Acer Chromebook 11 (C720P)

Updated on June 3, 2026

Note: The Acer Chromebook 11 (C720P) reached its Auto Update Expiration date in June 2018 and is no longer receiving Chrome OS updates. This page is preserved for historical reference and for owners researching their existing hardware.

The Acer Chromebook 11 (C720P) was one of the most influential early Chromebooks, released in January 2014 as the touchscreen variant of the wildly popular C720. Priced at $299 for the 2GB model and $329 for the 4GB version, it brought affordable touch computing to the Chrome OS ecosystem at a moment when most touch-enabled laptops cost two or three times that figure. The C720P paired Intel’s Haswell-era Celeron 2955U with a 32GB M.2 SSD and an 11.6-inch panel rated for ten-finger multitouch, and it inherited from its non-touch sibling the user-serviceable storage slot that made the C720 line a perennial favorite of the Linux and Crouton crowd.

Pros and Cons

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Acer Chromebook 11 (C720P) Comparison Chart

	Acer Chromebook 11 (C720P)	Acer Chromebook 11 (C720P)
Price	List Price: $299.99 Amazon Prices: Check Price on Amazon	List Price: $329.99 Amazon Prices: Check Price on Amazon
Model number	C720P-2600	C720P-2457
Performance Rating	2.1	2.6
Chromebook Plus	No	No
Processor	Dual-core 1.40 Ghz Intel Celeron 2955U	Dual-core 1.40 Ghz Intel Celeron 2955U
RAM	2 GB	4 GB
Internal Storage	32 GB SSD (upgradable)	32 GB SSD (upgradable)
Screen Size	11.6"	11.6"
Screen Resolution	1366x768	1366x768
Screen Type	LED-backlit	LED-backlit
Touch Screen	Yes	Yes
Stylus / Pen	No Stylus Support	No Stylus Support
Dimensions width x length x thickness	11.34 x 8.03 x 0.78 inches (288.04 x 203.96 x 19.81 mm)	11.34 x 8.03 x 0.78 inches (288.04 x 203.96 x 19.81 mm)
Weight	2.98 lbs (1.35 kg)	2.98 lbs (1.35 kg)
Backlit Keyboard	No	No
Webcam	720p HD	720p HD
WiFi	802.11 a/b/g/n	802.11 a/b/g/n
Bluetooth	Bluetooth 4.0	Bluetooth 4.0
Ethernet	No	No
Cellular Modem	No	No
HDMI	Full-Size HDMI	Full-Size HDMI
USB Ports	1 USB 2.0, 1 USB 3	1 USB 2.0, 1 USB 3
Thunderbolt Ports	No	No
Card Reader	SD	SD
Battery	3 cell, 3950 mAh, Li-Polymer	3 cell, 3950 mAh, Li-Polymer
Battery Life	7.5 hours	7.5 hours
Fanless	No	No
Auto Update Expiration Date	June, 2018	June, 2018

The C720P in Chromebook History

The C720 family arrived during a brief, formative window for Chrome OS. In late 2013 and early 2014, Google was still convincing the market that a browser-first laptop was a real product category rather than a curiosity, and Acer’s C720 (October 2013) was the device that did most of the convincing on the value end of the spectrum. The C720P, launched a few months later in January 2014, took the same chassis and Haswell-era guts and added a capacitive touchscreen at a $100 premium, putting a touch-enabled Chromebook on retail shelves for $299 at a time when comparable touch-enabled Windows ultrabooks regularly listed above $700.

The C720P also sat at a transitional moment for Chrome OS hardware itself. Earlier Chromebooks had relied on ARM SoCs or older Intel Atoms, both of which felt strained running modern browser workloads. The shift to Haswell Celeron and Core i3 silicon in late 2013 was what finally made a budget Chromebook feel competitive with a budget Windows laptop for everyday web work. The C720 and C720P were the most visible beneficiaries of that shift, and they sold accordingly: Acer leaned on the C720 line at retail through most of 2014, and the design’s general shape (11.6-inch panel, plastic shell, Haswell internals, M.2 SSD, sub-$300 price) became the template that competitors copied for the next two years.

The other half of the C720 family’s legacy lives outside of Chrome OS entirely. The platform’s combination of a stock Intel chipset, no proprietary wireless silicon, and a user-replaceable M.2 SSD made it one of the easiest Chromebooks of its era to retask as a Linux laptop. Chromebook-specific projects like GalliumOS (a Xubuntu derivative tuned for Chromebook hardware and keyboard layouts) named the C720 line as a first-class supported target, and the Crouton chroot project let owners run a full Linux desktop alongside Chrome OS without flashing custom firmware at all. The C720P inherited every bit of that toolchain because the only meaningful difference from the C720 was the touchscreen, which Linux desktops were happy enough to drive once X.org’s libinput stack caught up.

Detailed Insights into the Acer Chromebook 11 (C720P)

The C720P’s 11.6-inch touchscreen display offered 1366x768 resolution with 10-point multitouch capability, making it one of the first truly affordable touch Chromebooks. The glossy LED-backlit panel, while responsive to touch input, was widely criticized for its limited 200-nit brightness and washed-out colors. TechRadar’s review noted that the display struggled in ambient lighting conditions, though indoor use was generally acceptable. The reflective screen surface proved to be a fingerprint magnet, particularly noticeable on the white chassis variant.

Build quality was a mixed bag that reviewers found acceptable for the price point. Acer used a polycarbonate shell that felt sturdy despite its plastic construction, and the chassis exhibited minimal flex during normal use. At 2.98 pounds and measuring 11.34 x 8.03 x 0.78 inches, the C720P was lightweight and portable, though slightly heavier than competitors like the HP Chromebook 11 at 2.2 pounds. The keyboard offered adequate travel for typing, though some reviewers at Laptop Mag noted the shallow key travel as a drawback. The trackpad received mixed reviews, with some users finding it smooth and responsive while others reported occasional jumpiness.

