Acer - R 11 2-in-1 116 Touch-screen Chromebook Review

Our Verdict

The Acer Chromebook R11'southward minimalist design isn't the about exciting, merely this is an extremely capable Chromebook that volition last all day on bombardment. Information technology tin can also flip 360-degrees into a tablet.

For

• Convertible
• Attractively minimalist
• Good battery life

Against

• Terrible trackpad
• HD-just screen

TechRadar Verdict

The Acer Chromebook R11'southward minimalist design isn't the most exciting, but this is an extremely capable Chromebook that will terminal all twenty-four hour period on bombardment. It can also flip 360-degrees into a tablet.

Pros

• +

  Convertible

• +

  Attractively minimalist

• +

  Skillful battery life

Cons

• -

  Terrible trackpad

• -

  HD-only screen

The Acer Chromebook R11 combines the versatility and affordability of a Chromebook with the style and design of a more than luxurious laptop.

Chromebooks aren't like other laptops. Historically perceived as a direct route to the Google Chrome browser, their functionality was one time limited to what y'all could reach on the spider web. That's changed, however. Near Chromebooks are at present compatible with Android apps via the Google Play Store, and the Acer Chromebook R11 has followed adapt. That's while drawing inspiration from the MacBook Air's stylish chassis.

Unlike its Apple tree inspiration, though, the Acer Chromebook R11 is affordable at $329 (£221, AU$455). And, if we had to compare information technology to other Chromebooks, we'd put it on the same level every bit the $249 (£170, AU$320) Dell Chromebook 11 and the $249 (£160, AU$337) Asus Chromebook Flip.

Only, it's a lot better than its rivals cheers to its 360-degree hinge. And, while it's non the fastest Chromebook on the block, it perfectly utilizes Chrome OS in a style that doesn't crave it to have the best specs to provide a smoothen-as-butter experience.

The Acer Chromebook R11 is even better now that it'southward a footling older, as it should have some brilliant deals around if you know where to look. Since Chromebooks don't become obsolete as chop-chop as Windows laptops, it should piece of work just likewise today every bit information technology did when information technology was start released.

• Chromebook VPN - compare the best deals

Pattern

One of the large benefits of the Chromebook R11 is its size and weight. The R11 weighs just 2.76 pounds (1.25kg), with a relatively small frame of xi.57 10 8.03 x 0.76 inches (29 x 20.iii ten i.9cm) (West x D x H). This comes in slightly smaller than the competing Dell Chromebook 11 with its 2.91 pound 11.69 x eight.57 10 0.83 inch frame. Acer's offering even compares well to the slightly smaller Asus Chromebook Flip, which weighs 1.96 pounds (0.88kg) and measures 10.half-dozen ten 7.two x 0.6 inches.

The Acer Chromebook R11 is largely made up of a sparse, white plastic chassis with a matte stop. Where that design differs, however, is on the chapeau of the machine, which features a textured white metal panel that looks and feels great.

In fact,that texture extends throughout the unabridged Chromebook R11, giving the laptop a nice grippy feeling while carrying information technology effectually. It's a minor flourish, but the diamond weave texture gives what could exist a boring white slab a bit of brio. The R11 is far from what we'd consider sexy, but it'due south not ho-hum, either.

On the peak of the Chromebook R11, you lot'll find the same metal console adorned with both Acer and Chrome logos, and that's information technology. On the other side of the panel lies the 11.6-inch, 1,366 x 768 resolution, touch on-enabled display, with a shiny Acer logo but below. On the base of the R11 sits a slightly recessed keyboard with a ready of slightly-textured chiclet keys. Farther below that is a relatively broad trackpad with ample palm rests.

Despite being a largely plastic affair, the R11 feels surprisingly sturdy in the easily, with piffling to no give whatsoever. The just complaint worth noting here is the R11's white exterior, which proved to be pretty proficient at picking up diverse smudges seemingly at random. Truthfully, this is something you lot'll run into with any piece of white tech, but that textured finish may be helping to option things up.

