Chromebook

[ShiftZZ]

Worth the effort ?

Pro con?

 

[Guigsy]

They are simple, reliable and less vulnerable to viruses, etc than a windows PC (and maybe even a Mac). They also require less beef, so even a lower power machine will run Chrome.

The downside is you are (mostly) limited to whatever you can run in a web browser. You can also run Android apps, but these don't always work well on a large screen with a touchpad and you can even run Linux apps if you are feeling adventurous... but generally, it's built to run everything from a browser.

Also, they have tiny storage. Don't expect to keep your photo/video/music collection on them.

 

[Figaro]

Also, they have tiny storage.

I suppose you could use a usb plug in drive for storage ?
I`ve been thinking of getting a chromebook for a few months but still plodding on with my old, power hungry Windows 7 lappy for now.

 

[mikebeaches]

Me and Mrs mikebeaches have each got 10" Chromebooks.

They are good, cheap, very lightweight, long battery life (about 11 hours) and do most of what we want - surfing, emails, live-streaming etc. No antivirus protection required. Run fairly fast. Proper keyboard, compared to phones and tablets. Ours are touch-screen too, which is handy sometimes.

On the downside, software can be a bit limiting and, as has also been mentioned - little storage because no harddrive.

You pays you're money and takes you're choice.

 

[MyrtleGuru]

Depends whether you want to be wedded to the 'evil' Google.

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[Langtoftlad]

Cons - no good for high powered specialist tasks
Pros - good enough for everything else.

Evil Google? Any worse than incompetent Microsoft, or dictatorial Apple ?

Storage? Mine has an SD card slot that provides sufficient onboard storage... but encourages you not to rely on it for archival.

 

[MyrtleGuru]

Evil Google? Any worse than incompetent Microsoft, or dictatorial Apple ?

Probably the worst of the three -- check out how many current legal cases they are defending in Europe (never mind the historic). Personally, I don't like any that makes you sign into their environment, so I am not a fan of Apple (also because, as you say, they dictate how you work) and not a fan of MS for all manner of reasons. Open source and Linux all the way for me.

 

[Motorhome-dude]

It really depends on what you use a laptop for. If it's just emails, internet browsing and online video watching then a Chromebook is ideal as it's fast, reliable and very unlikely to get any of the viruses that Windows stuff is prone to. If you need to work on it however, or use a lot of word or Excel, or anything more heavy duty like Adobe Software then the negatives of the Chromebook outweigh the positives and I would recommend a solid state drive Windows based laptop.

 

[Figaro]

Owing to the wet weather yesterday, I decided to take the opportunity to visit Currys to check out replacing my ageing windows laptop with maybe a Chromebook.
Talking to the assistant, it seems you cannot just plug in a external hard drive for storage, as I'd imagined would be possible.
She said files can be taken off the drive but not necessarily resaved and archived.
I also use MS word and Excel for basic functions and asked about compatibility with existing docs, she then started waffling on about Google 365, cloud storage, initial and ongoing costs, by which time I'd lost interest.
I thought I could download an app to use Word in chrome, am I incorrect ?
One thing I forgot to ask about was video editing. I like to do a little bit of editing of dashcam and GoPro footage using filmora.
Would a Chromebook handle this ?
TIA
PS I think we need a fifteen year old in the family !

 

[Motorhome-dude]

Based on what you use a laptop for I wouldn't recommend a Chromebook. Using word and Excel on a Chromebook is doable but complicated as the apps for them run through the chrome browser and have very limited functions. You can use Google docs and Google sheets instead and that's much better, but it's not exactly the same. You 100% can use an external harddrive. But the Chromebook is designed to use the cloud for the majority of saved documents.

Video editing is doable on a Chromebook but would involve using an online piece of software, so only really effective if you have high quality internet.

My recommendation would be to go for a Windows laptop with a solidstate harddrive. You should get similar performance but use programmes that you are already used to.

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[Figaro]

Thanks Motorhome-dude , if I went for the windows laptop, would I be able to load my 2003 MS office or should I get an up to date version ?
Or maybe something off the internet I can download to use instead ?

 

[PhilMary]

Thanks Motorhome-dude , if I went for the windows laptop, would I be able to load my 2003 MS office or should I get an up to date version ?
Or maybe something off the internet I can download to use instead ?

I've just downloaded an "Office" equivalent.
This appears to do 99% of Microsoft Office, in fact I haven't found anything it can't do yet.
Phil

 

[Odd-no-more]

Thanks Motorhome-dude , if I went for the windows laptop, would I be able to load my 2003 MS office or should I get an up to date version ?
Or maybe something off the internet I can download to use instead ?

I put office 2003 onto my window 10 pc and it works OK but sometimes crashes when closing. I use libra office now, it's a free download and does almost everything MS office does, has the option to save in many formats including MS office.

