Electronics

[newziesuzie]

It looks like they're cheaper but do they only have very

 limited features?  Do you have to use Gmail as your email 

account for example?  

Or or can they do everything other 

computers do?

tia!

😊

(yes I googled but I don't understand conflicting things in 

some of the articles and we have posters here who explain 

things better for us non-teckkie people)

😊

[Cha1k]

@newziesuzie -  I found this from Consumer Reports published a couple of years ago:

If you've been thinking about getting a backup laptop, either for yourself or one that's easy for your kids to use, there's a new kind that's being heavily advertised. It's called a Chromebook. 

Chromebooks fall between traditional laptops and tablets. They are meant to be secure, easy to use, and inexpensive. You can pick one up for as little as $200. A Consumer Reports electronics expert looked at ones from Acer, HP, Samsung, and the Chromebook Pixel, the first laptop from Google.  

Instead of using the traditional Windows and Mac operating systems, they use the Google Chrome operating system. It's Web-based, so everything you do needs to be done online. That's an important distinction when you're working on, say, a document and you close it-it saves automatically to a Google drive in the cloud, not locally on your hard drive. Though you do have a Downloads folder that gives you some limited, local storage. 

The upside is that your information is more secure with a Chromebook. If it gets lost, stolen, or damaged, all of your data is still there on the Web, and you can access it from anywhere. The fact that Google is storing your data in the cloud is also the downside. Depending on which Chromebook you buy, you do get two to three years of free cloud storage. But after that, Google charges you a monthly fee for anything above 5 gigabytes. 

Consumer Reports says there is value in the lower-priced Chromebooks if you just want one to surf the Web, check your e-mail, read a book, or watch a movie. Testers found that most are pretty lightweight, start up quickly, and should be fairly immune to viruses. Consumer Reports says if you're willing to give up a keyboard and sacrifice some screen size, you might want to consider getting a lower-priced tablet instead. Consumer Reports named the Google Nexus 7 a Best Buy for $200.

http://www.komonews.com/news/consumer/Consumer-Reports-Pros-and-cons-of-new-Chromebooks-209237451.ht...

[ChynnaBlue]

I found this video helpful. It's two users comparing their experiences after 5 months of ownership with a Macbook or a Chromebook.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti7Y7zGx6TA

[appleseed]

I have experienced frustrations with my Chromebook. It's very difficult to figure out how to PRINT from it! Storing photos can be problematic. And I just found out last night it can't do Skype (some claim to have figured a way around it, but the official answer is that it can't..). 

Also, remember, no "Word" documents can run on it, so I've experienced comatibility issues!

I've been muddling through with it. But now that Windows 10 is out, I'm ditching it pronto for a new Windows laptop. I just couldn't stomach buying a Windows 8 machine back a year ago when I had to get a new laptop.

[gardenman]

---

@newziesuzie wrote:

It looks like they're cheaper but do they only have very

 limited features?  Do you have to use Gmail as your email 

account for example?  

Or or can they do everything other 

computers do?

tia!

😊

(yes I googled but I don't understand conflicting things in 

some of the articles and we have posters here who explain 

things better for us non-teckkie people)

😊

---

Chromebooks are cheaper (not a lot these days, but cheaper,) safer, faster, and easier to use than a "normal" laptop. If you can do what you want to do online, then a Chromebook is perfect for you. I believe you can access any web based e-mail using a Chromebook. They can't do everything a regular computer can do, but they come pretty darn close.

As to the poster who had issues with Word documents, Google Docs ahs a compatibility mode and you can also use the Microsoft Office apps to do much of what you can do in Word.

[mima]

The pros is that you don't have to have virus protection like you so with PCs.  They are faster because they aren't bogged down with a bunch of junk.  You can turn them on and they are on almost instantly.

I don't know about more pros, that is just some I know about and noticed.

There are cons such as needing wifi to do most things since most things aren't stored on the computer (that's why it is fast).  Not sure what other cons, but there are some.

I just bought DH a 13" one for $199.  He uses his for work, but he only looks things up. He has a mechanic shop and used car lot.  He only used it to find hard to find parts on Ebay and salvage yards.  He looks up parts on a new part site and uses Kelly Blue Book.  He also reads the news.  That's it. He doesn't do email nor does he print anything. It is pefect for him.

I think if all you do is surf, it is great. 

[Nuttmeg]

http://www.techradar.com/us/news/mobile-computing/laptops/best-chromebooks-top-5-chromebooks-in-the-...

[newziesuzie]

Thanks everybody!  We have some of the nicest 

and helpful posters here!

👍👍👍

[151949]

I have a chromebook and for my uses it is perfect. I do e mail, get on this forum and facebook. Go to some sites to shop or look at home decor or recipes. I do use it to pay my bills on the banks site. Since I do not have a need for much storage my chromebook suits my needs just fine. If you were needing to store a lot of information or to use word or excel or something every day this would not be your best choice because they have very little storage. I store a lot of recipes and to do so I use "the pocket". So far that has been free for me but I know that eventually I will exceed what is given for free and I'll need to pay. So, it all just depends on how you are planning to use your computer.

You have to have a g mail account but I still use hotmail for e mails and DH still uses Yahoo.

[151949]

Anyone buying a chromebook needs to understand the difference between an android device and a windows device. A chromebook is an android device. It will not do everything a windows laptop can do. You can't just add programs in. For instance, I have a favorite program I use my photographs to make cards and albums etc.I  have to use that program only on my dell desktop as you can't just put in a disk and install a program in a chromebook.