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Acer C7
7.0
final rating

reviewed on
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Criteria Comments Rating
  • Speed and features Celeron, 2GB RAM, 5400 RPM HDD. Fine but not about to win any awards for speed. so-so
  • Design and form factor Kind of cheap feeling, but ok for an 11-inch laptop so-so
  • Battery life As advertised, this only gets about 3 hours so-so
  • Display Nothing to write home about so-so
  • Durability Plastic. I'd be wary of dropping this too often. so-so
  • Expandability Good for a Chromebook. Can upgrade RAM, HDD, and battery is removable, so there's always the option of an aftermarket spare or extended version. good
  • Noise Not fanless. But not too loud either. good
  • Portability (size / weight) Good size, weight. Not as light as Samsung Chromebook, but reasonable netbook-type form factor. good
Detailed review
The C7 is pretty much exactly what I expected it to be: A basic, no frills, incredibly cheap netbook-style laptop. At $199, it's a steal, and it runs Chrome OS very well. The added bonus with this one is that it has an Intel Celeron processor and 320GB HDD. While the HDD makes it a little slower and heavier than Samsung's Chromebook, the combination of the fairly capacious platter and Intel processor means this Chromebook can handle other OSes with ease. Within an hour of unboxing it, I had Ubuntu up and running (thanks to this tutorial and install script (chromeos­-cr48.blogspot.com­/2012­/04­/chrubuntu­-1204­-...). Yes, you can also install Ubuntu on ARM-based Chromebooks, but I've heard of performance issues, which are compounded by the limited storage space on the Samsung's SSD. Thanks to the Intel processor and HDD, the C7 should also be able to run Windows, though I haven't tried installing it yet.

Should you buy a C7? If you're only going to use Chrome OS, I'd probably recommend spending an extra $50 and getting the Samsung. It's lighter, has longer battery life, and is better designed. But if you're looking for a dirt cheap laptop to run Ubuntu (and maybe even Windows), you're not going to find a better deal than the C7.