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Acer Chromebook 317 -- Budget 17.3" Laptop -- REVIEW
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Jun 22, 2024
Want the biggest screen you can get on a notebook, Bluetooth, the latest Wi-Fi tech, lots of ports, and a crazy 9+ hours of battery life? Then you'll flip for the Acer Chromebook 317 with it's full 1080p HD display and enormous keyboard. Of course, there are some limitations in a budget Chromebook like this, as tech expert Dave Taylor explains, but there's a lot to like too... Check it out at: https://amzn.to/3A0Tulo Then visit Dave's Q&A Web site at: https://www.AskDaveTaylor.com/ #acer #chromebook #chromeos #bigscreen #1080p #chromebook317 #acerchromebook #askdavetaylor
View Video Transcript
0:00
It's a beast of a Chromebook, but is it any good? Let's check it out
0:11
Dave Taylor here with this beast of a Chromebook. There's no other way to describe it. It's big
0:16
This is the Acer Chromebook 317, obviously running Chrome OS, and the first thing you notice is it has this huge 17.3 inch touchscreen. It's big
0:30
Not only that, as the sticker says, it's a full 1080p HD screen, which means it's basically like having a television screen sitting there as part of your laptop
0:41
Now, this much screen real estate means that it also gets a really weird keyboard layout because you have a regular keyboard and you have number keys and all sorts of other stuff on the side
0:53
Let me give you a close up so you can see that keyboard. Now, the computer itself is actually pretty interesting
1:01
There's a lot going on here, but you do have to calibrate your expectations because it is a Chromebook
1:09
It is at a very affordable price, and it's not intended to be doing 3D graphic rendering
1:15
or doing really hardcore computer games or anything. This is really for browsing the web, watching a movie on Netflix, and maybe doing some
1:25
document work in Google Docs or in Microsoft Office. You can run the Office suite on this device
1:32
But it's powered by some fairly low powered gear. So Intel, Celeron, N4500 at 1.1 gigahertz, 4 gig of RAM, and 64 gig of what's
1:44
called EMMC. So it's interesting. So they're using a part of memory as a drive
1:51
So it's not a solid state drive and it's not an actual hard drive, but for all intents and purposes, you really can't tell the difference
1:59
If you put a file on it and you close it down and you start it up again, it's still there
2:04
So that works fine. But still, a PC with 4 gig and 64 gig would be pretty underpowered
2:11
So this is, again, a different sort of thing. And that 17.3 and touchscreen is at 1920 by
2:20
1080 and let me open up I'll show you let's just bring up I guess I have a touchscreen so we can bring up
2:28
Netflix and as you can see there's a touchscreen and it's just a gorgeous screen it's this big bright
2:35
screen that is actually really fun imagine being on an airplane and watching a movie with this honestly
2:42
I'm not sure you'd fit it on your tray but you would definitely have people around you
2:47
enjoying your movie too because it's so big Now on the top here you can barely see it there is a 720p webcam So that not bad It not a 1080p webcam which would seem pretty logical to have an HD webcam when you have an HD computer and the screen but that how they
3:10
chose to configure it. And 720's okay as long as you're using it in a well-lit environment
3:16
The keyboard, one thing I will complain about is that you really have to look and orient your fingers
3:22
in the exactly right place or I find that I often put my fingers down to start typing
3:28
and then I look and I'm like I'm off a road that is not good but that's just I guess part of
3:35
what you have on a larger keyboard so let's get a quick tour of the ports on the left side you
3:41
can see that there's USBC USBA micro SD and audio out and then on the right hand side is another
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USBA, which is the rectangle, and USBC, and there's that Kensington Lock sort of coal there
4:00
So what do you notice that's missing? So here we have a system where it's all about that 1080p screen, but there's no HDMI
4:10
So I don't understand why ACER didn't include that HTML port. That seems like such a logical thing to include
4:17
And yeah, it might have added a couple of dollars, but it would have really changed this
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to be able to be really a portable TV that also happens to run Chrome OS and also happens to have all of these other features
4:30
So you can imagine for traveling or something, this could be a great second computer
4:35
Now, I know most people are going to give this to their kids or they're going to use it themselves as a very thin client, as they say
4:43
And that totally makes sense because this is exactly how you want to use this so that you can actually get all the benefits
4:51
of a big screen without having to spend a ton of money for it
4:55
Now, I will also tell you that it is powered with nine plus hours of battery life, which is pretty remarkable
5:04
And it has Bluetooth, it has 802.11AX, which means it supports all the Wi-Fi protocols, including the very latest Wi-Fi 6
5:14
So there's a lot of great technology in here. So I wanted to also give you just a little bit of the very latest Wi-Fi 6
5:20
Just a little bit of an example of a couple of things, because for one, people complain that it has poor sound, but let's give it some music
5:31
And I'm going to turn the volume up. So there's a speaker on each side of the keyboard, and I will be the first to admit there's no bass at all
5:42
There's barely mid-range. It's a very high sort of sound wave. But as it is I think it entirely listenable And if you watching a movie or something honestly if you really want to get some more bass and you want to get a more rich sound you can put a little sound bar or get a little
6:04
Bluetooth speaker and you could use that and that would work perfectly fine
6:08
So the audio is entirely functional, though don't expect any midrange or any bass
