Acer Chromebox CXI3

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crosscourt
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Acer Chromebox CXI3

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My Ebay bid won out as I got it for $180. Its the last model released and is supported thru June 2025. This model has a 128GB SSD, 4gb of ram and a Celeron 1.8ghz cpu. The ram can be expanded to 16gb and the SSD can also be replaced for a larger drive(four screws to take off the side to upgrade parts).
It includes a Mini SD card slot so increasing storage is easy but external storage can also be used given the large number of ports including HDMI and USB3. Doesnt use much power and comes with a small external brick PSU. Its completely quiet and doesnt feel hot to the touch so would fit almost anywhere.
It includes a mouse and Chrome OS designed keyboard. The unit is incredibly small and can be placed in its stand or laid down flat. It includes a VESA mount for the back of monitors that support it. Boots faster than my new Chromebook and feels faster in all aspects. Interestingly I have attached to my 27in tv which never played nice with Linux and the resolution and aspect never worked well. The Acer, that was another story as it looks amazing and all you have to attach is the HDMI cable to get sound/video, a wireless keyboard/mouse and youre good to go. My goal was to use it as a media center and in this respect its been amazing so far. Im running it with WIFI to save my ethernet connections and no issues at all.

The only aspect both with my Chromebook and Chromebox is, my printers arent supported (Canon printers)but my HP Deskjet 1112 works great by USB. Connecting directly by USB is supported but I cant get the drivers to work with either Canon printer. If you work on the Cloud exclusively this wont be an issue for most printers but I prefer to connect directly so for now it doesnt work.HP is one of those brands that definitely works. I intended to use it as a media center anyway so its not a big issue.
Very impressed with the Chromebox and the newer CXI4 is coming out in January of 2021 starting at $259 so if youre interested take a look.
I went with the CXI3 because I could get it cheaper new and still get a one year warranty from Acer plus its performance is plenty fast with support till June 2025.
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Re: Acer Chromebox CXI3

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One of the issues that really doesnt work for me is the problems with printers. I setup my HP printer last night and it works fine but there is no HP toolbox thus you dont get the full feature set of the printer and cannot clean nor align the cartridges. This would require connecting the printer to another pc to gain those abilities.
The other issue is, its Gmailcentic so if you use another email you will have to access online directly. In my case thats Comcast and Comcasts app doesnt work well so off we go to their website to access email, no one click and go.
For many these may not seem like a big deal but with the Chromebox a desktop substitute it really is a problem.
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Re: Acer Chromebox CXI3

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Connected my HP printer to my Linux laptop and cleaned the print heads and aligned after some issues that couldnt be solved with it connected to the Chromebox. Printer is now working great on the Acer and suitable to anyones use. This is a very basic HP printer so I cant speak to what the experience will be like with a more full featured printer. Again I would recommend HP if you go the Chrome OS route.

Next up email issues.
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Re: Acer Chromebox CXI3

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For now Ive settled for a bookmark in Chrome to Comcast till I can find something a bit more direct and easier to get to their email.
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Re: Acer Chromebox CXI3

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It appears the brightness setting doesnt work. The setting in taskbar nor the keyboard keys changes the brightness. It remains at full brightness.
I tried the Chrome OS keyboard that came with it but nothing. The F6 and F7 keys on standard keyboards also should work but still nothing. It may be something to do with my Dell monitor that it doesnt like.
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Re: Acer Chromebox CXI3

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After testing it now resides next to my 27 inch tv as a media center and backup pc. The Acer gets the screen sizing perfectly and looks excellent versus my experience using both Win10 and Linux to do the same thing. Its not a recent tv but not super old one either so getting the screen size and quality hasnt always been an easy task.
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Re: Acer Chromebox CXI3

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Was going to up the ram from 4gb to 8gb but getting the box open isnt as easy as it first appeared. Not sure Im going to try it. 4 screws are removed then the front and back panels are pulled off, then 2 more screws and then pull off the top cover. They made it a lot tougher than it needed to be. Asus Chromebox is a lot easier to get into.
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Re: Acer Chromebox CXI3

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I have to say it didnt work out the way I planned and it has become nothing more than a media center for my tv. I just couldnt get comfortable with how it does things and Im really not one to use online sources for files and documents. Adding Linux apps really didnt help as its a clunky process and additional storage was needed. I was hoping that the Chromebox would have realized its desktop status more and they could have made a few minor changes to help that but they didnt. Issues with hardware like printers, no support for disk drives(DVD) and limited upgrade abilities make it an average experience. If you are one of those users who does like having access to files anywhere, already uses a Chromebook, and is comfortable with the Google apps, the Chromebox would be a great home system as a compliment to your mobile use.
For me it wasnt a good purchase and I would rather recommend to most of you Chromebooks instead.
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Re: Acer Chromebox CXI3

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Posting back as Ive begun to adapt a bit more to using the Acer. The experience has improved but it still isnt a substitute for my main pc. Through the use of some Linux apps and getting more use to the online apps, Ive become more productive and certainly I think many people would be fine.
If you use an Android phone or tablet and are already part of the Google ecosystem it would be a great alternative to a Windows system.
For what I paid in terms of the experience Ive had with it, it was worth it and Im changing my mind over my above comments. I do still feel though that the Chromebook is still the better choice for most who want to work with Chrome OS.
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