Cracking Acer Chromebook 14 Inch Celeron 4GB 32GB for a great price - £219.99 @ Argos

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Cracking Acer Chromebook 14 Inch Celeron 4GB 32GB for a great price £219.99 @ Argos

£219.99 Argos5 Sep 17

Source: HotUKDeals | Deals > Technology

Opening post

pep411

5 Sep 17

For a start, if you do not like chromebook, do not waste your time by browsing and commenting on this deal. This is not a debate abt how crap chromebooks are. I want one and think this is cracking deal. Still retailing at £300 at currys/ Amazon.

will be better if voucher code offer is honoured.

happy chroming

All comments (79)

akuakuu

5 Sep 17 #1

Still waiting for a Chromebook with a i3 atleast around this price...... Celeron just doesn't cut it nowadays

jackvdbuk

5 Sep 17 #2

this is the one i had, great bit of kit, should be getting the android store.. ."soon".

pep411 to jackvdbuk

5 Sep 17 #4

You had....any reason you sold or changed for something else. I will admit..not sure of gold color. Well know when I pick up this evening

jackvdbuk to pep411

5 Sep 17 #52

I bought this originally for travelling, but gone for another laptop in the end..

I'll start with the good points.
Super fast, loads up in seconds.
Battery lasts ages
Chrome is smooth and 4gb memory really helps

Bad points
I didn't like that vlc had issues with mkv and various formats buy that could just be me.

I got frustrated in the end with things like team viewer being on a Web browser

Missed things like smb shares working properly but again ymmv.

Sc0tchland to jackvdbuk

5 Sep 17 #11

Already has it on Beta

pep411

5 Sep 17 #3

hotukdeals.com/dea…817

fairytooth

5 Sep 17 #5

Quite impressed so I've reserved one to try. Doesn't seem to have the advertised SD slot but not a big deal.
Good find OP thanks

pep411 to fairytooth

5 Sep 17 #27

fairy for £10 voucher I think u need to pay online. Click and collect does not count.

Plz Ignore if u did not go through voucher code.co.uk

MarkShopper

5 Sep 17 #12

How easy it is to install printers on a Chromebook? Looking at the drivers page for mine (support.brother.com/g/b…spx?c=eu_ot〈=en∏=hl2250dn_eu_as) Chrome OS is not listed. Android is there, not sure if that would work?

5 Sep 17 #16

Would like to know what the eMMC speed is because more than anything else, this will determine just how well it will perform with real use and allow other specs to shine a little more.

Picard123 to reddit

5 Sep 17 #17

Actually, I'd say it's the CPU that's the biggest determining factor. Complicated media heavy webpages with embedded video opened in multiple tabs can really bring a laptop to its knees with CPU maxing at 100%. And I've tested this loads in the real world over the last few years as I constantly switch between a Chromebook (fast and snappy browsing most of the time) and a Windows laptop (software library, grunt work etc)!

reddit to Picard123

5 Sep 17 #18

Take practically any machine with a mechanical drive in it and replace it with an SSD and you always get a quantum leap in real performance for the average user.

Any limitations with CPU etc will never change when if you hit those limits but the overall experience of having faster storage means a lot.

Faster reading and writing makes the experience more satisfying and having used a number of devices with great overall specs but crappy, slow eMMC, it is noticeable when a vendor takes particular note of this.

In the same way that some devices may now come with primary eMMC storage but expansion through SSD or M.2. Once you change the primary source to a faster drive the difference in performance can be huge and more satisfactory overall.

Picard123 to reddit

5 Sep 17 #19

This gets a bit complicated as you're talking about different tasks across different OSes including 'heavy duty' tasks which you typically wouldn't be doing on a Chromebook. Obviously with eMMC v HDD the former has a big advantage but if you're talking Chromebooks, I don't think I've seen one that has a HDD - they'll all have eMMC or in rare cases SSD.

