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Chromebook question!
Hey there! My mother asked me for thoughts on a new laptop for her to get sometime over the summer. Now, she doesn't need power really as she usually just looks at cabins for vacation and sometimes videos. She bought a laptop about 4-5 years ago that is starting to take a dive and basically just wants to start fresh but doesn't want to spend alot.
I've been reading up on chromebooks and they seem right up her alley at an affordable price. They also claim to not suffer from the slowdowns that piss her off so much. i.e., they say they boot in 10 seconds and recover from sleep mode immediately.
Does anyone have any experience or perhaps warnings about the various Chromebooks out there?
I am looking at this for example: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834131403
Thanks!
Comments
A Chromebook is basically a low end netbook that runs Google Chrome and can't run anything else. While there is a lot that you can do in a web browser, there's also a lot that you can't, and in particular, it doesn't run Windows.
If you want a cheap Windows computer, you could try this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230587
It's kind of between a laptop and a netbook, as it's AMD's idea of an ultraportable, but dramatically faster than Atom, which is really meant for cell phones.
This might be out of your budget, but there's also this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=34-230-960
A real quad core processor, 4 GB of memory, a 500 GB hard drive, integrated graphics that can do everything--including gaming--and all for $400. It leaves a memory channel vacant, but that really only matters for gaming.
If avoiding slowdowns is the main priority, you could take any old laptop, pull out the hard drive, put in an SSD, and use that instead. Buying the SSD likely adds about $100 to the price tag, though.
If you do go with a Chromebook, just be aware that all it can run is a web browser--and only Google Chrome, not other browsers.
The solid state hard drive is what makes the Chromebook fast. That, and it barely has anything to load when it boots, compared to modern Windows computers.
Does your mother do anything other than internet browsing with her computer? If the answer is no, a Chromebook would be fine.
I think she might want something a little more flexible. My suggestion would be to find a tablet and get a keyboard and maybe a mouse for it. That would allow her to do very light word processing, use all sorts of useful apps, play games, read books, watch movies, and have more portability than a typical laptop.
If none of the above ideas seem like they will work, you can always get an inexpensive laptop and install a solid state hard drive. As long as it has a least 4GB of RAM, it should perform well.
Another option and one I would consider before a chromebook is a tablet. There are some good tablets for around the same price.
The Nexus 10 would be worth a look and also an Ipad if your so inclined. I personally use and Ipad and love it, its the only apple product I own but I would have to recommend one just based on my use of it almost daily for work and personal use.
I would give the Chromebook a shot at that price - half of what a new iPad costs: Don't go in expecting a speed demon though. Yeah, it'll boot/wake up fast, but it's basically a tablet with a built-in keyboard if you get down to the OS.
Also, Google is known for pulling the plug on projects and leaving people hanging. It could be you buy a Chromebook today, and tomorrow Chrome OS is dead and will never get another update. While that's true of any piece of modern hardware, it's exceedingly less likely from other companies (MS, Apple, etc), and Google has been notorious for it (Android devices stuck with old revisions, etc).
I do have an iPad, I do recommend it highly for light browsing and just general email. Tablets in general are nice devices to have around, and it could be all your mother needs. Andriod/MS tablets - do a bit more research before you buy: yeah, they are almost all cheaper, but I would make sure the Apps are there (some devices are restricted on where they can get apps from - like the Kindle Fire), and that software support is there (some are locked into old versions of Android, for instance, especially the really cheap ones like Coby).
I've also had, and heard of, a lot of success with people repurposing used laptops: buy an old Dell or something dirt cheap used; swap out the HDD for an SSD (usually 40G-60G is more than enough for this), and install a nice user-firendly Linux distro on it (like Ubuntu). Not that your mother, or you, necessarily needs to learn Linux CLI commands, but the newer distro's are set up such that they are pretty nice for just having a web brower (usually Firefox) and a few other popular programs (VLC for watching movies, XBMC for media center support, etc.) and they work well, and don't cost the $100 MS licensing fee. For someone who does nearly all their work in a web browser, it works very well, and for pretty cheap.
I have a Chromebook at work. It is essentially only useful for internet work. If you only really use a laptop for random papers (using google docs, sheets, etc) and internet browsing, it is perfect. However if you want to do any type of laptop things, it wouldn't work.
The Chromebook runs a custom OS made by Google that focuses on speed. You literally do get a 5 second cold boot, and coming out of sleep mode is a matter of 2 seconds. Averages about 5 hours of use for full charge as well. Downside is, the Chromebook will not run any Java applications. No Java games, or anything using Java will work unless you do a really weird work around where you remote into a computer's internet explorer session. No .exe files will work either. When downloading files, you also only have two folders on your Chromebook. One for Google Drive and one for downloads. That's all the browsing experience you get.
All and all, it's a great cheap alternative for a laptop for someone who isn't tech savvy or really requires a lot out of their laptop. It's a good deal for the price considering all small and lightweight it is as well. Keyboard feels good, doesn't feel cheap even for how small the laptop itself is.
Someone else may can correct me if I am wrong. On a desktop installing windows 7 when it came with 8 wouldnt be an issue. With a laptop it may be more problematic. Driver issues are a possibility as well as having to buy a legit copy of windows 7 to go with the laptop.
My advice would be to look around and see if you can get a cheap laptop with win 7 already on it, even look at refurb or used laptops. Or just roll with windows 8. It may take her a day or two to get used to 8 but other than that no use in buying a laptop with 8 and trying to install 7 instead.
The chromebook is fine for your mother... as this guy said above...they are great speedy devices with no bloat ware.
You can make Win8 look and behave just like Win7 - no real need to even downgrade. Start8 is probably the most popular but it costs like $5. I use Classic Shell - it's free and works well enough.
Heck of a lot cheaper than a new OS license.
Right that's what I was thinking of, not actually installing windows 7 instead of 8 but just making 8 act exactly like 7. Thanks all, a laptop it is. Woot has one today, it's a refurb with windows 8.
http://www.woot.com/offers/hp-17-3-dual-core-laptop-7
People that have bought one seem to like it - except for windows 8 lol. As Ridelynn and others have said though it's only a few tweaks away from making it act like 7.
Start Menu 8 by IOBits is free. I don't know why anyone would pay for a Start Menu, but I guess Microsoft learned the hard way. Also, Windows 8.1 patch will include a Start Menu.
The laptop linked on Woot is a decent laptop for the price. You could go for something cheaper if you're willing to use refurbished, but you run the risk of it performing slow. If you are willing to invest in a SSD, you can make almost any laptop seem fast.
If he was considering your second link Amazon has it for $20 cheaper than newegg and I find Amazon less painful with returns.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B7K11MI/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
I'm a bit late responding to this topic, but I did want to point out that the statement above is not true. So many people spreading misinformation. A Chromebook can run Ubuntu, even the cheapest models. You can boot off of a USB drive using Chrubuntu or install the crouton scripts and effectively (alt-tab) between Chrome OS and Unity/xfce. There are a million websites and youtube videos showing you how to do this and even run Steam games. Just Google Chromebook Ubuntu or Steam.
You can use Google Docs offline, you can use MS Office in the cloud, or you can use Libre Office in Ubuntu.
Now are the lower end computers good for gaming, no not really. However, if you want a cheap, ultra-light, portable laptop, with an extra long battery life for school or coffee shop work then there isn't much better out there.
My xfce desktop on my chromebook.
Nobody doubts that PC architecture is capable of running a wide variety of applications and operating systems. The context of Quizzical's post and this thread was based on an uneducated user, not someone who can manipulate Linux kernels. The functionality out of the box is all that mattered for this thread.