Acer C720 Demand Sparks Price Increase

Apparently I'm not the only one that thinks the Acer C720 is the best damn Chromebook you can get for the money.  The price and availability this Christmas are moving in opposite directions.

Prices are going up, and the stock and availability are going down.

Yes, I'm pimping this product, because I love me some Chromebook!  I literally use this device every day and yes I am writing this blog on my Acer C720 Chromebook (11.6-Inch, 2GB).

 Full disclosure...I've made about $20 after a year of blogging about this product using the Amazon Associates links - so apparently I'm not very good at it, my blog is not that popular and I'm clearly not making a living at this. Note to self, don't quit your day job. The links are really for your convenience, just in case you feel the urge and need a push. ;-)

Love me some Chromebook!

I may just re-moniker this blog Love Me Some Chromebook!  But honestly, this is an extremely easy product to fall in love with for anyone that wants a low cost, well made device for email, browsing, watching videos and even doing software development in the cloud.  Fast boot, long battery life, and light weight, I take this puppy EVERYWHERE!   No, it doesn't run Microsoft Office, but this is 2014 people!  Stop the MS Office malarkey already!

Google Docs and Google Sheets are absolutely awesome and you are doing yourself and your grand kids a disservice if you continue to pound that damn MS Office drum.  Ever watch a 14 year old write a paper for school on Microsoft Word?  They spend the first 20 minutes adjusting margins, font-size and the font face in order to make 3 paragraphs of drivel expand into a 2 page Hemingway masterpiece.

"Everything is your fault...if you're any damn good!" - Ernest Hemingway

 Buy your kids a Chromebook and teach them to write instead of format.   But that's America these days, style over substance I guess...if they have to hand in an MS Office paper, they can save their Google Doc as an MS Word file.

Still not convinced?  Don't buy a Chromebook, just install Chrome on your Windows machine and play with Google Docs/Sheet/and Slides.  Print to a cloud enabled device (see my reviews and howto's from last year)...and then decide.  It's been a year with my Chromebook and the honeymoon is definitely not over.  It just gets better with every update.  Which happens transparently for me by the way!

As of today (December 4th, 2014), the device is out of stock at Amazon but they claim it will ship in a few days.

I'm still doing some research and will blog on this subject (performance) soon, but I've concluded that the Acer C720 is not just a good Chromebook, it is THE Chromebook.  Why?  I'll summarize my research by saying, it's simply the best value.  It uses the best CPU for the money (Intel Celeron 2955u)  and still delivers exceptional battery life while keeping the cost under $200...well it was under $200 until this morning.  Hopefully as stocks are replenished you can grab one at a lower price.

CAUTION!  Don't be fooled with other Chromebooks that claim higher clock speeds. That DOES NOT TELL THE WHOLE STORY.  Read the reviews.  If it ain't using the 4th Generation Haswell architecture 2955U it's either an ARM processor or an Intel M-series (Baytrail architecture) and the performance will not match the Acer C720.  The exception being the Acer C720 with the i3 processor.  You'll get slightly better performance with that device, but at a higher price point.  

If streaming music and video while you're doing other tasks is important to you, then this C720 will give you the ultimate experience.  I've been listening to Earbits Radio streamed to my iSound Twist Bluetooth Wireless Mobile Speaker (Rubberized Blue) with more than 6 tabs open while writing this blog on my plain 'ol 2955U based C720 with just 2MB.  If you typically run with a lot of tabs open, you might want to consider the Acer C720-3404 11.6-Inch Chromebook (Intel Core i3, 4 GB) Granite Gray version of the C720.   If I get carried away, I have been able to crash a tab or two and run out of memory.

If you are considering a Chromebook, my advice after a LOT of research is that you will not find a better Chromebook for the money right now.  I keep looking, but right now, the Acer C720 is hands down the best Chromebook on the market.  Don't take my word for it though, go try to find one right now!  Good luck.