To help us provide you with free impartial advice, we may earn a commission if you buy through links on our site. Learn more
When it comes to Chromebooks, youd be forgiven for thinking that Samsung was the only manufacturer of the petite Chrome OS-running laptops, but that isnt the case. Acer has also been manufacturing Googles Chrome OS laptops since 2011, but its first and only incarnation of the Chromebook, the AC700, was quickly overshadowed by Samsungs Chromebooks.
Acers new C7 Chromebook may redress the balance, however. With its updated hardware, improved build quality and a 320GB hard disk, the C710 might finally be a serious contender to Samsungs latest incarnation of the Chromebook, the excellent Samsung Series 3.
It sets itself apart from its predecessor almost immediately with its dark grey exterior and keyboard tray and black glossy bezel surrounding its 11.6in screen. It still doesnt quite match the stylish, silver tones of Samsungs Chromebook, but its a vast improvement in terms of looks, with its brushed metal effect offering hints of personality in comparison to the dull, all-black plastic of the original AC700.
The C7 is also a fraction heavier than Samsungs Series 3, weighing 1.4kg, but it feels well-made and sturdy enough to carry around in your bag. Its almost 10mm taller as well, but this doesnt detract from the C7s overall portability, and its thicker waistline means theres more room for wider range of I/O ports.
Along the sides, youll find three USB2 ports, a VGA and HDMI port for connecting it to an external monitor, and a combined headphone and microphone jack. Unfortunately, the C7 doesnt support Bluetooth like Samsungs Series 3 Chromebook, but its fast Ethernet port and 802.11n Wi-Fi will help you get the most out of Chrome OS.
The C710s 1,366×768 TN panel is a bit on the dull side in terms of overall brightness levels. Similarly, its glossy finish makes it quite reflective, which limits how much you can use it outdoors or in direct sunlight, but its viewing angles were good and its large amount of screen tilt makes working on it for long periods of time easy.
Its black Chiclet-style keyboard was very comfortable to use. Its keys are well-spaced but, much like Samsungs Series 3 Chromebook, the keys could have done with more bounce. The position of its Pg Up and Pg Dn keys was another minor annoyance, as theyre positioned right next to the C7s miniscule arrow keys. As a result, we accidentally hit the Pg Up and Dn buttons instead of the Left and Right keys, but wed happily type on the C7 all day despite these minor niggles.
It has two dedicated search keys that replace the standard Windows Home key. You still cant use them to search through your Gmail account, but theyll let you search the web, browse your apps and pinpoint your Google Drive documents – as long as youve opened them on the C710 before.
We also liked the all-in-one touchpad. Its quite small, but its accurate and responsive, and it offered plenty of tactile feedback despite not having physical buttons. However, multi-touch gestures such as pinch-zooming proved a little more problematic and often took a few goes to implement properly. Two-finger scrolling worked like a dream.
The components used by the C710 match the Chromebooks low price, and it uses a 1.1GHz Intel Celeron 847 processor thats paired with 2GB of RAM and a 320GB hard drive. We couldnt run our usual benchmarks on the C710, so we instead used the JavaScript-based SunSpider online benchmark, which completed in 508.5ms. Its still a long way off our 3GHz Intel Core i3-540, which completed the test in 297ms, but this is nearly 200ms faster than Samsungs Series 3 Chromebook.
Its perfectly capable of running multiple browser windows and playing Full HD video, albeit downscaled. It can also run browser-based games such as Bastion and Cut the Rope, but youre limited to whats available through the Chrome web store.
Of course, the C710 isnt just about hardware. Theres also Chrome OS, the Google operating system based on the Chrome internet browser. This means you often have to be online to get the most out of it as most of your documents will be stored in the cloud, and you also cant use any third-party programs outside of Googles own services. You can still transfer documents, music and video files, though, and this is where the C710s 320GB hard disk really comes in handy. All other Chromebooks have a 16GB SSD, which makes them poor companions for those who like their media collections available on the move. Its integrated speakers are some of the worst weve ever heard on a laptop, however, so you should use it with headphones to get the best out of it.
It also has a few offline features that mean you can still use it on the go without losing access to all your files. We had no trouble editing word-processed documents offline or using the preinstalled Google Play Books app, and we could read and write emails in the Offline Gmail app as well. Chrome OS is still limited compared to Windows, but at this price we have few complaints.
Its primary flaw is its poor battery life. We couldnt run our normal light-use tests, but we only managed four hours and eight minutes of looped audio playback with the screen set to half-brightness. This falls quite short of the Samsung Series 3s impressive seven hours, but its still long enough to get you through a long train journey.
The Acer C710 Chromebook is a vast improvement over its predecessor and its finally a worthy rival to Samsungs Series 3 Chromebook. Its cheaper, has a bigger hard disk, but falls short on battery life. If youre not planning on using it on the move, the C7 Chromebook is for you.
