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Chromebooks - latest news and discussion

pesh said:
i finally saw a Chromebook in the wild the over day. i used it to order a pizza. it's trackpad infuriated me. this concludes my review of the Chromebook.
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The earlier ones weren't the greatest, but new ones like the HP Chromebook 11 really are rather remarkable machines for the price. They don't do everything of course, but they're a great way of introducing truly affordable computing in a decently styled package.

o-CHROMEBOOK-11-570.jpg

Which is why the HP Chromebook 11 is such a joy. Because this is a beautiful, well-designed and high-quality little machine. It's made of shiny white plastic (on the outside, matte on the inside) which is almost retro in recalling the early Apple iBooks, but is stronger than it looks thanks to a reinforced magnesium frame. It has a surprisingly excellent screen and a phenomenally good keyboard for the price, which feels as good as you'd hope for from a £1000+ laptop. The trackpad isn't great, but it's usable, and it's fast enough to do virtually everything you'll want to do in Chrome OS. Conveniently it also charges from a standard smartphone USB plug, and not a laptop powerbrick.

And it costs £230.

That's not a typo. It's roughly half the price of an iPad. And far, far less than a decent normal laptop.

The result is that the HP 11 is the first Chromebook we've tried in which the whole experience - from opening the machine, turning it on (it boots in six seconds or less) and actually using it for day to day tasks has all been a pleasant surprise. It's light enough to carry around on a whim, cheap enough that you won't feel guilty for not using it, powerful enough that it won't slow down with five tabs open (like some of the older Chromebooks) and pretty enough that you'll be proud, not embarrassed, to take it out in Starbucks.

If you're sold on Chrome OS as a way to augment your digital life, there really aren't any downsides (other than the middling battery). But you do have to be sure you're on board first. Make no mistake - you can do far more on an iPad or even a Nexus 7 than you can on a Chromebook. Compared to Google's Nexus devices, the missing features are endless - there's no Google Now integration, no voice search, and no useful widgets. It's a specific device for a specific user, and not an easy solution to all your computing needs. But if you're doing a lot of typing on the go, need a cheap decent laptop for travelling or just don't want to get bogged down in Mac OS X or Windows, we recommend giving it a go. You might just find a refreshing, clean and simplified computing life is waiting around the corner.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/11/08/google-chromebook-11-review_n_4239685.html
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i'm pretty sure it was a Chromebook 11. in as far as it was made by HP and seemed to have about an 11" screen.
 
pesh said:
i'm pretty sure it was a Chromebook 11. in as far as it was made by HP and seemed to have about an 11" screen.
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That was only released recently. The trackpad is clearly not going to be a thing of wonder at this price, but loads of reviewers and customers seem satisfied enough with the machine at £229.

"It's a quarter of the price of even the cheapest 11-inch MacBook Air and it's far more than a quarter as lovely. If Chrome OS could work for you, buy this laptop."
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc...-and-netbooks/hp-chromebook-11-1187675/review
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editor said:
It's a bigger deal than you might expect too, because Apple laptops are everywhere in America.
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But according to the graph they're not.

Chromebooks seem like a decent budget idea, but I don't expect to see Microsoft lose out in the laptop market anytime soon.
 
I keep thinking about the hires screen Chromebooks, but am curious as to how they compare with a Nexus 7 and a folding Bluetooth keyboard. Anyone done a longterm test?
 
Hmm actually bought a Samsung Series 5 chromebook a while back nice to type on like the macbook pro keyboard ie better than most netbooks IMHO but handier and less poncy ...for a better phrase whilst out and about. Actually using it(the chromebook) more than I thought. I bought the 3G model so my 7 quid data SIM from Three is useful.Just topup as and when .. I also have a Nexus 7 good for different things. ... Quick Office now with Google cloud suite and also if you signed up on time Open Office are online now like Office 365 so from that side its pretty good for most people knocking out the occasional documents. Hell even lucid chart is great for viewing and tweaking the odd visio document. Hello sign good for me to edit and sign documents whilst on the go...still a bit shit at times to be honest but much much better than many would realise at the same time.

