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There's no way around it. You know it. I know it. 2020 was a rough year all around. And while there's no reason to keep talking about all the mess that was part of the last 12 months (we've all talked a lot about it), right at the start of a fresh, new year, we thought it would be interesting to take a look at how mid-range Chromebooks took center stage amidst a year full of potential manufacturing delays, bottlenecks, and shipping difficulties. Somehow, in all the madness, Chromebooks had a big year and sales were better - by far - than they've ever been. And in the center of it all, mid-range Chromebooks separated from the pack in some big ways.
Read more: https://chromeunboxed.com/2020-mid-range-chromebooks-acer-spin-713
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0:00
2020 has been a rough year you know it i
0:02
know it
0:03
we know the reasons why we've lived it
0:05
and it's been rough there's no way
0:06
around that and in the midst
0:08
of kind of the mess that 2020 has been
0:10
we expected some pretty rough figures
0:12
when it came to chromebooks honestly we
0:14
expected adoption numbers to go down we
0:16
expected delays in manufacturing we
0:18
expected the market to have issues and
0:20
instead what we saw was an increased
0:22
number of chromebook users we saw plenty
0:23
of new chromebook releases
0:25
and we saw a trend that put mid-range
0:27
chromebooks at the top of our
0:28
recommendation list and so
0:30
somehow in the midst of 2020 and all the
0:32
craziness and all that happened
0:34
chromebooks had a big year and the
0:36
mid-range chromebook specifically has
0:37
become the chromebook to beat
0:39
let's talk about how that happened
0:46
today's video is brought to you by our
0:48
growing and awesome patreon community
0:50
you can check us out over at patreon.com
0:52
forward slash chrome unboxed
0:54
but there you'll find access to things
0:55
like behind the scenes footage
0:57
early access content access to our
0:59
private discord channel
1:00
and an ad free experience over at
1:02
chromeunbox.com
1:03
both on the desktop and mobile versions
1:05
of our website
1:06
again if you'd like to learn more head
1:08
over to patreon.com forward slash chrome
1:10
unboxed
1:11
so let's start this conversation by
1:12
going all the way back to january of
1:14
2020. we were headed out to ces
1:16
and i was excited about devices like the
1:18
samsung galaxy chromebook and the asus
1:20
chromebook flip c436 because
1:23
those were the next devices that fit
1:24
into the premium category and those
1:26
frankly are the devices i get most
1:28
excited about because
1:29
they don't have as many caveats to them
1:31
they don't have as many trade-offs
1:33
because
1:33
if i'm willing to pay a little bit more
1:35
money i can get a device that has a
1:36
nicer build quality and things like
1:38
backlit keyboards and really nice
1:40
displays with good viewing angles and
1:42
nice brightness and fast internals and
1:44
you know all the stuff that i've been
1:45
accustomed to getting in premium
1:47
chromebooks because if we look back to
1:49
just a year ago when we said hey here
1:51
are the best chromebooks for 2019 and we
1:53
look at the mid-range and high range
1:55
you kind of start seeing exactly where a
1:57
disparity lies because
1:59
if you look at the mid-range chromebooks
2:00
back then so the five to six hundred
2:03
dollar devices
2:04
you're talking devices like the hp x360
2:06
the asus chromebook
2:08
c425 434 433
2:11
those kind of devices those devices at
2:13
mid-range prices came with some pretty
2:15
big trade-offs i mean
2:16
there was a lot of plastic going on and
2:17
creaky chassis and
2:19
some that didn't have backlit keys and
2:21
some that didn't have glass track pads
2:22
and
2:23
tons of dim screens and poor viewing
2:24
angles and just on and on
2:27
trade-offs and honestly when you start
2:29
talking about four to six hundred dollar
2:30
chromebooks in 2019
2:32
that's just what you dealt with and in
2:34
that same vein to get the devices that i
2:37
wanted back then we were talking about
2:38
devices like the pixelbook and pixel
2:40
slate and pixelbook go
2:42
acer spin 13. all devices that were in
2:45
that high-end premium range that
2:47
delivered honestly the experience that i
2:49
was looking for
2:50
of the more premium build quality and
2:52
all the bells and whistles that you won
2:53
in a chromebook
2:54
they all ran between 800 and 1200 and
2:57
that's
2:58
just what i had come to expect and it's
2:59
what a lot of people have come to expect
3:01
and that created a bunch of disparity
3:03
between the high-end premium chromebook
3:05
experiences
3:06
and the mid-range experiences you knew
3:09
when you picked up a mid-range
3:10
chromebook in 2019 that this thing's
3:12
mid-range
3:13
that if you're going to pay five or six
3:14
hundred bucks here are the trade-offs
3:16
