Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The ASUS looks great, has a great track pad and keyboard, incredible battery life, and a nice small/compact charger. The screen is just OK, but for the price, it does its job. What really bothered me about the ASUS was the performance. My first Chromebook was an Acer C720 2gb, which has the Haswell micro-chip. This comes with Bay Trail, and even though its clock speed is faster (2.16 ghz vs the Acer's 1.4 ghz), Bay Trail is significantly slower. Sometimes I would experience lag when typing, or when scrolling through pages. If I have about 3 or 4 tabs open (an open ebook, Google Docs, Gmail, Facebook), it's doesn't happen, but anything more (multitasking; streaming music or videos while having 3-5 other tabs open) will cause it to stutter. I use this to take to class and to get some homework and reading done in between classes, and while the ASUS does do the job, it isn't as snappy as the Acer. I bought the ASUS because I needed a bigger screen (13.3 vs the Acer's 11.6), and didn't think that the slower performance would bother me that much, but it is frustrating when you need something super fast. I'd give the Acer a 5/5 for performance, and a 3/5 for the ASUS. This one will work if you aren't a heavy multi-tasker and want long battery life. I've had the battery last for 12 hours (some periods without Wi-Fi on). Update: The lid is a serious scratch magnet. Just brushing against some binders and slipping it in and out of my backpack has created these ugly hairline scratches. Update 2: After using the Chromebook for a few months and installing updates, the lag and stuttering that I experienced in the past seems to have gone away. I'm able to open 8-10 tabs (mostly web pages, Google Docs, Spotify) and multitask without becoming impatient due to lag. While the ASUS can handle my multitasking needs, it still isn't as snappy as the Acer C720's Haswell processor. I would say that if you need the 13-inch screen that isn't available with the Acer, the ASUS Chromebook will do a great job multitasking. If the 11.6 inch screen is enough and performance is the most important thing, the Acer C720 is quick, snappy and reliable (and still is over a year later), and I would recommend it over the ASUS. But because I am a student and Chrome OS has its limitations, I've moved on to Microsoft's low-end PCs and got myself an ASUS X205TA (which is about as fast as the ASUS Chromebook, by the way). While I miss the simplicity and stability of my Chromebook, it wasn't able to open up my heavily formatted Word documents and Power Points that I needed for school. My ASUS and Acer Chromebooksnow function as living room computers for the family--really nice for lounging around and surfing the web on the couch, shopping online, watching YouTube, and paying the bills. Update 3 (1/3/2016): I've since trashed my low-end PC (low-end for a reason...never buying a PC again), and my Acer C720 and ASUS C300MA are still going strong. These days, Office Online is getting better at reading heavily formatted PowerPoints and Word documents. Would I buy the Acer C720 and ASUS C300MA again? No doubt. I've moved to using an iPad Air 2 for my textbook, PowerPoint, Word, and graphic design needs (Chromebooks aren't too good for this). Still, I highly recommend the Chromebooks if you're looking for something light to take around school, or as a second computer, especially if you're a Google Drive/Google Docs user. The Chromebooks are still running strong; you really can't go wrong with either. If you want performance, go with Acer C720. If you need the bigger screen and are OK with waiting a bit: ASUS C300MA.