I could be wrong, but isn't this way better than the HP for less money? You get more of pretty much everything except the display for less money. Acer could have a winner as far as chromebooks go, here.
That screen will be a huge factor, personally. The Samsung Chromebook was extremely lackluster. I have not seen the older Acer that this is replacing, though.
That's not to say if it's not IPS, it's not worth it. But if it's at least better than the old Samsung, it could be an excellent deal. If it's not, I'd personally opt for the HP Chromebook 11 because this would actually become my everyday machine likely.
Haswell celeron should *smoke* the A15 in terms of performance, yes. Thing is, the A15 is fine for browsing, and that's all a chromebook can actually do out of the box, and the better screen is significant.
The extra ram might make more of a difference than anything processor related. About the only reason I've maybe seen my Samsung one looking even vaguely slow is when it is obviously swapping tabs in/out of storage rather than all being in memory.
Not a major thing though, and I'd defintely take a nice screen ahead of it. Presume Samsung are likely readying a refresh of some description.
The other question is whether Acer has delivered an adequate keyboard and touchpad this time around. Those were a significant problem with the original Acer C7 Chromebooks.
Why is it that none of the Chromebooks have an Ethernet port? One of these $250-class notebooks would be great as a TV accessory (browser = access to Hulu and other free streams). I'd much rather plug into a NIC and be done.
Yes, if I end up putting linux on this bad boy I'll also grab a USB ethernet and a USB 3.0 flash drive (16GB is really tight for linux and a full XBMC install, which can grow past 5GB easily.)
The CPU in the Acer (dual core Haswell) should be much faster than the CPU in the HP (dual core Cortex A15), and you'll do much better running Linux on the Acer than the HP (last time I tried Ubuntu on an ARM board, drivers/compatibility/graphics were a nightmare).
Yes, you can put a normal version of Linux on them. However, because the bios is slightly different than a normal PC, the install steps are a little different. For example, look at the ChrUbuntu project here: http://chromeos-cr48.blogspot.com/
I'd wait a little bit as they are talking about delivering other skus of this. Perhaps something with a better screen but even more likely will be something with a bit more memory. Last years model of this had swappable RAM and SSD. Not sure about this new model though.
Why don't they just use the Baytrail Atoms. I garentee they would put out less heat and use less power and probably perform similarly. Quad core Atom at 2.3ghz would be pretty good.
I'm quite interested to see some testing between the Bay Trails and these low end Haswell parts. Bay Trail will certainly be less demanding, as you say. I'm not sure about performance at all. I think it might depend on the operation. Off hand though I'd bet it's close enough to go for the fanless and longer battery life options which Bay Trail might bring.
Well, real benchmarks are hard to find for both parts, but maybe we can scale:
The Atom 3770 reaches 1.47 pts in Cinebench 11.5, multi-threaded, so lets say 0.15 pts per core and MHz. That should put the 3740 at about 1.1 pts multi-threaded performance.
A Haswell 4670K gets 6.21 pts in the same test, so 0.44 pts per core and MHz. That could see the celeron at about 1.25 pts of multi-threaded performance.
So, not that much faster on multi-threaded than the Atom, but on the same benchmark in single-threaded mode I get to performances of 0.3 pts for the Atom and 0.7 pts for the Celeron.
This single-threaded performance edge should make the Celeron much more responsive on every-day tasks, I assume. What would be interesting to find out is the relative power-efficiency of the two offers. TDP is not very helpfull here, the 2955U is posted with a 15W TDP, but so is a i7-4600U incl. Hyper-Threading and 3.3GHz boost, so the Celeron should use much less in reality.
One thing I'm curious to know is if any of these newer Chromebooks will use the SeaBIOS like the Pixel does. That should open them up for a lot easier play with Linux or whatnot as replacement or multi-boot options.
Instead of buying these devices to basically make them a different machine, why don't you just buy a different machine.
Like buying a jetski and then turning it into a snowmobile.
ChromeOS works great, just don't waste your time making a device do something it really wasn't designed for. The best experience is the ChromeOS on these devices.
If Linux can be installed on the C720 as it could on the C710 then it makes the C720 a pretty compelling deal. $250 for an actual Haswell laptop with an SSD?
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Drumsticks - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
I could be wrong, but isn't this way better than the HP for less money? You get more of pretty much everything except the display for less money. Acer could have a winner as far as chromebooks go, here.randomlinh - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
That screen will be a huge factor, personally. The Samsung Chromebook was extremely lackluster. I have not seen the older Acer that this is replacing, though.That's not to say if it's not IPS, it's not worth it. But if it's at least better than the old Samsung, it could be an excellent deal. If it's not, I'd personally opt for the HP Chromebook 11 because this would actually become my everyday machine likely.
schizoide - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
Haswell celeron should *smoke* the A15 in terms of performance, yes. Thing is, the A15 is fine for browsing, and that's all a chromebook can actually do out of the box, and the better screen is significant.Qwertilot - Friday, October 11, 2013 - link
The extra ram might make more of a difference than anything processor related. About the only reason I've maybe seen my Samsung one looking even vaguely slow is when it is obviously swapping tabs in/out of storage rather than all being in memory.Not a major thing though, and I'd defintely take a nice screen ahead of it. Presume Samsung are likely readying a refresh of some description.