Google Docs is getting better. Issues don't like not great for trying to pick up streaming from home RAID but generally its much much better than I thought and getting better if you don't need high end stuff or heavy weight packages. Even with Office 365 you are limited but you have some functionality... and there is always crouton if you need to run skype ..although I don't google hangout is fine actually no frills but up to 9 on a call..

Checked this out for a cousin young son ...might be good https://www.google.co.uk/intl/en_uk/chrome/devices/acer-c720-chromebook.html#ac-c720

Had a play on it in a shop feels better than the price and for the reasons above would cover the needs of most people probably better than a netbook nowadays. But thats a subjective comment. I think its better feel and build quality than the HP actually and it has that SD slot etc. over the HP.

Also there is a version on ebay with touch screen but not liking the price ...
http://hexus.net/tech/news/laptop/62973-acers-new-haswell-powered-touchscreen-chromebook-c720p/

IF you had asked me 6 months ago about a cloud based computer I would have said no but the way its going ...apart from high end stuff it covers most peoples needs and the keyboard is much better than most laptops. If they sat down and were honest with themselves.
There will always be a need for a second laptop or a laptop for most households covering a bit of surfing writing the odd letter viewing you tube etc. Posting on forums etc :) They don't need quad core or dual core i7 processors etc. NOTE that is for most people not everyone..
But chromebooks will fill the gap of netbook market and if they continue to improve the quality of google docs etc. its a viable option for most more than they think. Often people don't simply use the power of the machines they purchase or simply just surf etc. For that space they are simply brillant.

Depending on model you can load stuff to a SD card and view movies files etc. and do offline stuff they are nowadays more than "just browser" machines abeit not massively so.
Frankly for high end stuff of course its out and really wish they would fix the ability to locally print from the USB ports a real restriction in my honest view for students surfing the web the odd documents to be edited created its fine and having either 100Gig or more storage for 2 or so years does make it useful and better value ..even if you dont fill it or renew afterwards your storage plan you can continue to have all files and view etc. but not upload past the expiry date so its win win from my own personal view there.
 
Having to use a mouse somewhat negates the portable/chuck it in a bag when you're out and about aspect though.

And having used a couple of touchscreen windows machines at work now I'm still not sold on them. A good quality multitouch pad is still the best option IMHO, but it seems that building one down to a budget price is either still not possible or manufactures are just holding them for their top spec machines as part of their sales strategy.
 
beesonthewhatnow said:
And having used a couple of touchscreen windows machines at work now I'm still not sold on them.
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Yes, I think everyone who reads the tech forums must know that by now!

As for me, I NEVER use the touchpad on my Asus Transformer, although it's apparently not a bad one. The touchscreen and keyboard combo is just fine for me, just like it probably will be for many users of this Chromebook.

It's really not such a dealbusting thing for many users at this level.
 
Hmm the above a slightly different model this is the one for the UK

http://www.wirefresh.com/acer-annou...intel-haswell-cpu-and-8-5-hours-battery-life/ Not available yet I think ..could be wrong though.
..slightly different form factor and better battery life. Over Christmas had a play with the non touch screen thinking of cheap laptop present for a cousin to do basic docs on etc. bit of storage for them etc. considering he has an Android phone and uses google products docs etc. a lot... This laptop the Acer I think is better than the ARM processors to be honest
I have a macbook pro and the typing quality and feel is pretty similar ..yes really and even my samsung series 5 550 with 3G sim slot over basic wifi is great screen good viewing angle and non gloss.. I let the kids watch the occasional movie on it pleasant to look at. etc. in short build quality of these chromebook laptops is much better and the feel of the Acer is the feel of a much better laptop i think from messing about with it.
Even if you dont like chromebook you can put on ubuntu linux , there is a version specific for it or run as a parallel thread via crouton so you get a good laptop abeit running linux if you want for a great price.
much much better than any netbook I unfortunately did purchase one a while back a meenee running ubuntu for linux related tasks but the keyboard was so crap it was is beyond description essentially you couldn't type on it with any speed bit of a restriction for a LINUX laptop I think .
Chromebooks for most is not as restrictive for people as they think ..yes you still need a main machine etc. however I havent personally put crouton or kbuntu on it but if I did I think I could then use it fully..
I would rather spend the money these days if I needed to spend a lot on a really really expensive laptop like the Acer S7 if you just want windows or said macbook pro but lower than these levels being realistic get a workstation type thing for other stuff if the budget isn't there and get a chromebook.
Unless you really must have the shiny aluminium macbook air most of the build quality of windows 8 laptop around 200 to 600 quid are normally pretty crap or simply shit battery life.
They are not just these days " laptops running a chrome browser only innit " I would stand by the fact my own chromebook build quality and battery life is better than most low end to mid range laptops
 
