Dell Chromebook 11 Evaluation

Chromebook Notebook Camp The recent momentum can be said to be more and more fierce, there are many traditional PC manufacturers began to launch their own Chromebook notebook products. Toshiba has just launched its first Chromebook product, and now Dell is behind it, as well as launching its own Chromebook notebook. But while the growing number of supported vendors is good news for Chrome OS, the Chromebook is already in a "stagnant" state, with all the Chromebook notebooks being different only in terms of branding and appearance differences, and basically the same configuration.

In fact, the main problem that makes the Chromebook product is similar to the Chrome OS itself. Although Chrome OS is a cloud-based and browser-based operating system built by Google, it has barely changed much since May 2011, when it was officially released from the Chrome OS, except for a handful of apps from Google Now's join and App store.

You may remember the stunning Chromebook Pixel, but it's just a hyper-pixel display and hardware configuration to conquer. After all, for Chrome OS, most of the product configurations are not comparable to the mainstream PC. And now Dell's first Chromebook OS system notebook Chromebook 11 can break the monotony of the rules, bring us some different surprises?

Exterior design

Dell Chromebook 11 left me with a very deep first impression because it was simple and elegant in design. As a 11.6-inch notebook, most of the fuselage shells of Chromebook 11 are made of plastic that has been treated with a charcoal matte process, and a black rubber coating is covered around the edge of the fuselage, the screen border, the keyboard and the extension.

Chromebook 11 feels somewhat like Google's Nexus 5 smartphone, and this actually improves the keyboard's use of the touch. In addition, the use of rubber material than the simple plastic shell softer, and in the wrist and notebook after a long contact will feel more comfortable.

Rubber and plastic elements can be said to be very close to the combination, not only will not affect the thickness of Chromebook 11, but to make it look thinner on the visual effect. Chromebook 11 may not be as thin as the Samsung 2014 edition Ativ book 9, but the use of some cutting angle of the fuselage will give full play to the charm of the appearance of the notebook.

Although limited to the location and budget of Chromebook 11, it does not use more advanced metal material, which is the same as most Chromebook notebooks, but visually, Chromebook 11 is not very different from Dell's Windows system products , and it's very light in the hands.

Specification size

On physical specifications, Chromebook 11 is basically in the middle of a similar product with a 11.6-inch screen. Its fuselage size is 30x20x2.5 cm and weighs 1.32 kg. It is lighter (1.35 kg) than Acer c720p Chromebook, which is 29x20.4x2.0 cm, and is heavier than HP Chromebook 11 (1.04 kg) than 30x19.5x1.75 cm. Of course, if your limited consideration is screen size, then the 13.3-inch Toshiba Chromebook should fit some. However, it also needs to be increased correspondingly in size, reaching a 32.8x22.6x2.0 centimeter and weighing 1.5 kg.

Configuration parameters

First let's take a look at the basic configuration of Dell Chromebook 11:

Processor: 1.40GHz Intel Celeron 2955U (dual-core, 2MB cache)

Graphics card: Intel HD integrated Graphics

Running Memory: 2GB ddr3l

Display: 11.6 inches, 1366x768 pixels

Storage space: 16GB SSD Solid State Drive (additional bonus for two years 100GB Google drive use)

Interface: USB 3.0x2, HDMI, SD card reader, headset/microphone, Kensington Keyhole

Connectivity: 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0

Camera: 720p HD

Weight: 1.3 kg

Size: 294.64x200.7x24.6 mm

After reading the basic hardware parameters of Chromebook 11, let's see what difference it has with other Chromebook products. First of all, the Chromebook 11 is equipped with 16GB SSD solid-state drives, which is a relatively mainstream configuration in similar products, and because it is also attached to the two-year 100GB of Google Drive free access, so for ordinary users does not seem to need too much local space. If some users really need more local space to save music or video, then the option to support touch, and a Acer c720p with a 32GB SSD, is more appropriate, with capacity up to twice times the Chromebook 11.

In the price, Dell Chromebook 11 and the price of 279 U.S. dollars (about 1730 Yuan) Toshiba Chromebook and Acer c720p at the same level, these products are used in the 1366x768 resolution of the display, even the use of the CPU is basically the same. The only difference is that Toshiba Chromebook has a bigger screen, reaching 13.3 inches.

Chromebook 11来, who is equipped with 2GB of running memory, says that if users want to, they can also choose to pay 299 dollars (about 1800 yuan) to choose 4GB Memory versions.

