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Back in May of this year, we put out a video review of the Acer Chromebook 14 when it was released. Clad in aluminum with a Full HD display, the device was impressive at an even more impressive price.
Fast forward 7 months, and we now have the gold version of the Acer Chromebook 14 in the office. And we also have Chrome OS 55 running on it. And the combo makes for a much-improved experience versus what I experienced back in the spring.
Read more at https://chromeunboxed.com/gold-acer-chromebook-14-review/
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[Music]
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hey folks Robbie Payne with chrome unbox
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coming at you today with a review of the
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gold Acer Chromebook 14 now we
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originally reviewed this back in May
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when it first came out and the review
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was less than Stellar at the time but
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Chrome OS has grown and evolved over the
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course of the last 7 months and as a
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result this is actually a better device
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than it was 7 months ago we happen to
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have the Gold version running around the
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office now and we thought this would be
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a good time to revisit this device and
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let you know why we think now this
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device may be one of the best
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Chromebooks of 2016 so let's start
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things off with what might be the
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absolute best feature of the Acer
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Chromebook 14 this device clad in a full
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aluminum body simply reeks of quality
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most will likely point out a striking
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similarity to the MacBook Air and that's
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fair I mean it's a Dead Ringer in most
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ways however there are plenty of tech
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devices it could have looked like that
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are far less attractive granted the look
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of the MacBook Air is starting to feel a
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bit dated but it's still classic and
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attractive the same is true of the Acer
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14 and even more so in this gold color
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the lid on the standard aluminum color
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could almost be mistaken for plastic but
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this gold model's texture and visual
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appeal are undeniable sitting on a table
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coming out of your bag or opened up and
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doing work the Acer Chromebook 14 is a
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beautiful machine it makes using it and
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working on it simply feel great there
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are deals here and there on on this
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device and the fact that you can get a
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device that feels this premium under
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your palms for less than $250 most times
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is simply ridiculous the build is solid
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the hinge is solid the fanless design is
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thin and attractive the 14-in screen is
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packed into a device that is close to
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most 13-in laptops in its overall size
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the weight isn't overwhelming but it
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also feels substantial and quality in
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your hands as I said this build leaves
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out nothing I can think of I simply love
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it Port selection is pretty standard in
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what you'd expect for the most part two
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USB 3.0 ports a full-size HDMI slot
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headphone microphone Jack power jack and
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a Kensington lock but there is one
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glaring emission the SD card slot that's
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right Acer is opted to NX the SD card
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slot while this may be a turnoff for
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some I can say that my use case for an
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SD card is pretty minimal there are USB
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to SD adapters that can be bought just
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about anywhere for under $10 but if
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constant use of an SD card is your thing
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you may want to look elsewhere
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additionally for expanding storage
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sandis makes a pretty amazing and Tiny
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USB 3.0 drive with Crazy Fast read right
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speeds and it comes in configurations of
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up to 128 gigs I have one and it's quite
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amazing so that's just a thought if the
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lack of SD card is really troubling to
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you the screen is quite good on the Acer
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Chromebook 14 as well not being the
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brightest we've seen but also nowhere
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near dim the screen tops add at around
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220 nits plenty for every indoor
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scenario I've come across and with its
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matte finish it fares decently Outdoors
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as well honestly it never gave me pause
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and was able to get plenty bright in
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just about any setting I used it in upon
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unboxing the device I actually had to
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hop in the car for 2 hours to drive and
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on the way with my wife driving I used
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the Acer 14 in the car for about an hour
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to take care of a few things in the
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midst of a very clear very sunny day
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there were no issues whatsoever with
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being able to see the screen in those
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conditions the viewing angles are also
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very good on both horizontal and
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vertical access not really losing any
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color or distorting in any way shape or
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form one of the huge fixes in chrom o is
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a handling of high-res objects on a
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1080p screen prior to October 1080p
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screens rendered everything just a bit
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small on screen fonts and icons and UI
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elements were in need of a slight size
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bump the problem was the lack of proper
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UI scaling if you bump the resolution
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down everything got bigger but it was
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Fuzzy and blurry it was almost unusable
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actually and so it really wasn't worth
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doing Chrome OS has fixed this now with
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1080p screens you simply change the
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resolution to 1536 x 864 and everything
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stays crisp and sharp but rendered at
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125% scale this is similar to what is
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happening on screens like the HP
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Chromebook 13 G1 and the Chromebook
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Pixel but now these 13 to 14inch
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Chromebooks that have 1080p screens have
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a nice scaling option that fits the
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screen size much much better the overall
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benefit in ux is hard to quantify it is
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that much better so much so that
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Chromebooks with screens smaller than 15
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in that use a 1080p display get this
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display setting out of the box it's the
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new standard and it should be it is
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fantastic keyboard and trackpad have
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been Pleasant to use as well the
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trackpad looks very similar to what
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you'd see on the Acer Chromebook 15 but
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has much better surface in general oils
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don't seem as prone to build up and
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travel say smooth and silky for hours of
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use multi-touch gestures work well as
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expected Additionally the click
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mechanism is just about perfect decently
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quiet with just the right amount of
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travel this thing feels like a trackpad
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from a much much more expensive machine
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apart from the pixel it's one of the
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best I've used in a Chromebook the
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keyboard is pretty standard Acer fair if
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you've liked their keyboards in the past
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you're likely to enjoy this one as well
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there's no backlighting which is to be
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expected at this price but it performs
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pretty well travel's decent and the keys
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are quiet and well spaced I'm typing
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this review on it right now and have no
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issues at all with Miss Strokes or
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oversensitive keys while nothing to
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write home about it doesn't get in the
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way of the overall experience here with
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what has now become a pretty standard
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setup for Chromebooks this Chromebook
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gets along pretty well inside we're met
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with the fifth gen brazwell 3160 4 gigs
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of RAM and 32 gigs of internal storage
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generally octane scores of 8,500 to
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9,000 are possible and battery life sits
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at around 8 to 9 hours with screen
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brightness set at 75% multiple tasks
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kept in reason don't bog things down too
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much with keep Hangouts Google Play
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Music and a few browser tabs open I
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wasn't seeing any slowdown adding a few
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more tasks to that overhead will start
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to slow things down eventually but
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that's to be expected with brazwell
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machines in this class standard
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Chromebook use yields pretty good
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results while this isn't a glowing
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response to the Acer 14 speed it is far
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better than the same device performed
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back in May octane scores are higher and
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use is Simply Better Chrome OS has once
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again become much better with age this
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device will be getting the full Play
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Store support very soon so keep that in
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mind if you get one sooner than the end
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of January you can use the developer
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mode method and get Android apps up and
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running right now it works very well and
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the apps I've tried run smoothly and
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without issue as time goes on obviously
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this will only become better and a more
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refined user experience overall the Acer
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Chromebook 14 has gone from a mediocre
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device to one of my highest
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recommendations with a stunningly low
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price tag this Chromebook is an easy
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recommendation for most middle of the
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road users this thing hits on All Points
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fantastic build great screen solid input
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methods good performance plenty of
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storage and a stunning design aesthetic
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the standard pricing of $22.99 is
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already a steel but it can be found
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discounted in refurbish left and right
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for that amount of money I simply can't
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recommend this Chromebook enough from a
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holistic experience standpoint Acer has
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nailed it possibly creating 2016's best
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overall Chromebook
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experience guys if you like this video
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give it a thumbs up hit that subscribe
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button below and until the next one
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we'll see you
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