Had a good go on a couple today and have to say I was pretty damn impressed. Super fast, easy to use and there seemed to be a good range of apps. There was an Acer for £199 that seemed a real bargain.

Chromebooks would never replace a laptop for heavier tasks of course, but I imagine it's going to just fine for the needs of the vast majority of users, and the fact that there's never any need to faff about with OS upgrades makes it all the more appealing to non techie types.
 
I'm sure they're fine machines for so people, but the OS upgrades is a bit of a red herring, windows does a fair job of it doing it the background.
 
Well correct but most people only would use a "laptop" for surfing , browsing the web and writing the odd letter or doc etc. Now personally Im loosing the will to live with constant fringing changes to the Office suite with each and every update ....just take basic word...they have moved the icons symbols macros around behind this now that etc. that when I move from a version I have to budget time to finding when they moved shit about ...personally I stick to Office 2010 now full stop I don't want another skin messing about for features etc. and I deliberately held back for getting Visio 2010 as it was shit they removed options of transparency for objects but had to assign to a layer then make that transparent etc. etc.
However they re-instated features for visio 2013 so i now run that and before anywhere which gave or insisted on providing a laptop I stated Visio 2007 or now 2013 NOT 2010.

Point of this ..Microsoft keep moving features of their core suite about so much for every version that its becoming counter productive for those whom want consistency and more features but not messing with layout.
So google docs word equivalent they are adding features but not pricking about with the layout as much as Office.
Hence there really is a lot of companies taking up Google Docs for business as a real option they (companies ) are sick of install requirements for Office suite moving about shit for no reason and are being forced to add Hard disks or more RAM for essentially the same thing.
To the extent that Office has created Office 365 ..to respond to this trend.
So you know if you really don't need to embed other documents into documents making extensive hyper links within documents ...why do you need to buy a whole windows OS and have so much disk space etc. to write a basic fringing document.

To clarify I have the chromebook for most of basic stuff browsing surfing viewing you tube etc. I do use Google docs for knocking up a letter not really required for anything professional
For more highend stuff I have the macbook pro (not the retina )with bootcamp on the bootcamp I have now windows 8.1 and I use the OSX for other things
That is stuffed with 3rd Party RAM 16 Gig in fact a quad core i7 and now upgraded the drive to a solid state SSD 1 Tb split 60/40 for OSX and windows...to answer I have to run high end mathematical intensive programs hence the spec.
I also have bought a workstation G5 with two Intel Xeon quad cores each for VMware stuff and other high end shit..

My point...if i didn't need high end stuff and esoteric features of Office as part of work. The chromebook would be fine and its fine for most of people but are tricked into believing that they need 8 or 16 Gig of RAM 1TB of hard disk and I5 or i7 processor just to surf the web or write the odd letter.
So they cut corners buy a crappy laptop with crappy keyboard or 1.5 hour (when running a few programs whilst on wifi) but states " up to 5 hours battery " laptop machine when they could have spent the money on say a cloud print printer and chromebook pocketed money and have a better build and feel of machine.
 
