Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

So, I have no reservations recommending this as a Chromebook for people who want a Chromebook, but this review is based on my experience blowing away ChromeOS and installing ubuntu linux, and for that I am quite pleased, although much of my happiness would apply to someone sticking with ChromeOS also. To start with, the standout feature is the screen. It's a bright IPS 1080p display. It's better than displays found in much more expensive laptops. It's not as good as the retina macbook pro I have... but that costs ten times as much, and the gap between them is closer than it has any right to be. Meanwhile, the screen easily bests that of a 13" macbook air. In terms of other hardware: Physical: The laptop is very similar to a 13" macbook air in size and weight. It's plastic, which is to be expected at the price point, but it's overall solid plastic with a non-slip texture to it. I like the build overall. The hinges worry me for long term, but they are also not the worst I've seen. Overall it's not bad considering that you're not paying for carved aluminum. CPU: The Celeron (I have the CB35-C3300) is snappy. I mean, it's not a high end processor, but it's on the above average side of the line for this price range. RAM: 4GB is enough for most things you'd do on a laptop this size, and is above par for the price point. Sound: Very good for laptop speakers. It's not going to replace your stereo, but the sound is pretty good given the limitations of small speakers, and the volume is sufficient. Keyboard: Feels good, almost like a macbook keyboard (a compliment) and it's backlit too (albiet I havn't gotten that working in linux yet) Trackpad: My one complaint -- the track pad takes a while to break in. It's not horrible, but I'd have paid $20 more for a better trackpad. Storage: The bad news: it's only a 16GB SSD. The good news: It's a 42mm M.2 card, so it can be upgraded. I replaced mine with a Transcend 256GB SATA III 6Gb/s MTS400 42 mm M.2 SSD Solid State Drive (TS256GMTS400). NOTE: the older B-series Toshiba Chromebook 2 is can NOT be upgraded. The 2015 edition CAN be. Battery: Once I got linux setup correctly with laptop-mode-tools, I am mind blown. I havn't drained the thing, but I used it all evening on battery last night and was still over 85%. I am betting that with "typical" use I could get a good 10-12 hours, and if I were doing something heavier the entire time maybe 6-8 hours. (note: ChromeOS has the laptop-mode-tools enabled by default) Overall: This has become my go-to machine for casual use given the battery life, light weight and size, the fact that it won't melt my lap, and the fact that I am more willing to risk this getting banged up than I am my more expensive laptop. If I am needing to do real work on the road, my 15" Retina Macbook Pro is coming along... but, with full linux, I could do everything I absolutely need to for work on this. Basically, you really can't beat this machine without spending more than twice as much. And that is really the key thing here... this device has a lot of very good features relative to its price point, and the compromises Toshiba made to get it into this price bracket were overall the right ones to make. The end result is a device that is a joy to use, without breaking your budget. PS: I kept notes on installing linux here: [...] UPDATE: I got the keyboard backlight working. The instructions to patch it in are in my notes, although newer kernels may support it out of box.