Hardware

Review: Acer Chromebook C871 Survives Student Use (and Abuse)

This laptop is rugged enough for young users and supports Wi-Fi 6.

Buzz Garwood, the technology teacher at Home Gardens Academy in Corona, Calif., blogs and produces videos for EdTech magazine. Follow him at @buzzgarwood and check out his blog.

As a veteran teacher, I have managed several laptop carts and seen firsthand the wear and tear from hours of student use (and abuse). Many devices are not built to withstand it all.

That’s not the case with the Acer Chromebook C871. Its rugged construction and reinforced design help it stand up to daily wear and tear.

The laptop’s keyboard is one example: With many laptops, it’s easy to remove keys but difficult to replace them. The C871 comes with mechanically anchored keys that ensure the keyboard stays in good condition. The keyboard is also resistant to spills, thanks to a gutter system that routes liquids out through the bottom of the chassis. To test this, I held the laptop over my kitchen sink and poured about 10 ounces of water over the keyboard, which continued to function as expected. The touchpad is also water resistant.

In my drop test, the C871 withstood a fall from a typical table height of about 48 inches. The device landed on its front right corner and bounced a couple of times before resting on the floor, but it remained operational. I was hard-pressed to even find a scuff mark on it, thanks to the rubberized shock-absorbing bumper that covers the edge of the entire frame.

Smart Features and Easy Management Benefit Students

The C871 boasts a 3:2 aspect ratio display that is more efficient for viewing websites due the way web pages render. Users can read more information and view more images, such as maps and diagrams, without needing to scroll. This feature alone means students will spend less time resizing windows and rearranging tabs.

Another smart feature: The C871 can open 180 degrees to lie flat, which is ideal for student collaboration. The Acer logo has also been moved to the side, making room for custom engraving of a school or district logo in the center, if desired.

The C871 offers dual-band Intel Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+) AX201 (802.11ax) connectivity with 2x2 MU-MIMO (multi-user, multi-input, multi-output) capability. This makes it easier for students to connect their Chromebooks on crowded networks, and they won’t have to fight for data because it’s efficiently distributed.

There’s stuff for the grown-ups too: IT staff will appreciate Google Console, a web-based management system that makes the new Chromebook easy to deploy and manage (sold separately), and teachers and parents will value the added safety of the Chrome operating system, which automatically updates and guards against online threats of viruses and malware.

How This Chromebook Handles Processor-Intensive Applications

I teach 3D modeling and video production to middle school students — courses that are offered online this school year.

With remote learning, students won’t have the luxury of using the fast desktop PCs in my classroom. Instead, they will be using Chromebooks at home. Video editing and 3D modeling software, as well as some other popular applications, are more demanding of computer processors, and suitable online versions of these programs have been slow to come to market. But I found a few that really deliver, and the Acer Chromebook C871 has the juice to handle them.

SketchUp Free is online modeling software for creating 3D images. If it were run on the desktop natively, it would require a faster processor and larger RAM, but because all the processing happens on the server side, a C871 user needs only a strong internet connection. I created a few solid objects and manipulated them with ease. Performance was as smooth and fluid as a desktop application. I did not experience any stutter, glitches or delays.

I used WeVideo, an online video editor, to test the C871’s video editing capabilities. The laptop’s webcam records 720p high-definition video and audio with a super high dynamic range, making it easy for students to connect with others during video chats and Google Hangouts. Using WeVideo, I recorded and uploaded stock footage and royalty-free audio clips, combined with a short video clip I recorded and uploaded using the Chromebook’s webcam. I was able to create a 30-second video in less than five minutes, including fade in, music, transitions and fade out. Playback varies depending on the strength and speed of the internet connection, but in my experience, the C871 performed as well as if the software were running locally — the Intel Celeron processor was totally up to the task.