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Anyone else on a Chromebook?

kellyb

Penultimate Amazing
Joined
Jan 18, 2006
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If so, lets talk about our chromebooks!

I'll start. Overall, I like it. My only complaint is trying to rightclick on the touchpad.

eta:
I have the Samsung $250 version.
 
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Bought one for my wife for Festivemass. Loves it.

1080p vid a lil stuttery and the trackpad takes a short time to get used to but overall ideal for her needs. Nice 100GB storage bonus.

The only downside is a lack of Bluetooth profiles for external speakers. A bit daft considering their cloud music service.

Viewing angles a bit poor but hey ho, it's really a single person gadget.

ETA: the newest Samsung one also.
 
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Bought one for my wife for Festivemass. Loves it.

1080p vid a lil stuttery and the trackpad takes a short time to get used to but overall ideal for her needs. Nice 100GB storage bonus.

The only downside is a lack of Bluetooth profiles for external speakers. A bit daft considering their cloud music service.

Viewing angles a bit poor but hey ho, it's really a single person gadget.

ETA: the newest Samsung one also.

Sounds like your experience is similar to mine.
Hey, it's better than the best smartphones.

:)

It's intended to be a one person internet machine?

The big downside is that with this (what I'm communicating with right now, and storing my my grocery list, etc, on) is being stored with "big brother") but whatcha' gonna do?

Something terrible and frightening but also wonderful has happened, and I can't see us going back.
 
I'm on a Mac at home, but I need something smaller and lighter than a 15" laptop for away missions once in a while. I've researched Windows notebooks and laptops and really only found a couple (very expensive) ones that would fit the bill. I really don't want to go back to a 15" or larger machine, as they are a handfull going through the airport and then again on the plane etc.

I know Chromebooks are a possible option, but I have zero experience with them or Chrome OS. I also have no experience with an Android machine of any kind. What is the biggest difference in terms of function going from Windows to a Chrome OS or Android device? Do they have optical drives and usb ports or what? What kinds of software come on them, if any?
 
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I'm on a Mac at home, but I need something smaller and lighter than a 15" laptop for away missions once in a while. I've researched Windows notebooks and laptops and really only found a couple (very expensive) ones that would fit the bill. I really don't want to go back to a 15" or larger machine, as they are a handfull going through the airport and then again on the plane etc.

I know Chromebooks are a possible option, but I have zero experience with them or Chrome OS. I also have no experience with an Android machine of any kind. What is the biggest difference in terms of function going from Windows to a Chrome OS or Android device? Do they have optical drives and usb ports or what? What kinds of software come on them, if any?
I'm not aware of any Chromebook that comes with an optical drive. It certainly wouldn't be necessary for software installation since Chrome OS software isn't distributed physically (like any software it could be but it isn't), and the whole idea is to keep everything in the <cough> "cloud." Yes to USB ports. For software Chromebooks come with Google's apps and of course you can access the applications distributed via Google's Chrome Store.

For netbooking they're great as long as you don't have a need or desire to access Windows-specific software. Then again, netbooks aren't exactly brimming with power anyway and Chrome OS software will tend to be developed with that in mind, while Windows software is usually designed for desktop use (for bigger screens, bigger processors, more memory, etc.). Personally, I'd rather have a tablet and a Bluetooth keyboard but netbooks do tend to be cheaper than the 10-inchers.
 
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How does it play media?

Can you hook up a hard-disk and play movies?
HDMI port?

And:
Is it of any bloody use when there's no Wifi signal?
 
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I am thinking of getting one for testing reasons bound to get a service call about one as the office as just adopted a bring your own device policy
 
How does it play media?

Can you hook up a hard-disk and play movies?
HDMI port?

And:
Is it of any bloody use when there's no Wifi signal?


I've done a little more digging, and it seems that if you have no internet connection, the thing makes a good door-stop. There is little you can do with it offline. You can't run any Windows -specific software on it (no surprise there). If you are really into Google apps and the cloud though, it's just what the doctor ordered. Here's a recent article on it--------

http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/what-is-a-chromebook-anyway/
 
The odd thing is: I almost use regular computers as if they were a chromebook.

I use the Google office suite and most stuff is done in the browser.

Photoshop and video editing are the programs that make I need a serious computer.

OTOH, just spend four days in rural Sweden and couldn't connect to the internet, so it will not be practical for some situations.
 

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