Acer Chromebook C720P is the new entrant in the Chromebook sphere with a touchscreen capability. It is the successor of "Chromebook C720" from Acer, which has no touchscreen capability.

Can Chromebooks replace the traditional laptops like how smartphones replaced feature phones over a period of time.

How is Chromebook Different From a Traditional Laptop?

Chromebook is nothing but a "hardware built around a Web browser." The ones using Chromebook are always on the Web, using the "Web applications" instead of software installed on a PC or laptop, CNet said.

Google's browser-based, all-cloud operating system Chrome OS is the one powering Chromebooks. It is modeled over a laptop flaunting a fully featured super-browser with a keyboard, storage and a Web cam.

To stay online is the crux of using a Chromebook.

Specifications, Price Comparison, Hits And Misses

Software

- Acer Chromebook C720P has a 1.6-inch 1366 x 768-pixel touch-enabled display. Tapping, dragging and even multifinger gestures work, CNet claimed.

- It has a LCD display and the brightness is adequate.

- Thanks to a recent deal, users can run enterprise Windows Applications via VMWare. This used to be a disadvantage in the earlier Chromebook versions.

Hardware

- It has a USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports, full-size HDMI, SD card slot, 32 GB on-board storage and Bluetooth 4.0.

- Acer C720P has a Celeron processor (1.4 GHz Intel Celeron 2955U). It is part of Haswell-generation processors which offer good battery life.

- The boot-up is super fast.

- Web browsing is brisk enough over 802.11n Wi-Fi connection.

- This Chromebook comes with 2 GB DDR3 RAM.

- It has a battery life of 5 hours and 52 minutes with Wi-Fi turned on. This is the best among the other Chromebook variants.

Something For Free

- Google gives a 100GB of free Google Drive storage for 2 years with this Chromebook.

- There is a 60-day trial offer to Google Music All-Play.

Advantages

- Good speed

- Easy, fast and effective cloud set-up

Disadvantages

- Chromebooks are highly internet-dependent and handicapped to a great extent if there is unreliable Internet connection.

- Users cannot load any Android apps

- Users will not be able to do any significant "offline work" the way you would on a laptop.

Silver Lining

Users can set up Google Drive or other similar apps to work offline, CNet claimed.

Price Comparison (OZ vs. U.S.)

Acer Chromebook C720P costs $499 in Australia while the same costs $299 in the U.S.

Who are the Competitors?

We already have seen Chromebooks from various device makers, HP Chromebook 11 as widely liked and Toshiba Chromebook are popular among the list.

The Question

With Chromebook in hand, you are going to do Web browsing, streaming or light-weight Google Docs style of office work. This means, it is still not a replacement for Laptops. So will you buy a Chromebook?