that you're going to make versus how
3:17
much you're going to need to pay
3:19
if you don't want to make those
3:21
trade-offs so it was with that mindset
3:23
that we rode off to las vegas and got
3:25
our hands on these new chromebooks like
3:27
the
3:27
flip c436 and the samsung galaxy
3:29
chromebook and
3:30
to be honest i was super impressed with
3:32
both of them at the time we get limited
3:34
time at these kind of events so
3:37
obviously all the flaws that we would
3:38
eventually find in those chromebooks
3:40
weren't readily apparent
3:41
at the show and it would be months later
3:43
that we'd find you know the galaxy
3:45
chromebook has poor battery life it gets
3:47
too hot and
3:48
that we figure out that the 436 was a
3:50
little flimsy and that the screen wasn't
3:52
the best and the keyboard was kind of
3:53
weird
3:54
those things come to light reviews you
3:56
don't see those things on a showroom
3:57
floor but that was kind of where
3:59
at the beginning of 2020 we were with
4:01
like the premium 800 to 1000
4:03
chromebooks when we left ces but another
4:06
thing happened at ces that i wasn't
4:08
exactly prepared for as we headed out
4:10
there and that was what lenovo managed
4:12
to bring to the show
4:12
and if you remember that was the beloved
4:14
chromebook duet tablet that tons of
4:16
people have bought by this point in 2020
4:18
and the lenovo flex 5. both of these
4:20
devices brought a lot of great
4:22
attributes to the chromebook space at
4:24
very very low prices i mean
4:25
the duet was less than 300 bucks from
4:28
the get-go and has remained there
4:30
never really climbed up over that
4:31
starting price point and
4:33
brings a fantastic 16 by 10 10 inch
4:36
full hd bright 400 knit colorful ips
4:39
display to the table
4:40
it's a nice thin light tablet that feels
4:42
great to use in tablet mode
4:44
comes in the box with magnetically
4:46
attaching keyboard and kickstand it
4:47
works with usi pens
4:49
it's a bunch of stuff to offer on a
4:51
chromebook that's less than 300 bucks so
4:53
that was kind of shocking and i was
4:54
shocked at how good the lenovo
4:56
chromebook duet felt
4:57
but equally shocked with how good the
4:59
flex 5 was as well
5:00
we again didn't expect to see this one
5:02
at the show and they happened to have it
5:04
and we got some hands-on time with it
5:06
and
5:06
i walked away thinking if this thing
5:08
comes in at the right price
5:10
it's going to be really really
5:11
intriguing because it gives you 10th gen
5:13
processor so you get wi-fi 6
5:15
and bluetooth 5 in the package it has an
5:17
ips screen
5:18
backlit keys upward firing speakers it's
5:20
a convertible it's usi compatible yada
5:23
yada it's like
5:24
these are most of the things i'm looking
5:26
for in high end chromebooks and it seems
5:28
like
5:28
this one's going to be relatively well
5:30
priced and it turns out it was
5:31
it was 409 msrp and we couldn't believe
5:35
it when it came out
5:36
and it stayed at that price or has been
5:38
even lower than that as long as it's
5:39
been in stock
5:40
and that was the beginning of this kind
5:41
of changing of the guard
5:43
with mid-range chromebooks all of a
5:45
sudden in the four to six hundred dollar
5:47
range it was like
5:48
okay with the flex five if i can expect
5:50
this kind of performance this
5:52
kind of look and feel this kind of
5:54
chromebook experience
5:55
for 400 bucks why would i ever tell
5:57
anyone to go buy a seven to eight
5:59
hundred dollar chromebook
6:00
if this is going to accomplish most of
6:02
what they need and it feels great and
6:03
pulls off the premium
6:05
kind of chromebook experience why
6:08
wouldn't i just recommend this
6:09
then we have to fast-forward farther
6:10
into the year when acer brought out the
6:12
chromebook spin 713 which
6:14
is still in my back by the way that
6:15
comes to the table with an all-aluminum
6:17
build and things like mil-spec
6:19
rating backlit keys a glass trackpad a
6:21
3x2
6:22
13.5 inch ips qhd display that
6:26
is just brilliant and fantastic all
6:28
sorts of ports great internals a core i5
6:31
128 gigs of nvme storage eight gigs of
6:33
ram
6:34
the list goes on and on it just did
6:36
everything and when they told us it was
6:38
going to be 629
6:39
we were honestly so dubious about this
6:41
fact that we have multiple email
6:42
exchanges with acer
6:44
just to make sure that the model that
6:45
they'd sent us prior to the official
6:46
announcement
6:47
was actually the one that they were
6:48
telling us was 629
6:50
and once they confirmed that was the
6:52
case i was like okay well you know we'll
6:54
see when it launches and lo and behold
6:56
it launched at 629 and that's what it's
6:59
held at and it's even gone on sale and
7:01
gotten into the 500
7:02
range quite a bit in 2020. that's just a
7:05
massive amount of stuff and bells and
7:06
whistles
7:07
and it creates a great chromebook
7:09
experience dare i say a premium type
