Acer Chromebook Review

I'm a die-hard Apple fan. I won't even look at anything else, much less consider buying it. Except... I'm a die-hard Apple fan who works for a nonprofit, is saving up to buy a house, and has no extra income to speak of right now. So when my beloved MacBook Pro showed signs of biting the dust rather soon (always a bad thing when it literally won't even connect to the Internet anymore), I knew what I wanted: I wanted an 11-inch MacBook Air. The 256gb SSD refurbished is around $900, which I thought was okay. But I also want a normal iMac, with a stinkin' big hard drive so I don't run out of space for the foreseeable future.

I promise, I'm about to get to the Acer review. I started consulting on the side recently, and literally only needed a computer with a little bit of a hard drive that would be able to connect to the Internet. Not too much to ask, right? The problem was I needed it right away, and didn't have time to save up for an Air. I hadn't been super familiar with Chromebooks, but thought I'd look them up on Amazon anyways.

When I logged onto Amazon and saw the Acer Chromebook 11, I thought there was a pricing mistake. Seriously, less than $175 for a computer? What the heck? I looked up the specs for the MacBook Air and saw that the Chromebook was startlingly similar in most ways, except for the fact that the Chromebook had 2gb of RAM instead of 4, like the MacBook. It also only has a 16gb SSD, but comes with Google Drive (more on that below) I bought it (with more than a little guilt over buying a non-Apple product!) and have been using it for almost a month.

The Good:
Seriously, this thing is a 90%-er. It absolutely rocks. It's ridiculously light, and feels good/stable. It's made out of plastic, which I was initially concerned about, but I've found out it wipes off remarkably well. It's also impressively fast. It loads web pages easily and quickly (for the most part, more on that below), and the battery life is simply incredible. I was home all day yesterday recovering from a wisdom tooth pull (ugh), and I used it for hours upon hours without it failing. The battery also recharges very quickly, which has come in really handy.

The keyboard has a good feel, and clicks nicely, which may sounds stupid but I'm really picky about my keyboards. It has a built-in webcam that's decent (though maybe nothing to write home about), and my family has had fun taking funny pictures with the camera and built-in software.

Features!

I'm also impressed at all the features - it has two USB 3 ports, headphone jack, SD card reader, and even an HDMI port. Pretty impressive for a sub-$200 computer! Also, it should be noted that the speakers are just fine - a little tinny, but I like the speakers right below the computer. It amplifies them when on a hard surface, but when on a soft surface (half the time I'm typing on a couch or a bed), it's significantly muted.

Like I said, I mostly use it for the Internet, and that does a pretty good job most of the time. I should also point out that it came with a lot of extras - 100gbs of Google Drive for 2 years, 12 Gogo air passes, and a 60-day trial of Google Music. Because I bought it on Amazon, I also got a year of Amazon Unlimited Cloud Storage for a year (which is apparently a $59.99 value)

The Neutral:
There are definitely some things I've had to get used to. The 16gb hard drive is smaller than my phone, so I'm constantly cleaning things out that I download and putting them on the Google Drive, or Dropbox. It's basically another step or two to save things, but it's not usually a huge deal.

Because I'm used to a glossy screen, and this is matte, it took me a good week to get used to it without hurting my eyes. It's a good screen, and fine resolution, but I feel like the resolution doesn't come through in the matte screen. Not a huge deal, but again, something to consider.

I'm used to utilizing lots of different browsers (Chrome, Firefox, and Safari), and it's odd to me to only have one. Most of the time I don't really notice, but it was something that was jarring at first.

The Bad:
Remember how I mentioned it only has 2gb of RAM? I didn't think it was going to be a big deal, but if I have more than two browser tabs open the thing slows down considerably, or even locks up. There were a few times last week when it would freeze and restart with no warning, which was really annoying. It turns out though that I hadn't updated it in a bit and that seems to have solved the issue. Still, if you want to have Netflix or Spotify running in the background, you can only have one other tab open, tops.

