Friday, 10 June 2016

ASUS Chromebook C202SA-YS02 Review

ASUS Chromebook C202SA-YS02, there’s one big difference from your average laptop: this one runs on the Google’s Chrome operating system! It’s a bit different from Windows, and also such Chromebooks are very cheap… Let me tell you more about this ASUS’s good and bad sides below!

The good

Taking a look at the engine room, ASUS Chromebook C202SA-YS02 is good for things like web surfing, video streaming as well. The components include Intel Celeron N3060 processor (two cores, 1.6GHz clock frequency, up to 2.5GHz with turbo) which receives an entry-level ~1200 score in CPU Mark. The 4GB memory is sufficient for multi-tab browsing.
Don’t forget the system will boot up very quickly (in some seconds); Chrome is designed for that, and also the 16GB eMMC storage helps with swift start-up times.
The notebook is very small, weighing only 2.2 pounds – that is good news for on-the-go computing. Furthermore, the 2-cell 38 Whrs battery will last long, users have reported getting 10 hours here.
Networking is handled by an excellent 802.11ac WiFi + Bluetooth 4.2 adapter. No RJ-45 port is present, but USB to RJ-45 adapter works.

The neutral

If you want to enhance ASUS Chromebook C202SA-YS02 with peripherals you can do that; there are two USB 3.0 ports available. However, bear in mind that not all USB devices are supported by the Chrome OS. For example, USB printing doesn’t currently work. Things like USB hard drives or DVD drives (the latter with read-only mode) can be connected. There’s also HDMI-output in the laptop, you can connect an extra monitor to that.
SD/SDHC card reader (but no optical drive!) is available which you can use to expand the local storage or load your favorite photos or other media.
The 11.6 inches matte screen with 1366×768 resolution should be decent enough for the lightweight use of this system. HD-level webcam is embedded on top of the display.

The bad

ASUS Chromebook C202SA-YS02 contains a storage drive which has only 16GB size. How are you going to fit your data there? Most likely you won’t, so you’ll need to get an external hard drive (or use a memory card). So Chromebook is definitely not good if you’re looking for a file storage solution.
Another thing to keep in mind, you can not just install programs made to run on Windows here (pretty much everything happens online, using Internet versions of programs like Google Docs). If you really wanted to use Windows executables, you’d need remote control software or some kind of emulator. The same goes for games – also the hardware is a limitation for gaming, the Celeron processor with integrated graphics wouldn’t run demanding games anyway.

Summary


ASUS Chromebook C202SA-YS02 is like any Chrome-powered system: darn affordable, lightweight and low performance. Any thing you want to do online (save installable games) you can do here; for example editing documents, watching videos or just browsing the web works. The notebook is also easy to take on your travels, and it certainly won’t put a strain on your wallet. Hence, if you want to give a try to something new, and you don’t use demanding software, consider checking this Chromebook out.

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