The difference between eMMC 4.5 spec and say 5.0 isn't going to be the bottleneck on a Chromebook - it will be the CPU that will be the 1st bottleneck, followed by the 2nd bottleneck of 2GB ram (4GB is fine), though Chrome will try and unload Chrome tabs out of memory in the event of RAM shortage. Failing that, the browser page will crash. The eMMC speed doesn't typically become an issue.

reddit to Picard123

5 Sep 17 #20

It's about the overall experience, which will always feel better with faster storage that doesn't appear to hamper what may otherwise be hardware that is better than previous experience may have given rise to believe.

So it will be interesting to see what eMMC this has and hope that it isn't something slow form the likes of Forsee.

Yes I can agree that it can be complicated when it comes to looking at every aspect of use from every application but having experienced so much night and day difference, based upon the difference solely from the storage adopted, it is my considered opinion that it is a major factor for general user experience.

Picard123 to reddit

5 Sep 17 #21

CPU is still the key factor in the overall experience IMO.

My Celeron 2955U / eMMC Chromebook is fast and snappy for basic webpages - probably snappier than my i5/HDD for basic web pages (due to the amount of the bloat in Windows) but for several media heavy webpages opened simultaneously the situation is reversed as the 2995U cannot deal with the significantly higher and prolonged CPU load. The i5 still spikes to 100% but drops back down very quickly, whereas the 2995U shoots to 100% CPU and stays there until the pages are fully rendered. In the case in the case of 4 or 5 media heavy webpages with embedded videos, JS and 3rd party plugins, that can result in a complete machine freeze for over a minute!

Have a look at the CPU usage below on a N3450 which is slightly more powerful than the Celeron N3160 here. The first graphic is using Chrome and CTRL-left mouse click on several links on the main HUKD page to open 1 new page, then another new page, then 4 Chrome tabs simultaneously - look at the CPU utilisation spiking to 100%:

The graph below is doing the same thing on a very media heavy webpage with alot of embedded videos, sound, adverts, javascript, 3rd party plugins etc (the Liverpool Echo website).

Opening several media heavy webpages simultaneously seriously maxes out the CPU! The pages load fine but the pages feel sluggish when loading. By comparison, my:

- i5/8GB/960m/HDD laptop has no problem with the same task.

- my Celeron 2955U/2GB/eMMC Chromebook freezes up when I try and load 4 x media heavy Liverpool Echo pages simultaneously! (I have ensure that I only open 1 page, then close it after reading, before opening up another one of the same type).

Also shows how important 6GB RAM is over 4GB.

I'd say that Chromebook v Windows laptop performance can be summed up as follows:

- if all you do are mostly single tasks or light web browsing of low demand / average pages eg. most BBC website pages, a Chromebook is fast and snappy (for light web browsing I actually prefer my Chromebook over ANY of my Windows machines)
- if you multitask or your demands are greater, it really pays to try and get an i3 or higher
- if you do anything other than basic web browsing and emails, you should seriously consider paying more for a Windows machine due to the greater range of software and power available.
In all cases, get a minimum of 4GB RAM and in Windows, a minimum of 6GB RAM.

I've been editing this post on 3 different laptops just for comparison. In terms of usability, speed, best experience, For this specific task, I'd rank as follows:

(1) Chromebook Celeron 2955U / 2GB RAM / eMMC (easy No.1 - its so fast/snappy with these sort of tasks)
(2) Windows i5 / 8GB RAM / HDD
(3) Windows N3450 / 6GB / eMMC (this feels noticeably more laggy).

If I were to start doing something more demanding, then (2) quickly becomes No.1 in terms of speed, usability and overall experience. (3) is the laggiest and least enjoyable to use in terms of speed but it also does many things that (1) cannot do.

EndemicAlarm to Picard123

6 Sep 17 #58

Good write-up.

If you haven't heard of the Chrome plugin "The Great Suspender" you might find it useful, it hard-caches unused tabs to free up memory. It won't help with CPU performance or simultaneous use of course, but I currently have around two dozen open tabs on a 2Gb machine and it keeps on trucking.

Also, the uBlock Origin plugin to block advertisement and tracking can help, as a fair amount of content then doesn't load in the first place.

