Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsThis is a really nice laptop.
Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2018
UPDATE: This is a sad, sad day. Running ChromeOS 70 now, and it's great! Very fast, responsive, lots of Android apps up and going. But ... I'm sad. I took my Chromebook to work, put it in a padded sleeve, put that in a backpack and off I went. The backpack was on a chair, accidentally got knocked off. I wasn't too worried because the Chromebook was in a sleeve ... and it's aluminum, too! But ... yep, you guessed it. It was damaged. The keyboard frame is still plastic, and not a very durable plastic at that. I am now the not-so-proud owner of a wonder Chromebook with a sizeable crack in the lower left corner. Sizeable. Noticeable. Disappointing! Why bother with aluminum if it's cheapo plastic that can't take a padded drop. Aaaargh. Machine still runs great, a little scar isn't going to change my thoughts about it. Just disappointed, that's all.
UPDATE: Have had this puppy now for several months ... my opinion has changed dramatically! This is a really nice laptop ... really nice! It's running Chrome 67 now, and purrs like a kitten. Fast, beautiful display, comfortable keyboard, and the Android apps work well (not great yet, but well). I'm basically using this as a Chromebook, not taking advantage of the flip and Android apps, and this alone makes me happy! I am a big ChromeOS fan ... it's grown up so nicely, so very useful!! Eventually, I would expect the Android side to catch up and work as well as they do on my LG smartphone and Asus 10 tablet (both are excellent!).
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I am sad to write this review ... I had high expectations for the C302. Sorry for the "downer" start here, because as a Chromebook, the C302 is very good. Not excellent, but the best among the 7 Chromebooks I own. Yes, I am up to my 7th Chromebook. BTW, even the lowest priced Chromebook (about $150) is good ... just slower at doing what it does. the C302 is fast ... but buggy. I had hoped, with the addition of Android apps, that it would be both a Chromebook and an Android tablet. With future upgrades, perhaps that will still happen. But I write this review just after I have turned off the Android side of this laptop. It is NOT a replacement for a good tablet (such as the 10 inch ASUS ... outstanding tablet, BTW!! Really outstanding!). The C302 m5 (the best processor I could find so far, is a very good Chromebook. It is fast, but it is ... quirky. All of sudden, out of nowhere, it just ... blips. Perhaps I'm tapping the touchpad by mistake (don't think so) ... that would explain the random jaunts around the screen. So ... I've only had this honey for a few days now. I'm going to play around more with it and see ... is it operator error, or does it really have a mind of its own. I will update this review when I have more experience. On the plus side, it is fast ... very responsive! I am a big Chromebook fan ... I am biased, but I'm also fair. Pains me greatly not to report that this is an excellent machine.
So, after more use, guess what I found! (Oh, go ahead and guess!) When the screen is flipped 360 to turn the C302 into a tablet, the keyboard is disabled as you'd expect so when you put it on your lap, your knees are not typing by mistake! Except ... not all of the keyboard buttons are disabled. The up/down/right/left keys and some of the top row function keys are still active. So when I put it on my lap, my knees actually were having somewhat random impacts on the screen! Hmmm. Well, now that I found that out, I can be more careful. Still, a very nice compact Chromebook ... with quirks.
