Back To School Tech

With the end of August looming, there are plenty of sales going on for different back to school supplies. This can get very costly in terms of tech and all the mobile applications as well as either print or digital books. If your budget is fairly tight, you can always consider a laptop for $200. You shouldn’t expect much from a $200 laptop, but for a $200 laptop, Acer’s C7 Chromebook is a pleasant surprise. For starters, this is a Chromebook. It doesn’t run Mac or Windows; it runs Google’s web-based operating system, called Chrome OS. You’ll be dealing with Google’s Chrome web browser 99% of the time, so you’ll want to be surrounded by reliable Wi-Fi access, which shouldn’t be a problem at a college campus. For basic tasks, the system runs smoothly in light of the meager hardware setup (Celeron processor, two gigabytes of RAM, 16 gigabytes of flash storage). You won’t be able to install traditional programs on this machine such as iTunes or Microsoft Office, so keep that in mind. What you can do is get on the internet and work in a web browser. Instead of Microsoft Office, you’ll use Google Docs. If you need a machine for surfing the internet, taking notes and writing papers, and you’re on a budget, this machine is absolutely worth a look.