Oneday77

5 Sep 17 #23

Cracking Acer Chromebook 14 Inch Celeron 4GB 32GB for a great price £219.99 @ Argos
Does it come pre-dropped to get the cracked screen?

Hombased

5 Sep 17 #24

Please don't shoot me - nothing against Chromebooks but I just had one of these delivered:

hotukdeals.com/dea…489

and it is a nice piece of kit, all aluminium body, N3450, 6GB RAM, 64GB eMMC, dual band WiFi, m.2 slot, unlocked BIOS and FHD. There was a code BOOKPRO that I used, not sure if still working.

sam_of_london

5 Sep 17 #26

Negative. No touchscreen. Android apps won't work properly without touchscreen

Joshimitsu91 to sam_of_london

5 Sep 17 #28

Why won't they? Some maybe if they rely on multi-touch.

stevenhp1987 to sam_of_london

5 Sep 17 #44

I use some Android apps on my Chromebook 14 (in dev mode).

Some games run great with a keyboard and mouse e.g. The Android sonic games (use number 1 for jump button), ticket to ride, splendor... My XBox 360 controller also works!

I have side-loaded ubuntu as well so some linux games work very well. I play games such as FTL, Papers Please, Prison Architect just fine.

This is my main laptop!

win26 to stevenhp1987

5 Sep 17 #45

Fruit ninja?

stevenhp1987 to win26

5 Sep 17 #46

I highly doubt that would work well without a touchscreen - why would you want to play fruit ninja on a laptop anyways?

There are plenty of games that work without a touchscreen, those designed around it won't work so well.

brainsys to sam_of_london

5 Sep 17 #47

Is it you that posts this to every Chromebook deal? This runs ChromeOS as well or better than any other Chromebook at this price point. As a bonus it will run some Android Apps in the future but like any device not all. And it will run some perfectly OK.

So find us a better deal - if its an Android based one can I come and rubbish it because it doesn't run ChromeOS or a Linux crouton?

Cantona007 to sam_of_london

5 Sep 17 #50

Android phones can use controllers for games so don't see why this would be any different.

ryanprice03

5 Sep 17 #29

I still gasp when I read "Celeron"

Awful :disappointed:

RiverDragon8 to ryanprice03

5 Sep 17 #30

Chrome is a lightweight OS, Celeron N3160 is more than plenty.

phatbhoy to ryanprice03

5 Sep 17 #31

Bit outdated opinion there no?

ryanprice03 to phatbhoy

5 Sep 17 #10

Probably. It's been a while. :grin:

Garstonk to phatbhoy

5 Sep 17 #43

I have this Chromebook, it's a great device but the performance is disappointing, especially when compared to Acer Chromebook C720 from a few years back which is very responsive in comparison.

I have this

CuddlesTC to Garstonk

6 Sep 17 #69

Bother, was really tempted, but it's a C720 I'm looking to replace, so looks like it'd be a downgrade :disappointed:

Garstonk to CuddlesTC

6 Sep 17 #72

The CB14 screen, keyboard, trackpad and general build quality are better than C720 by some margin, but performance isn't. If only you could get CB14 with better processor.

Keith9534

5 Sep 17 #32

Some older chromebooks are having problems at start-up and the response to getting it fixed is disapointing.

I won`t be buying any more if this is what we have to look forward to

ahenry

5 Sep 17 #33

I've had a couple of these for my kids and they have been great. I paid the full £280 for one. Another was about £180 for a refurb from laptopsdirect.co.uk

Compared to a Windows laptop, its great to have something which just works, without waiting for updates, malware scans etc. The screen on these is pretty good, and it definitely helps to have full HD resolution if you want to write an essay with another WWW browser window along side. It is best to pick a printer that supports Cloudprint printing.

bohnny_jravo

5 Sep 17 #34

I bought one in silver last year. Android apps are available on the beta channel

Jiwani80

5 Sep 17 #35

I don't like chrome book;)

te721

5 Sep 17 #36

My lenovo n22 got play store over the weekend, not found it that great so far if in honest a couple of games I tried load but you can't control and a couple of apps dont work ether as they should or won't load, I would definitely buy touch screen next time for using play store

