iPearl mCover Hard Shell Case for Acer C720 / C720P series Chromebook Review (Part 1)

In this two-part series I'll review the iPearl mCover Case for the Acer C720/C720P series Chromebook.

The iPearl mCover comes in a choice of 9 colours, as I had to purchase one for this review and they didn't have the black(possibly clear) one on Amazon UK I opted for the Orange one as it looked the best choice of colour for me to have to live with, and as Orange is the colour of my home town Hockey team then it was the perfect choice. See picture above for the colours that are available.

Design

The iPearl mCover is a two-part cover that has a base cover with cut-outs for all the ports and a top cover that covers the lid of the C720 so it's fully protected while still easily being able to use it without having to take it out of a pouch or sleeve.

[caption id="attachment_1935" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The two-part design of the iPearl mCover[/caption]

The iPearl mCover also has a unique feature in that it sports two pop-out legs on the back of the base cover allowing for it to be popped up at an angle on a desk, which is a handy feature if you use your C720 on a desk with an external Keyboard and mouse.

[caption id="attachment_1936" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Rear legs of the iPearl mCover popped out[/caption]

The iPearl mCover is just see-through enough that the Acer and Chrome branding shows through the lid cover making it look as if it's the real colour of the Chromebook.

[caption id="attachment_1937" align="aligncenter" width="300"] iPearl mCover from the back with lid open[/caption]

When the lid of the C720 is closed it still looks as stylish as it does without a cover, but it has more protection with the cover than what its got naked.

 Installation

Installation of the iPearl mCover is simply a case of making sure that the lid is clean and dry, I used a baby wipe to clean the lid of my C720 and dried it with a micro fibre cloth then attached the lid making sure that the two cut outs lined up with the hinge then pushed it down until all the tabs snapped into place. I then followed the same procedure for cleaning the base of my C720 then it's just a case of placing the C720 into the base cover starting with the back and pressing down until all the tabs snap into place.

Conclusion

The build quality seems pretty good and the cut-outs on the sides seem big enough that the ports can be used without having any problems with plugs staying in place. There is an added feature on the front right where the power & charging indicator is as the cover has been notched out creating a flat spot on the cover to allow for the indicators to show through without being obscured by the case, a big bonus of using a cover is that the brightness of the LED indicators is toned down a bit.

I'll post another part giving my opinion of the cover along with a full Conclusion after I've used the cover for a week.

Roland

Next

Programming in Chrome OS

When it comes to programming in Chrome OS the main language and IDE is Google Apps Script. Google Apps Script is a Scripting language based on JavaScript. Google Apps Script can be thought of as similar to the VBA Scripting language used to develop automation style Add-ons in Microsoft Office.

Google Apps Script is used to develop customizations and automation Scripts for Google Services such as Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms and much more.

[caption id="attachment_1941" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Google Apps Script project selection window[/caption]

Google Apps Script's IDE looks like the IDE from any other language, but with several differences.

1. Google Apps Script can't be used to create complex applications like you can with Python, C, C#, C++, Visual Basic as it's more like VBA meets JavaScript.


2. Google Apps Script can't create Scripts for Microsoft Office as that requires VBA (but it might be possible to create Scripts for anything written in JavaScript).


3. If you want to create anything big and complex like an OS and OS Kernel then you might be better with something like Assembly language or C or C++.

[caption id="attachment_1942" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Google Apps Script Code Editor[/caption]

If you are proficient in JavaScript then it's entirely possible that you can write some pretty complex customizations or even automation scripts for Google services.

If like me you're new to Google Apps Script or even writing code then a wealth of tutorials and information can be found on the Google Developers website.

If you want to create something a bit more complex than what you can create in Google Apps Script while still using Chrome OS then there is the Nitrous.IO IDE that can create Python, PHP, Ruby/Rails, Node.js & Go programming languages, but for the average Chrome OS user then I think Google Apps Script will be more than adequate. Google Apps Script will be enough for professionals that are ether using Chrome OS or just the plain old Google Apps service on a Windows, Mac or Linux setup as Google Apps Script is a cloud based scripting service and your scripts are stored in Google Drive then it makes it a truly cross-platform  language that can be used on any of your devices (I'm not sure if scripts or customizations will work on the mobile versions of Google Drive or not).


My next Chrome OS series will be on learning how to create scripts and customizations for the Google services that are supported by Google Apps Script.

Roland

Living With The Acer C720 Chromebook for A Month (Part 10)

This part will be a short but very detailed conclusion to my Living with the Acer C720 Chromebook series.

Conclusion

The Acer C720 Chromebook maybe under specced and use an older Haswell based Intel Celeron 2955U processor instead of a newer Baytrail based Intel processor and only have 2GB of DDR3 RAM.

The specification of the Acer C720 really hide the fact that it's one hell of a fast machine and in the month of owning it I've not come across any lag or slowdown due to the 1.4GHZ Celeron 2955U Processor or the fact that it's only got 2GB of RAM, but that could be due to the fact that the Acer C720 packs a 16GB SSD (out of that 16GB of SSD Storage only 8.4GB is usable by the user with the rest being reserved for Chrome OS) and with Chrome OS being a lightweight OS it takes full advantage of the 2GB of RAM and the Celeron 2955U may be an older Intel Processor and only have a clock speed of 1.4GHZ but it gives exceptional battery life without sacrificing on performance like what you have to do in Windows with a faster processor, but with 100GB of free Google Drive Storage for 2 years on top of the free Google Drive Storage that you get as standard with a Google Account then the 8.4GB of internal Storage doesn't really stop it from being a usable machine.

If you want a Ultrabook that looks like a traditional Windows-based Ultrabook then I'd recommend the C720 or if you want a touch screen then the C720P as apart from the Chrome branding in the upper right corner of the lid and the lack of a Windows COA on the bottom it looks like any other Windows-based Ultrabook out there.

If you're in the market for a low-cost Ultrabook with excellent battery life and don't need any of the bloat associated with a Windows machine and can live with cloud computing or are already invested in the Google ecosystem then I'd recommend the Acer C720 Chromebook.

My next Chromebook related post I'll be reviewing the iPearl mCover Hard Shell Case for 11.6" Acer C720 / C720P series Chromebook case that I'm expecting to come in the Post on Monday.

Roland

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