Urban75 Home About Offline BrixtonBuzz Contact

Chromebooks - latest news and discussion

Getting it in early, but if any good deals for Black Friday and what not pop up, can people post them, looks like dear Mother wants one for Christmas, but am prepared to hold out for some bargains in the run up.
 
So Amazon Prime movies work just fine on my Asus Chromebook. Nice. Watched 45 mins of a movie at full volume and full screen and the battery had gone down all of 5%!
 
editor said:
So Amazon Prime movies work just fine on my Asus Chromebook. Nice. Watched 45 mins of a movie at full volume and full screen and the battery had gone down all of 5%!
Click to expand...

I've been using my asus chromebox as my main computer for the last couple of weeks after motherboard failure on my PC and using dual screens it has struggled to play movies and browse websites without the odd freeze or glitch. I'm assuming it is using all the memory and I could use a machine with more ram if I want to stream and do other stuff at the same time.
 
BigTom said:
I've been using my asus chromebox as my main computer for the last couple of weeks after motherboard failure on my PC and using dual screens it has struggled to play movies and browse websites without the odd freeze or glitch. I'm assuming it is using all the memory and I could use a machine with more ram if I want to stream and do other stuff at the same time.
Click to expand...
I don't think they're really designed to drive dual screens!
 
editor said:
I don't think they're really designed to drive dual screens!
Click to expand...

probably not but it lets you do it and chromeOS has the capability (auto changed to dual screen mode when I plugged in the second one) so... (HDMI port + display port).
 
So I rashly put in a bid on a Toshiba 13.3" job last night with the 1080 screen & 4gb and am winning.

It sounds the best of what is available (without paying silly money), but now I'm thinking I should be holding fire till next year when there will be a greater selection of touchscreen models available.

Also who has put Linux on there's? I'm thinking that I can do 95 percent of what I want, but having a "real" OS for the other 5 has been what's convinced me. That and all the windows machines I like are over 600 quid. What distro did you use. Been limiting my search to Intel Chromebooks to have more choice.
 
You'll no doubt get snipe'd anyway, don't think i've ever put an ebay bid in with more than 7 seconds to go, which is usually the max price i'm willing to pay, and it rarely actually goes for that price i put in. :D
 
Yeah if I was serious I'd snipe it. Luckily I've been out bid. I think 2017 should be interesting. With so many of them being sold and Android apps I think we should see nice new models. I'm starting to think I'm happy to pay similar to a cheaper Windows laptop to get a machine that will properly replace it.
 
Supposed to be available in both 16 or 32gb I've read - which is no use in this instance I know as there would obviously be a price diff. Doesn't make much difference though as you can slam in a 128gb card or low profile usb stick.

Looks good!
 
It does look good. I'd quite like an Intel processor so could have a go at running Linux, but that's not the end of the world.

Looking forward to reading reviews and seeing what other companies release in competition.
 
The processor does put me off a bit. I know the Celeron in the Boy's Toshi is just fast enough to not be annoying, and it scores a good 60% faster in Octane than the abomination Acer's using. (and the newer i3 Toshi is over twice as fast) In all other respects, it looks great.
 
How is printing on a chromebook? My dad is getting started on computers, and wants something very easy. I really want to suggest a chromebook, but dicking around too much with printing (as a google of the term "chromebook printing" suggest would be involved) is going to be a total red line.

What is your experience? Would it be possible to link to an existing printer?
 
by what method - over wifi only is the official method - usb can be done with some faff

I already had a wifi enabled printer before I got a chromebook so it wasn't an issue for me
 
No idea about a chromebook but printing to a wifi printer from my phone is easer than from my laptop.
 
Jon-of-arc said:
How is printing on a chromebook? My dad is getting started on computers, and wants something very easy. I really want to suggest a chromebook, but dicking around too much with printing (as a google of the term "chromebook printing" suggest would be involved) is going to be a total red line.

What is your experience? Would it be possible to link to an existing printer?
Click to expand...
It prints though Google Cloud Print.

