New Laptop Asus Chromebook C202 Review 2016

Once you hand a laptop with a child, you can expect that they are going to drop it and, most of the time, it may not make it through. The $199 Asus Chromebook C202 ($229 as tested) may help kids avoid that fate using a durable chassis that's built to take its fair discuss of bumps and bruises. Beyond the C202's rough-and-tumble exterior is a wonderful keyboard and a battery power that lasts over 8 hours over a charge, making it a solid choice for elementary schoolers or perhaps anyone who might allow it slip.

New Laptop Asus Chromebook C202 

Design

For this kind of small laptop, the Asus Chromebook C202 feels like normally it takes a punch. Built to resist the kind of punishment that will only be doled out there by school children, the C202's dotted plastic-type lid and bottom are surrounded by way of a rubberized protective ring in which serves as armor in opposition to drops. The dark blue plastic and gray plastic make the C202 appear to be the official Chromebook with the New York Yankees, nevertheless the only logos are Asus' as well as the Chrome moniker on the particular lid.

When you available the lid, you'll view a plastic silver deck together with black chiclet keyboard offering blue lettering. The 11. 6-inch, 1366 x 768 display is surrounded by way of a chunky navy-blue bezel.

Because of the rugged exterior, the particular C202 is heavier and also thicker than its competition, weighing 2. 6 pounds using a 11. 5 x 7. 9 times 0. 88-inch footprint. The particular HP Chromebook 11 (2. a couple of pounds, 11. 7 times 7. 6 x 0. 7 inches) could be the lightest of the bunch with all the CTL Chromebook J4 Additionally (2. 46 pounds, 11. 49 x 8 x 0. 76-inches) pushing an in depth second. The Lenovo 100S Chromebook rounds out your competitors at 2. 52 weight, 11. 81 x 8. 12 x 0. 78 ins.

Asus Chromebook C202 Keyboard

Keyboard and Touchpad

This is probably the best keyboards I've ever applied to a Chromebook. The tips have 2. 1 millimeters regarding travel and require 58 grams of force to be able to press, resulting in an exceptionally comfortable typing experience.

Asus Chromebook C202 KeyboardOn the particular 10fastfingers. com typing analyze, I reached 114 words each and every minute (faster than my usual array of 100 to 110 wpm) together with my usual 2 pct error rate. Students will blaze through assignments with all the C202. My only wish is the keys were a tad bit more spaced out, but that clearly didn't cause virtually any typing issues.

Read More: ACER ASPIRE S13 Slim Laptop Specs, Price and Review

The touchpad required the ideal amount of force to be able to click, but I found its default settings a touch too sensitive, which made the pointer hard to regulate. However, after I altered the pointer speed, the particular pad was extremely correct and comfortable

Durability Testing

Asus claims the C202 can survive comes of 3. 9 toes when it lands smooth on its bottom and also 2. 6 feet about its sides. Additionally, the particular spill-resistant keyboard should deal with 2. 23 ounces regarding liquid.

I took the Chromebook around our office roof for a few drop testing, and the Asus attained some battle scars but maintained kicking. When I decreased it on its factors at 2. 6 toes, the C202 came apart with just slight scuffs about its rubberized rings. Once i did a 3. 9-foot fall, I heard a breeze when it hit the particular concrete and immediately sensed one thing went wrong. Upon beginning the laptop, I was relieved to find out it the system nonetheless fully operational, but saw the plastic-type cover had fallen over hinge, making it challenging to open and shut.

 Asus Chromebook C202 Official

Display

The particular 11. 6-inch, 1366 x 768 screen around the C202 isn't sharp, but it's as crisp that you can expect from a Chromebook as of this resolution. Just don't expect many colors.. I viewed the 1080p Ghostbusters trailer and found the red on the Ghostmobile has been tinted slightly pink, while Slimer's green goo was paler than it must be.

The display averaged 300 nits of brightness about our light meter, scarcely beating the Lenovo plenty Chromebook (244 nits). The particular CTL Chromebook J4 Additionally (256 nits) and H . P . Chromebook 11 (267 nits) have been both brighter, but still dim when compared to the ultraportable laptop category common of 305 nits.

