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< | Tuesday, April 22, 2014

 

Acer Chromebook: modern hardware, useless software

Kyle Stanevich
BUSINESS MANAGER

I have never owned
my own laptop. In high school, I
rented laptops from our IT depart-
ment, and for my first semester of
HT, I relied on my modded Nexus
7 tablet. However, after seeing the
Acer C720 Chromebook on sale for
$170, I decided it was time to take
the plunge and buy a laptop.

The Acer C720 Chrome-
book is an excellent laptop with
all the modern features that we
have come to love. It has a non-
glare 720p screen, USB 3.0, a solid
state drive, Bluetooth 4.0, a Has—
well based CPU, and HDMI out.
Best of all, it boots up in a matter
of seconds, and has a battery that
will have juice to spare after a day
of heavy use. While this sounds
like the perfect machine, what they
say is true; “If it sounds too good, it
probably is.”

There is one major prob-
lem with this laptop, Chrome OS.

While this operating system is not
totally bad, it lacks a lot of features that other
operating systems provided. It was limited to
only chrome and any extensions that could be

 

SBABLE'I'I
HAWKS

added to chrome. Chrome OS provides basic
computer operations: web browsing, check-
ing email, typing documents, and listening
to music, but not much more. To get around
this problem, I installed a variant of Ubuntu
on my laptop. There are no features that I am

 

ematica, and have more control that
before. When running Chrome OS on
this laptop, I was able to get eight to
nine hours of mild use, but with all the
optimizations I have enabled in Ubun-
tu, I can now get upward of 12 hours
of battery. I usually only charge it on
the weekend, and just continue to use
if during the week with no problems.
Plus, I can now connect remotely to
my desktop and use it just like a Win-
dows 7 laptop.

There are a few minor problems,
like the plastic feel of the construc-
tion and no Ethernet port, but this is
to be expected from a thin, lightweight
laptop. With the addition of a case,
and a USB to Ethernet adaptor, both
of these problems are solved. The only
other complaint is the slow processor
and 2GB of ram. Most modern laptops
have better specifications that this, but
at normal use these flaws are never re-
ally seen.

For the price of this laptop, there is
nothing that can beat it. It is power-

Image courtesy of arstechnica.com ful, lightweight, lasts all day, and even

missing with
Ubuntu over Chrome OS.

I still have chrome installed, there-
fore I could do everything that I could do be-
fore, but now I can play games, like Skyrim
and Portal, edit photos and videos, run Math-

looks great, and if Chrome 08 isn’t for
you, just install Ubuntu and get ready to be
amazed. If you are looking for a new laptop
and do not need loads of power, I would rec-
ommend the Acer C720 Chromebook, the best
laptop under $200.

 

 

Monday, April 21

Baseball

vs. Purdue University-North Central
1 p.m., Ed Glancy Field

Games 1 8 2

Friday, April 25

Men 8 Women' 5 Track 8 Field
Twilight invitational @ Benedictine
University

3.30 p. m.

Saturday, April 26

Baseball

@ Maranatha Baptist Bible College
4 pm.

Games 1 8 2

Sunday. April 27

Baseball

@ Purdue University-Calumet
11 a.m.

Games 1 8 2

Sunday, April 27

Baseball

@ Purdue University-Calumet
11 a.m.

Games 1 872

Wednesday. April 30
Baseball

vs. Calvin College

1 p.m., Ed Glancy Field
Games 1 8 2

Friday. May 2

Baseball

vs. Maranatha Baptist Bible College
Donation Night for St. James Food Pantry
3 p.m., Ed Glancy Field

Saturday. May 3

Baseball

vs. Maranatha Baptist Bible College
1 p.m., US. Cellular Field,

Home of the Chicago White Sox

Friday, May 9

Women's 8 Men's Track 8 Field

Dr. Keeler Invite @ North Central College
Time: TBA