Acer Chromebook 11 C740-C4PE (11.6-inch HD, 4 GB, 16GB SSD)

A fantastic secondary computer
I’m going to explain this with a metaphor that might not work well for everyone, but bear with me. I’ll also be talking more about Chromebooks in general, with details about this specific device further down, just as advance warning.Chromebooks in general – and this one, being the one I’ve used – are like bicycles. Fast, zippy, simple means to get around town, run simple errands, and meet up socially. There are a lot of people who can get by with just a bicycle, if that’s all they need, and a lot of people who will want a car – or a pickup, or van, or SUV – instead. There are also a lot of us who can really use both.I have the good fortune to have a PC that does all of the heavy lifting I could need it to. It takes care of all the Adobe software for video, photo, and sound editing, and any computer games I care to play work just fine on it….but there are a lot of use cases in which a big desktop PC isn’t very helpful. Coffee shops, classrooms, study sessions or work outside of your home. And there are lot of people – myself included – who don’t actually need all that power outside of the home. I don’t need to edit video on the road, and I don’t need a lot of hard drive space or graphics-heavy programs either.Owning this is like having a bicycle as well as a car. It’s fast, it’s zippy, it’s light. It doesn’t have a limitless battery, but I rarely spend more than 7-9 hours away from outlets during which time I’d need to be using a computer….and among affordable Chromebooks, the C740 is pretty spectacular, with a few key things to know to see if it fits your preferences.The screen is nice but not stellar, with acceptable but still fairly narrow viewing angles. Text is crisp and photos look decent, which is really all I need, but there are Chromebooks with 1080p screens if that’s something you need. 1366 x 768 on an 11” screen looks good to me, but I won’t be arguing that it’s great for everyone.The keyboard is a wonderful chiclet-style keyboard with great feel and a nice layout, even though I occasionally wish that the up and down arrows could have been squeezed in at full size, and the lack of a dedicated caps lock key might conceivably bother you. I’m at my fastest typing speed on chiclet keyboards, and the first thing I did upon starting this one up was check an online typing test, where I matched my usual speed of 80 WPM. It’s not so much that the keyboard makes things faster, it just doesn’t get in the way of rapid typing – but preferences do differ, so look for what you know!I am a particular fan of the 11” form factor for a laptop. I love the small size and low weight, and my small hands are quite happy with the C740.I found through looking at various devices that 4GB of RAM is what you really want in a Chromebook, and, coupled with a good extension to kill or pause unused tabs, I have yet to have any problems with too many open tabs – and I am a fiend for having far too many open at any given time (24 right as I write this (it is a Problem)).The trackpad is perfectly serviceable and has good options for speed to match your preferences. It’s decently sized and comfortable to use.I love the available ports, and loading up a USB thumb drive or hard drive with music or movies, depending on what you like, is a perfectly fine way to carry music around. Something I wish I had known is that the SD card slot is not very deep, so at least half of any card you slip in is going to be sticking out – needless to say, carrying it around with an SD card in is a recipe for disaster. I can see some potential for previewing photos from a point-and-shoot camera on here, but otherwise I’m not so sure that the SD card reader is all that helpful. Still! Who knows what others might need?Battery life is, as I mentioned, more than adequate.Best of all, the device starts up in a flash and is always zippy and responsive. For a portable device, as a student or worker or anyone getting stuff done on the go, it’s simply heavenly not to have to wait long for your computer to wake up, turn on, or restart. You can get right to business immediately….and, naturally, nearly everything positive about the computer is expressed through ChromeOS, which is something you either already know you want, by looking at reviews, or something that you ought to learn more about, if you’re looking through laptops in general.I don’t think I could get by with the Acer 11 C740 as my only computer, but as a supplement to my PC, it is the nicest thing I’ve ever owned. I’ve made due with a hand-me-down Macbook from 2006 before, a Nexus 7, a Dell Inspiron, an HP Pavilion tablet, and, far back, a mostly nonfunctional Sony Vaio from 2003 or so. Short of a Macbook Air I briefly had time with, this Chromebook has given me the best portable computing experience I’ve ever had, and I absolutely recommend it to anyone for whom a Chromebook matches their desired use case.

Stopped working after a few months…
This was a great laptop for the $56 dollars I paid for it. The screen was not crystal clear, but it was fine for what I paid for. It held battery well and was fast. I talk about it in the past tense, because after a few months, it became unusable. The screen stopped working completely, despite the power still turning on. After further investigation, I found the cable that connects the screen to the rest of the computer is damaged. The computer will now only work when connected to a monitor using a HDMI cable. I tried to contact customer service when it happened (less than 6 months after buying it), but was told the product is not refundable. I wasn’t even able to connect with a live person to explain my issue, rather, I was stuck with a robotic messaging bot. I was so excited to have an affordable laptop and am very upset at how quickly it broke. I’m even more upset by the lack of customer service for this product.

Obsolete.
Initially when I got it (early 2024), I was able to watch to Netflix and Disney+ but I no longer can because the OS cannot be updated. I mainly use it to watch YouTube and it works well.

Satisfait de mon achat.