In a short amount of time, Chromebook has grown from a new player on the market to a serious contender in an entry-level laptop market. It’s simple to use and offers only the most basic features, which is why it’s price is set quite low – at $199.
This part of market has been Intel’s playground, where only Nvidia Tegra dares to venture. But now, if you decide to go for Asus C201, you will be getting an ARM-powered device with Chrome OS in its core. We all know how reliable Asus is, which tells you a lot about how good Chromebook 2 actually is.
Good price amd formidable features is something many most buyers want, but not all of them will recognize what makes this laptop going. Its processor is not Intel or AMD made. New Rockchip RK3288 is an interesting newcomer to the market as it doesn’t use a lot of power but delivers high performance. Base clock speed is 1.8GHz, which makes this processor one of the best choices when it comes to value for money.
The graphics rely on a Mali-T764 graphics processing unit, which runs at 600MHz. While we don’t have any tests to prove how good this processor is, initial benchmarks show that it runs better than Intel Atom Z3735F. Another thing that needs to be mentioned here is that these chips have a very low priced, yet they are extremely energy efficient. The Rockchips can run all Chromebook applications, according to the user reviews.
Your Asus C201PA can have 2 or 4GB of RAM, which would be more than enough to handle dozens of tabs. eMMC flash drive with 16GB capacity will help you load stuff faster, although it can’t outperform SSD. But you can always use Cloud and other external storage options, no matter which Chromebook you choose.
When it comes to display, it’s light and small (11.6″) which makes it very convenient for you to carry it wherever you go. Most of the time you won’t need a bag as you can easily carry it in your hand. While some folks may complain about the 1366×768 resolution, we should keep in mind that Chromebooks are not made for watching movies. Sure, you can watch your favorite TV show on a Chromebook, but don’t expect to have the same quality of picture as you do on your home TV.
While you can play games on this laptop, you are limited to browser games. Chrome OS has certain limitations, and one of them is not being powerful enough to run most Windows-based games.
In The End
If you are looking for an affordable 11.6″ notebook, you should definitely check out ASUS Chromebook C201PA. It will serve you well if you’re looking to send and receive emails, surf the web and watch YouTube videos. 4GB of RAM and the Rockchip process will be more than adequate to handle those tasks. The strongest feature here is the portability as this Chromebook has a bit over 2 pounds only. When you take into account that it’s battery runs for 12 hours, you are getting a great laptop at a fantastic price.