Acer – Acer-Chromebook 317 Laptop–17.3 FHD IPS Touch Display–Intel Pentium Silver N6000 Processor–8GB LPDDR4X–64GB eMMC– WiFi6

I’ve owned the 15″ model, with a Celeron and 4GB of RAM for a few years. At the time I bought it, it had the largest screen I could find.
My only complaints with the 15″ have been the screen size, and it was a little less snappy than I would like. In particular I would have a youtube video running, and I would be browsing and as a page loaded I would sometimes get a “twirly” on the youtube video for a couple of seconds.
I’ve had the 17″ model, with a Pentium and 8GB of RAM for a week now, and I have not seen a twirly.
I ran https://browserbench.org/Speedometer2.0/ on each unit and on the speedometer I get a 32 on the 15″ and an 88 on the 17″. So that is a bit of objective proof that the one is snappier than the other.
I’ve attached a picture of the 15″ laptop on top of the 17″ laptop. The 17″ is half an inch wider and a quarter of an inch deeper. They are almost the same size! The bezel on the 17″ is much skinnier than on the 15″. This similarity of the external size of the two laptops was a happy surprise.
A few other comments that are obvious if you read the specs, and mostly just my personal preferences:
Like the 15″ the 17″ has a touch screen, and this is of no use for me. I use a mouse so I navigate fine, and do not smudge the screen while I’m doing so. Unlike the 15″ the 17″ is not convertible, which is another feature I have no use for. I don’t have much use for the 10 key on the 17″, but the page up, page down, home, and end keys on the 17″ have a tiny bit of use. It doesn’t bother me that the main keyboard is a tad smaller on the 17″. I like that the 17″ has the power button up on the keyboard, and not sticking out of the side of the unit.
Of course I’m rating this excellent, with respect to what one pays for the laptop. I’m sure for a lot more money I could buy something snappier – but the bang for the buck is awesome.

Ok, let’s just start with the obvious. This is for all intents and purposes, a great chromebook. Acer has never really disappointed in the chromebook field in my opinion. And I can remember using their 14′ chromebook with many of the same features, just a couple years ago. As a matter of fact, my daughter still uses it to this day. She loves it. With upward firing speakers (that don’t really amaze, but does get the job done.) A full keyboard, including the num-pad & a vivid full HD touch screen that I don’t think I’ll find myself using all that much[side note, there is a non-touch screen version available if you want to save some cash.] but truth is, you really can’t go wrong with getting the touch screen, because it just makes since when you think of what a quality laptop/chromebook should be. As far as the build, the whole thing is made of plastic, even the track pad. I don’t have an issue with it and it still looks nice and I do like the fact that it doesn’t come off as a fingerprint magnet. The brush metal hue always looks good in a coffee shop or library. It’s running with a new Pentium Silver N6000 processor and 8GB LPDDR4X – 64GB eMMC and WiFi 6, it has some punch for such a cheap device. 2 type C ports. 1 on either side as well an USB A on each side and there’s also a micro SD card slot. There’s a 3.5mm headphone/ mic on board also. I have grown to love the feel of the keyboards that come off of Acer’s production line, so you won’t get any complaints from me in that department. Talking about the screen for a moment. There’s an nice antiglare finish which allows for comfortable viewing and I really couldn’t notice the smudging going on while I handled the screen for navigation. There’s really not much that can be said on the proformance side, considering that I’ve been through maybe 5 Chromebooks since my first time with the Acer 14. If you’re chromebook user, the one thing you’ll notice is the size. This could be a good thing or bad, depending on your preference. Me, personnally, I prefer something along the lines of a 13′ chromebook. I think that is the sweet spot. Whatching media on this 17.3′ screen is nice but not outstanding. Put on a pair of bluetooth headphones and enjoy your show, because the speakers kinda pull you out of the experience. They’re right there, but sound like they would benefit from being downward facing. At least that way, it could bounce off of whatever surface it’s going to be sitting on, to give it some base. The way they are, however, the highs are just in your face, a little too much, I think. This also could’ve benefitted from folding into full table mode. I think that’s the best way to consume media on a chromebook.Also, I’m sure I would’ve given it a 5 star rating, if it did fold into tablet mode. This is possiblly the first chromebook I’ve ever had to charge before use, but that’s just me being entitled. It doesn’t take very long to charge and it has a pretty good battery life. The 720p web cam is decent, for a chromebook and honestly, I prefer it over my PC and external stream cam for video chats. All I can really say is it’s big. And I don’t think there’s a need for such a large chromebook until someone makes it possible to properly do proper video editing on them. Do I recommend it? I’d say it would be remiss of me not to. It really is a great product from an ever greater company and it’s really affordable. If you catch it on sale over the holidays, which I’m sure you will, I’d go so far as to say, pick a couple up for those students in your life. Or simply be sure to get one for yourself. Great job, Acer, on bringing something no one know they wanted, but may very well find out tha they need it.