the cloud-centric Chrome
OS is really built to capitalise on a larger drive.
On the good news front, the Celeron-powered C7 performs slightly
better on intensive tasks than the ARM-powered Samsung. Where HD video
streams stuttered every few seconds on the Samsung, they run reasonably
smoothly on the Acer, and games like Bastion are just about playable.
The C7’s SunSpider benchmark score is faster than the Samsung’s, at
523.1 to 758.2, and the WebGL Aquarium demo runs at a smooth 60fps to
the Samsung’s 36 to 45fps. If you want to play 3D games then you’re
barking up the wrong tree with a Chromebook, but you might want to watch
films, and in this respect the Acer has the Samsung beat - though we
hope to see software updates improve the performance from the Samsung’s
perfectly capable Exynos SoC.
Battery life
Sadly, we’re back in netbook territory when it comes to battery life.
Acer and Google claim up to four hours, but that really is best-case
scenario. While working with the Chromebook we’ve seen around three and a
half hours of mixed use with screen brightness at acceptable,
near-maximum levels, and a lot of video will drag that down to the three
hour mark. This isn’t a problem if your Chromebook will stay rooted to a
table or a desk, but a device like this is built for action anytime,
anywhere both in and out of the house. The Samsung Series 5, with a life
of around six and a half hours, could handle that role with ease, but
here the battery life of the C7 is a real limitation.
Verdict
In a whole lot of ways, the Acer C7 Chromebook is a good ultra
low-budget laptop. It has a surprisingly decent screen, a usable
keyboard and trackpad and enough performance to run a wide range of
applications. It’s streets ahead of any netbook you could purchase at
this price (and might make the basis of an interesting Linux laptop). As
a Chromebook, however, it’s just not as compelling a prospect as the Samsung Chromebook Series 3.
Though it has the edge on screen quality, performance and connectivity,
it’s heavier, noisier and not as strong in the keyboard department as
the Samsung Chromebook Series 3, while the woeful battery life is a
serious flaw. Converting an existing Windows laptop to Chrome OS might
keep costs down, but the hard disk affects boot times and battery life
while offering no real advantages to compensate. This is Acer’s most
tempting Chromebook yet, but if you want Chrome OS then the Samsung is
still the one to buy.
Specifications
|
Manufacturer and Product |
Acer C7 Chromebook |
|
Processor |
1.1GHz Intel Celeron 847 |
|
RAM |
2GB |
|
Hard Disk |
320GB 5400rpm HDD |
|
Memory Expansion |
SD Memory Card |
|
Display |
11.6in 1,366 x 768 TFT |
|
Connectors |
3x USB 2.0, HDMI, VGA, Gigabit Ethernet, headphone |
|
Front-facing camera |
720p |
|
Wi-Fi |
802.11b/g/n |
|
Battery |
2,500mAh |
|
Size and weight |
285 x 202 x 25mm, 1.4kg |
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