Chromebook question

[spikey]

My Lady Wife's laptop is way past its BBE and she is now starting to get vexed by its many peculiarities.  This is not good for domestic harmony, so I started checking out budget laptops online, and lo - I find that there are now things called Chromebooks.  Gosh.  Who knew ... ?

 

What I now need to know please is whether or not I'm right in thinking of a Chromebook as an Android phone masquerading as a laptop.   Given that we have another laptop upon which we can do grown-up stuff like Photoshop and so forth when required,  it seems to me that a Chromebook would do Madam nicely for just smurfing the web, emails and watching films on YouTube (i.e 95% of her usual requirement).  It would also be cheaper.  But am I missing some obvious snag(s)?

[Zomboid]

From your description it would probably be a decent choice. They work on the basis that you can do almost everything via a web browser, and you can't install things like MS office (Google has a set of programmes which do the same things which you can use via a browser on any machine, so if you might need to use them then try them out on a proper computer before taking the plunge).

 

I don't know how well they work away from an internet connection, but emails, YouTube and surfing aren't terribly easy without a connection of some description anyhow.

[Hroth]

7 minutes ago, spikey said:

My Lady Wife's laptop is way past its BBE and she is now starting to get vexed by its many peculiarities.  This is not good for domestic harmony, so I started checking out budget laptops online, and lo - I find that there are now things called Chromebooks.  Gosh.  Who knew ... ?

 

What I now need to know please is whether or not I'm right in thinking of a Chromebook as an Android phone masquerading as a laptop.   Given that we have another laptop upon which we can do grown-up stuff like Photoshop and so forth when required,  it seems to me that a Chromebook would do Madam nicely for just smurfing the web, emails and watching films on YouTube (i.e 95% of her usual requirement).  It would also be cheaper.  But am I missing some obvious snag(s)?

 

If you are particularly fond of particular programs/apps on Windows or Apple computers, you will be lucky to find them on a Chromebook. However web browsing, email and Youtube are ok activities. 

 

Something to be aware of is that Chromebooks have a "use by" date, this can be accessed*, but after that date there won't be any more updates/security fixes.  This means that if you buy an older/cheaper model, you're likely to be left out on a limb sooner rather than later.

 

* Can't remember how...

[Guest]

For that use a Chromebook is ideal. Cheap to buy and generally huge battery life.

Just make sure the screen and speakers are decent. I had an Asus one from years ago and the speakers in it were pretty good considering.

[spikey]

1 hour ago, Hroth said:

Something to be aware of is that Chromebooks have a "use by" date, this can be accessed*, but after that date there won't be any more updates/security fixes.

 

Oh.  I don't like the sound of that , but so far I'm struggling to find out any details about it.  Maybe I'm just not using the right search terms but I'll keep trying

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, spikey said:

 

Oh.  I don't like the sound of that , but so far I'm struggling to find out any details about it.  Maybe I'm just not using the right search terms but I'll keep trying

 

The supported life is eight years which is fine, but it's from when the device was launched, not when you bought it so an older model won't be supported as long.

 

There's a big list of when support ends for devices here:

https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/6220366?hl=en

[simontaylor484]

My son (10) has a chromebook and loves it. He finds it easy to use 

[Zomboid]

The "use by date" is the same for Windows and Mac OS. You can run Windows 7 today if you want, but Microsoft aren't providing ongoing support, security updates etc. Same with Mac OS.

 

I doubt Google would turn your computer into a paperweight when they stop supporting it.

[Kris]

1 hour ago, Zomboid said:

I don't know how well they work away from an internet connection, but emails, YouTube and surfing aren't terribly easy without a connection of some description anyhow.

The ones we used where I worked needed to have the internet to work, no internet, no work.

[spikey]

Thank you gentlemen.  It has been decreed that I'm to purchase a Chromebook ...

[didcot]

My son's school gave given him a HP11 Chromebook. Its set up for school use and even has a touch screen. I'm quite impressed. However we cant connect an Android phone via bluetooth or lead to down load pictures of his assignments.

[idd15]

2 hours ago, didcot said:

My son's school gave given him a HP11 Chromebook. Its set up for school use and even has a touch screen. I'm quite impressed. However we cant connect an Android phone via bluetooth or lead to down load pictures of his assignments.

You should not have to. You just have to have the same google account on both devices, or share pictures and documents via a shared folder. If you use chrome browser on another PC logged into the same google account all three devices should sync to include passwords, documents, etc. It really is quite handy.

 

HTH

idd

[TronXP]

23 hours ago, Zomboid said:

The "use by date" is the same for Windows and Mac OS. You can run Windows 7 today if you want, but Microsoft aren't providing ongoing support, security updates etc. Same with Mac OS.

 

I doubt Google would turn your computer into a paperweight when they stop supporting it.

As an admin for 1200 chromebooks and have been for 5 or so years I will try to answer a few of the questions posted here: 

 

The End of support date means that they don't guarantee that updates will work on your device after that time.  In some cases support has been extended and in others updates have still applied fine.  However we have also had devices where they will not update.  This means that as Google stops services working on certain versions of Chrome browser then features will stop working.  As stated by 30801 Whenever you buy a Chromebook look the auto update policy here and try to get one with the longest possible support life.  Google are working on separating the Chrome browser and Chrome OS into two separate objects so that you can still update the browser even when the OS no longer has support.

 

Schools can lock certain functions such as not allowing devices to connect to the Chromebook.  (Good example is kids will attach to their phones as a hotspot to evade the schools Internet filters)  They can stop files and folders being shared to accounts outside of the school domain. (Can't share files with personal accounts)  Part of this is to do with safeguarding and also depending on various Data protection policies etc.

 

You can enable an offline mode,  so when you don't have internet you can work on files and then when it reconnects it will sync the work that you do.  

 

Personally I think they work as a device much better with a touch screen version,  most new Chromebooks now you can install android apps from the google play store and you can even install a Linux virtual machine on them and use Linux programs if you so wish. 

[Ohmisterporter]

We are using an HP Chromebook 11, our second one, and have no complaints really. We understood from the start that we could not print from it without a compatible printer, wireless or otherwise. Not having microsoft Office and Excell is not a problem now I am retired. Google security has worked fine, no worries about updating the latest anti-virus programmes. Cannot think of any reason not to buy one to be honest.

[Ohmisterporter]

I checked the lists for support for my HP Chromebook 11-2200na and it is not on the lists so no idea when support will end. 

[Zomboid]

On 09/01/2021 at 12:26, Ohmisterporter said:

Cannot think of any reason not to buy one to be honest.

I don't think they're the answer if you're serious about gaming. Or if you're into recording music on ProTools or similar.

 

But for most casual users they seem to make a lot of sense.

[NittenDormer]

I got a chrome book recently and found out that I cannot use my desktop antivirus on it - not compatible. Same AV package can be added to phones/tablet though. 

[Guest]

10 hours ago, Zomboid said:

I don't think they're the answer if you're serious about gaming.

 

You can use Google Stadia on them if you have a good internet connection.

I'm still not sure about Stadia but it's undeniably cheaper than building a proper gaming PC.

[Guest]

10 hours ago, NittenDormer said:

I got a chrome book recently and found out that I cannot use my desktop antivirus on it - not compatible. Same AV package can be added to phones/tablet though. 

 

A Chromebook doesn't run native code so AV doesn't make sense. Everything runs in the browser.