A. Pann
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Short version: If youre basically looking for a Chromebook that runs Windows instead of ChromeOS (so that you can use your favorite Windows apps), this laptop will fit the bill. You generally get what you pay for, and for something thats sub-$300, you have to set your expectations accordingly. Having said that, it delivers enough for you get basic productivity (email, document writing, etc.) and entertainment (web browsing, mid-res video streaming) done without much issue. I took a star off for the following points: 1) Somewhat underpowered CPU relative to the other specs, 2) Lack of a physical network jack, and 3) The odd "reversing" of the Fn key for accessing the Function keys. Still, all in all, its a great value for doing basic work on the go, running Windows. Long version: Out of the box, this laptop runs Windows 10 S -- BUT, you can upgrade to Windows 10 Home edition for free via the Microsoft Store (a Pro upgrade costs extra) and use it without restrictions on what you can install and run on it. Speaking of restrictions, I think the main limiting factor for this laptop is its CPU -- the dual core Intel N3060 Celeron processor feels a bit underpowered and is easily pegged when performing tasks that laptops with a more capable CPU wont break a sweat doing. When that happens, youll experience delays and lag on the desktop and in apps. Example: When playing videos on YouTube, if you try to play a video at 1080P, it cant QUITE keep up (CPU stays pegged at 100%) and youll get frequent video freezes/stuttering, especially if you try to do anything else at the same time. If you drop the resolution down to 720P or (even better) 480, then it streams fine and smoothly (and the CPU usage hovers around 70-80%). Similarly, if youre going to upgrade to the Home edition (and thats highly recommended), set aside 1-2 hours for it to download and install the updates. The process is CPU intensive and it doesnt have much much CPU to give. Also, another thing I kind of miss is an actual ethernet port, for the option of using a wired network connection. The laptop doesnt have a physical jack, so youll either have to rely on Wifi for network connectivity or get a USB-Ethernet port dongle if you want to use a cable. Other than the CPU and the absent physical network port, the rest of the components work well together. A nice thing about this particular model laptop is that the onboard storage is a 64GB eMMC chip (kind of a slower SSD). Many laptops that use eMMC storage only come with 32GB of space, which is just BARELY enough for the Windows OS itself, leaving very little space for actual user apps or files. With 64GB, even with Windows 10 Home on it, you still have about 30GB of free space to use. Thats enough for ensuring that future Windows updates will install properly, and room to install a few apps. You may still want to invest in a 64+GB SD card to plug in for more storage, though, and the laptop has an SD card slot for that purpose. The screen itself is pretty nice. Its a glossy type screen, versus matte. The 14" size is a nice compromise between viewability and portability, I feel. The keyboard is functional and compact. It has no numpad, but does have arrow keys, and the home/end/ins/del keys are on one column. The tactile feedback of the keys feel a bit "mushy", with minimal travel distance, but still works well enough for touch typists. The keys are NOT backlit. Also, the function keys seem to work in "reverse". Like many laptops, some of the top row function keys double for laptop features like volume up/down/mute and screen brightness. Normally, youd press and hold the "Fn" key + Function Number key to access those laptop features. On this laptop, this happens by default, and to actually use the real Function key, you need to press and hold the Fn key to do so. I found that a bit weird. The speakers are mounted at the bottom, and have stereo separation, though not very much. The sound quality is otherwise fine. It also has a headphone jack that you can use if you want better audio fidelity and stereo sound playback. The touchpad also works fine, and supports a number of gestures and multi-finger taps for scrolling and menu shortcuts; it ALSO has physical press buttons (i.e. you can physically press down on the touchpad itself to left click, or press down on the lower right corner to do a right-click), and has pretty nice tactile feedback. If none of these options suit you, you can always use a wireless or bluetooth mouse. There are 3 USB ports on the left side, along with an HDMI port, and an SD card reader. The only thing on the right side is the power port. The description rates the battery at about 10 hours, and seems about right for moderate levels of usage, from what Ive seen so far. I dont believe there is a fan in this laptop, so it runs very very quiet, but when the CPU is pegged, the left side can get rather warm, too. Just be aware of that. The overall build of the case is mostly plastic, but its pretty light (about 3lbs?) and feels sturdy enough for daily use. All in all, Im happy with this laptop; it lets me get some basic work done when Im out and about, without having to spend a bunch of money for that ability (my daily driver is a beefy desktop PC). The next step up from this would be a laptop with a better CPU (maybe an Intel i3 or i5 or AMD equivalent) and a real hard disk (like a 128GB+ HDD or SDD) but that already puts you into the $400-$500 range at least. For something that costs less than $300, this laptop is hard to beat.