This is a stupid thing to include in the "Bad" column, and I know it, but the thing has no caps lock! Instead of a caps lock button, it has a "search" button. Which is fine, I suppose, for the people who want to use the search, but I can't tell you how many times I've tried to caps lock and have ended up typing in the search bar. Only 10 seconds, tops, but takes me out of my productivity mode.

The Bottom Line:
Like I said, this thing is a 90%-er. There are some workarounds that need to be done if you're used to doing everything on one computer (for instance, I now edit photos on my phone), but if you're looking for a really inexpensive computer that will do most things you need, I think it's great. I'm planning on using this for the foreseeable future, and will only get the iMac in the future (still need someplace to store all my stuff!). It's a great alternative to a tablet, or in addition to a tablet, and it's pretty fun to use. All in all, I'd highly recommend it.

To Buy: Amazon, Acer

Ipsy: September Glam Bag Review

Woohoo! It's Ipsy day! Okay, Ipsy day was actually three days ago, but life was kind of flying. I have to tell you guys, this is the absolute least I've ever looked at spoilers. I saw at one point a few things that were in there, and for about a split second what the bag looked like, but that was it. I didn't go through and read the reviews and have a bias toward what I was going to like or not like (which I do normally), so I was pretty anxious to get that pink metallic bag in the mail.

The first thing that I noticed was the mailer bag was thick. Sweet! I opened it and saw that it was thick because one of the items that was included, but couldn't fit in the actual bag, was a purple metallic eyelash curler. Huh. I know a lot of women would be thrilled by that, and it looks like a pretty decent one, but my eyelashes are already pretty curly. I know, I know... don't hate me. It'd be great for anyone except me. To the giveaway pile it goes.

I unzipped the bag (more on that in a sec) and pulled out an Ipsy-NYX trio of eyeshadows. At first I wasn't super enthused, since I have more eyeshadow than I will wear on 1000 dates, but upon closer inspection I think this is actually a base-crease-liner trio, which is awesome. And it's travel sized! The bronzes are gorgeous, and the charcoal grey is perfect. Keeping this one!

The next thing I pulled out was a "Trust Fund Beauty" box. Since I am such a beauty neophyte, I had no idea what it was. Turns out, it's nail polish. The color they sent me was "Elegantly Wasted" (oxymoron, if you ask me), and I honestly can't figure out if I kinda love it or kinda hate it. It's a purple-gray, and I actually like it decently well actually on my nail, but not so much in the bottle. I will give them this, though: they are cruelty-free and vegan, plus non-toxic, so you better believe I'll be checking out this brand.

Next out was a cute little Avene moisture mask. And when I say cute, I mean cute! I think I audibly "awwww"ed when I pulled it out. That said, I don't see how it will be very useful. I think it might contain enough to do one cheek, and we'll see how it goes. Thus far, my biggest reaction to it is that the packaging is in mostly French. So maybe this is how sophisticated Europeans do their moisture masks, one cheek at a time?

The last item in the bag was a bronze eyeliner. If I'm being 100% honest, and I try to be on here, I'm not sure I have the guts to wear it. It seems a little out there for me, style-wise. But the color is just drop-dead gorgeous, and it looks silky smooth, so I will attempt to be brave at least once this week. Possibly with make-up remover and washcloth in hand.

And now, finally, to the bag. Truthfully, I would've spent $10 just on this. It's a luxe, buttery copper color, with waves in the front that simultaneously remind me of the beach and a saddle. It's perfect for Fall, and if I'm feeling super fancy at some point, I just might use it as a clutch. No joke.

Well, that's September! I think Ipsy did a great job of transitioning to Fall from Summer. These colors have got me yearning for soup, scarves, and boots!

The "Spend a Little, Save a Lot" Bag

I don't know if you have seen the crazy-low fares that Frontier Airlines are running right now (blog post to come later), but I jumped on those fares faster than you can blink. Less than $100 round trip to sun and a beach from my land-locked state? Sold! My sister and I decided to take a sister trip - no husbands (easy for me since I don't have one), no parents, no dogs, just us. Ahhhhh.

