Sector 5 is a newcomer to the Chromebook scene, having entered this market only last year. With sub-$300 pricing and tank-like durability, Sector 5’s first laptop, the E3 Chromebook, was clearly designed with students in mind.
Design
Made entirely from thick black plastic, the E3 Chromebook is made to withstand the roughest, most irresponsible children (or adults). The machine is built like a rock, and it feels like a year of rattling around on a desk and in a backpack would have little impact beyond scuffing the corners of the case. Naturally, that kind of durability doesn’t give the E3 a lot to work with from a design standpoint, though the 11.6-inch screen (1,366 by 768 pixels) does open 180 degrees, allowing the display to lie completely flat against the table on which it’s sitting. Though the screen offers only average brightness, it’s a nice way to share the screen between two people sitting opposite one another.
Features
The 180-degree hinge feature aside, the E3 doesn’t offer much. Keyboard travel is limited, though the experience is good enough for the laptop’s target market, and the touchpad felt average in usability and accuracy. At 2.9 pounds, the E3’s weight is identical to the Lenovo Chromebook C330, the only other 11.6-inch device in this roundup, as was its relatively chunky 21 millimeters of thickness.
Specs
The E3 Chromebook incorporates the moderately slow 1.1 GHz Celeron N3450 CPU, plus 4 GB of RAM and 32 GB of flash storage, both expected, entry-level offerings. The ports included are impressive: two full-size USB 3.0s, two USB-Cs, and a micro SD card slot. Either of the USB-C ports can charge the system.
Performance
The E3 Chromebook did not perform well on the benchmark tests, scoring 33 percent below average on the lower-end Speedometer 2.0 benchmark (which measures the responsiveness of web applications). It fared about the same on the higher-end JetStream 1.1 and Kraken 1.1 benchmarks (which test things like graphics and audio processing and encryption), where it was 27 percent and 33 percent below the field’s average. Both of these scores were the lowest marks in the roundup, but only by a small margin. But as with other entry-level systems, these kinds of benchmark scores are expected, and most users in a school environment won’t notice any performance problems.
Battery
The E3 Chromebook managed 8 hours of battery life exactly, a strong enough score to earn the badge of all-day battery life. Other laptops in this category do better, though.
Conclusion
The E3 Chromebook is available from Sector 5 for $300, with further discounts for eligible educational institutions. That prices the E3 well below the typical $400 to $500 price of a Chromebook, although it’s still $20 more expensive than the Lenovo Chromebook C330, which offers a 360-degree hinge. But few laptops — if any — can match the durability of this device, so if you want something likely to make it through an entire school year unscathed, it’s an attractive option, despite the slightly higher price tag.
