Chromebook question...

[irocfan]

As I understand it a Chromebook of whatever flavour is just a web-only basic spec PC (ok it's a fair bit more than just that but put basically?)... might it not make more sense to buy a cheapo lappy for £100 or so, put in a 120Gb SSD and load Chrome onto that - hey-presto a cheap Chromebook with way better performance, DVD-rom and a reasonable size.

What is wrong with my thinking?

[andy-xr]

It's comparing a new notebook to something that's second hand and you've had to do work to in order to make it similar.

Nothing wrong with doing either, but it's not like for like. You could equally buy an old lappy, stick an SSD drive on it and whatever OS you fancy

[irocfan]

cheers for that - it's not for me, the step-daughter wants one while at Uni... personally I'm not convinced about the usefulness of them but (as with most younglings) she knows better so I'm casting around for ideas that'll make it a tad more practical while not giving me a wallet raping. For reference she already has a 2/3 y/o lappy which she's complaining is 'too slow' but I'm just concerned a full on CB would be just a compromise too much

[pavka007]

Look at eBay, a few Acer C720 for sell and some with 120 BIN price. Pick up 128GB SSD from Amazon for 71 quid and you are done
She is happy with her Chrome, you are just under 200 out of pocket
http://www.amazon.co.uk/128GB-MyDigitalSSD-Super-C...

Partition the SSD 20/100, install UBUNTU on the 100 bit and hey presto, she can have a "proper" laptop as well with some useful storage.

Edited by pavka007 on Friday 24th October 18:11

[Bikerjon]

Part of the attraction of a Chromebook is the amount of rubbish that's not included - which actually adds to the overall experience. In terms of price, well, they really are as cheap as chips - whatever model you buy (with the exception of the pixel!)

Trouble is we've all grown accustomed to measuring computers by the sum of their components but that's just not so relevant with a Chromebook.

[MG-FIDO]

I replaced my old Windows laptop with the HP13 Chromebook over Christmas (not the old HP Pavillion chromebook). Apart from not being able to use Skype (you have to use Google Hangouts as Microsoft won't license its use by Google), not being able to transfer music files over easily from Windows PCs and not being able to access Steam for games it does everything my laptop did.

You can use online versions of Word/Excel etc, not that I would as Google Files/Docs/Sheets etc have all the functionality I need and you can open/edit and save Microsoft file types on these programs without issue.

What I haven't missed is being cursed with anti-virus software, constant updates which decide to appear at in-opportune times and render a laptop useless for minutes to hours at a time and slow start ups. I can pick up my chromebook and have it on as quickly as a tablet. I'd go as far as saying that the chromebook does virtually everything my laptop ever did whilst having all the ease of use and speed advantages of a tablet with a good keyboard and large screen. For me it has been the best of both worlds.

[zippy3x]

MG-FIDO said:

I replaced my old Windows laptop with the HP13 Chromebook over Christmas (not the old HP Pavillion chromebook). Apart from not being able to use Skype (you have to use Google Hangouts as Microsoft won't license its use by Google), not being able to transfer music files over easily from Windows PCs and not being able to access Steam for games it does everything my laptop did.

You can use online versions of Word/Excel etc, not that I would as Google Files/Docs/Sheets etc have all the functionality I need and you can open/edit and save Microsoft file types on these programs without issue.

What I haven't missed is being cursed with anti-virus software, constant updates which decide to appear at in-opportune times and render a laptop useless for minutes to hours at a time and slow start ups. I can pick up my chromebook and have it on as quickly as a tablet. I'd go as far as saying that the chromebook does virtually everything my laptop ever did whilst having all the ease of use and speed advantages of a tablet with a good keyboard and large screen. For me it has been the best of both worlds.

Strange email.

List three fairly significant things the chromebook can't do, then saying it does virtually everything a laptop does.

I've always thought of the chromebook as more of tablet with a keyboard, than a laptop. What does the chromebook give you that you don't have on a tablet?

[MG-FIDO]

zippy3x said:

Strange email.

List three fairly significant things the chromebook can't do, then saying it does virtually everything a laptop does.

I've always thought of the chromebook as more of tablet with a keyboard, than a laptop. What does the chromebook give you that you don't have on a tablet?

Firstly it's not an email, it was a message in response to a question and I don't see anything strange about it.

I have tried to give a balanced view after 10 months of using a Chromebook. The 3 things I mentioned are problems that I encountered that may or may not be important to people:

1) If you need to use skype then unless you're very handy with computers a chromebook won't be for you. You can however use google hangouts and not everybody lives on skype. On the very rare occasions I use skype I've got a phone, an ipod and ipad that can access it so for me it hasn't been an issue.