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That's just sort of the nature of it. And then if we go to, say, go to Prime Video and we can watch some old
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old movie and you can see the touch screen makes it super easy so let's see this is a fairly
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dark portion but you can see it really is like having a TV screen right here and it is a
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really fun enjoyable watch I suppose I should give us some sound there's the drama of this
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dramatic muse or video from Amazon but I don't have the rights to it
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So we can't do that. And let me switch back. We will escape this and close that
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And then if I just go to Google and just, you know
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wanted to do a quick Google search or something, you can see that the touchscreen is very responsive and that if I got my finger in the right place
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there we go. And the screen, it's just this big, beautiful screen
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You might be used to an 11-inch or a 13-inch screen because that's what you have on your, you know, affordable budget laptop
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But this is a whole different ballgame. It is running Chrome OS, so it's not the same experience as Windows or a Mac OS
7:37
But Chrome OS has come a long way. If you haven't looked at in the last six months to a year, you might be surprised just how Windows-like it is
7:45
From the task bar on the bottom to access to all of the controls and everything
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There's a lot going on in Chrome OS that makes it a lot more of an enjoyable experience
7:58
So what we do need to talk about are a couple of the limitations. So I will tell you that it is slow
8:05
It is a slow processor and there's not much RAM for the operating system to work with
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But if you're checking your web email, if you're working on a document
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if you are checking your social media accounts or something, it's entirely functional
8:20
You know, if you have high demand tasks or programs, then you probably need a faster computer
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But that's not really what this is intended for. The keyboard, I wish it was backlit
8:33
It's not. So in poor lighting, it's a little hard to especially get that initial orientation so you make sure your fingers are in the right place
8:42
A solvable problem. The audio, there's no base. I already told you that
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Just expect it. And otherwise, let me give you some dimensions. it is big It is 9 tenths of an inch thick by 15 by 10 in terms of its facial dimensions and it 5 pounds
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So this is not your Rich Cousins Ultralight. This is a fairly hefty computer, but it is also a fairly massive screen
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So there's that tradeoff there. Now, I will also note that it comes with one of the clumsiest looking
9:20
power chargers I've seen in a while. You know, no one's going to want to have this in their computer bag or anything
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But here's the secret good news, is that it charges via USBC
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So it is entirely functional for you to go and buy like a 66 watt power charger and a USBC cable
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and use that instead, which is exactly what I've done. This has sat in the box because I really don't want to feel like I'm in a 1980s computer
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computer ad. So again, what Acer is doing with this is they're trying to minimize the cost
9:57
of all the components so they can ship you a computer with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and a webcam
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and an enormous screen and an entirely functional keyboard at an incredibly low price, which means
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we need to talk about the price. But before we get to the price, I'm going to ask if you
10:16
could subscribe to my channel. A click or a tap on that. Subscribe
10:20
button on the lower right I think it is click on it tap on it and then go ahead and
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turn on notifications we're connected cool now this is the acer Chromebook 317 and it
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is $299 discounted down to $285 brand new not a refurb brand new at amazon.com
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if you need a second computer if you have a teenager who is just really hard on devices, or if you just want to have a spare device sitting there
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so that you can watch TV in bed, or if you have someone who's getting better from being
11:02
sick or something, imagine having this on a tray table on their bed. Fantastic. Such a good
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option. And there's so much to like about this as long as you can accept that you're running
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Chrome OS and that this is designed just as much for affordability as it is designed for
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functionality. So with that, I think I'm going to go back to the ending of that movie from
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Amazon. Yeah, I watch a lot of old movies. I can't help it. So I'll have to catch you
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in my next video
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