Froddo_Baggins

5 Sep 17 #37

I vote this hot and would buy this in a heart beat but seeing as I already have an Asus Flip and a Dell 13" Chromebook I dont really need it.
What i would say is that a Full HD screen (as on my Dell) is brilliant on a Chromebook and the 4Gb RAM does make a difference.
My main use of Chromebooks is for Internet browsing as I much prefer a laptop to a tablet for typing and navigating, but that is just a personal thing. Google docs and sheets gets closer to MS Office all the time, to the point where they cover 90% of everything I need.

buster13

5 Sep 17 #38

Have used an ACER chromebook for the past couple of years. They are excellent. Very fast and do exactly what they say on the tin. Good spot O.P.

sam_of_london to buster13

5 Sep 17 #48

Do what they say in the tin ? Just load web browser . Does anything else work on them ? No . Any communication apps ? No . Only now Android apps work with with touchscreen . Other than that Chromebook s are useless due to lack of applications.

jordanc93 to sam_of_london

5 Sep 17 #49

What a load of rubbish plenty android apps running fine. Touchscreen only needed mainly for games, works perectly with majority of normal apps including skype and kodi. By the way as has already been mentioned you can run linux on them as well.

EndemicAlarm to sam_of_london

5 Sep 17 #51

I think your name is the only one I recognise on this site because I swear to God, you spend your time posting gibberish in tech discussions. I have no idea if it's a deliberate wind-up, but it's not fair on people who are trying to learn something.

sam_of_london to EndemicAlarm

5 Sep 17 #7

Tech which no one here needs and forced upon them . UK is not a third world country to dump all electronic trash here . I am not against Chromebook s and would have voted hot if it had touchscreen . Apart from Android apps which have recently started working due to Playstore on Chromebook, there is not any use of them . You should post a touchscreen Chromebook which does make sense. Your name is Endemic Alarm . :grin: Sound your alarm and go back to your endemic country i.e. China

brainsys to sam_of_london

6 Sep 17 #56

Oh no not again! first your fixation on touch screens. Now comms. For goodness sake if you haven't a clue about ChtomeOS then please don't make stuff up. Perhaps, you use something like Windows where you have to install a package/app to do the most basic communications. As ChromeOS is Linux based you can just do it straight off as a CLI. Like one of my main uses of my Chromebook is to control my servers. You simply 'ssh [email protected]' and if you are using key authentication you are straight in running a real beastie or three.

People have pointed out to you many, many times before that with a crouton you have a really powerful autonomous laptop or a highly communicative one with an unmatched repository of free communication packages if you need to do more complex stuff. Without the bloat of some alternative OS 4GB of RAM and a modest CPU does the job in a minimal form factor with power that will last much of a working day.

A 16Gb i7 laptop with a 1920x1024 touch screen is just a brick with a flat battery in under half that time. Admittedly this makes it a finer doorstop than this Chromebook ;-)

EndemicAlarm

5 Sep 17 #39

By anti-glare screen, does it mean matte or glossy with some kind of coating?

2Gb RAM way further than I expected on a Chromebook, but with Linux on and the ability to do more or less anything I'm crying out for 4Gb. They're so expensive in this country.

Zameen to EndemicAlarm

5 Sep 17 #40

Matte

EndemicAlarm to Zameen

5 Sep 17 #41

Awesome, thanks. I don't care if it looks worse, I'll never opt into constant light reflections again.

w_orbit

5 Sep 17 #42

I had one of these. 5 minutes out of warranty the trackpad stopped working. Tried powerwash/full reset, everything, A bluetooth mouse still works fine so it's definitely a hardware issue. Looking around it seems common-ish, well there's more than one report of it.

Apart from that nice chromebook for the price.
Screen brightness is OK, can be seen clearly outside but not in direct sunlight.
Plays 1080p Youtube fine.
Keyboard is actually OK to type on
Battery will last the day

I used the Beta channel for Android apps. All the apps I used worked fine, but they were business type rather than games, so multi-touch wasn't a requirement. Used to Remote Desktop into my windows machine, but annoyingly not all the keys are on the chromebook keyboard, but it's possible.

