Asus RO005

ASUS CB C300ma-edu (4GB Ram/ 32GB SSD)

Een review die ik op een buitenlandse site heb geplaatst, sorry ik vond het teveel werk deze weer helemaal in het nederlands te herschrijven, maar ik hoop en denk dat de meesten er wel mee uit de voeten kunnen.

This is my first chromebook and my first experience with Chrome OS and I would like to write a review on both.

For me it was clear from the start that a 13-inch model is the best compromise between screen-size and portability, and hence the choice at this moment was between the available models of the Toshiba CB30/35, the Samsung CB2 XE503c32 and the Asus C300.
After viewing many previews, reviews, unboxing videos, comments on forums, I have opted for the Asus C300ma-edu.
Why?
For me battery life is very important, for which I am willing to sacrifice a little snapiness, next to a good quality of build.
The Toshiba is the fastest but has reportedly a modest quality of built, and not a very good trackpad. The Samsung is the slowest of the three, the shortest battery life, and the advantages of its FHD-screen not showing fully because it still remains a TN-screen. That is a pity, because I find the Samsung having the best design, the best built, but especially the shorter battery life is not acceptable for me.
The Asus Bay-trail N2830 is reportedly just a little faster than the Samsung Exynos 5800, hence I preferred 4Gb Ram in the C300ma-edu version over the standard 2Gb in the C300-db01, to promote a smoother experience.
Hence, the Asus C300ma-edu was my choice. I ordered it in the US, living myself in Europe where it is not available and perhaps may not become available.

What is my initial experience with the hardware, which I have for 3 days now:
I received it in an original Asus, asus-sealed, box, hence new and unopened.
In the box there was only an US-type of power-adapter (though 0-240V, hence usable in Europe as well), but knowing this I had already ordered a US-Europe adapter, hence I could use it from the start.
After many negative comments about TN-screens, I did not expect too much and it is perhaps the reason that I am positively surprised about the screen, as long you sit in front of it with the screen tilted at the right angle, which I normally do. I also like the fact that it is a matt-screen.
The speakers are also surprisingly good and loud enough (music at 80% of the max is more than enough for me, conversations at about 60%).
Build quality as reported and hoped for quit good, though definitely feels plastic, which it is of course, no gaps, no squeeking, nice design. Nice keyboard, good and large trackpad
One star taken off, for the fact that the all-black casing, both outside and inside, is a real “smear-magnet”. Fingerprints show immediate and can only be removed with a moist tissue.
From that perspective the silver casing of the C200 is a smarter choice imho.

I have one issue:
The sliver sticker on the CB mentions that it is eligible for a free extra 100gb google drive storage. When trying to redeem it though you get the message from google that it cannot be redeemed because the CB does not have the promotional offer contained in it??. Both Asus C200 and C300 also do not show in the “google-goodies”eligible CB-list.
I am currently corresponding with google how I can still get this, or is it the fact that it is the EDU-version ? (but than the sticker should not show it is eligible!).
UPDATE 27.07.2014 Google send me a one-time link to redeem my 100GB extra google drive, and that did the job, thanks Google!

What about its performance:
Summary: good enough for me.
Loading websites takes about 1-2 seconds, but that doesn’t irritate me, it is fast enough.
Having multiple tabs open, whilst playing music (youtube) in the background and playing some 720p video goes smoothly, I did not experience any lags or stuttering.
Writing a google doc, whilst listening to music also when smoothly, no lags during typing.
I also tried a 1080p youtube video, though having nothing else open, and that also went fine.
The HD 1366x768 screen cannot show better resolution than 720p, but one might perhaps show a 1080p video thru the HDMI and a TV-screen (I did not check that).
It hardly got warm and no fan, no sound!
Will the 4gb ram make any difference with the 2gb ram??
I do not know, I didn’t want to take the risk, I am not so much interested in the larger SSD, 32GB against 16GB, since I intend to save everything in the cloud. The price tag for basically, in my case, only the extra 2gb ram is substantial though, about USD 100 (350 against 250)!

In those 3 days, doing what I described above, the battery lasted for about 11 hours. I hope this will still render 5-6 hours after 3 years, which is important to me. In public places there are often not enough power-sockets and hence 5-6 hours will still get you through the day without the need of a power-adapter.

All taken into considerations I am happy with the CB I have chosen.
Anything more to wish for?
Sure, IPS screen, a little snappier processor, backlit keyboard, and I would be willing to pay some extra for those, but…… not at the expense of battery life!!

So now about my first time experiences with google chrome OS:
I love:
Really fast boottime, about 7-8 seconds and you are ready to go.
When I log in on another computer with my google account I have all my files,settings Email etc. readily available on that other computer.’
Log battery life without sacrifices on portability.
Easy to operate and work with.
I hope ti will not get slower over time, since nothing is installed on it.

Items to be improved (compared to my experience with a windows-laptop):
Printing and scanning is still cumbersome. I purchased a wireless HP eprint/google cloudprint printer and after some time setting it up it works fine, I can print to it. The MFP printer can also copy and scan, however scanning on this modell si not possible and I thought I could use the HP mobile app for scanning but unfortunately that is not supported on the model I have. If you get more expensive models they may have webscan options built in the printer and/or scanning to Email or USB which.
Printing to a classical printer can only be done when that one is connected (wirelss or USB) to a windos/mac-laptop. You can enable the classical printer as “google ready printer”at google, but need the windos/mac-laptop to switch on, in order for the CB to print to that printer.

PDF-apps for the CB are good enough but not as elaborate as the windows versions. Basically that counts for most of the apps, also for the “Office”-programs. But for me, they are good enough!!

So far I am quite happy with my little CB!

One small point of attention for google:
The 100gb extra drive, once and if I get it, is offered as 2 year free for private consumers.
If it will not remain free it will cost an extra USD2/month at current rate. Let’s say the average CB lasts for 4 years, than that is almost an extra of USD 100 over the life span.

With Microsoft lowering its prices and having to add USD 100 to the price tag of a CB over its lifespan, chromebooks run the risk of pricing themselves out of the market. Not ideal for introducing a new concept.