The above statement is not an attack on anyone but do consider the point for MOST and or for 80 percent of tasks people would be fine with a chromebook.
And for anyone whom works in IT in some field like I do..chromebooks are a god send for those relatives whom are as technical as a teapot..just tell them to get this printer and a chromebook ..no more calls to fix or assist with issues..worth it in my book.
Also for a second machine I would tell anyone to try it the feel of them etc. is worth it as stated the quality is generally much better than expected. Im posting from my chromebook right now actually and about the house I use it for 90 percent of laptop browsing surfing etc. tasks.
 
All fair points but I suspect most home users don't change versions of office that much either.

I actually tend to agree by way about office changes btw. I dont use a computer that much at work, so can't be arsed working stuff out again and remembering when I do.
 
can 3rd party software be run on chromebooks, or are they literally just for cloud computing?

We use docs for most of our work, but need to use some specialist software as well that's not too powerful, but just don't know if it'd be compatible.
 
free spirit said:
can 3rd party software be run on chromebooks, or are they literally just for cloud computing?

We use docs for most of our work, but need to use some specialist software as well that's not too powerful, but just don't know if it'd be compatible.
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It's not for users of specialist software. It's a fast, secure and remarkably affordable alternative that will do just about everything that the vast majority of users need a laptop for, but it's not a replacement for power users, or people needing to run specific, bespoke software.
 
Sure looks like Microsoft are being a bit spooked by the rise of Chromebooks as this daft video shows:

 
Yes nice video except total bollox in terms of what they are offering for instance of course google docs can work offline and then sync when online. There is gmail offline as well so that covers email. Right onto photos now google + photo is available for all chromebooks not just the pixel and its really good. then there is wevideo editor and maker offline and online app just updated out and its actually a really good video editor and compositor tool ...plenty of games even the old classic angry birds etc. ..so said video is actually in terms of argument ..bollox frankly.
 
Further to that I use hello sign a lot for documents upload a doc any format to scan its matches the font type and ink saturation and then you can click and type edit later paste in a signature etc. and then email get an email when its read and of course the email return great for contracts or contractors on the go.
For personal use ie one person signing and then getting back its free... I like that personally there are more commercial packages which I have used but this is actually better
Then there is hello fax...excellent but a subscription past the first 50 pages however and genuinely there are some good apps there in the chrome store along with the crud but the offline being useless thing not anymore and if you get a chromebook with an SD slot you can import export stuff and via the USB can add USB keys and drives so actually the above video is frankly so old in terms of chromebooks now its fucking sad beyond belief.
If they were so shit why do they sell so much and why has microsoft changed their suite to be principally a cloud solution aka Office 365 in the cloud...which ironically you can access most features again from a chromebook ..)
 
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I'm recommending my dad gets a chromebook later this month as his windows machine continues to get slower and slower and slower.

He tells me he really does only want it for internet and the odd bit of document editing, so I'm hoping he won't get thrown completely when it doesn't do something he thought it would.
 
I'd imagine Chromebooks are just about the only mainstream machines you can buy that actually get faster with age!
 
Strung out ..good idea but also ensure he does get a google cloud print ready printer or if you have another machine readily available set that up for be the cloud ready printer. Thats not a daunting or an issue as it sounds.
Try to get an SD slot one and they all have USB its really great actually occasionally I get some weird kind of codec video or document format pop it in the slot and the chrome OS just reads it EACH AND EVERY TIME I geniunely have had to spend some times getting codecs either for OSX or Windows 7 and Windows 8 ..but the chrome OS to its credit just opens it reads it etc.
Remember you will also get 100G of cloud storage which can be used for loads of other things too. IF he saves in google doc format its takes up NO SPACE neither does PHOTOS ..when he wants to send to someone else send as either the google doc or download save a docx format or xlsx (depending on what you want Word or excel for example ) and send it will open with formating etc. reliably in ANY VERSION of word ...that alone saves me personally so much crap
ie (I cant open this its in a later version of word I only have Office 2007 or whatever ) its a none issue from and with google docs..and ...its free
When you look at the laptop the build quality and the storage for TWO YEARS its well cheap and it brings down price if you view it as a package
 
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