shirleymarquez - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
The other question is whether Acer has delivered an adequate keyboard and touchpad this time around. Those were a significant problem with the original Acer C7 Chromebooks.casteve - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
Why is it that none of the Chromebooks have an Ethernet port? One of these $250-class notebooks would be great as a TV accessory (browser = access to Hulu and other free streams). I'd much rather plug into a NIC and be done.djw39 - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
Chromebox exists for thatsmike - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
there are many cheap usb ethernet adapters out there you can get.schizoide - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
Yes, if I end up putting linux on this bad boy I'll also grab a USB ethernet and a USB 3.0 flash drive (16GB is really tight for linux and a full XBMC install, which can grow past 5GB easily.)sligett - Friday, October 11, 2013 - link
The previous Acers (c710) had ethernet and VGA ports.shirleymarquez - Saturday, November 16, 2013 - link
Thickness. Including an Ethernet port would require a significantly thicker chassis because of the size of the connector.Pwnstar - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
HP Chromebook 11. $30 more expensive but has an IPS display. Not sure that is worth it. You buy these because they are cheap, so $30 is asking a lot.Guspaz - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
The CPU in the Acer (dual core Haswell) should be much faster than the CPU in the HP (dual core Cortex A15), and you'll do much better running Linux on the Acer than the HP (last time I tried Ubuntu on an ARM board, drivers/compatibility/graphics were a nightmare).bleh0 - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
This seems good for the price but it is shame that it is running Chrome OS. Now only if there was an easy way to install a larger SSD on this thing.MT007 - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
The amazon link is http://www.amazon.com/Acer-C720-2800-11-6-Inch-Chr... .JarredWalton - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
Updated, thanks!schizoide - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
I'm thinking about buying one of these, putting linux on it, and using it as a HTPC with XBMC with a built-in UPS!Have the newer chromebooks been jailbroken? Is linux a possibility?
bryanb - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
Yes, you can put a normal version of Linux on them. However, because the bios is slightly different than a normal PC, the install steps are a little different. For example, look at the ChrUbuntu project here: http://chromeos-cr48.blogspot.com/wintermute000 - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
whats the ubuntu performance like?savagemike - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
I'd wait a little bit as they are talking about delivering other skus of this. Perhaps something with a better screen but even more likely will be something with a bit more memory.Last years model of this had swappable RAM and SSD. Not sure about this new model though.
Gigaplex - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
Since they already said they'd be using it as an HTPC, the screen is not an issue since they'd be plugging into an external display.dylan522p - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
Why don't they just use the Baytrail Atoms. I garentee they would put out less heat and use less power and probably perform similarly. Quad core Atom at 2.3ghz would be pretty good.savagemike - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
I'm quite interested to see some testing between the Bay Trails and these low end Haswell parts. Bay Trail will certainly be less demanding, as you say. I'm not sure about performance at all. I think it might depend on the operation.Off hand though I'd bet it's close enough to go for the fanless and longer battery life options which Bay Trail might bring.
lightsout565 - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
How does this celeron Haswell compare to the bay trail 3740 in the asus t100?ShieTar - Friday, October 11, 2013 - link
Well, real benchmarks are hard to find for both parts, but maybe we can scale:The Atom 3770 reaches 1.47 pts in Cinebench 11.5, multi-threaded, so lets say 0.15 pts per core and MHz. That should put the 3740 at about 1.1 pts multi-threaded performance.
A Haswell 4670K gets 6.21 pts in the same test, so 0.44 pts per core and MHz. That could see the celeron at about 1.25 pts of multi-threaded performance.
So, not that much faster on multi-threaded than the Atom, but on the same benchmark in single-threaded mode I get to performances of 0.3 pts for the Atom and 0.7 pts for the Celeron.
This single-threaded performance edge should make the Celeron much more responsive on every-day tasks, I assume. What would be interesting to find out is the relative power-efficiency of the two offers. TDP is not very helpfull here, the 2955U is posted with a 15W TDP, but so is a i7-4600U incl. Hyper-Threading and 3.3GHz boost, so the Celeron should use much less in reality.
dylan522p - Friday, October 11, 2013 - link
You used the 4670k but you have to remember that has a larger cache. Find a part with similar cache and it will be lower.savagemike - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
One thing I'm curious to know is if any of these newer Chromebooks will use the SeaBIOS like the Pixel does. That should open them up for a lot easier play with Linux or whatnot as replacement or multi-boot options.jabber - Friday, October 11, 2013 - link
Instead of buying these devices to basically make them a different machine, why don't you just buy a different machine.Like buying a jetski and then turning it into a snowmobile.
ChromeOS works great, just don't waste your time making a device do something it really wasn't designed for. The best experience is the ChromeOS on these devices.
After all...it has linux on it already.
Onkel Harreh - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
Some chromebooks offer excellent hardware compared to the other netbooks on the market.lagokc - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
If Linux can be installed on the C720 as it could on the C710 then it makes the C720 a pretty compelling deal. $250 for an actual Haswell laptop with an SSD?