 

[Puddleduck]

It really depends on what you use a laptop for. If it's just emails, internet browsing and online video watching then a Chromebook is ideal as it's fast, reliable and very unlikely to get any of the viruses that Windows stuff is prone to. If you need to work on it however, or use a lot of word or Excel, or anything more heavy duty like Adobe Software then the negatives of the Chromebook outweigh the positives and I would recommend a solid state drive Windows based laptop.

Thanks for that. Chromebook probably not for me then as I use the machine for family history research and keep scanned documents on the hard drive (and a back up on a DVD plus I have the original documents).

Would I be correct in assuming that a constant internet connection is also recommended / required?

 

[dabhand]

When I went to Morocco in 2015, I needed something that would allow me to communicate effectively and attend to business needs whilst away. I had been DOS then android, windows orientated etc all of my business life but was becoming more and more peed off with the difficulty of windows / android devices to “communicate” with each other and the constant security breaches and lost data that came with them. I bought an iPad Air and a iPhone 6, put all the usual windows apps on, word etc (which I rarely need) and have never looked back, I can’t think of anything I can’t do, have disabled all reporting functions to Apple and Google etc and believe these two Apple products will see me out. I am aware of the arguments, cost, big brother restrictions etc it’s all twaddle, absolutely nothing would convince me to go back to android. I don’t even look at updating because they do all I need so am unaware of how much better newer products are although I believe the iPad Pro is very good.

Apple, take a bite, it works for me!

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[Guigsy]

Chromebooks are fine with external storage. And if you're not a heavy user, the Android Office apps are fine.

Your bigger issue will probably be video editing. Chromebooks tend to have low powered CPUs and less RAM because that's all ChromeOS needs... with the bonus that it makes them cheaper, slimmer and the battery lasts longer. But it means video editing is probably out. Try to get yourself a Windows laptop with an i5 and 8GB RAM.

 

[Gellyneck]

Owing to the wet weather yesterday, I decided to take the opportunity to visit Currys to check out replacing my ageing windows laptop with maybe a Chromebook.

You might want to consider replacing the operating system on your Windows laptop with Linux? A number of Funsters have done this very successfully.
LibreOffice, mentioned previously, also runs on Linux. There are a number of video editing software packages from fully professional to very basic options available.
Best bit, it's all free!

 

[Figaro]

You might want to consider replacing the operating system on your Windows laptop with Linux?

I have no idea how I would do that, is there a tutorial on youtube maybe ?

 

[Gellyneck]

I have no idea how I would do that, is there a tutorial on youtube maybe ?

There's a huge number of "how tos" and videos on the web.
Suggest you Google "how to install Linux Mint 19.1" and have a look at some of the results.
As a starter here's the official Linux Mint website https://linuxmint.com/
Check the spec of your laptop to determine it meets minimum requirements \ version you should download. What model of laptop do you have and what version of Windows is it currently running?
One huge positive is you can download the system to a USB stick (suggest a min of 4-8Gb) and run it from there to test prior to installing. This leaves your existing Windows system intact. Once you've tested (note it doesn't run as fast as when it's installed) you can just click Install (or something like that). This will give you options to overwrite Windows system or install alongside it.
If you go down the Linux route there are a number of Funsters who will be in a position to help.
Any questions ask away.

 

[Guigsy]

There's a huge number of "how tos" and videos on the web.
Suggest you Google "how to install Linux Mint 19.1" and have a look at some of the results.
As a starter here's the official Linux Mint website https://linuxmint.com/
Check the spec of your laptop to determine it meets minimum requirements \ version you should download. What model of laptop do you have and what version of Windows is it currently running?
One huge positive is you can download the system to a USB stick (suggest a min of 4-8Gb) and run it from there to test prior to installing. This leaves your existing Windows system intact. Once you've tested (note it doesn't run as fast as when it's installed) you can just click Install (or something like that). This will give you options to overwrite Windows system or install alongside it.
If you go down the Linux route there are a number of Funsters who will be in a position to help.
Any questions ask away.

Just to re-iterate. Download Mint MATE (or Xfce if your laptop is 10 years old). Write the installer to a memory stick. You can then boot from the memory stick and run it entirely from there without touching Windows. It's a good test for compatibility, but it'll be slooooow. Check the screen resolution, sound, wifi and touchpad all work.

If you've got enough hard drive space, you can dual-boot windows and Linux. Or you can wipe it all!

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[Figaro]

I've just downloaded an "Office" equivalent.
This appears to do 99% of Microsoft Office, in fact I haven't found anything it can't do yet.
Phil

May I ask what it was called and where from please ?

 

[Gellyneck]

This is the one I use on a variety of Windows and Linux machines (there's also a MAC version).

Home | LibreOffice - Free and private office suite - Based on OpenOffice - Compatible with Microsoft

Free office suite – the evolution of OpenOffice. Compatible with Microsoft .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .ppt, .pptx. Updated regularly, community powered.

www.libreoffice.org

Very compatible with Microsoft Office.