The only problem with Frontier is their fees. Sweet goodness, I'm surprised the recirculated oxygen is free. Anywho, they wanted to charge us $30 for the carry-on. Since I'm in the running for Cheapest Person on the Planet, that didn't sit well with me. Surely I have a bag that will be workable with the personal item measurements I thought. If nothing else, I'd ship stuff. It'd be cheaper.

I used to sell Thirty-One bags, and still have many from when I was selling them, so I decided to dive into my treasure trove of merchandise. I had one in mind but when I held it up it was a lot bigger than I remembered. Dangit. I thought, frustrated. That one had all the pockets! I pulled another out (which I grumbled about, because it didn’t have half the pockets), and went off to find my measuring tape.

My preferred bag was too big, but the second one I pulled was absolute perfection. I mean that - I double-checked the measurements allowed for a personal item on Frontier and this bag was basically made to fit. It's called the All-Day Organizing Tote from Thirty-One, and it is heaven-sent. The personal bag requirements on Frontier are bags that are less than 14x8x18 inches, and the Thirty-One tote is 13.5x7x17.5. Ding ding ding! We have a winner!

Here’s a picture of my bag (sorry, I don't think they make this pattern anymore), and a picture of almost everything I crammed into it. If you can’t tell from the photo, this includes:

• Beach towel
• Disney backpack (souvenir)
• Disney puzzle (souvenir)
• Jeans
• Yoga pants (not pictured)
• Shoes
• Flip-flops (not pictured)
• 1 book
• iPad mini (not pictured)
• Clutch
• Wallet (not pictured)
• Charging cords
• 5 shirts
• Dress
• Make-up bag
• Toiletries bag
• Socks
• Swimsuit
• Power bank (w/ box)

For this trip I decided to take the "less-is-more" approach, but still managed to wear something different every day. This bag is $45 from Thirty-One, compared to the $30 for a carry-on (or $60 if you pay at the gate!). If you carry this bag twice, you've already won. I had women on my Frontier flight coming up to me saying, "that's so cool! I need one!"

There were a few small maneuvers to get it to fit into the sizing box, but the bag doesn't allow for much more than will fit. It truly was the perfect bag to have as a personal item, and I would recommend it to anyone. Because the fabric wipes clean, we even took it to the beach and used it as our beach tote. There are four pockets inside, and a small pocket outside. I would've killed for a few more pockets, but it worked just perfectly.

If Frontier continues these ridiculously low fares, I'll keep flying whenever I jolly well please. And you can bet that my trusty bag will be with me wherever I go!

*Full disclosure: I used to sell Thirty-One bags, but have been inactive for almost a year. This is not a paid endorsement in any way, shape, or form. I have nothing to gain from recommending this bag. If you are interested in ordering, order online here or contact a Thirty-One representative.

Ipsy: An Overview

Okay, let me be the first to admit it: I love make-up. I totally suck at it, though, and I don't really know enough about it to branch out. That's where Ipsy comes in.

Ipsy is a subscription box service. For $10 a month, they send you five samples plus a make-up bag. Each month is themed, and you fill out a semi-lengthy questionnaire at the beginning to determine what you do and don't want.

I've been on Ipsy for about a year, and it's been fairly hit-or-miss. Some months I'm incredibly excited about what I'm getting, and I've gotten some of my favorite new products from an Ipsy bag. Navy eyeliner? Yes please! They sent me the most awesome gold nail polish I've ever seen, and the make-up brushes are pretty much second to none.

That said, there's also been some things that have gone straight to the giveaway pile. Some of the colors are wild - purple lipstick? No thanks! I'm more of a classic/casual girl.

I've also had really good experiences with their customer service department. One of my samples arrived damaged (it had been spoiled by the heat - ICK), and they replaced it with a full-size Oscar Blandi within a week.

My biggest beef with them is that they reveal what you're getting about a week before you actually get it. While great for people who have self control, I don't have any! I always look and it takes the surprise out of opening my package. So, in the interest of good blogging, I have resolved to not look at September's spoilers! Since I usually get them on the 11th, I only have 9 days to keep it together. Wish me luck!

P.S. - If you feel like trying it out (which I absolutely recommend), please use my referral link!