Chromebooks - latest news and discussion

[strung out]

Good advice, thanks!

He's 74 so I want to get him something that needs minimal maintenance and a chromebook sounds perfect.

 

[free spirit]

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.

which is a shame, as we do use google docs for most of what we do.

 

[editor]

which is a shame, as we do use google docs for most of what we do.

I don't get what you mean. Chromebooks run Google Docs.

 

[free spirit]

I don't get what you mean. Chromebooks run Google Docs.

yes, but apparently not the other programmes we'd want to occasionally use, therefore I can't buy a chromebook. I think.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

I'd imagine Chromebooks are just about the only mainstream machines you can buy that actually get faster with age!

My Macbook Air is noticeably quicker since Mavericks came out





*runs*

 

[editor]

My Macbook Air is noticeably quicker since Mavericks came out

Do you ever worry that you're turned into, well, you know, one of those really boring Mac people?

PS and PS.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Two smilies and an action in stars and you still bloody bite

 

[editor]

Two smilies and an action in stars and you still bloody bite

Don't think I'm fooled by the smilies. You'll be high fiving staff soon.

 

[TheHoodedClaw]

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 wish my dad had mentioned he was getting a new laptop before he bought his. He spunked the best part of a grand on a Sony Vaio (with Win 8), when a chromebook would have been perfect for his needs. Oh well.

 

[editor]

I wish my dad had mentioned he was getting a new laptop before he bought his. He spunked the best part of a grand on a Sony Vaio (with Win 8), when a chromebook would have been perfect for his needs. Oh well.

I think the touchscreen Acer machine that's just been released is going to be a great buy for a lot of people - particularly folks who have trouble with trackpads and mice.

I haven't tried one yet, but the earlier £199 Acer Aspire C720 Chromebook gets a good review here:

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/laptops/386023/acer-aspire-c720-chromebook

 

[Kid_Eternity]

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.

Nope they're beaten in this area by the weakest tablet. Pointless machines in a dying sector...

 

[editor]

So are MacBooks even more useless then?

 

[stuff_it]

Rising market share in a dying tech sector isn't what I'd call success.

How is it dying? Even I have more working computers than ever.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

I think we're a long way of the death of the keyboard!

 

[slainte]

Sorry don't understand the question above I think there are plenty of people whom can type and require a decent keyboard for many functions. If you are referring to the majority of users needing to have a laptop with lots of RAM and harddisk space just to install an OS and run a word processing package then yes actually I think you are correct hence actually a chromebook will fit those users better.
If you require high end processing and packages mathematically intensive then you require a laptop with serious monetary value or a workstation simple really.
So regarding tablets great for being out and about but sometimes you need a laptop application over what a tablet does. Tablets are different in that sense they offer different benefits

 

[UnderOpenSky]

Indeed. Machines with a keyboard as well as a screen, no matter what OS they run will be here for a long time yet. Most people I know with a tablet still have another computer, even if the tablet gets more use.

 

[editor]

Indeed. Machines with a keyboard as well as a screen, no matter what OS they run will be here for a long time yet. Most people I know with a tablet still have another computer, even if the tablet gets more use.

If you need to do any amount of typing, using a tablet is a fucking pain in the arse unless you bolt on a third-party keyboard, so a Chromebook represents a far wiser choice than some wobbly tablet add-on.

 

[editor]

Desktop LG Chromebase Desktop has been announced. Just about perfect for web cafes, I would have thought.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

I'm sure it would be very easy to maintain. I'm very impressed with the what can be delivered when you strip away the bloat and deliver a decent experience at a low price, but am I alone though in worrying about having a machine that is so reliant on the "cloud"

 

[editor]

I'm sure it would, very easy to maintain. I'm very impressed with the what can be delivered when strip away and bloat and deliver a decent experience at a low price, but am I alone though in worrying about having machine that is so reliant on the "cloud"

I used to think that but my laptop is pretty much useless without a web connection for the things I use it for these days.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

Call me a horder, but I like having everything local. The net is fantastic as a form of backup and a way of accessing your data wherever you are, but the idea of surrendering complete control makes me deeply uncomfortable.

 

[editor]

Call me a horder, but I like having everything local. The net is fantastic as a form of backup and a way of accessing your data wherever you are, but the idea of surrendering complete control makes me deeply uncomfortable.

You can store a lot of stuff locally so it's not useless without a web connection, and you can of course plug in an external drive to back up everything.

 

[souljacker]

Call me a horder, but I like having everything local. The net is fantastic as a form of backup and a way of accessing your data wherever you are, but the idea of surrendering complete control makes me deeply uncomfortable.

NAS drive for all that, with your music automagically synced to Google Play Music therefore available wherever you go.

 

[c01642]

Looks like there's been a lot of misreporting on the actual figures and they do not include all sales including consumer sales.

"There has been a ton of misreporting as many lazy reporters and bloggers have characterized this as all sales, which it wasn't, or even consumer sales, which it most assuredly was not," said Stephen Baker of the NPD Group, in an email reply to questions. "It has been very personally distressing to me that so many reporters/bloggers refuse to read, or don't know what commercial channels mean."

http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=3CF25874-B69F-E19B-024BC4137078E1F0

 

[editor]

Looks like there's been a lot of misreporting on the actual figures and they do not include all sales including consumer sales.

"There has been a ton of misreporting as many lazy reporters and bloggers have characterized this as all sales, which it wasn't, or even consumer sales, which it most assuredly was not," said Stephen Baker of the NPD Group, in an email reply to questions. "It has been very personally distressing to me that so many reporters/bloggers refuse to read, or don't know what commercial channels mean."

http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=3CF25874-B69F-E19B-024BC4137078E1F0

He might have been able to save all that distress if NPD had taken the trouble to add a one line explanation of what they meant by 'commercial channels'.

 

[elbows]

He might have been able to save all that distress if NPD had taken the trouble to add a one line explanation of what they meant by 'commercial channels'.

A read of their press release suggests that really shouldn't have been necessary. If the term commercial channel is too hard for people to understand, there are several references to business in the full press release.

https://www.npd.com/wps/portal/npd/...13-with-double-digit-growth-according-to-npd/

For example:

“New products like Chromebooks, and reimagined items like Windows tablets, are now supplementing the revitalization that iPads started in personal computing devices. It is no accident that we are seeing the fruits of this change in the commercial markets as business and institutional buyers exploit the flexibility inherent in the new range of choices now open to them.”

 

[editor]

For example:

How does that make it particularly clear? Using phrases like "personal computing devices" suggests that it's for consumers, not corporations.

 

[editor]

Toshiba have just announced a 13in Chromebook with a super cheap cheap price tag of $279/£170:

Read more: http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/laptop/3496063/toshiba-chromebook-hands-on-review/

 

[purenarcotic]

I admit I don't know a lot about cloud computing, but from what I've read it seems you have to pay a subscription to it all. Why would I do that when I can use the existing hard drive on the laptop or an external HD. I get the whole being able to access from anywhere, but it all seems very expensive. Unless I've got it all wrong, which is very probable.

 

[editor]

I admit I don't know a lot about cloud computing, but from what I've read it seems you have to pay a subscription to it all.

You don't pay a subscription at all unless you're using bazillions of hard drive space (massively unlikely for this kind of machine/usage).