A Most Helpful Review for the $149 Chromebook by Poin2

Got this Chromebook on an Amazon pre-order and received it on August 22nd here in Southern California. This is the first Chromebook I’ve ever used for an extended time, so I don’t have any life experiences to compare this to. What I’ll write in this initial review then would be what some people call a first impression.

I think this Poin2 Chromebook looks and feels like a solid 11″ laptop running a Chrome browser for everything. Very quick to sign-on, and browser windows and websites feel responsive, meaning not slow nor sluggish, not that I can notice. And I consider myself a very active computer user. The area where my wrists rests is solid, as is the trackpad. I’m anticipating the battery life to last all day, maybe 7 or 8 hours with normal usage. And I do like the “instant on” when the lid is closed (in its default sleep mode) and when I open the lid, it’s ready to go.

‘Twas nice to see that this lil’ Poin2 Chromebook has 2 USB ports, one on the left and the other on the right, and also an HDMI port. Looks like it’s got everything that a solid Chromebook on the go ought to have. I also did notice the keyboard has letters in lowercase, that’s sorta distinctive, first time I’ve ever noticed that on any keyboard.

As for the purple black color named in the description, I was hoping it’d be more purple, but I haven’t figured out the right lighting condition to make it more purple-ish, having been at the dining table and outdoor daylight. Maybe it’ll look purple in a nightclub under black light, but I don’t go clubbing, so I won’t ever know.

2 things I did notice that didn’t quite meet and exceed my expectations, and thus the missing 5th star, are: (1) this one didn’t come with the free complimentary 2-year Google Drive subscription – not sure if I couldn’t find it, or that program stopped, or what. (2) the built-in speaker sounded rather hollow and tinny. I couldn’t see where the speakers were, oh, wait, I turned over the Chromebook and they’re on the bottom, next to each corner where your hands rest. I am not an audiophile, so I don’t know how to more precisely describe the sound quality of the built-in speakers. What I can say is that when I plug in my earbud headphones, the music sounds great like normal.