Equally for ports, the Acer Chromebook R11 features ane USB ii.0 and one USB 3.0 port, each occupying carve up sides. There's also a full-size HDMI port with HDCP support, a headphone jack, and an SD card slot for transferring files and photos.

Specs

In terms of specs, the Chromebook R11 falls right in line with the rest of the Chromebook marketplace. Powering the machine is a ane.6GHz quad-core Intel Celeron N3150 processor, along with either 2 or 4GB of RAM. Inside, there'southward besides 32GB of storage, which may seem small, but it'south important to remember you lot're unlikely to be storing a ton of files on the machine itself. It's besides worth mentioning that, for the time being, y'all'll score 100GB of complimentary Google Drive storage when purchasing the R11, so you lot'll accept plenty of infinite to store things in the cloud.

For comparison, the Acer Chromebook R11 does one-up some of the contest. The Dell Chromebook 11, for example, matches the R11 with 4GB of RAM, but falls short with 16GB of storage and the less-capable two.6GHz dual-core Intel Celeron N2840 processor (clock speed isn't everything!). Similarly, the R11 outclasses the convertible Asus Chromebook Flip in terms of RAM and storage, with the latter sporting 2GB of memory and 16GB of internal storage.

Here's the Acer Chromebook R11 configuration sent to techradar:

• Processor: one.6GHz quad-core Intel Celeron N3150 (quad-core, 3MB enshroud, upward to ii.08GHz with Turbo Boost)
• Graphics: Integrated Intel HD Graphics
• Retention: 4GB DDR3L
• Storage: 32GB
• Screen: 11.half-dozen Hd, one,366 x 768 touchscreen, LED-backlit IPS
• Camera: 720p webcam
• Wireless: 802.11ac (B/G/Due north) dual-band WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0
• Ports: 1x USB 2.0, 1x USB 3.0, 1x HDMI with HDCP, 1x 3.5mm headphone jack, 1x SD card slot
• Weight: two.76lbs
• Size: eleven.57 x 8.03 x 0.76 inches (W ten D x H)

Operation

In our testing, including writing this review with a dozen tabs open, the Acer Chromebook R11 performed admirably, albeit with a few pocket-sized hiccups. The combination of the Intel Celeron N3150 processor and 4GB of RAM kept things surprisingly fluid even when typing in a Google Medico with a couple of YouTube videos silently streaming and pumping jams through Google Play Music.

I did notice some minor hiccups in performance with the R11, however. Occasionally, Google Docs seemed to struggle with keeping up with my typing. The lag was exceptional and typically worked itself out in a second or then, but information technology broke our train of thought several times in writing this review.

Similarly, while switching between the dozen or and so tabs we had running was generally fine, opening a new tab and loading something like Facebook or YouTube took a piddling more patience than we're used to.

Of grade, nosotros're coming from a fully decked-out MacBook Pro every bit my daily driver, so my base of comparison is a little skewed. Our guess is that this but comes down to RAM usage: we managed to stay under the 4GB cap with a large number of open tabs while streaming music and video, but only simply barely. It's highly unlikely that any real world use is going to involve streaming several videos and music at the same time, so this bodes well for the 4GB R11, but it'south a chip concerning for buyers who opt for 2GB of RAM.

Benchmarks

Hither's how the Acer Chromebook R11 performed in our suite of benchmark tests:

• Octane: 8,113
• Mozilla Kraken: 4,789
• Sunspider: 704

In the Octane exam, which measures the JavaScript engine functioning on whatever gear up of given hardware, the Acer Chromebook R11'due south score of 8,113 outperformed the Asus Chromebook Flip, which came in at 6,795 (higher is better).

Similarly, Mozilla's Kraken test, which besides measures the speed and performance of the JavaScript engine on a given device, showed Acer'due south R11 ahead of the Flip, with scores of four,789 and 5,447, respectively (lower is ameliorate).

In the terminal Sunspider test, Asus' Chromebook Flip does manage to come out alee by a smidge with a score of 686 compared to the Acer's 704 (lower is amend).

Gabe Carey has also contributed to this review

harveymandivether.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/laptops-portable-pcs/acer-chromebook-r11-1311770/review

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