2) If you want to transfer your music collection directly from a PC then you might need to use a program to convert files to a non-windows format if they're not already in a suitable format. I'm happy to do this, use online music storage and generally listen to my music through my ipod and a dedicated sound system anyway given the choice.

3) If you want to play games only available through Steam or on CD then again you'll need to know how to use linux. Not everybody wants a hardcore gaming machine and your average light user will probably be more than happy with the large and growing array of games that are available- just as many people are happy playing games on their ipad.

The Chromebook gives me a great keyboard, a tool I can work comfortably on for several hours (I wouldn't want to create more than a brief written document/ letter/ spreadsheet/ slideshow on a tablet) and a larger screen. Since getting it I've only turned on my laptop to access files I already had on it and it has made my ipod and ipad virtually redundant. Whilst the above points mean it won't be for everyone I think many people wouldn't look back coming from a windows machine.

[nyt]

Try ChromeBook on your current laptop - Dual boot so no commitment

http://www.lifehacker.co.uk/2014/10/24/turn-netboo...

[AJB88]

I've got a Chromebook (Acer C710) and LG Chromebase which I use everyday.

Linux laptop very rarely gets used these days tbh!

Spent a few hours today on my Chromebase SSH'ing into my Debian VPN server. I mainly use mine for websurfing, updating a wordpress site which includes having to do image editing which I use Pixlr for, Emails (Gmail and Cloudmagic), Hangouts, Torrent downloading.

You can't actually install ChromeOS on anything other than a Chromebook as you cant download it, what you can download is ChromiumOS

Edited by AJB88 on Saturday 25th October 20:24

[ZesPak]

zippy3x said:

Strange email.

List three fairly significant things the chromebook can't do, then saying it does virtually everything a laptop does.

I've always thought of the chromebook as more of tablet with a keyboard, than a laptop. What does the chromebook give you that you don't have on a tablet?

He lists the 3 things he misses, and said "apart from that...". Don't know what you'd expect?

Agreed though, the chromebook is more of a tablet in laptop form factor as you say, but it has some benefits:

1. The form factor is usually lower profile than a tablet with a keyboard attached (due to the screen being thinner), and you can easily put it on the lap.
2. The keyboard is very responsive (no iffy bluetooth), and there's a half decent touchpad, not available in most tablet keyboards.
3. Usual SD and more importantly, USB support. So attaching a mouse or the like is a doddle
4. Same for a display out.
5. Due to it being little more than a browser, it even makes the simplest tablet look like an overcomplicated piece of hardware.
6. Most people who claim that they can replace their laptop with a tablet, will probably do better with a chromebook.
7. Cheaper than a half decent tablet.

Con:

1. Lack of dedicated "apps" such as games.
2. Pretty restricted, though, a part from the apps, no more than a tablet.
3. Lack of Skype, though plenty of alternatives available.

Anyway, I wouldn't call a tablet nor a chromebook a "laptop replacement" myself. But I would say that most people who want to go for a tablet would be better (and cheaper!) off with a chromebook.

[irocfan]

well after a good little chat it transpires that a chromebook is not suitable for her - she needs word, excel and powerpoint (uni-work) so thanks for the help on that one guys

[Mr Will]

irocfan said:

well after a good little chat it transpires that a chromebook is not suitable for her - she needs word, excel and powerpoint (uni-work) so thanks for the help on that one guys

Did you miss the part where Chromebooks are perfectly capable of doing those three things?

[Polariz]

Surface 2? It's not everyone's cup of tea but does all of the aforementioned, it's well built and it's recently taken a price reduction to make it fit reasonably well. Keyboard is extra though of course, but still not too bad.

Edited by Polariz on Monday 27th October 17:52

[irocfan]

Mr Will said:

irocfan said:

well after a good little chat it transpires that a chromebook is not suitable for her - she needs word, excel and powerpoint (uni-work) so thanks for the help on that one guys

Did you miss the part where Chromebooks are perfectly capable of doing those three things?

you're right, apols, I did gloss over where it was stated that word and excel can be used and saved on-line (no mention of powerpoint though) the other things she might have issues with, reading through this, is music and I've not seen any word on how it is with trying to watch movies via an external HD

[AJB88]

Google Docs can handle power point no issues. ChromeOS is capable of handling hard drive mounting and can watch movies from them.