If all you want from a Notebook is to be able to collect your emails and browse the WWW then something like this should high up your wish list, nowadays it is possible to work off line with Chromebooks so word processing and dare I say it games are possible when not online.
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The Asus Chromebook C202SA measures 29x20x2cm and weighs 1182g. It has a tiny pattern on front and back with the edges in a blue rubber material, the back has a slim rubber strip at the front and a chunky one at the back which means there is a slight tilt when in use rather like a conventional keyboard on a PC.
The viewable screen is 25.7x14.7cm which gives the notional diagonal imperial measurement of 11.6inches the standard screen resolution is 1366x768. In the centre of the top of the screen surround is a web cam with a sensitive pin hole microphone beside it.
The chrome keyboard has always been different from a PC in that the letters are shown lower case and there are no function keys so the keys above the alpha keys work without an additional keypress. The keyboard has 74 keys with blue on black. There is a 2cm strip behind the keyboard with a 1cm clear strip either side of the keyboard. 7cm is the wrist rest in front of the keyboard with the 10x5.5cm trackpad mounted 9.5cm from the left and 10.5cm from the right.
The left side has HDMI, USB3, Headphones, SD Card slot, and speaker all within the solid rubber area. The front is clear. The right side has the speaker pair, USB3, power input; two strip LEDs and finally the Kensington lock port. The back is clear as the screen opens to 180 degrees.
Switch on is only five seconds as Chrome is a small module to load, shut down is two seconds.
You need a Google/Gmail account to use the device and this helps you load all the required information as everything is from the single logon. While the right side of the screen has a scroll bar the trackpad supports two finger scrolling which is far faster for long web pages.
Chrome uses a clear screen display with five icons in the left side of the tray and five on the right side. These are a magnifying glass to bring a window onto the screen with all your Apps and then Chrome (web browser), GMail (web mail), Google Docs (word processor) and You Tube. Those on the right are a digital clock, Wi-Fi strength, Battery State, Country and Logon image. Pressing any of these brings up a window that shows User, Keyboard layout, Wi-Fi connection, Bluetooth enabled/disabled, Volume level, Battery State and time left before power must be connected and Settings.
The processor is dual core running at 1.6GHz; it has 4GB of RAM and 16GB of flash storage. The claimed ten hours of battery life is easily achieved.
Once started almost everything can be started by OK Google. The speakers are adequate even to watch a YouTube video or three, in HD these can look excellent.
This will withstand knocks and is close to being a rugged offering. For those who want more than the Google Docs provided, you can download Microsoft Office Online for free but this does require a Microsoft account to be used and this will defeat the everything available from a single log on.
This Asus Chromebook is available from Amazon for £220.15.
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