acer Chromebook Plus 515 CB515-2H Laptop - Intel Core i5-1235U, 8GB, 256GB SSD, Integrated Graphics, 15.6" Full HD, Google Chrome OS, Iron

Ordered this as my wife’s old laptop was running on Windows 10 and wasn’t able to go up to 11. I converted it to Linux as a result and she seemed fine with that. However she was still complaining that it was too slow. She also read a little about processors and decided she wanted a better one even though she didn’t know what they are or what they do. She also wanted another 15” screen and a backlit keyboard. Having used a small Chromebook myself when travelling, I thought one of these would be suitable for her basic computing needs & save me the hassle of having to deal with Windows updates periodically as these seem to update in the background without any bother so they are easier to use. With her wish list I settled on this Chromebook Plus from Acer as the cheaper ones are a bit underpowered and don’t tend to have backlit keyboards. I went for the i5 version rather than the i3 version as I wanted to make sure the wife was happy as a happy wife = a happy life! Fortunately she seem fine with after a few moans initially. The main finding are as follows: • The Full HD 1920 x1080 LCD Screen has thin bezels & seems bright & clear. • It also comes with a built in HD web cam with a privacy slider which will be good for web chats / video conferences, although we haven’t tried that as yet. • The keyboard does come with backlighting turned on via the setting initially. • Battery life in our use case of lots of browsing with the keyboard lit up, is more like 6 to 7 hours rather than the 10 hours advertised. • Audio quality is good as you have two upward facing speakers at either end of the keyboard. • Ports are a little limited with a USB-A port, a USB-C & HDMI ports that can be used for an external screen with the appropriate cable. Other than that there are charging & headphone ports. • There is a big track pad, but can’t comment on this as we have been using it with a wireless mouse with either a 2.4g dongle or via Bluetooth which this laptop comes with. • The Chrome OS is fine but obviously a bit different to Windows. It is a bit more like Android on a phone & I believe that Google have plans to merge those. As a result some apps may not work quite as expected. For example Firefox played up a bit but the Chrome browser was fine, funny that. • Performance for every day use has been quick as expected both in terms or boot up and browsing etc. Which is what I had hoped for given the processor, 256gb SSD and 8GB RAM. • Design is quite nice with metallic metal type colour with a two tone finish, but as it is a good sized model it is not the lightest if you are looking for portability. So overall a well made Chromebook Plus from a well know name which delivers the expected performance.

Most of our business involves working on a variety of extranet sites plus some Word and Excel tasks. The current Windows laptop takes too long to boot up and generally get going. However we really didn't want to spend more than necessary so thought give a Chromebook a try. This Acer is a very well-made computer with a good sized display, responsive backlit keyboard and decent specs (i5 processor, memory etc) which together provide excellent value for money. Setup was a breeze especially if you already have Android and a Google id in place. Connection with a printer over wifi was seemless. It boots up in a jiffy and can get on to the web and on with tasks pretty much instantly. But it's different from Windows and does take a little time and effort to learn how to do things. It's worth knowing that: - All MS Office is through 365 online and no offline MS apps exist for Chrome as they do for Android. Outlook on 365 currently only supports @outlook.com email addresses. You can download from Google Play email apps such as BlueMail for Imap/pop3 accounts or use GMail for this. If you use Google docs and Drive etc then no worries there as these do work offline. However, MS Office 365 works very well if you have secure wifi. - Trackpad doesn't have right click and scrolling is a two fingered affair. You need to use Ctrl or similar for right click. I added a wifi mouse and it helps eg scrolling or selecting text for instance. - Not all Android apps work or are available on Chrome. If you accept it isn't a Windows laptop with all its functionality and are prepared to do a little relearning then there is alot to recommend this Chromebook for in terms of quality, value for money and particularly speed.

Nice size screen very clear, with the i5 intel processor its very fast easily managing loads of tabs open at the same time,keyboard is very nice and is also lit up,not heavy a great chromebook plus

Very good value for the money. The keyboard is grey with white lettering, which can be difficult to see sometimes. But perfectly usuable. The sound isn't very loud, but adequate. Would recommend for the price. This is the next generation to my previous chromebook. Set up was easy, and all my information transferred instantly without problems

Fairly speedy delivery, securely packaged and exactly as described.

Exerlent balue for money

Not very impressed. Battery life is poor and the forward facing speakers make the keyboard feel very narrow.

Brilliant nearly as good as the mac book pro that I had for a fraction of the cost.