My laptop for two years is already broken and I need a replacement ASAP because I can't afford to go a day without a laptop because that is the only thing I use for my freelancing job. I used to have the
RCA Cambio W11.6 which stopped holding battery charge, screen was turning off and on while im on videocalls and watching videos for training and a looooot of issues going on until I started hating it and finally decided to get a new one. As a Mom, I am very practical. I am not into pricey ones. All I need is something that can do the job for me. I tried to shop around last weekend and I was thinking about using a Windows 10 laptop again or switch to a Chromebook and see what it has to offer. I was thinking if I use a Windows Laptop again, I don't know how to transfer my MS Office Apps esp the Outlook since that's the platform I use to communicate with my boss and the rest of our team. And a Chromebook on the other hand, aside from its affordability, I made a research that there are Chromebooks which supports Android apps and if that is the case, I will be able to download the MS Office Apps. (I can always return it if it didn't work for me anyway). Something for a change! :)
And so I saw this deal at
Costco . It was with $40 off when I purchased it plus it covers 2years warranty and another 2years if you use the Costco Visa Credit card which we have and 1year of manufacturer's warranty. Sounds really a good deal to me. So I headed to the store to take a look at it and see how likely it is to navigate the device before purchasing it online. (you can't get the $40 off in store). I still continued to do a research about the Acer Chromebook R11 and you can see the reviews and specs
here. As far as I know this is the very first Chromebook that supports Android Apps/Google Playstore under a stable channel.
After a thorough review, I finally made up my mind of purchasing this Chromebook and it was really a hit. It does the job for me. I can still send and receive emails from outlook, create and edit documents via ms office, excel and save a lot of stuff via google drive. This laptop could be boring if you are the type of person who stays too long in front of it.
Aside from the preset Google Apps, I have successfully downloaded MS Office, I have already downloaded apps like Skype, Textnow (yes! I can do phonecalls with it), Upwork Messanger and already saved some files from my work and my MP3's. Yes it has a file folder just like in windows. I thought it will be automatically save to Google drive but NO. You still have the option to keep it on your laptop and personalize a folder or upload it to Google Drive if you think you are running out of memory. Facebook, Instagram, other picture editing apps are also perfect to downloaded but I opted not to since I those has been already installed on my phone. However, there are some apps that are not compatible with this device I guess example of this is Snapchat. But anyway, you will see a prompt in the Playstore if the device is compatible with the app or not.
Anyhow, to sum it all up, I give this Chromebook a 5!. Its is chic and stylish and doesn't look cheap. Though it is made of part plastic and part aluminum, it isn't so flimsy at all. Unlike the other Acer Chromebook 14inch who doesn't support Playstore Apps, the screen tends to be wobbly.
So there you go. If you have more thoughts about this laptop, please let me know. I would also like to know some tweaks if there is
