I just ordered my first Chromebook - Page 3

wildcat fan · ‎03-23-2010

I appreciate your sharing your experiences @gardenman 😊

I've used Lenovo Think Pad Chromebooks in the classroom and have thought about getting one for home. My favorite was the one that was also a tablet. I rarely used it as a tablet, but loved it as a touchscreen when using it like a laptop. I liked being able to use Microsoft on it. I was surprised some Chromebooks don't have a USB port for a flash drive. I would like one with a USB even though that's not the way of the cool techie people. 😂

I'll check out the Acer. Sounds like it's at a good price too. The backlit keyboard is a nice feature and not necessarily something you'd normally get in that price range.

gardenman · ‎03-09-2010

@wildcat fan

This Acer has two USB 3 ports, one on each side and also two of the new USB C ports, one on each side. (The USB 3 ports are backward compatible with USB 1 and 2.) No HDMI output, but I don't really need that anyway, so not a big deal for me. It also has a micro-SD card slot for more storage. I don't know how big a micro-SD card you can slot in, but reports indicate many people use a 128 Gb card in it with no trouble. One reviewer stopped using a micro-SD card as the cards just pop out if pressed (self-ejecting) and he found he was ejecting it sometimes while handling the laptop and not realizing he was ejecting the card until he discovered it missing. I may put a piece of tape over the slot if I insert a micro-SD card just to help lock it in place.

The ability to use it as a tablet is a nice plus, but it's a really awkward sized tablet. However, if you ever want to do any drawing on it, it's nice to be able to fold it into a tablet format and draw away with it flat in front of you like a drawing pad without the keyboard in the way.

It's got some premium features (full HD display, backlit keyboard, Gorilla glass trackpad, 2 in 1 design, etc.) at a non-premium price. Normal retail for it is $399 so getting it for $329 on sale is a pretty good deal. It's currently out of stock at Bestbuy, but they're getting more in on 4/15.

Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!

wildcat fan · ‎03-23-2010

They ought to pay you commission @gardenman 😊 I decided to buy one too! All that you mentioned sounds like what I need and more. Plus, I like the idea of up to 13-hour battery life. It said it will ship April 15.

Toppers3 · ‎10-25-2016

Chromebooks also have a free word processing program included called Google Docs.

I found this to be useful when I needed to type up letters.

Some may not be aware that a Chromebook comes with this kind of software in it.

gardenman · ‎03-09-2010

@wildcat fan wrote:
They ought to pay you commission @gardenman 😊 I decided to buy one too! All that you mentioned sounds like what I need and more. Plus, I like the idea of up to 13-hour battery life. It said it will ship April 15.

I think you'll like it. It's a neat little device. It's met or exceeded my expectations. The battery life is very impressive. I finally remembered to charge up my earbuds, so I'll play with the Bluetooth pairing later today. That's about the only thing I haven't tested out.

Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!

apple1964 · ‎08-07-2013

@gardenman wrote:
I've been intrigued by Chromebooks for quite a while and finally broke down and got one. It's the Acer Spin 15 (currently on sale at a major retailer for $329.) It's a pretty neat looking little gadget. It's a 2 in 1 design so you can use it as a laptop or a really big and heavy (almost five pounds) tablet. It's got a backlit keyboard and generally very good reviews. It's got a 15.4-inch screen and seems to be about what I'm looking for. The end life date is June 2024 which is a bit sooner than I'd like, but four years of use isn't bad. It's supposed to be here by Monday, so we'll see if that happens or not. Deliveries all seem a bit screwy these days. It's a touchscreen also which could be useful. I've got to look around to see what kind of stylus I can find to play around with on it.

So, a new toy is on the way to me. I like the bigger screen so I opted for the 15.4" size. There are similar 2 in 1 Chromebooks in the 11" size range, but I already have a 10" tablet so that seemed kind of redundant. It's nice having a new toy coming. I'll have to see how it lives up to expectations.

You are going to love it. No more virus protection to worry about because it is already comes loaded with that. It updates itself no moe windows dreaded updates and it has a longer battery time until you have to charge it again. I wiill never go back to a windows device again! Enjoy your new toy. Oh yes, in case you did not know since this is your first time with a Chromebook you do not have to power up just lift the lid and you will see it light up with the chrome logo and all you do is enter your wifi password and your goggle account and password and you are ready to go.You will need to charge your Chromebook for the first time Again enjoy! I have this device in the 11 inch and it is a great computer. You picked a good one.

gardenman · ‎03-09-2010

I've never had the issues with Windows computers that a lot of people have had. I've never had a virus and I've been using a Windows PC since 1990 (or so.) Updates don't really bother me as I set up my computer to update when I'm not using it. I've only had a couple of hiccups from updates in all of those years. In fact, I typically set up my computers to do all of the maintenance processes in the overnight hours. None of that really factored into the decision to add a Chromebook to my arsenal of technology.

I think Google is onto something with their cloud computing approach and I've been intrigued by it for some time. I didn't really have a spare computer these days, so if something went drastically wrong with my desktop computer I'd have to rely on my tablets to carry me over until I fixed the desktop. Tablets are handy, but no real substitute for a full-featured computer.

This desktop build is now four years old and while still very competent, it could use some updating in the not too distant future. A rebuild with a new motherboard, CPU, and faster memory is likely to happen in the next year or so. I love my desktop as it has a 27" monitor and my Microsoft Natural keyboard, but when I built it I used an older CPU and some of the power of the new ones intrigue me. It could use an update in the graphic realm also. The Chromebook gives me an option where I can download drivers or patches for a new build should the need arise. I'll probably always have a desktop though. A big monitor is hard to substitute for. The 15.6" screen on the Chromebook is nice, but it's not 27".

I'm very pleased with the Chromebook so far. It does everything I thought it would do and does it well. It's very fast and perky considering the hardware, which is the advantage of a cloud-based computer. They don't need the latest and greatest hardware. I'm very happy with it.

Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!