Microsoft Office 365 comes included for one year, which includes 1TB of OneDrive online storage, Microsoft Office programs, and some Skype minutes each month.
As a separate bonus, Asus is offering 500GB of online storage though WebStorage.
The screen goes bright enough, and its color range is better than other laptops under $300 (it scores 68.2 on the sRGB color gamut, while competitive options typically score closer to 60).
The 1.33GHz Atom Z3735 CPU paired with 2GB of RAM performed admirably. In GeekBench 3, the EeeBook scored 2212, beating out the HP Steam 11 (1804) and Lenovo S21e (1694). When it comes to hard number crunching, the EeeBook falls short taking 25% longer than the HP Steam 11.
The rounded block design isn't flashy, and the matte finish will get very oily from kid's fingers, and cleaning it isn't a simple affair either - it will take more than just a cloth wipedown if you want it to look shiny and new again.
The touchpad is surprisingly large for such a small laptop, and it performs quickly. Gestures (two finger scrolling, pinch to zoom) are a different story however, and don't work as well as they should.
The 32 GB SSD leaves only about 17 GB of free space to play with. A 1 year, 1 TB subscription to One Drive is included, though, and will cost $70/year thereafter.
Being a Chromebook, the laptop is optimized with internet access in mind. Programs like Microsoft Office can only be used online. The laptop does come with 12 Gogo inflight internet coupons.
Makes up for the 16 GB SSD, and 2 years is a better offer than the 1 year of One Drive given by Windows machines, although their offer is for 1 TB, 10x the space Google is offering.
Being a Chromebook, the laptop is optimized with internet access in mind. Programs like Microsoft Office can only be used online. The laptop does come with 12 Gogo inflight internet coupons.
The keyboard can fold all the way back, allowing you to use it like a tablet. This is more comfortable when using it anywhere other than a desk (in bed, on the couch) as long as you don't need the keyboard.
The on-board Celeron N3050 processor accompanied by 2GB of RAM doesn't perform the best. In GeekBench (an overall test of the system's performance), it only scored 1560 which is below some of the 2000ish results from other laptops in this price range.
At this price, it's very surprising to see a touchscreen model. Having a touch screen can be easier to use for young ones, although it may be frustrating on such a small screen because all of the touch-targets are considerably smaller than Android or iOS tablets.
With only 32GB of eMMC storage, you'll quickly be searching for more storage. Thankfully there are ports which can help you achieve this - a SD card slot or USB key/removable hard drive are your best options unless you prefer cloud storage.
Working on it for long periods of time becomes a pain and it is hard to make use of tiling window managers that place applications side-by-side. Instead, you are forced to separate your applications into work-spaces or tabs and switch between them that way.
The 1.33GHz Atom Z3735F accompanied by 2GB of RAM is enough for light tasks to run smoothly side-by-side. It scores 2195 on GeekBench 3. It has slow data transfer speeds (31MB/s), and very slow at crunching data (matching up 20,000 names and addresses in OpenOffice took over 22 minutes).
Viewing angles are actually good, colors are only a bit muted, and it provides more accurate colors than competing laptops under $300. It also gets sufficiently bright.
Valued at $70, this laptop comes with Microsoft Office 365 which brings access to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access. Office 365 also includes 1TB of OneDrive Cloud storage, and 60 Skype minutes of calling per month to mobile phones and landlines.
While in use, the top remains very cool, however the bottom gets uncomfortably hot. As long as you use it on a desk you will be fine - not your lap (comfort reasons) or on soft surfaces (overheating reasons).
With 2 USB ports (both 2.0 speeds), a full sized HDMI port and a microSD card reader, the 100s has all the basic ports you need, although a USB 3.0 port would have been nice as it would allow you access to more fast storage.
Although it flexes a ton, the typing experience is alright. The keys are large for a laptop its size, and require enough force to activate that it becomes more satiating than expected.
Of the 32GB, only 17GB is user accessible after installing the OS. You will want to expand this through the SD card slot, cloud storage, or a USB stick.
The S21e is for all intents and purposes a regular 'big person' laptop. It depends on the kid, but some kids around 12-14 start wanting to become an adult, and this laptop will be perfect for those who aren't into super flashy 'childish' colors.
The 2.16GHz Celeron N2840 processor paired with 2GB of RAM provides lackluster performance. In Geekbench 3, it scored 1694 (below the HP Steam's 1804 score, also below the EeeBook X205TA's 2212 score).
However, it performs admirably in OpenOffice testing - 25% faster than the EeeBook X205TA and the same as the HP Steam 11. It also manages to transfer files quickly (compared to the competition), at 53 BM/s (EeeBook X205TA achieved 41.3MB/s, and the Steam 11 achieved 44MB/s).
Continuous web surfing on 44% brightness, this laptop lasted 5h36m which is shorter than both the HP Steam 11 (6h34m) and Asus EeeBook X205TA (12h05m).
There is no fan, which means that the S21e will get a bit warm. It doesn't however get hot - all temperatures remained cool enough for comfortable use.
The keyboard is a regular layout that has been shrunk down to fit in a 11.6" laptop's body. For the price, it's a good keyboard, although that isn't saying too much.
The 11.6" display is small, and the viewing angles aren't great either. Colors are washed out, and glare is an issue. The resolution (1366x768) isn't too bad for a screen it's size and the brightness is fair.