Mrs F does quite a bit of browsing and social media stuff on her phone, but occasionally needs something bigger. We've still got one of my old work laptops that is slow and getting slower (can't reinstall Windows), noisy, hot, and potentially has to be returned any day, so we're thinking of a replacement. A standard 15.6" laptop is probably too big for comfortable lap use, so smaller would be better. She's said she'd like a keyboard, so although I've looked at larger tablets and cheap 2-in-1s, I think the small laptop format is the way to go.
A cheap (<£200) Windows laptop might be the answer, but I like the look of this Acer chromebook. And it looks good value on Argos; 4GB and 32GB storage seems pretty unusual at this price (due to the non-standard CPU?):
www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3601860.htm
The 2GB/16GB model is £220 on Amazon, where it gets pretty good reviews:
www.amazon.co.uk/Acer-Aspire-CB5-311-13-3-inch-Chromebook/dp/B00NWHV4E4
Actually I'm wondering whether Argos have made a mistake in their price/specs. But if not, any thoughts?
Last edited by: Focusless on Tue 17 Nov 15 at 14:47
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I bought a Toshiba Chromebook (sub £200) for internet browsing and I can't fault it. Boots up & shuts down in seconds and not running Windows means it doesn't pick up all their crap to slow it down.
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Thanks Skip.
Does your Toshiba have 2 or 4GB, and what CPU? If it turns out that the Acer doesn't have 4GB, or is no longer around when we eventually decide to buy something, I'd be interested to know what sort of spec you need for reasonable performance.
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Hi Focusless, its a Toshiba CB30-B-103. Is has an Intel Celeron processor and is 4GB. All i can say is that it is plenty fast enough for anything I want it to do.
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Cheers Skip. The Tosh Chromebook 2 gets excellent reviews, especially the 4GB model with the 1920x1080 IPS* 13.3" screen, although that's starting to get a bit pricey at £250 on Amazon. For £200 you get 1366x768 (same as my 12.5" work laptop, which seems fine) and 2GB. Both models have 16GB onboard storage.
www.amazon.co.uk/Toshiba-CB30-B-103-13-3-Inch-Chromebook-Laptop/dp/B00RK7LFHS
There does appear to be a viable Windows alternative - the HP Stream 11, which is only £170 and gets a good review here:
www.trustedreviews.com/best-laptops-for-students_round-up_Page-1
Its smaller 11.6" 1366x768 screen is described as 'grainy', but I suspect it's ok if you're not used to higher pixel densities.
Time to see what they look like in the flesh I think, if Bath PC World have got any (on Friday)...
* had to look it up - 'In-Plane Switching' en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPS_panel
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In the end I asked Mrs F whether she'd prefer Windows or Chrome, and she said she's perfectly happy with my 5+ year old work laptop and would rather have some nice jewellery instead!
But I did pop into PCWorld yesterday, and they had a Stream 11 on display. It did look quite neat, and it's currently only £150, which seems pretty good for a Windows 10 laptop/netbook, even an underpowered one with not much storage :)
www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-stream-11-r050sa-11-6-laptop-blue-10137770-pdt.html
Last edited by: Focusless on Tue 24 Nov 15 at 11:49
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new chromebook(?) - Skip
