For under $500, this is an excellent deal.  It's plenty quick with the I-3 processor, and 8 GB of ram is not common on Chromebooks that cost under $500.  It's also got a great screen for the the price.  Battery life is  good, if not outstanding.  It does what I need it to do - it's powerful enough to run Linux VMs so I can have the apps I want (VLC works smoothly, as does The GIMP).  The only downside is the camera - it's not great in low light,  but  it does the job for me for videoconferencing.  If you need better, USB cameras are cheap.Recommended.