Options
Chromebook questions
Rossby41
Posts: 955 Forum Member
✭✭
Been think of upgrading my netbook to a chromebook, now that Skype is available in Outlook (this was the final piece of the puzzle for me), but I have a few questions.
1) What is HD via like (not to fussed by it being 720p)?
2) How do you find it day to day use speed wise?
3) How does it perform for you needing the internet all the time (I know this dependent on each persons internet connection)?
1) What is HD via like (not to fussed by it being 720p)?
2) How do you find it day to day use speed wise?
3) How does it perform for you needing the internet all the time (I know this dependent on each persons internet connection)?
0
Comments
I have a chromebook 11. It was recommended to me but I now regret buying it. I didn't realise you couldn't install Microsoft Office but then i found out about Office Online but then 2 softwares that I need as I'm doing an Admin course is missing so im having to buy a laptop with windows on it.
For me the speed for the Internet is great. Booting only takes about 10 seconds. HD is probably 1388 x 768 (apologies if incorrect)
2) Speed wise no problem, remember 99% of the time you are only using a web browser so not much load on chromebook itself
3) So and so, you can actually work off-line for example Google Docs and playing local media. We have around 90 of them (30 real chromebooks, 60 of them converted netbooks) sharing a 10mb connection at a school I support and though it can be slow at times in general its pretty usable. The real chrome books are better with bigger screen and quicker in general but for what the kids do, the converted netbooks are fine.
Google are working on getting android apps working on chromebooks (this will be easier with Android 5) which will make them much for attractive.
However saying all that, i would not have only a chromebook in the house, great for kids and travelling but they can't do everything a PC can.
Yes. (Yes, it does - thanks DS, long enough for you?)
I like the idea of it but the main thing that puts me off is this business of documents
Is Google Docs similar to MS Word ?
is Google Docs pre-installed on the chromebook (as a general rule, I know there are lots of different chromebooks)
If I type a letter in Google docs and send it as an e-mail attachment to one of my customers could they open it without spending ages trying to find a programme to download which enables opening of documents in this format ?...........if they're used to sending and receiving documents in MS .doc format would google.doc just work with no hassle ?
And then there's printing.......from reading threads on DS I get the impression that it's impossible to print documents from a chromebook. Is that the case ?
I like the idea of a fairly simple machine on which not much can go wrong but I need to be able to write, send and print simple documents.......
Is it worth considering a chromebook ?
Sounds a bit complicated.....
Has anyone got one ?
Is it straightforward to set up ?..........it appears that you don't connect it to your chromebook but instead you connect it to the internet and you 'send' instructions to print over the internet
You can use Google Docs on a Windows PC. Install Chrome and log-in and hit the app view, go to Google Docs and create a document straightaway. If you sign into Chrome on any device with the same Google ID, you can get at your docs on Google Drive.
Cloud ready printers mean to print to them you can forward a document to the printers e-mail address and it prints. This means the printer is available from anywhere you run a browser.
It just requires a bit of pre-configuration when you set up the printer for the first time. The set up routine for the printer (ironically normally on a Windows PC or Mac, never tried in on a Chromebook, I wouldn't want one) will allow you to register the printer and allocate you an e-mail address for it. Have used HP and Epson printers this way.
I'm only tempted by the chromebook because my brother has one and says it's terrific but he doesn't do much in the way of typing and printing
I'll probably not bother.......:)
I'm honestly not sure what it's like yet, but I read it has a slow processor so I hope it's ok. The other alternative was a 14" hp but it has an nvidia cpu and I wasn't sure about app compatibility.
Chromebooks are a whole new product category I know nothing about so I hope it's suitable. I figured it would be as she like using word, PowerPoint, writing letters and going on CBeebies, netflix, youtube etc. I think it can do all of that, hopefully the cpu is fast enough.
I don't think it'll do Powerpoint, not unless it's some sort of online edition and I've had a look and yes I agree that processor is going to be slow. I personally have the older Acer C720 with the Haswell Celeron processor and that runs fantastic, I'm not using the Chrome OS though but Xubuntu 14.04.
I don't think there are too many 6 year old power users out there. Google Slides is the presentation app.
I picked up this laptop yesterday and set it up
I think it's a very good os and device and the online doc system is fine for family use.
The lack of iTunes is perhaps the reason I couldn't use this as an only laptop.
Anyway the cpu seems fine. The 2gb is probably more noticeable
One workaround if you're doing admin type courses is to maybe look into renting a virtual desktop or virtual machines - then remote into them.
Reg man confesses: I took my wife out to choose a laptop for Xmas. NOOOO on The Register - http://theregister.co.uk/2014/12/25/the_perils_of_tech_gift_giving_at_christmas/
That said, my old eee-pc is doing OK pretending to be a real laptop. I kicked the weird ASUS Linux off it when they stopped supporting it and now it runs Ubuntu and LibreOffice. I guess any Chromebook could do the same (you already know that the hardware supports Linux as ChromeOS is Linux) but then you lose the thing that makes it a Chromebook and turn it into a small laptop with not much storage. That may be exactly what some people want and exactly what other people don't want.