ASUS 14" FHD Touchscreen Chromebook Laptop

After studying reviews on "refurbished" or "renewed" machines all around Amazon, I was really starting to doubt the cost savings being worth it, but this one being backed by Amazon made me feel a little better, so I went for it. It was definitely worth it! YMMV, but the computer I received was not refurbished, but appeared to be more of an "Open box" item; it appears somebody used it a couple of times and returned it in like-new condition. I'm completely satisfied with this condition for the cost savings over brand new. Fulfillment by Amazon was spectacular as usual, I had the computer delivered in under 48 hours of ordering it. As for my review of the C434 itself - I thoroughly researched all kinds of Chromebook options and arrived here. The newer ASUS model (I believe the C436) had some upgrades, but wasn't a clear cut winner over the C434, and certainly not justified at almost double the price at this time. I haven't had any issues or complaints like others here have had with the keyboard or it's backlighting, I think they're excellent. I turn up the keyboard backlight to the maximum brightness unless outdoors, or very late at night I usually turn both the screen and keyboard to their lowest brightness setting (watching TV or movies I turn it off). I could see some people saying the keys are hard to read with the backlight on in daylight, but then you turn the keyboard backlight off in that situation and no issues. Overall, I've been impressed with the C434, it is comparable, probably better, than a MacBook Pro I had a number of years ago in terms of hardware quality. The build quality and aluminum structure are excellent, the speakers are impressive for a device this size - not very loud, but surprising bass and overall depth. The screen is fantastic, about as good as it gets for LCD, but obviously still short of something like plasma or OLED in terms of picture quality, but I'm not sure that even $2000 laptops have any better of a screen. I understand the C436 has a much nicer quality touchpad device, but I have not had any issues with the touchpad other than becoming accustomed to the sensitivity the first day (the sensitivity has 5 adjustable settings, but after playing with it, I found the standard setting the best after becoming acclimated to it). I only use tablet mode sparingly, but I do use it, and haven't had any issues there. If tablet mode is more important to you, perhaps a detachable 2-in-1 would be a better fit, but I preferred the feel of a conventional laptop. My only complaint, and perhaps the most notable advantage the C436 has, is the hinge/lid operation. It's extraordinarily difficult to open the machine with one hand, and in some cases even with 2 hands it's a chore. The easier operation hinge on the C436 would be a game changer. The performance has been plenty adequate for what I do (I'm not even sure how much RAM I have, but I remember when laptops had smaller hard disk drive capacities than common RAM configs now), I haven't tried running 12 YouTube video tabs at once, but I'm not sure why anyone would need to. It seems very responsive and hasn't gotten bogged down like Windows usually does. The battery life is incredible for this weight and size, but may just be par for the course nowadays for all I know. USB-C ports on both sides is extremely convenient and makes charging with the accessories I already own a breeze. Chrome OS has come a long way since my last Chromebook in 2012; I have used the built-in Linux terminal a bit and have installed Java and run a few programs using it - this is a huge bonus I was not even expecting (I was thinking, well, I can always hack a workaround into a dual-boot scenario). But if this feature continues to develop and become more integrated/supported, I could see more people replacing their Windows machines with a Chromebook like I have.