7:11
chromebook experience
7:12
for five or six hundred bucks and then
7:14
hp shows up with the x360 14c and it's a
7:17
lot of the same
7:18
aluminum build just a great build
7:20
quality with a great screen and
7:22
i do wish it was a little brighter but
7:23
glass trackpad and just an excellent
7:25
keyboard and upward firing speakers and
7:27
great internals and it's
7:29
fast and just premium feeling and
7:31
honestly you'd have a hard time
7:33
distinguishing it from something that a
7:34
year ago would have cost
7:36
eight or nine hundred bucks meanwhile as
7:38
all of this is happening and these
7:39
chromebooks are hitting the market and
7:41
going on sale and they're available and
7:43
we're recommending them and just loving
7:45
on them and reviews
7:46
the samsung galaxy chromebooks having
7:48
heating issues and battery issues the
7:50
asus chromebook flip
7:51
c436 didn't really live up to the hype
7:53
and honestly none of us here at the
7:55
office even liked it and there just
7:56
really wasn't much else on offer in the
7:58
premium end of the chromebook spectrum
8:00
aside from
8:00
a couple enterprise level devices that
8:02
frankly just cost too much and
8:04
they're hard to recommend to most
8:06
consumers and again when we get them
8:08
and we start using them it's hard to say
8:11
oh this is so much better than what you
8:12
can get in a four to six hundred dollar
8:14
range that's just not true anymore and
8:16
so
8:16
things started changing for me you know
8:18
i got the acer spin 713
8:20
i put in my bag we made a video about
8:22
why it's my everyday carry
8:24
and that just hasn't changed i will
8:26
review other chromebooks i'm in the
8:27
process of reviewing the hp elite c1030
8:30
right now
8:31
and i'll tell you it's ultra premium
8:32
it's great but it's expensive
8:34
it's as expensive as the premium
8:36
chromebooks from before and when i go
8:38
home on the weekends a lot of times i
8:39
just take my acer with me so that i
8:41
don't have to
8:41
unplug and pack up the hp and i just
8:43
leave it at the desk and
8:45
frankly i don't notice that much of a
8:46
difference it's not like some big
8:48
downgrade
8:49
the way it used to be when i went from a
8:50
premium device to a mid-range one there
8:52
used to be such a separation between
8:54
that high and mid-range and
8:56
now that separation's just you know that
8:58
gap is just closing down
9:00
and becoming very narrow between the two
9:02
to the point that as we look to end
9:04
2020 all of a sudden when we look at the
9:07
landscape of chromebooks the ones that
9:09
honestly are most interesting to me at
9:11
this point
9:12
are those mid-range chromebooks like
9:14
what all can we get in there for four to
9:16
six hundred dollars what all kinds of
9:18
things can we fit into the package
9:20
and give and deliver this excellent
9:21
chromebook experience i can tell you at
9:23
this point at least
9:24
in 2020 the mid-range chromebooks are
9:26
the ones that kind of rose up
9:28
and separated themselves from just about
9:30
everything else low-end chromebooks are
9:32
still low-end chromebooks they're fine
9:33
for quite a few use cases and quite a
9:35
few users but they still come with all
9:37
of their caveats and maybe poor
9:39
performance or
9:40
you know kind of plasticky build
9:41
materials bad screens that kind of stuff
9:43
but premium chromebooks to me
9:45
are the ones that have really lost their
9:46
luster at this point in time and
9:48
where the meat of the chrome os market
9:50
is right now in that 400 to 600
9:52
mid-range that's where the best devices
9:55
are it's where the best value is right
9:57
now and it's interesting to just watch
9:58
it happen in 2020
10:00
and it's interesting to think of what's
10:01
going to happen in 2021 because
10:04
there are more devices again we made a
10:05
whole video about this as well
10:07
there are more chrome os devices coming
10:08
in 2021 than we've ever seen in any year
10:11
prior
10:12
and so i'm interested to see how this
10:13
market shakes out what's it going to
10:15
look like at the end of 2021
10:17
as we're looking back over the course of
10:19
this upcoming year it's hard to say at
10:20
this point because there are so many
10:22
devices coming
10:23
we don't know what price points are
10:24
going to look like we don't know about
10:26
all the exact features that are going to
10:27
be coming in those premium
10:29
devices or in the mid-range ones either
10:32
so it's going to be really interesting
10:33
to keep up with but
10:34
honestly none of that changes the fact
10:36
that 2020 by and large
10:38
was the year of the mid-range chromebook
10:40
it's the year that despite
10:42
all the other things all the obstacles
10:44
in the way mid-range chromebooks got
10:46
really really good but guys that's it
10:48
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[Music]
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