BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT: This is a solid machine! I am VERY happy with this device, and I absolutely recommend it to anyone looking for a solid Chromebook. It is fast, has a great screen, has an awesome keyboard, sports TWO full-sized USB ports and TWO USB-C ports, and my transition away from my bulky Laptop and my Andorid Tablet has been seamless.January 2018: This was my Christmas Present this year. I'm a "gadget" guy who got asked by his wife to reduce the number of gadgets. My hope is that this will replace my tablet, my kindle, and reduce my need for my laptop. I can happily say that it seems to have done that - and more. I've been an Android user ever since I was given a G-1 to test when I worked at T-Mobile, but this is my first Chromebook. I am a Galaxy Note user who is convinced that the pen is not only a NOT a gimmick, but it is a VITAL component to ANY tablet. There's just something about handwriting notes that once you get used to, you do NOT want to go back. I've had many tablets over the years, including the ASUS T101, which was an Android tablet that docked to a keyboard... and sported a pen. When the T101 finally died, I moved to several Galaxy tablets, the last of those being the Galaxy Tab "A" that had an S-Pen. I settled on a Chromebook largely because I do a lot of document writing (I'm a graduate student at night), and I missed the tight integration with a keyboard I had with the T101. I also wanted to have an S-Pen, and nearly purchased the Samsung Chromebook Plus/Pro, which sport an S-Pen. I saw the ASUS C213A with a pen after looking at the "users also looked at" suggestion on Amazon, and found that this Chromebook compared quite favorably with those. This seemed to be in between the Plus and the Pro, both in terms of price and performance, along with the "hardened" qualities, which is a plus because I tend to be a bit hard on tablets, phones, and devices.I'm very glad I went with the ASUS. It has been a while since I've been truly pleased with a new device. You might be asking, "Then why only 4 stars?" There are two reasons for that: The pen and the non-backlit keyboard. The pen, while it works PERFECTLY, feels cheap when you hold it. It also does not have a built-in docking location for it, like my S-Pen has on my Note and on the Tab A. The final nail was that the keyboard is not lit. I might add the fifth star back later, but for now, I'll keep it at 4.Those perceived short-comings aside, this is a VERY solid device. I have used this thing literally every day since it arrived, and used it a lot. Its fast - NO Lag issues that I've noticed. From fully powered down, it boots in less than a minute. From "sleep," it boots as fast as I can open the screen. Apps start quickly, they seem to run well, and swapping between apps is quick and lag free. New to Chromebooks, I've quickly become a fan of the Chromebook's UI. It runs Chrome, obviously, and websites act as they would if I hit them from my Windows laptop - not the "mobile" versions. Office 365 runs perfectly. So does my school's management system (Blackboard). I have had no issues at all with either site. My bank's website, Amazon, Facebook, News/Sports sites... everything I've tried it on worked without a hitch.On top of that, it has run every Android App I've wanted to add from the Google Play store. Some, (AguaMail, for instance), ask to restart when I put them in FullScreen mode, but they work just fine after restarting... and they remember to come up in full-screen mode the next time I start them (until you power down or do a full reboot, that is). I'm not a gamer, but I have satisfactorily tested the Android App versions of AquaMail, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, OneDrive, OneNote, RoboDefense (for my kids, of course), Kindle, Bible (from YouVersion), Faithlife Study App, Logos Bible App, and Hootsuite. Since it worked so well, I've moved back to the web portals for my bank, school, news, sports, and other stuff that I do... it sucked my shortcuts over just like you would expect it to... even presents the same shortcut bar I get on my Windows Laptop. Even the extensions I've added to my desktop Chrome have pulled across.I am a heavy OneDrive user - I have Office365 home for the extra drive space. The Chromebook "Files" app had a driver for OneDrive, and it connects perfectly. I also have a 128GB MicroSD Card for local storage. I can copy files to/from OneDrive without any difficulty at all... and that allows me to work on them when I'm not online. It was a concern when I was making the decision to purchase a Chromebook, and I'm happy to say that working offline doesn't seem any more inconvenient as it is when you're on a laptop.Skype works just like you'd think it would, and the camera works perfectly, also.One thing I'd REALLY like to bring up that folks might not think about. The two full-sized USB ports are awesome. My wireless mouse, that has a dongle to communicate with the mouse, worked instantly after I plugged it in. Same for my USB headphones that have a mike built into them. Save for my MS Natural Keyboard.The Screen is awesome. The Aspect is a bit wider than tall when compared to what normally comes on a laptop, but you get used to it quickly enough. The image is very sharp, and the text is crisp and clear, even when it is small. It gets more than bright enough to work in a well-lighted room, and it gets dim enough to work well in very low light... I love the range. The function keys that adjust it work as you would expect them to.The BATTERY IS INCREDIBLE. The marketing materials say "12 hours, depending on the type of usage". That usually means "12 is a pipe-dream", but in my case, I can get more than that... I've included a picture that shows a 16-hour estimate! I've seen it say "86% - 13:40 left" (meaning 13+ hours), after a couple of hours of use. When I had 5% battery left, it still had an estimate of over an hour. I use it mostly in low-light conditions, and have the screen brightness down, but I forgot my charger at work one weekend, and it made it through what i would consider "normal" use - watching video lectures for school, watching a show or two on Amazon Prime before bed (working through "World War II" series), along with checking email, facebook, and taking notes in group and at church... it managed to make it just fine... I still ad 3% left when I plugged it in. An hour later, when I checked, it was fully charged. I was recently at all-day conference, and used it like a writing tablet all day, and it lasted the day, ending with about 15% left. That was after being on, taking notes all day, with the screen on the whole time. I did a test where I streamed movies, listened to music, took notes, browsed the web and let the kids play RoboDefense on it for the day, turning the screen back on whenever I noticed it shutting off, and it still had power left over at the end of the day... I'm very happy with the the battery life!Charging with the supplied power supply is FAST. Just under an hour from an almost-dead state is the longest it has ever taken - normally, I'm at full within about 20-30 minutes, tops. I bought a USB-C cable from Wal-mart and plugged it into a normal, 2.1amp charger that my Note uses, and it said it was on a "slow" charger, and might not charge when it is on. I turned it off, and it went from about 49% to full in about an hour and a half. With the tablet on, the charge either holds steady, or slowly builds, depending on the brightness of the screen.The pen, while it feels cheap, works great, and has not given my any reason to be concerned, other than how it feels. It feels light, hollow, and made of cheap plastic... but it works perfectly. The pen is NOT a gimick, and it is NOT simply a foam-tipped "Stylus". It is a legit pen along the lines of the Samsung S-Pen. It uses a near-field radio-receiver to tell where it is, and the tip has a sensor that knows how hard you are pressing, modifying the signal to let the tablet know, just like the S-Pen does on Galaxy devices. in fact, my s-Pen from my Galaxy Note 5 works perfectly, as does the pen from my Tab "A", as well as the one from my old Note 2. I wish they'd have made their pen smaller, and provided a slot for it on the tablet, like the Galaxy devices have, but if I DO forget to bring my pen, I can simply pull the one off my Phone (Note 5), and use it, so its not all that bad. Still, on my mind it is an oversight.The hinge works quite well. It is smooth, and seems a bit too easy to move, but it holds the screen where you leave it, and it doesn't sag or anything, so it seems OK. The screen does wag slightly when I type, but it doesn't move from where I left it. Switching to tablet mode is easy , and the device transitions smoothly. Flipping the keyboard around to watch a movie actually seems to make s difference for some reason, so that's pretty handy. The keys turn off when they are "down" as does the glide-pad, and the chromebook works as you would expect a tablet to work. It IS a bit heavy to hold and take notes for an hour or so in a stretch... but I think I will get used to it.The sound seems to come from under the keyboard... at least it seems that way. I'm not a sound guy - the Army ensured that I don't hear well enough to be too concerned with that. I usually use headphones, but if the built-in speaker matters to you, then folks might want to take that in mind, because I noticed it doesn't sound as good at my phone or older tablets have The headphones, of course, work just fine... and I'm sure a blue-tooth speaker would sound great also... but the build-in ones are a bit flat, even for me.I use the same blue-tooth mouse I use on my laptop. I plugged my Logitech Trackball's USB dongle into the full-sized USB port, and it worked perfectly, without any delay. That adds a LOT for me... I'm not a fan of glidepads, and I was VERY happy when my mouse just worked without a hitch. On that, the glide-pad does not seem to be overly sensitive, but seems to work just as I'd expect it to. As far as built-in glide-pads go, it seems to be one of the better ones I've used.I haven't tested the "water resistant" features... but its good to know they are there.All in all, this was a good get for me. I have not logged into my windows laptop in more than a week, and have stopped bringing it with me. I put my Galaxy Tab "A" up for sale, and have unregistered my old Kindle. I now am down to my phone and my Chromebook. It is keeping up with what I need it to do quite well. I don't feel that I've had to sacrifice when moving from my Laptop to this thing. I'm working on a 20-24 page paper, and I'm having no problems at all working on it so far. I've already turned one in that I started on my laptop, and finished on the Chromebook... it is working as well as I need it to - even better.PROS:Sturdy, well built, a very solid device.Quick! No lag issues at all, switches between apps smoothly and efficiently.The Battery is AWESOMEFANTASTIC KEYBOARD - the feedback, press weight, movement... its perfect.GREAT Screen - bright, crisp, sharp, with lots of real estate. Great color and a very consistent tone.The pen works as well as they do on the Galaxy devicesMy phone's pen (Galaxy Note) works with this Chromebook2 FULL SIZED USB ports AND 2 USB-C portsCompatible with my USB external keyboard (Microsoft Natural) and mouse (logitech trackball with blue-tooth 'dongle'), USB drives, and even my USB speaker/mic headphones.CONS:A bit hefty to take notes on for a long time in "writing tablet mode"Pen feels cheap (but it works well)Keyboard is not back-litI can't put a cover on it, unless I do NOT want to use it in "tablet mode".