Once you're setup on that you can print from any device through your Google account so you can test it out before you buy the Chromebook.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
 
Jon-of-arc said:
How is printing on a chromebook? My dad is getting started on computers, and wants something very easy. I really want to suggest a chromebook, but dicking around too much with printing (as a google of the term "chromebook printing" suggest would be involved) is going to be a total red line.

What is your experience? Would it be possible to link to an existing printer?
Click to expand...

Someone mentioned previously theres a HP app you can install, which may or may not work with your printer, assuming it's a HP of course.
 
Throbbing Angel said:
by what method - over wifi only is the official method - usb can be done with some faff

I already had a wifi enabled printer before I got a chromebook so it wasn't an issue for me
Click to expand...

USB is probably what we have. Any links for how to fudge it through?
 
Do they come with a locking point for a cable lock?

Last time I bought a lappy it had one and I used it with a cable.

So pick-upable these things are.
 
weltweit said:
Do they come with a locking point for a cable lock?
Last time I bought a lappy it had one and I used it with a cable.
So pick-upable these things are.
Click to expand...

Mine has a lock point (Toshiba Chromebook 2 - £270 when new nearly 2 years back) I suppose other must do too. Yet the most expensive, Pixel 2, doesn't :confused:

Jon-of-arc said:
USB is probably what we have. Any links for how to fudge it through?
Click to expand...

This mentions it - scroll down a bit
How to Set Up Google Print on Your Chromebook


and this
https://chromeunboxed.com/usb-printing-from-a-chromebook-is-possible-and-quite-simple/
 
Last edited:
One thing I'd love on my chromebook is a *proper* (not browser based) blue light filter. I use one on my phone and macbook and the chromebook seems so bright in comparison.

If you share the the desire, a quick 'star' of this issue below might focus the engineer's minds....

This Google Groups
 
oneflewover said:
Acer R13 CB5-312T MTK MT8173 13.3-Inch Chromebook (Silver) - (MediaTek, 4 GB RAM, Chrome OS): Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

Now available for pre order. Does not state memory though.
Click to expand...

Bit the bullet and bought direct from Acer. Order at 06:00 03/01/17 arrived 09:00 04/01/17 - It came from Wroclaw in Poland.

First impressions, it's beautiful, lovely finish, really tactile. Key press and pad work nicely. Touch screen really nice. bends and folds with a reassuringly nice feel. Heavier than I thought it would be.

On start up it took quite a while for the WiFi to start working even though it connected immediately.

Disappointingly does not come with play store installed and even after update to latest version of chrome, still had to do beta for Play Store.

VLC installed and plays nicely with lovely bright screen.

Questions, what do folk use for Music that will see the SD card? Early days yet but have trouble accessing SD card.

Further to follow
 
Tbh, I don't use anything other than Google music on the chromebook. You can upload a huge amount without subscribing and it means I can cast to the chromecast audio which is probably the best piece of kit I've ever bought.

I don't know of another audio solution, but I highly recommend poweramp on android. Not tried it on CB, but it's got a function to choose the music library.
 
tangerinedream said:
Tbh, I don't use anything other than Google music on the chromebook. You can upload a huge amount without subscribing and it means I can cast to the chromecast audio which is probably the best piece of kit I've ever bought.

I don't know of another audio solution, but I highly recommend poweramp on android. Not tried it on CB, but it's got a function to choose the music library.
Click to expand...
I use Spotify. Works fine for offline too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Happy Tree
Latest Win 11 Update - a biggie!
Replies
2
Views
170
Humberto
Humberto
H
Twitter/X discussion
2 3
Replies
67
Views
2K
ddraig
ddraig
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Help Sudden Chromebook battery weirdness
2
Replies
48
Views
761
ATOMIC SUPLEX
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Cloo
Help Chromebook losing wifi connection & not letting you reconnect
Replies
12
Views
299
Cloo
Cloo
passenger
Chromebook problem
Replies
9
Views
480
Throbbing Angel
Throbbing Angel
Back
Top Bottom