As classrooms become increasingly high-tech, it's out with the old composition notebooks, and in with the chromebooks. The Asus Chromebook C202SA-YS02 ($229) is crafted with kids in mind and features a rugged design with a spill-resistant keyboard. Though it's a bit thicker than similar chromebooks, and can be a little sluggish when running multiple browser tabs, its long battery life, affordability, and modular design, make it a solid choice for use in schools. Still, the Acer Chromebook R 11 ($373.01 at Amazon) remains our top pick for its strong performance, superior local storage, and convertible design, but it will cost you more. If you're on a strict budget, the Chromebook C202SA-YS02 is worth a look.
Design and Features
Kids can be messy and accident-prone. That's why Asus put its focus into making the C202 ($229.99 at Amazon) as durable as possible. The chromebook features 3mm of dark-blue rubberized molding around all four corners of its grayish, texturized-plastic chassis. On the bottom, there are also two rubber grips that help keep the C202 from slipping around on your desk or out of your hand. To top it all off, Asus says the C202 can withstand drops of up to 3.9 feet, and its keyboard is resistant to spills of up to 66cc (a bit more than a quarter-cup) of liquid.
Measuring 0.89 by 11.57 by 7.87 inches (HWD) and weighing 2.64 pounds, the C202 is slightly thicker, but lighter than hardy competitors like the Lenovo ThinkPad 11e Chromebook ($59.00 at Amazon) (0.87 inch, 3.1 pounds) and the Dell Chromebook 11 Non-Touch ($299.00 at Dell) (0.83 inch, 2.7 pounds). And as far as 11-inch chromebooks go, the C202 is definitely on the thicker side. That being said, its small size means it doesn't take up too much space in a backpack or messenger bag, and isn't going to break your back while commuting to work or traveling between classes.
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The 11.6-inch display has a resolution of 1,366-by-768 with an antiglare coating, which is good when working outside or in a brightly lit environment. A potential downside is that the screen lacks touch capability, a feature that's found in other chromebooks like the Acer R 11. Furthermore, while the hinge can open up to a full 180 degrees, it's not quite convertible. The idea is that the hinge facilitates easy viewing for collaboration. The reality is that the rubber grip on the bottom prevents the laptop from lying completely flat, and viewing angles aren't great unless you're pretty much hovering directly over the screen.
The keyboard deck and touchpad are both made from silver plastic that looks and feels sleek. The keys also feature blue lettering, which I personally find to be a bit hard to see under dim lighting, but the larger font on the key labels helps with that. The typing experience on the C202 is adequate—the keys feel fine but aren't anything spectacular, and while the keyboard might feel small for some, it's a good size for a child's hands. The two stereo speakers located on the front bottom corners of the chromebook can get pretty loud and have decent audio quality, as long as you don't expect bumpin' bass lines at top volumes.
Port selection is fairly standard. The left panel houses the HDMI port, audio jack, three-in-one card reader (SD/SDHC/SDXC), and a USB 3.0 port; on the right you'll find the other USB 3.0 port, power jack, Kensington lock slot, and two lights that indicate whether you're plugged in or if your battery is charged. Dual-band 802.11ac wireless connectivity, a 720p HD webcam, and 16GB of eMMC flash memory round out the features. Note: Because Chrome OS relies on Web applications and cloud storage, you won't find much local storage on chromebooks. And while there are a number of chromebooks with 32GB of local storage, 16GB isn't out of the ordinary for similarly priced products.
It should also be noted that the C202 was made to be easily taken apart. According to Asus, the keyboard, motherboard, battery, and thermal module can be dismantled in about 10 minutes, so it would theoretically be easier and more cost-effective for schools to make repairs or replace parts. This isn't a feature that we've seen much from chromebooks, and it helps the C202 stand out from the crowd. The C202 comes with a two-year International warranty, as well as a one-year battery pack warranty.
Performance
The Asus Chromebook C202 is powered by a dual-core 1.6GHz Intel Celeron N3060 processor with Intel HD Graphics 400. The C202 we tested came with 4GB of memory (a 2GB version of this chromebook, the C202SA-YS01, is available for $199), which was fine for light browsing but the system noticeably slowed down when I had multiple tabs open. Music streaming on Spotify and video playback on YouTube were smooth up until I opened the sixth or seventh tab, which caused the track or video I was playing to skip or buffer. At that point, I also began to see some lag when working in various Google Drive applications simultaneously.
Part of the reason might lie with the C202's processor; almost all of the other chromebooks we've tested recently have more juice. For instance, both the Dell Chromebook 11 Non-Touch and the Lenovo 100S Chromebook feature 2.16GHz Celeron processors. And while the difference between a 1.6GHz and a 1.8GHz processor is generally not that noticeable, the CTL Chromebook J2 ( at Amazon) and Asus Chromebook Flip (C100PA-DB02) ($100.00 at Amazon) both feature the 1.8GHz Rockchip RK3288-C and delivered smooth and nimble multitasking during testing.
In terms of battery life, the C202 clocked in at an impressive 12 hours, 5 minutes in our rundown test, outlasting the Acer Chromebook R 11 (10:35), Lenovo Thinkpad 11e (7:35), CTL Chromebook J2 (8:55), and Dell Chromebook 11 Non-Touch (10:37). This chromebook will last a whole school day and then some.
Conclusion
The durability, affordable price, long battery life, and modular design of the Asus Chromebook C202 make it a good choice if you're looking for a budget computer for yourself or your kids and you don't need Windows. But its sluggish multiple-tab browsing can seriously frustrate anyone trying to work on important projects or documents in Web-based applications. For only $20 more, the Asus Chromebook Flip is a convertible chromebook with a touch screen and impressive multitasking capabilities. The Acer Chromebook R 11, though more expensive, remains our Editors' Choice for its convertible design, large IPS touch screen, and speedy performance.
The Asus Chromebook C202SA-YS02 comes with a sturdy, kid-friendly, modular design and a low price that makes it a good choice for the classroom.
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