Acer Chromebook 311 C733
This Acer’s biggestbigge selling points are its pri price and rugged build qua quality, but it’s let down by a dul dull display
PRICE £224 (£269 inc VAT) VA from currys.co.uk
The Chromebook 311 C733 is significantly mo more expensive than its 11.6in rivals, but you get what you pay for in terms of ruggedisation. While it’s over 2cm thick and comparatively heavy at 1.25kg, the build is very solid, with a thicker lid and a chunky, rubberised bumper protecting all the edges on the base. With a spill-proof keyboard, it’s clearly aimed at the education market, but you might be glad of its tough construction if you’re carrying it around all day from class to class or job to job.
In fact, there’s a lot that’s very practical about this Chromebook.
Connectivity is basic, with just a
single l USB-C 3.1 and d a matching
USB-A port, along with audio and microSD ports, but they’re all on the left-hand side of the unit, and the limited connectivity makes sense on a school-ready, ruggedised machine. The keyboard and trackpad ar are b both th no-nonsense affairs – nothing luxurious, but usable, responsive and hard-wearing hard-wearing. The battery life is fantastic too too: we hit 12hrs 7mins of video playback before the C733 ran out of juice.
The big disappointment here is the screen. While the peak eak brightness isn’t dreadful at 237cd/m 37cd/m2, there’s precious little contrast, ontrast, blacks look grey and the whole hole display looks fuzzy and dim. It barely arely covers 50% of the sRGB gamut and nd overall colour accuracy is poor. It’s ’s adequate for browsing and a little light ght work (or homework) but it’s not the he sort of device you’d want to watch videos deos or play games on – although parents arents buying one for education duties uties might consider this a plus. The sound, ound, meanwhile, goes loud, but with ith a painfully thin and trebleheavy eavy tone.
Performance is exactly what you would ould expect from a Chromebook in this his class. The Celeron N4000 processor rocessor dates back to 2017, and it’s a two-core, two-thread relic without the power to keep dozens of tabs open or run several more demanding apps at once. Stick to browsing and light productivity apps and you won’t feel the gears grinding, but you have to be realistic li ti about bout what a Chromebook like this can achieve. Consequently, nsequently, if you’re in the market rket for a more rugged budget udget Chromebook, this is a thoroughly decent option, but if not then you don’t have to spend a lot more to find faster processors rs and better screens.