acerChromebook R 11 Convertible, 11.6-Inch HD Touch, Intel Celeron N3150, 4GB DDR3L, 32GB, CB5-132T-C1LK, Denim White

First off, I have to say that after using this laptop for about two weeks I really love it. It took a little time to grow on me, it has a few quirks and design decisions that are... questionable. And I'll be up front and say that I haven't tested the microphone, so I don't know if it has any flaws. I don't usually use my laptop for video chatting. But overall, I'm very satisfied with this laptop.Form Factor:The first thing that really struck me about this Chromebook is it's kind of heavy, for a Chromebook. Most other models are designed to be sleek and light, but Acer has traditionally favored heavier designs that have plenty of ports and battery life at the cost of aesthetics and this laptop is no exception. While the hinge joint on the back cost this model the backpanel real estate that the previous 7xx series of Acer Chromebooks enjoyed, it still found space for two USB ports, an SD card slot, a 3.5mm jack, and an HDMI port which is enough for most things. If you need to connect more devices, the bluetooth connectivity works fairly well. It's still lighter than most other dedicated laptops though, and is a comfortable weight to carry in a single hand if necessary. Say, if you're using it in tablet mode.Speaking of tablet mode, one of the main draws of this particular Chromebook is the hinge joint on the back. The hinge is designed well, giving strong resistance when you start to push against it but yielding easily once it's moving so it's easy to get it into a particular orientation and keep it there. I've actually been very fond of display mode, where you fold the laptop so the screen is closer to you and it rests on the keyboard. I find it to be very convenient for browsing and gets around the traditional "gorilla arms" issue with touch screens nicely. Tablet mode (keyboard folded around the back) also works very well for using it while on the move. The tent mode (hinge on top, edges on bottom) is useful if you don't have a lot of desk space to commit to it but still want to use it for media. Overall, the flip aspects of this Chromebook are well developed and seem to have been the focus of a lot of commendable design work. It's very easy to switch to one layout for browsing, then quickly switch back to type a response without any real slowdown.My only real issues with the physical layout is the questionable decision to remove some keys (replaced with alt combos). Most of the keys they removed weren't commonly used, so people may not notice (home, end, page up, and page down were always a bit specialized), but caps lock was replaced with a dedicated search key, while alt+search is now caps lock, and delete is now alt+backspace. These are all small gripes though, on the whole the design is excellent and it only takes a few days to get used to the laptops idiosyncrasies. The replacement combinations still show a level of thoughtfulness though, as it's easy to hit those combos with both hands, so you don't have to contort your hands into weird shapes to hit them if they're an important part of your workflow.Performance:Performance is a mixed bag. Because Chromebooks tend to run lower powered hardware, websites that abuse public trust by loading dozens of tracking scripts (which load dozens of their own tracking scripts) are particularly crippling. Once I installed and configured my usual tracking and ad blocking scripts performance went back to smooth like I've come to expect from Chrome powered laptops. On the flipside, gaming is incredibly smooth right out of the box, running browser based games powered by Javascript, Flash based games, and games run through the native Android support incredibly well. Video playback is smooth and the video is surprisingly crisp given the lower resolution of the screen. While I'm not exactly a display fanatic, I've had no real issues with the display except having to occasionally wipe away smudges from pawing at the touchscreen.Of course, one of the big reasons I picked this laptop as an upgrade is because the R11 series was among the first Chromebooks to get native support for Android apps. I don't want to go too in depth on this as it's still in beta and it's hard to judge it as a final product. Unfortunately, Google has been running behind on getting these features enabled and many functions, such as apps seeing external storage devices like SD cards, are not yet implemented. This can cause many apps to not run, or to crash when certain functions are invoked. However, for the games that do run (which I'd say is probably about 80% or so) the performance is phenomenal. This solves many of the traditional issues with Chromebooks not being very useful offline as you can install Android apps to replace much of the missing functionality, as well as filling in gaps in productivity software support making this a viable lightweight enterprise option for companies worried about security but who still need first party apps that might have Android support but not web based clients.Overall, for the price point I'm extremely satisfied with this product. While obviously Chrome laptops are niche products that require some adjustments to get around their lack of traditional software usage, for those who are already adjusted to the environment and looking to upgrade an existing Chromebook or those who are looking to jump ship from heavier, more expensive Windows or Macintosh powered laptops, this is a fine offering.