ChromeOS is ideal to give to older relatives who want basic browsing without the hassle of weekly reboot updates, viruses and all the other **** than Windows brings with it.

Oneday77 to w_orbit

5 Sep 17 #22

To be fair powerwashing a laptop to fix an issue will never work.

w_orbit to Oneday77

7 Sep 17 #74

Not true.
ChromeOS can suffer from corrupted hardware drivers, especially when subscribed to the Beta or Canary channel releases. Powerwash fixes these issues. Hence it being the first step in fixing 90% of all ChromeOS support issues.

Cantona007

5 Sep 17 #53

Anyone know what the actual model number is? I can't see it.

Picard123

5 Sep 17 #54

I've been using a Chromebook for the last 4 years. Also have a Windows laptop.

For £220, I think you'd be mad to choose ChromeOS laptop over the Windows equivalent given that the latter can do so much more.

Chz to Picard123

5 Sep 17 #6

Because low-end Windows laptops are just a world of pain. There's certainly no comparison to a well-specced Windows laptop, but those cost twice as much. A £220 Windows laptop is a turd, whereas a £220 Chromebook is very usable.

sam_of_london to Chz

5 Sep 17 #8

I have several of £ 100 - 200 Windows laptops which work perfectly fine with Windows 10 . I can install Microsoft Office and all other communication apps like WhatsApp , Viber , Facebook messenger, Skype , Yahoo etc without any problems. I can use a few Citrix applications as well . I bought a Chromebook but had to return because nothing worked on it except the web browser . Plus I can upgrade the laptop and Windows as I wish . Can you do that with Chromebook ? No . You can install windows on Chromebook but not the other way around . So no from me for non touch Chromebook.

Picard123 to sam_of_london

5 Sep 17 #13

But what are the specs of your Windows lappys?

sam_of_london to Picard123

5 Sep 17 #14

Low end Pentiums and i3, 3-4 year old.

Picard123 to sam_of_london

5 Sep 17 #15

i3 is fine for basic Windows. Not sure what you mean by Pentiums though as there are so many. There will be many Pentium based machines that will chug compared to the Chromebook here. Whats the processor designation / model number of your one?

ahenry to sam_of_london

5 Sep 17 #25

Do they have a full HD screen that lets you view and edit two documents side-by-sde? This one does, and if you need something to type stuff for homework, its really good. To get Windows laptop with a full HD screen, you need to pay £350+. It will be able to do more than a Chromebook, but need a lot more day-to-day maintenance, have a lot shorter battery life, and it won't boot up within 10 seconds.

sam_of_london to ahenry

6 Sep 17 #55

Edit documents with which software ? I only use Microsoft Office. I have 3 full HD monitors connected to a hub which I can use to edit and compare and 4k TV, which I can use if I need better or bigger screen . Plus one of my Sony laptops which I bought for £100 second hand has full HD screen /1080p screen.

ahenry to sam_of_london

6 Sep 17 #61

My kids use Google Docs for most of their work. That way you have the same document at home, school or in a library, on Windows, ChromeOS, Mac or Linux. It works really well with a Chromebook like the one in this deal.

This is a deal for a laptop with a full HD screen that is rather more portable than a laptop plugged into 3 full HD monitors.

Secondhand computers are cheaper than brand new ones. They don't come with a warranty, and are older, slower and less reliable.

A Windows computer is more versatile than a Chromebook, but is more expensive, takes more work to maintain. I do that for my work computer, but that is my job, and I don't need to pay with my money.

Picard123 to Chz

5 Sep 17 #9

In what way are 'low end' Windows laptops a "world of pain"?