Endurance time

With the use of general strength, Dell Chromebook 11 performance still reached a surprising 8 hours and 22 minutes, this is a very satisfying result. It persisted for more than 5 hours, even under the full load of high-intensity testing. If the brightness of the screen is adjusted to 65% under normal intensity, and the internet features such as Spotify, YouTube video and Google Drive are suspended, we believe that the Chromebook 11 will be up to 10-12 hours. Therefore, Chromebook 11 can let us temporarily forget the necessity of power supply.

The weak App Store

In the Chrome OS App Store, the number of apps currently available is woefully low. Currently, only a few games have officially launched the Chrome OS version. While other applications may look familiar, they are the apps that third-party developers mimic, and even some apps have built-in online ad display bars. Therefore, we recommend users to use web-side and online games, for the app Store, there is no particular concern.

The same problem exists in the application of photographic image classes. While online image editing tools like Photoshop Express and PIXLR can allow users to perform more complex operations such as layers and filters, for simple editing, it is recommended that you do this with a built-in Chrome OS tool. Users can change the brightness, contrast and white balance and other basic operations. But in the Chrome OS App Store, we still can't find a standalone application that wants to lightroom this very handy.

The raw format image is still not viewable in the browser of the Chrome OS system, and we can only convert it to a JPG format before continuing with the edit. As a result, it is not advisable to process a large number of photos via Chrome OS, although Google recently improved its ability to chromebook the raw original image, but the images currently exported from Nikon D7000 or Canon 70D are still not well compatible.

Display effect and sound effects

Chromebook 11 not only in the image processing can not be satisfactory, in addition to the screen display effect is very general. The overall tone of this notebook is too blue, and the color accuracy is not good. In addition, the lower screen contrast also exacerbated the display's "low sense", in any case adjust back brightness, Chromebook 11 of the screen looks a little gray.

But although the screen is not very satisfying, the quality of the Chromebook 11 speakers is surprisingly good. Although most of this price of notebook products can not be in the quality of excessive luxury, but Chromebook 11 unexpectedly in both treble and alto are very full, and even some bass effect. In the same price notebook products absolutely have the best speaker quality.

Keyboard

On the Dell Chromebook 11 keyboard, it is no different from any other Dell notebook. All the buttons appear where it should appear, but the SHIFT key is slightly shorter. In addition, for new players in the Chrome OS system, the case lock is replaced with a search button that may take some time to adapt. Using the combination of ALT and search keys, you can quickly search for a Web page.

The Chromebook 11 's touchpad is also designed to be moderately sized and can be manipulated in almost perfect 11.6-inch. In addition, as a limited budget notebook products, Chromebook 11 of the keyboard feel is also satisfactory.

Conclusion

It can be said that Dell's first laptop with the Chrome OS system, Chromebook 11, has no bold innovation and no excessive hardware configuration. However, it still has a certain appeal with a simple and compact design. Both Dell and Samsung are trying to make the Chromebook closer to the traditional Windows notebook in the design and look more beautiful.

But obviously, the Chrome OS system is not mature, only "three years old" It also needs Google to continue to nurture, especially the Chrome Web store App Store is more need to increase the strength of development. If not rich and excellent third-party applications, I believe that Chrome OS is difficult to attract a large number of white-collar and student group.

Advantage: Although nothing special, Chromebook 11 has unparalleled performance in Chrome OS products. You know, as a notebook product, can achieve more than 8 hours of use time is a very difficult thing. The other is the Chromebook 11 design is very flattering, it cleverly will matte plastic and rubber materials with each other, so that the machine looks very textured. If not carefully observed, it may even be mistaken for a high-end product using metal material.

Insufficient: The overall screen effect of the blue is definitely Chromebook 11 biggest problem, for the display effect of high demand for users in the color performance of the lack of Chromebook 11 does not look so good. In addition to the problem of the Chrome OS system immaturity, this is not Chromebook 11 's fault, where we can only hope that there will be more possible third-party extension applications in the future.

Dell Chromebook 11 is competitive in price, but does not have a particularly obvious advantage over competitors. In addition to having two USB 3.0 connectors, excellent endurance is a great highlight, so we don't even need to carry a power supply when we go out.

As a competitor, Acer c720p Chromebook or Hewlett-Packard Chromebook 11 and Toshiba Chromebook have their own characteristics. If you don't care about weight and portability, the 13.3-inch-screen Toshiba Chromebook may be more appealing. And if you are just a white-collar or student user, then Dell Chromebook 11 beautiful look and excellent endurance will definitely meet your daily needs.

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