Acer Chromebook 11 C740-C4PE (11.6-inch HD, 4 GB, 16GB SSD)

I'm going to explain this with a metaphor that might not work well for everyone, but bear with me. I'll also be talking more about Chromebooks in general, with details about this specific device further down, just as advance warning.Chromebooks in general - and this one, being the one I've used - are like bicycles. Fast, zippy, simple means to get around town, run simple errands, and meet up socially. There are a lot of people who can get by with just a bicycle, if that's all they need, and a lot of people who will want a car - or a pickup, or van, or SUV - instead. There are also a lot of us who can really use both.I have the good fortune to have a PC that does all of the heavy lifting I could need it to. It takes care of all the Adobe software for video, photo, and sound editing, and any computer games I care to play work just fine on it....but there are a lot of use cases in which a big desktop PC isn't very helpful. Coffee shops, classrooms, study sessions or work outside of your home. And there are lot of people - myself included - who don't actually need all that power outside of the home. I don't need to edit video on the road, and I don't need a lot of hard drive space or graphics-heavy programs either.Owning this is like having a bicycle as well as a car. It's fast, it's zippy, it's light. It doesn't have a limitless battery, but I rarely spend more than 7-9 hours away from outlets during which time I'd need to be using a computer....and among affordable Chromebooks, the C740 is pretty spectacular, with a few key things to know to see if it fits your preferences.The screen is nice but not stellar, with acceptable but still fairly narrow viewing angles. Text is crisp and photos look decent, which is really all I need, but there are Chromebooks with 1080p screens if that's something you need. 1366 x 768 on an 11'' screen looks good to me, but I won't be arguing that it's great for everyone.The keyboard is a wonderful chiclet-style keyboard with great feel and a nice layout, even though I occasionally wish that the up and down arrows could have been squeezed in at full size, and the lack of a dedicated caps lock key might conceivably bother you. I'm at my fastest typing speed on chiclet keyboards, and the first thing I did upon starting this one up was check an online typing test, where I matched my usual speed of 80 WPM. It's not so much that the keyboard makes things faster, it just doesn't get in the way of rapid typing - but preferences do differ, so look for what you know!I am a particular fan of the 11'' form factor for a laptop. I love the small size and low weight, and my small hands are quite happy with the C740.I found through looking at various devices that 4GB of RAM is what you really want in a Chromebook, and, coupled with a good extension to kill or pause unused tabs, I have yet to have any problems with too many open tabs - and I am a fiend for having far too many open at any given time (24 right as I write this (it is a Problem)).The trackpad is perfectly serviceable and has good options for speed to match your preferences. It's decently sized and comfortable to use.I love the available ports, and loading up a USB thumb drive or hard drive with music or movies, depending on what you like, is a perfectly fine way to carry music around. Something I wish I had known is that the SD card slot is not very deep, so at least half of any card you slip in is going to be sticking out - needless to say, carrying it around with an SD card in is a recipe for disaster. I can see some potential for previewing photos from a point-and-shoot camera on here, but otherwise I'm not so sure that the SD card reader is all that helpful. Still! Who knows what others might need?Battery life is, as I mentioned, more than adequate.Best of all, the device starts up in a flash and is always zippy and responsive. For a portable device, as a student or worker or anyone getting stuff done on the go, it's simply heavenly not to have to wait long for your computer to wake up, turn on, or restart. You can get right to business immediately....and, naturally, nearly everything positive about the computer is expressed through ChromeOS, which is something you either already know you want, by looking at reviews, or something that you ought to learn more about, if you're looking through laptops in general.I don't think I could get by with the Acer 11 C740 as my only computer, but as a supplement to my PC, it is the nicest thing I've ever owned. I've made due with a hand-me-down Macbook from 2006 before, a Nexus 7, a Dell Inspiron, an HP Pavilion tablet, and, far back, a mostly nonfunctional Sony Vaio from 2003 or so. Short of a Macbook Air I briefly had time with, this Chromebook has given me the best portable computing experience I've ever had, and I absolutely recommend it to anyone for whom a Chromebook matches their desired use case.

It worked great for 10 months then quit working. I was not able to recover the OS with reinstall.

The price was right. The chromebook functioned out of the box with minimal setup. Screen needs to be tilted just right for optimal viewing. But, at this price, I can definitely tilt the screen. Solid computer that works in a pinch. Battery life is acceptably long. Weight is perfect. Easy to haul around. The keyboard is big enough for my fingers.

I've had this device for nearly a month now. Absolutely love it! The updated processor outperforms the C720 by enough to merit a purchase for this one instead. From my selected seller, This was an education unit. For those interested in either device, education vs consumer, the education model does not have any lack in performance.Physically the device is quite solid, similarly to how a dell feels inside, but is contrasted to the plastic-y shell. My only grip with its appearance.The track pad is a very smooth plastic that takes a little bit of time to get used too. I mention this for those familiar with the setting in windows known as "precision" or for older versions, "accelerated" mouse control. On the mac this would be a setting that cannot be changed, as far as i've known. It seems this is a chrome OS feature and not as a result of the track pad. As some may have read, the tap to click feature does require a bit more pressure than a standard setup. Such as a macbooks trackpad.The screens colors are acceptable, and definitely usable. Viewing angles vertically however are quite varying. Horizontally theres a little bit more flexibility.SSD from what i've read online is replace/upgradable. The ram is not. The screws are also NOT covered with warranty stickers. I think this is a education specific version of the c740All in all i'm extremely excited to be using this device, and love the chrome os experience!PS: be sure to understand what the Chrome OS has to offer. compared to Windows, Mac etc.Recommended

It's chief virtues are its low price, excellent performance, excellent battery life, good keyboard, and solid body. I paid a bit more $210 for a refurbished one and am certainly getting my money's worth.There are some serious disadvantages. The most important one is the screen which has a narrow viewing angle and barely adequate contrast. If I want to read something long, I switch to my ipad.The hard drive is very small so you can't store a lot on it. That is OK if you use it as an internet only tool.Working with a Chrome only machine definitely limits what you can do. It isn't real easy, for example, to save files into Dropbox or OneDrive directly from my mailbox. I had originally intended to write documents, and that works, but editing tools (Google's Documents and Microsoft's Word Online) have very limited capabilities. Luck for me, I can usually remote into my Windows computer and perform advanced operations that way.