What spec do you consider to be low end?

ahenry to Picard123

6 Sep 17 #71

Specifically, a couple of years ago, my son bought a Lenovo for about £320, with Window 10, an AMD A6 CPU, 8GB of RAM a bit like this www3.lenovo.com/us/…710

After 6 months of light use including downloading some free games, it had practically ground to a halt. It takes several minutes to boot up. If you let Windows Update do its stuff automatically, then it would reboot at inconvenient times, and it needed frequent cleansing with Malwarebytes. Then there was the hassle of getting my kids to open Word, save the document with a reasonable filename and then start typing. Keeping track of versions of a document where they were working on it at school, with a copy on a USB drive or the laptop was another hassle.
I bought him one of these Chromebooks. He now does homework on that. It is simple, effective and I don't have to do anything other than plug it in occasionally. He plays games on a console and the Windows laptop is gathering dust.

I use a Lenovo T470p, which is compact, powerful and versatile, but that cost £1500 of my employer's money.

iDealYou to Picard123

6 Sep 17 #63

It's hard to find brand new, metal & FHD Windows laptops for £220.

Picard123 to iDealYou

6 Sep 17 #65

Jumper Ezbook 3 Pro. It's not perfect (see the other thread) but it is new, metal & 1080p for £180.

If this Chromebook isn't your only laptop, then I say go for it, but I've found that it's impossible to not have access to a Windows lappy as there so many things you can run otherwise.

iDealYou to Picard123

6 Sep 17 #67

1. CB in the living room
2. Windows desktop in the gaming room :sunglasses:
3. Linux laptop for work

Picard123 to iDealYou

6 Sep 17 #68

I have a similar setup. CB lying about the house for easy, snappy web browsing. i5 based gaming laptop for any grunt work required. Recently bought that N3450 Ezbook 3 Pro to see what it was like.

djbenny1

6 Sep 17 #57

If this is the 1080p one, it's an absolutely fantastic piece of kit.

A wee bit heavy, but so slick in operation and the hardware is absolutely top class.

iDealYou to djbenny1

6 Sep 17 #62

Argos's description

Resolution 1920 x 1080 pixels.

Youtube reviewers says FHD ... but no SD card. <--- sd card is a deal breaker for me.

Actionnotwords69

6 Sep 17 #59

....or try this for £169.89......

hotukdeals.com/dea…931

EndemicAlarm to Actionnotwords69

6 Sep 17 #60

Chromebooks and Windows are not remotely comparable. Besides, if you're going to effectively surrender a warranty by going to China you may as well save even more and buy second-hand. Chromebooks are often a steal when used because people buy them and don't fully appreciate what they're getting.

To emphasise, again, most of the complaints are like shopping for a motorcycle and complaining it only has two wheels. A Chromebook may be totally irrelevant to you. That doesn't mean it doesn't hold up for what it is.

1616french to Actionnotwords69

7 Sep 17 #73

£169.89???

knocik

6 Sep 17 #64

Why would you want to buy a cracking laptop?! Add some more ££ and get a more solid one!

qwales

6 Sep 17 #66

Excellent value but I think I'm going to go for this 15.5" one for an extra £70

pep411

6 Sep 17 #70

Hi guys,

how how do I redeem free 100 gb google drive upgrade.

All attempts saying my device not eligible.

is this model not eligible for free upgrade.

acer and google customer service blame each other.

done everything on fix redeem errors on help forum still no joy.

EndemicAlarm

7 Sep 17 #75

Quidco are also doing 5% cashback on laptop Fast Track collection, dropping the cost down to £208 if all goes well.

Rate expires in three days. Doesn't seem to be any exclusion of clearance items.

Banterlicious

11 Sep 17 #76

Can any Chromebook users advise me, can emailed Google Docs be opened in Word?

Thanks in advance.

thegorilla to Banterlicious

22 Sep 17 #78

You can save (export) a google doc in a number of formats including .docx, PDF etc. So, yes you can do word processing in google docs and email the document to someone in Word format. They could then open and review, make changes and send it back to you.

kremix

13 Sep 17 #77

In the latest developement Chrome OS versions you can enable most of the pages to be processed/rendered by graphics card so CPU speed won't matter that much

joeyjoejoe206

10 Oct 17 #79

This is now expired - no stock available :disappointed:

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