Chromebook: Acer C720P The a Bit of a Byte Review

     The Acer C720P is a touchscreen Chromebook running the Chrome OS. I recently had the chance to setup a few of them and get my impressions on the system. The price starts around $298 depending on the specs of the system (Amount of RAM). The Chromebook is targeted to students and non power users who need a system to handle basic tasks like email and web browsing. Boot times on this machine are almost instant. Open the lid and the C720P is ready for action within seconds. Setup is quick and it is possible to have your system up and running within about 5 minutes.


The C720P packaging looks like this:

Acer C720P packaging

The system specifications are as follows (Can vary):

Acer C720P specs

The SSD in this model I tested makes the C720P very snappy and responsive. 16GB doesn't seem like much, but buyers of the C720P can take advantage of the free 100GB Google Drive upgrade for two years. Once the year is over the storage will remain, but you would need to purchase additional storage if needed. The battery is said to give around 7 hours battery life and quickly charges. You will find it easy to make it through long lectures and still have time to go and finish up any assignments afterwards. 

Acer C720P package contents:

Acer C720P, charger, and manuals right out of the package

The C720P is a sleek system. It is light, thin, and looks good sitting out in the open. 

Typing on the keyboard can take a little bit to get used to depending on your current system. I'm used to using a full size keyboard, but if it bothers you that much a USB keyboard could easily be plugged into the Chromebook. This model also has an HDMI port. 

The touchscreen feature is nice to have. It is very responsive to gestures and the out of the box calibration is great. An example of using the touch screen to minimize apps to the tray is shown with my hand placement on the Chromebook below. 

Hand placement to quickly minimize an app

To give an idea on how much time I have spent with these, here is a photo of the ones I setup in that single day. I have a down a few others in the past as well. 

A stack of Chrome

Overall, I would say the Acer Chromebook C720P is a good investment for students or anyone that needs a light laptop on the go. You won't be able to run every program on this, but for basic tasks it shines brightly. Of all the Chromebook systems I have dealt with, I would say this one is easily my favorite just due to the speeds, designing, and reliability of this model. 

A Bit of a Byte review total for Acer Chromebook C720P:  9/10