Where the C720P truly excelled was in performance and battery life. The Intel Celeron 2955U processor, based on Intel’s Haswell architecture, provided enough power to handle heavy web browsing with twenty-plus tabs open without significant slowdown. BetaNews called the performance and battery life “wow-worthy,” noting that the device exceeded its rated 7.5-hour battery life even under heavy use. The 32GB SSD was user-upgradeable via an M.2 slot, a feature that endeared the C720P to enthusiasts who wanted more local storage. Port selection was generous for its class, including full-size HDMI, USB 3.0, USB 2.0, SD card reader, and a combo headphone/microphone jack, though a USB Ethernet adapter was needed for wired networking.

Reviewer Insights on the Acer Chromebook 11 (C720P)

Laptop Mag’s Perspective

Laptop Mag’s Lisa Eadicicco rated the C720P 3.5 out of 5 stars, calling it “one of the least-expensive touch-enabled notebooks available.” The review praised the attractive white chassis and generous port selection, noting that “those who primarily use their computer for surfing the Web and light productivity will have no issues replacing their everyday laptop with this budget-friendly machine.” Battery testing yielded 6 hours and 18 minutes of real-world use. Criticisms focused on the display washing out in various lighting conditions and the fact that few Chrome apps at the time were optimized for touch input.

TechRadar’s Perspective

TechRadar’s David Eitelbach awarded the C720P 4 out of 5 stars, emphasizing the device’s excellent value proposition. The review noted that “the Intel Celeron processor proved more than capable of handling heavy browsing, with almost no stuttering or hang ups even with almost two dozen tabs open across multiple windows.” Battery life testing showed 7 hours and 3 minutes at 50% brightness. The main criticism was questioning whether the $100 premium over the non-touch C720 was justified, given Chrome OS’s limited touch optimization at the time.

BetaNews’ Perspective

BetaNews’ Joe Wilcox provided one of the most memorable reviews, calling the C720P “the lover you keep in the dark, for the benefits, but which you wouldn’t be seen with.” This colorful description captured the device’s strengths in performance and battery life versus its aesthetic shortcomings. After two months of extensive testing, Wilcox declared “I can’t deny that I love my C720P…Price vs. performance it’s a sure bet.” The 200-nit screen brightness was identified as inadequate for use in ambient light, and the blue color cast and excessive reflectivity were persistent complaints.

Across these three reviews a consistent picture forms: the C720P delivered surprising performance and dependable battery life for the price, but the dim panel was a real compromise that nobody let Acer off the hook for. For users who primarily worked indoors and valued speed over screen quality, the C720P represented outstanding value.

Life After Auto Update: An Owner’s Reference

Google’s Auto Update Expiration (AUE) for the Chromebook 11 (C720, C720P) family arrived in June 2018, per Google’s official Chrome Enterprise device table. After that date the C720P stopped receiving Chrome OS feature and security updates, which by 2026 puts it more than seven years out of support. A C720P still running stock Chrome OS today is not a safe everyday browser: the rendering engine, the certificate store, and the kernel are all frozen at their 2018 state, and modern web sign-in flows increasingly refuse to load on the device’s old Blink build. For light kiosk-style use on a trusted local network the hardware is still functional, but it should not be treated as a current daily driver in its factory configuration.

The good news for owners is that the same characteristics that made the C720P historically popular also make it one of the easier Chromebooks to repurpose long after AUE. The user-serviceable M.2 2242 SATA SSD means a fresh, larger drive can be fitted before installing a Linux distribution, and the Haswell-era Celeron, Atheros wireless, and Realtek audio all have full upstream Linux support that did not require proprietary blobs even when the device was new. GalliumOS, which targeted Chromebook hardware specifically (correct keyboard mappings, working trackpad gestures, sensible defaults for the Atheros radio), was historically the smoothest install on this family; in 2026 active development on GalliumOS has slowed and most C720P repurposing now uses mainline Xubuntu, Linux Mint XFCE, or Debian, all of which run perfectly well on the 2GB or 4GB variants if the desktop environment is kept lightweight.

A few practical notes for anyone still holding a C720P. The polycarbonate hinge and palmrest hold up well after a decade of use, but the 3950 mAh Li-Polymer battery does not: an original cell that has not already been replaced is likely down to a fraction of its rated 7.5-hour runtime, and replacement packs are an inexpensive and well-documented fix. The 32GB stock SSD is small for a modern Linux install with a meaningful local file collection, so most owners pair the OS swap with a 128GB or 256GB M.2 2242 SATA drive. The touchscreen continues to work under Linux through libinput; it is best treated as an occasional secondary input rather than a primary one, exactly as it functioned under Chrome OS. The original SeaBIOS legacy boot path that powered most early C720 Linux installs is still the standard route to booting an alternate OS, and the steps are essentially identical to those documented for the non-touch C720.

Conclusion

The Acer Chromebook 11 (C720P) represented an important milestone in Chromebook history, demonstrating that Chrome OS devices could deliver solid performance, dependable battery life, and a touchscreen at under $350. The display quality was the consistent point of criticism across reviews, but the everyday performance was enough to make the C720P a popular choice for students and casual users at a moment when affordable touch laptops barely existed. Its user-upgradeable SSD also kept it relevant to the Linux enthusiast community long after newer Chromebooks moved to soldered eMMC. Though it reached its Auto Update Expiration in June 2018, the C720P earned its place as one of the defining Chromebooks of the early Chrome OS era. For those evaluating current options, the Chromebook Comparison Chart offers a side-by-side look at models available today.

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