Asus C300 Chromebook

Got a new toy

So, after a couple of very long weeks I'm back at it trying to come up with a daily something to ramble on about. Today's subject? My new Asus C300 Chromebook. You know what these things

are, basically a hopped up browser that gives you an interface to the cloud, and limited usability when there is no network available. Because of this Chromebooks tend to get a bad rap. People are

convinced that they all need a computer that lets you install stuff locally in order to be useful. I disagree. Sure, there are a few things these Chromebooks can't do, but live on one for a while. You'll be surprised. For those few things you actually do need a "real" computer to do, well, set up your own server and use Chrome remote desktop. Mine is a decent Lenovo tower sitting in the other room that I really only have to visit in person when it's time to apply updates and reboot.

As I was saying, though, one of these Chromebooks will accomplish most, if not all, of the computing needs of most people out there, and you'll save a few bucks to boot.

Should I bother with a review?

No, not really. This model was released to the world a year ago. February of 2014. You want a full technical review, go google it. For me, though, this thing is killer. It's a nice looking black case that

basically looks like the thin laptops that are all the rage. Nice looking screen, decent sound, but what I'm really enjoying is the performance. I got the one with 4GB ram which puts this thing in an entirely different universe than my little CR-48 that I've been messing with since Google sent them out to a handful of lucky beta testers. Even with the gradually declining performance on outdated hardware, I've recently almost completely stopped using my personal laptop. It gets old booting the thing, installing updates, configuring updates, and rebooting when even if I had planned on doing a little coding I was still going to just remote in to the computer downstairs. On the other hand, with the Chromebook I open the lid, and in a few seconds I'm off doing what ever I was going to do. Even when I do have updates, they've downloaded in the background and all I have to do is reboot, and I'm back up and running in 20 to 30 seconds. These things are a dream to use.

Quick specs lifted from Asus

• 13.3" 16:9 HD
• 16GB onboard storage
• SD SDHC card reader
• HD Web Camera
• Integrated 802.11 b/g/n
• Bluetooth V4.0
• COMBO audio jack
• USB 3.0 port
• USB 2.0 port
• HDMI
• SD card reader
• 3.08 lbs