Chromebook

[sureshs]

Got myself an Acer Chromebook for $199 on a whim.

What does one actually do with it other than browsing? I stored some stuff in Google drive, but you can do it from any gmail account on any machine.

Does anybody actually use Google docs or Google sheets?

What else is it good for?

[goober]

Can you buy me an Armani suit on a whim?


Chromebooks are basically netbooks. They are fine for internet browsing, email, watching videos and pretty much anything you can do on the internet. Last time I checked they don't have java compatibility which can be a problem but from what I understand there are some workarounds. Anything beyond that internet stuff they are not very good for- gaming, business applications, offline work. What did you expect for $199?

[mikeler]

Originally Posted by sureshs

Got myself an Acer Chromebook for $199 on a whim.

What does one actually do with it other than browsing? I stored some stuff in Google drive, but you can do it from any gmail account on any machine.

Does anybody actually use Google docs or Google sheets?

What else is it good for?

That is pretty much what it does. I do use Google docs and spreadsheets for personal stuff. It works fairly well for my needs.

[sureshs]

Originally Posted by mikeler

That is pretty much what it does. I do use Google docs and spreadsheets for personal stuff. It works fairly well for my needs.

Are those docs compatible with MS Word/Excel?

[mikeler]

Originally Posted by sureshs

Are those docs compatible with MS Word/Excel?

I believe you can export to Office formats. You can also store Office documents in the Cloud with your Google account. One nice feature is you can share docs with other Google users if you need to.

[sureshs]

Originally Posted by mikeler

I believe you can export to Office formats. You can also store Office documents in the Cloud with your Google account. One nice feature is you can share docs with other Google users if you need to.

Yes you can store anything on Google drive. It is just data.

I am curious how far this will go. I heard that Google is opening stores and plans to sell a high-end laptop. But the reality is that many web sites still don't work with Chrome. There are other practical problems. One that I encountered immediately was when saving a .chm file to the Google drive (and of course that was good). I tried to open it, and Chrome could not find a reader. This is the compiled HTML format which is what my son's course material for one class came in. I wonder if issues like this will bury the Chromebook.

[The Meat]

Why did you waste money on a chromebook, which is basically like a netbook....

[JRstriker12]

We use google docs at work. It can do most of the stuff word/excel/powerpoint can do- but they don't have all the bells and whistles. Sometimes some of the features are a little buggy. Ran into problem sorting in google docs spreadsheet.

Chromebook might not be bad if you just need a cheapy laptop for basics. I've thought about it just for emailing/web browsing while in the living room. You could do a tablet for a few hundred more.

BTW - looks like google is serious bout their chromebooks. The Pixel is sort of interesting but just a bit pricey.

http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/21/40...romebook-pixel

But you get a retina resolution touch screen so best of both laptop and tablet worlds. If this thing was about $400, I could see picking one up.

[sureshs]

Originally Posted by The Meat

Why did you waste money on a chromebook, which is basically like a netbook....

That is the rhetorical question on which this thread is based.

I was attracted to fast wake-up times, no anti-virus needs, and no maintenance.

I think the first two are correct.

The third one: would have been true if I had bought the Samsung Chromebook ($50 more) which just has a 16GB SSD (and 2 more hours of battery life, probably due to lack of rotating media). I thought and thought, then decided that if nothing else, I could use the 320 GB hard disk on the Acer just to store backup data, instead of having just 16GB and relying on the cloud. Now, if the hard disk is used, then the question of periodic defrag comes in. Win 7 does it automatically at wee hours of the night, but I don't know what Chromebook will do. If defrag is required, it is not really zero maintenance, is it?

[sureshs]

My son has an IPad.

But I need a real keyboard. I can't type efficiently on a virtual screen.

[mikeler]

Originally Posted by sureshs

Yes you can store anything on Google drive. It is just data.

I am curious how far this will go. I heard that Google is opening stores and plans to sell a high-end laptop. But the reality is that many web sites still don't work with Chrome. There are other practical problems. One that I encountered immediately was when saving a .chm file to the Google drive (and of course that was good). I tried to open it, and Chrome could not find a reader. This is the compiled HTML format which is what my son's course material for one class came in. I wonder if issues like this will bury the Chromebook.

Interesting, chm files are not very common anymore. I get annoyed when trying to backup programming files by e-mailing them to myself and Gmail blocks it thinking it is a virus.