How To Get An Ultrabook For LESS THAN 200$

[iamdarkyoshi]

Quote

Ul·tra·book

ˈəltrəˌbo͝ok/

noun

trademark

 

1. a thin, lightweight form of laptop having similar functionality to an ordinary laptop but lacking some of its hardware features.

 

So, a Chromebook C720 is basically that, but also running a custom OS. Well, the C720 has a custom bios available that lets you seamlessly run windows on it!

A guide is available here: https://coolstar.org/chromebook/windows-install.html?device=peppy

 

I'd also recommend getting an IPS display, and a larger SSD. The ISP display is personal preference, but the SSD upgrade is needed if the machine comes with a 16GB SSD, most do, but some have a 32GB SSD.

 

The C720 uses a small M.2 SSD, and can accomodate a full side one if you remove one of the speakers. I removed it, but put a macbook speaker on top of the SSD, so I at least still get sound from both sides, even if I only get bass from one side.

 

Anyway, the process is fairly simple, and the guide includes pretty much everything.

 

Finding a cheap C720:

Look locally or at schools. If you can find one where the backlighting doesn't work, awesome find, its a common issue, the cable came loose from the LCD and can be fixed in about a minute with a screwdriver

If not, they go for about 120 bucks WORKING on ebay. I got mine locally for about 20 bucks, plus an IPS LCD from ebay, and a 64GB SSD from work.

 

 

So how usable is it?

Well, I'm posting this from the very device in question. The battery life trumps any other cheap ultrabook I've seen (45W/h battery, 15W TDP CPU) and the laptop is really nice and light.

The trackpad is quite decent, I never use the clicky button as tap and drag is a thing, two finger tap to right click, three finger tap to scroll wheel click, and 4 finger tap to open the windows action center. And yes, you can customize these too! Its got a USB 3.0 port, USB 2.0 port, SD card reader, HDMI, and a 4 pole headset jack.

Being a chromebook, replacement parts are pretty cheap too.

 

Downsides: Slightly weird keyboard. The power button is where I would like the delete key (though you can remap it easily) and there are no F1-12 keys, only dedicated keys, some of which are useless to me, but they do all work. A windows key. I've used a PC with windows 10 for a year without activating it, you just can't customize stuff lol

 

I really don't have any major complaints about this, it supports windows 10 very very well, and boots faster than any other machine in my house, including my 6700K PC with an 850 Evo SSD.

 

If you need a really cheap ultrabook for school, get one of these!

 

[The Sloth]

ebay old ThinkPads 

[ARikozuM]

I prefer spellbooks and EAP.

[iamdarkyoshi]

1 minute ago, nerdslayer1 said:

ebay old ThinkPads 

But they aren't as nice to use to be honest. This chromebook can actually play rocket league, I shit you not

[g12601]

My school had/have some of those, before every student got an issued Chromebook.

[iamdarkyoshi]

1 minute ago, g12601 said:

My school had/have some of those, before every student got an issued Chromebook.

*Comes back to school running windows 10*

[The Sloth]

2 minutes ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

But they aren't as nice to use to be honest. This chromebook can actually play rocket league, I shit you not

can you show me some evidence? the old Thinkpad's with 3rd gen i7 can handle light casual games.

[iamdarkyoshi]

8 minutes ago, nerdslayer1 said:

can you show me some evidence? the old Thinkpad's with 3rd gen i7 can handle light casual games.

Eventually, yes

 

Now it estimates 35 minutes lolol

[Hackentosher]

It's a shame I threw a rock on mine, it's a great little laptop even on Chrome OS. 

 

Think it's possible to wire up a physical power button and keep the delete key? 

[The Sloth]

2 minutes ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

Eventually, yes

 

Now it estimates 35 minutes lolol

 

it will play rocket leage better than a 3rd gen i7 and an igpu? 

[iamdarkyoshi]

1 minute ago, nerdslayer1 said:

it will play rocket leage better than a 3rd gen i7 and an igpu? 

Well... it plays it, I didn't say it did a great job but for an intel celery and fuckall ram its impressive nonetheless

[The Sloth]

5 minutes ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

Well... it plays it, I didn't say it did a great job but for an intel celery and fuckall ram its impressive nonetheless

not bad for a machine that's around 200 usd 

 

[iamdarkyoshi]

3 minutes ago, nerdslayer1 said:

not bad for a machine that's around 200 usd 

 

Well I bought mine for 20 USD lol

 

My Asus ROG plays it with the settings maxed, but I would expect a >1K gaming laptop to do that

[The Sloth]

1 minute ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

Well I bought mine for 20 USD lol

 

My Asus ROG plays it with the settings maxed, but I would expect a >1K gaming laptop to do that

 

20 usd is a really good price. gaming laptops are meh in my opinion, they are "laptops".  

[iamdarkyoshi]

21 minutes ago, nerdslayer1 said:

20 usd is a really good price. gaming laptops are meh in my opinion, they are "laptops".