The C202's screen modelled just 58 percent with the sRGB color gamut about our tests -- exactly like the Lenovo 100S Chromebook. The J4 Plus hit 74 percent as well as the Chromebook 11 shows away from 62 percent.

The exhibit registered a Delta-E shade accuracy score of a couple of. 8 (the closer to be able to zero, the better), conquering the 100S Chromebook (4. 6).. The J4 Plus had a really accurate screen with any near-perfect score of 0. some.

Ports and Webcam
There are only some ports along the sides with the C202, but they're every one of the essentials that students in classrooms will be needing. The majority of the ports are around the left side: HDMI, UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS 3. 0, a headphone/microphone combo jack and an Sdcard slot. The right part houses another USB 3. 0 slot, the power jack plus a security lock slot.

Performance

With any 1. 6-GHz Intel Celeron N3060 model and 4GB of RAM MEMORY, the C202 isn't any performance powerhouse, but it's fine regarding writing book reports and even manipulating spreadsheets. Just don't do a lot of multitasking. The browser begun to lag when I scrolled through sites with only six navigation bars open.

The Chromebook C202 done the Sunspider JavaScript analyze in 725. 4 milliseconds, just faster compared to the J4 Plus' score 735. 3 ms but slower compared to the HP Chromebook 11 G4 (556. 7ms) and also Lenovo 100S Chromebook (589. 9ms).

 Asus Chromebook C202 Design

Asus Chromebook C202 Exhibit AltOn the Jetstream, a newer Javascript benchmark, the C202 have scored 48. 85, beating the particular J4 Plus (44. 26) and also HP Chromebook 11 (46. 103), nonetheless it lost out to Lenovo's plenty Chromebook (51. 842)..

On Browsermark, which evaluates speed according to browser actions like resizing the particular screen and loading website pages, the C202 scored a couple of, 434. This mark trumps every one of the Asus' closest competitors. ).

Our own go-to graphics test, WebGL Aquarium tank, measures performance by displaying numerous fish in a fish tank and measuring frame costs. The C202 did well on this benchmark, showing 50 fish with a smooth 60 frames per second, but it began to be able to buckle at 1000 bass. The J4 Plus maintained 58 fps for 50 bass, the HP Chromebook 11 turned between 53-57 fps even though the 100S Chromebook managed forty-five.

Software and also Warranty

Chromebooks run Opera OS, which is generally browser based. If you might have ever used Google Opera, you'll have no trouble employing a Chromebook. The desktop features any menu bar similar to what you should find on Windows, which includes pinned apps, a time, and easy access to be able to settings. Almost everything different, including the apps, will be opened in Chrome navigation bars.

Like most Chromebooks, the C202 doesn't have much software other as compared to Google's apps. Asus carries a program to register your brand-new laptop, but that's that. There's no software designed for education, despite that getting the notebook's primary goal.

Read More: HP Spectre vs Apple MacBook Air: Quick Comparison Of The actual Thinnest Laptops

Google's pre-installed apps contain Chrome, Google Docs, Bedding, Slides, Forms, Drive and also Play Books. The Chrome Web Store offers many different apps from productivity plans like Microsoft Outlook to be able to games like Spelunky. Most apps need be connected to the net, though some, like Google30mail Offline work without Wi-Fi.

Asus supplies a 1-year warranty with the particular Chromebook C202. See how Asus fared inside our Best & Worst Brand names Report and Tech Help Showdown.

New Laptop Asus Chromebook C202 

Battery power Life

Students should manage to use the Asus Chromebook C202 through the entire school day without being tethered to a outlet. The laptop lasted 8 hrs and 23 minutes around the Laptop Mag Battery Analyze, which consists of browsing the internet continuously over Wi-Fi. That's longer compared to the CTL Chromebook J4 Additionally (6: 39), HP Chromebook 11 (7: 10) as well as the ultraportable average of 8: 12. Nonetheless it was still outclassed from the Lenovo 100S Chromebook's monstrous 11: 19.

Bottom Line

The Asus Chromebook C202 can be a notebook worthy of the particular honor roll. It supplies a durable shell, a extremely comfortable and spill-resistant key pad, long battery life and also decent (if somewhat mixed) efficiency. This laptop is a tad heavier compared to the competition, but it should still be without trouble when kids inevitably drop it on to the floor.