I rarely write reviews. I mostly do video reviews, but never of specific products. That may change here soon.This this is awesome and has quickly replaced many of my gizmos and gadgets, some that have cost me upwards of thousands of dollars. People who complain that Chromebooks are useless without internet access clearly are narrow minded and simply not thinking outside the box. Allow me to explain:Let me begin by saying I take tech seriously. Since beginning a journey into a lifelong passion of filmmaking and screenplay writing I have invested tens of thousands of dollars of my own money into PC's that can keep up with the demands of 4k video editing and post processessing. I have amassed a couple of decent PC's, one a custom desktop (still being built; $3K~) and another an ASUS 970m ROG Laptop ($1300~) that are great for exactly what I need them for. My desktop runs all my video editing software for my bigger and most demanding projects and my laptop is great for editing video and running PC games in places other than my home (like school!). Recently, I've really gotten into writing more and I've found myself coming up with ideas on the go and wanted something a bit lighter than a 10lb ASUS Laptop (that thing is a monster). So mind you I really ONLY purchased to type down ideas as I had them, Seriously. I wanted something I could work on my writing projects on the go, so I paid the $250 for this thing. I just wanted a mobile typewriter. But oh my... I had no idea how far the rabbit hole went,When I recieved the item I was amazed at the quality of it. I've had my fairshare of "eBay Special" aka Cheap Chinese iPad knockoffs (seriously, I've owned atleast 8 I think over the past 8 years) and have found each one to be a complete waste of money. Either they were so slow I couldn't get any work done or they just flat out broke after a couple months. I even broke bad and bought an $350 iPad and returned it not too long afterwards (I grew to dislike Apple products as they don't play nicely - or cheap - with just about anything else I own.) I was weary about paying this much for another iPad wanna-be tablet, which has an OS that doesnt go with anything, from a company that specializes in WalMart consumer PCs. But just at first glance, this thing is top quality. Nothing on it feels cheap at all. Not the glass, the display, the aluminum cover, the plastic. All of it feels very strudy (within reason) and has a nice, modern look and feel to it. I feel like this will look good in any decade. Very futuristic.I boot it up and notice quickly the display seems to be 720p (or something close) but for what I need this thing to do... who cares? I just want to type words on it. The touchscreen and the hotkeys along the top take some getting used to but I was quickly in the Google Play Store, downloading all the apps I have on my phone and linking them to my accounts."This thing is neat." I thought to myself as I was scrolling through Facebook, listening to Pandora and playing my cloud save of Falloiut Shelters. I became a wizard, learning to use the touchscreen, keyboard, and touchpad all in tandem. I prop the thing up to watch a Youtube video."This thing is really neat."But oh yah! I was supposed to use this to write! So I went to install my favorite screenwriting app, Trelby, only to find its not available. Darn. I use some other apps but nothing is quite the same for my workflow.So I got desperate and booted up Linux on it. After some headaches and code learning, I quickly abandoned the stupid idea when it became more trouble than it was worth and factory reset. I thought the gizmo was neat but I was disappointed that I couldn't really use it the way I wanted to it that regards.This is where the R11 gets interesting. I quickly realized that I could use the Google Remote Desktop app to access my desktop computer. BAM! I was writing on my scripts at home! I was using my whole $3k desktop on this little $250 laptop and it ran flawlessly! I could even watch videos and game from the laptop itself (to an extent). THIS IS AMAZING! But... If i wanted to use it on the go... I would NEED that internet connection to access the files. Man... maybe those negative reviews are right. Maybe this thing does suck without an internet connection....Except everyone in 2017 is carrying a little WiFi router in their pockets. It's called a cell phone and even my cheap $30 ALCATEL has a tethering option.And just like that, I realized that I can use my studio desktop wherever I want, whenever I want. That is just incredible. For $250 I can control my $3000 PC anywhere. She's got a USB for a tactical mouse and external keyboard, an SD slot and an external HDMI output. This thing is the ultimate mobile workhorse. Sure, it wont completely replace my ROG Laptop is terms of what it can do on its own but the ability alone to access my own desktop and use it as a touchscreen laptop is just amazing.This is the ultimate tablet. This thing is amazing. As a matter of fact, I wrote this whole review on it. Buy it for school, buy it for home, buy on for the grandkids. Cant go wrong on this one.