Acer Chromebook R 11 C738T-C7KD Review - Quick Verdict
The Acer Chromebook R 11 C738T-C7KD is a solid Chromebook and comes with an affordable price. With access to Android apps on a Chromebook, you can now do a lot more with Chromebooks. The hardware on this machine allows you to do just that. With this notebook, you can operate a completely internet-focused machine without any major shortcomings.
- Super affordable
- Good hardware for ChromeOS
- Android apps offer more versatility
- Processor can be a bottleneck
Author's Rating
Chromebooks are a rare species in the laptop space. They come with a limited use case and target a small number of users who might actually be interested in the device. The Acer Chromebook R 11 C738T-C7KD is the latest in the line of premium Chromebooks.
It comes with specs that are perfect for what you’d accomplish on a Chrome OS device like this one. With a price tag of under $300, the Chromebook gives you all you can expect from a neo-device like this. The Acer Chromebook R 11 C738T-C7KD begs one question. How good is this for an average target user? Is it worth the money?
Design
One of the major selling points of the Acer Chromebook R 11 C738T-C7KD Chromebook is that it is a convertible laptop. You can use this as a laptop or a tablet. What mode the laptop will be in ultimately depends on the user himself. There is also a third mode called the tent mode which is great for media consumption. All these modes are neat and transition from one mode to another is smooth, thanks to the perfect hinges.
The laptop comes with an 11.6-inch screen and, as a result, the form factor is small smaller than your regular laptops. When you place this next to a 15.6-inch laptop, you can see the difference for yourself. Sporting such a small profile for a laptop makes this a perfect candidate for working on the move. You can also slide this hybrid book into your backpack and get going.
Though no premium materials are used in the construction of this laptop, it does feel a bit premium to touch. The backside comes with a nice grip making it easier to hold the device.
The keyboard on the Acer Chromebook R 11 C738T-C7KD comes with keys that are okay to use. They are not the best ones out there but you do get used to them with regular use. The key travel is good, but you can’t miss the cheap feel of the keys. The touchpad is okay, but nothing out of the normal.
Acer Chromebook R 11 C738T-C7KD Specs
We have an 11.6-inch display with a resolution of 720p. Using a display that is not even 1080p might look like a stupid thing to do in 2019. But the fact is that this device does not need any more resolution, and cramming more pixels in it is purely pointless.
The display is impressive for working and also for media consumption. The screen is not our preferred screen size but it does okay for watching content. If you’re going to work on documents, then you might find this display to be nearly perfect.
The touchscreen capabilities of the screen are pretty good. Since this is a convertible laptop, you will be able to use this in the tablet mode. The screen is quite sensitive to touch and registers every single touch without missing anything.
The processor that powers the Acer Chromebook R 11 C738T-C7KD is an Intel Celeron N3060 chip. This is a dual-core processor that comes with a clock speed of 1.6GHz. The processor gets a CPUMark score of 989 which confirms that this is a super low-end processor.
The processor, however, is good enough for the operating system i.e. ChromeOS. It allows you to take care of your everyday work without issues. Things like browsing the web, working on office docs, consuming media, all these can be done.
The 4GB DDR3L RAM in the memory department gives you some power in terms of multitasking. Since this isn’t Windows, you’re not going to be able to multitask like there. Here the concept of multitasking is different and for that, 4 gigs sound good.
For storage, we have a 32GB eMMC solid-state drive. The SSD improves the performance of the laptop. It makes up for the lack of performance from the processor side and gives a better overall performance for the user.
Can I game on the Acer Chromebook R 11 C738T-C7KD?
Nope. Sorry.
The Acer Chromebook R 11 C738T-C7KD model doesn’t come with a discrete graphics card. The integrated graphics card is also pretty scanty which makes this laptop unsuitable when it comes to gaming. You’ve already lost the idea of gaming when you preferred a Chromebook, but this model, in particular, doesn’t allow any gaming for that matter.
Battery Life and Connectivity
The Acer Chromebook R 11 C738T-C7KD does one thing very well and it is lasting for a long time. The Chromebook can last for about 10 hours with light usage. Since you can’t do anything heavy with this machine, you will get the advertised 10-hour battery life without any problems.
Being an internet-focused device, you should get access to high-speed internet. For that, the Chromebook comes with 802.11ac WiFi which is nearly 3 times faster than its predecessor. There is an HDMI port that allows you to connect to bigger displays for making presentations.
With the help of the USB 3.0 port, you can connect external devices and make high-speed data transfers. There is also an SD card reader which can be useful for the likes of photographers and such.
Bottomline
The Chromebook is a special device and it is made for specific people in mind. This Chromebook gives you all the stuff you need to carry your work with an internet-based device. Though the specs might seem a little cheap, they do get the job done. So if you’re looking for a reliable Chromebook, then the Acer Chromebook R 11 C738T-C7KD is a pretty good choice.