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Viglen Chromebook 360 Review
Oct 18, 2016
Joining us all the way from the UK, the Viglen Chromebook 360 has impressed on many fronts. Though not aimed at consumers, the device has quite a bit of appeal for those in search of a decent performer with the ability to stand up to some pretty serious abuse.
Read more about this Chromebook more at chromeunboxed.com
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[Music]
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hey folks Robbie pay with chrome unbox
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coming at you today with a full review
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of the vigin Chromebook 360 this device
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joins us from all the way over in the UK
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where it is an exclusive for the time
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being and is aimed at the education
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sector that's an important point to
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remember because let's face it kids are
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tough on Tech and vigin knows this
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they've been producing education
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Chromebooks for some time now and that
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has likely guided some of the decisions
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they made and some of the design choices
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they made when building this Chromebook
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so let's keep that in mind and get
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started the vigin Chromebook 360 isn't
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going to win any awards for stunning
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design but that's not to say it's not
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reasonably attractive either the best
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word for it much like the recently
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reviewed Lenovo ThinkPad Chromebook 13
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is functional the outer shell is plastic
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but firm and does a good job at
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resisting fingerprints it's not the
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thinnest device nor the thickest it
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simply feels average in size weight is a
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little bit of a different story
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the device is heavy and there's no way
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around that at 1.6 kilos or 3 and2 lbs
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this guy is Hefty again I referenced the
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target audience of the device part of
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this device's design is a splash proof
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and drop resistant design those things
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don't come without added bulk but for
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the intended audience it's a worthy
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tradeoff while 3 and2 lbs is heavy for
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laptops these days it's not even close
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to something like the Acer Chromebook 15
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that device comes in at a whopping 5 lbs
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and in a backpack it's never even really
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bothered me the clear traction here is a
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360° hinge it performs as expected
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giving the user access to tablet stand
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and tent
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modes since lenovo's original yoga
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devices hit the market a few years ago
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the 360 hinge has become pretty standard
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it works and does what you need it to
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I've recently become a real fan of this
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form factor and you can read on the
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website as to why I feel that way but
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given it versus a tablet I truly enjoy
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this form factor all in all it's very
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solid and it feels like it could take a
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beating and likely win it'll survive
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many days in a classroom around the
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outside most of the standard ports in
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such are present with a few welcome
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surprises first up on the right side we
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have three USB 3.0 ports right in the
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line most Chromebooks ship with two USB
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ports and one of those is a 2.0 Port
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this is a very welcome addition other
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ports include the micro SD card slot
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combo headphone microphone Jack and a
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fullsize HDMI port downward firing
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speakers get the job done without
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getting muffled in any orientation of
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the convertible and are quite loud and
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quite clear one thing we rarely cover is
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the physical battery sure large
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batteries are great we like to talk
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about battery life a lot while that's
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solid the interesting part is this
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battery is swappable a pair of simple
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Flathead screws hold the battery in
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place and could be undone with all sorts
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of blunt instruments including a
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screwdriver the point is it's a
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thoughtful addition batteries don't have
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the best longevity so the ability to
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quickly swap it would be welcome in any
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classroom another very big surprise has
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been the vigin screen to be honest in
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the education Market screens can be an
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of overlooked part of the hardware poor
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viewing angles washed out colors and low
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brightness plague most education devices
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most times I'm glad to say the vigin
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Chromebook 360 has none of these issues
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the display an 11.6 in 1366 X 768 panel
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is vibrant and clear viewing angles are
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fantastic and overall the colors look
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pretty good it isn't the brightest
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display on the market but is on par with
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other IPS panels on much pricier
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Chromebooks at 11.6 in the resolution
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fits very nicely we all like high-res
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displays but for this device and its
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internals it all works together very
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well the glass covering also goes edge
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to edge and provides a great surface for
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all the great touch oriented activities
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Chromebooks simply keep getting better
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at this will come in very handy when
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Android apps begin showing up later this
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year as with all 16x9 displays the
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tablet mode and portrait feels a little
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odd
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16 X10 3x2 and 4x3 do this much better
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but are a bit less productive in tablet
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mode it's not a deal breaker and not
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really a problem unique to vigin but we
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love seeing touch devices with at least
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16 X10 displays another great surprise
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here is the quality of the input methods
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we'll start with a keyboard most
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education devices ship with mushy
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unresponsive keyboards we're happy to
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say that the vigin has no such issue
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instead we were met with a keyboard that
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has decent travel and very clicky Keys
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the typing experience overall has been
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very very good the only issue we had was
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user error as the keyboard is laid out
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for UK students our fingers weren't
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quite ready to adapt to some of the
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different key placements this doesn't
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take anything away from the quality of
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the input method the trackpad is equally
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impressive not made of glass the plastic
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used on its surface is highly resistant
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to fingerprints and remain smooth after
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hours of use the click mechanism works
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very well not showing any of the issues
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we've seen in other Chromebook trackpads
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the build was very tight and
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multi-finger gestures work as expected
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every time once again we came away
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surprised and pleased internally this
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device has a few surprises up its sleeve
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as well namely Braswell processor 4 gigs
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of RAM and 32 gigs of internal storage
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right off the bat so those aren't
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upgraded specs and the big surprise is
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Braswell starting to hold its own a few
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months ago when we reviewed the Acer
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Chromebook 14 the Braswell chip was kind
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of sluggish and really was not
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impressive at all but now the Braswell
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chip is getting about 9,000 on Octane
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and it's holding it own multiple tabs
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are open no issues really at all you
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could say I'm pretty
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impressed battery life has been good as
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well we're seeing around 9 to 10 hours
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of use at 75% screen brightness so with
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a little less brightness 10 hours would
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be totally achievable with the ability
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to swap battery relatively easily you
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could even keep an extra one on hand for
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field trips and other times when
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Chargers aren't readily available that's
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not really something you could say of
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most other
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Chromebooks overall this device has been
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full of surprises from the great screen
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and keyboard to the awesome trackpad to
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the surprising performance of the
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Braswell chip inside overall I'd have to
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say vigin is knocked it out of the park
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with this device at a decent price about
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$270
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us I assume that if it's marketed
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correctly they'll sell a ton of these
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things to the education sector and
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that's a good thing it means a lot of
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students are going to get a quality
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Chromebook and a quality Chrome OS
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experience if you like this video guys
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give it a thumbs up please subscribe to
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the channel and until next time we'll
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see
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[Music]
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you
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