Yeah, I've been in a coma under a rock.

Tell me about Chromebooks. I haven't been in the market for a new laptop in about 6-7 years or so. I'm looking now for something cheap and simple. Probably use 2-3 times a month when I'm on the road. Typical internet surfing, light graphics work and website updating, etc.

I keep seeing Chromebooks and they seem to be cheaper than Windows machines. Why would I want one, or why would I want to avoid one? TIA

if you're doing most things thru a browser it's great. you can also use android and Linux apps to cover anything you're lacking otherwise. i use a Chromebook at home for lightweight stuff. I've had it for over 4 years and it still works great for casual needs.

simple is relative so this may not be for you, but I recently bought a ~$200 lenovo i3 laptop with some special goofball version of windows 11. Threw ubuntu on it and its been my go to. I hardly use my m2 mac or windows cad pc since. inkscape, gimp, and libre office run acceptable on it

I bought a chromebook years ago and its really limited to what it can do, though the new chrome stuff like web serial has breathed some use into it for terminal stuff

I give it to my Facebook users and open every email forward users…..and I no longer have to hear them say how slow their computer is or how do I xyz….our systems are all online and I love chromebooks for them

Check out DiscountElectronics.com

They buy old corporate pcs and refurbish.

Much better deal than Chrome books which are mostly a web based browser pc.

Have laptops starting at $250

80085 said:

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simple is relative so this may not be for you, but I recently bought a ~$200 lenovo i3 laptop with some special goofball version of windows 11. Threw ubuntu on it and its been my go to.

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This was my thought too. I'd rather have an "underpowered" laptop running a lightweight linux distro than a Chromebook. I realize that's not for everybody though...

aggiez03 said:

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Check out DiscountElectronics.com

They buy old corporate pcs and refurbish.

Much better deal than Chrome books which are mostly a web based browser pc.

Have laptops starting at $250

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Backmarket.com is really good too. I've bought from both several times.

Quote:

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I'm looking now for something cheap and simple. Probably use 2-3 times a month when I'm on the road. Typical internet surfing, light graphics work and website updating, etc.

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Given this use case, it's perfect for a Chromebook.

I got my kids chromebooks when they started 3rd grade and I never once had to do any patching/maintenance on them in 3-4 years. After that got them Windows (some things they were not chrome compatible), and it's just headache after headache with the bloatware and crap they download onto them.

C@LAg said:

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1. tend to be SLOW, suck at most things "graphically" intensive

2. incompatible with many apps

3. too reliant on google/google apps, web apps

4. limited ionternal storage

5. useless with no internet access

6. google spying on everything you do.

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This guy micro$oft$

You can actually turn on a Linux container through Settings and install lots of software from a Debian repository. I have a nicer Chromebook for media consumption that also doubles in a pinch for productivity work (image editing with GIMP, some light coding in Python). For the $350 I paid for it, I'm not too troubled if it gets stolen or damaged.

Otherwise, yeah if all you do is stream movies and pay bills online and check webmail, ChromeOS is great.

My kids use them for school, I hate them.

My kids use them for school, I love them. For the aforementioned lack of maintenance needed on my part.

Just picked up a Chromebook for personal use.

I work in automation and am provided an adequate laptop for my needs, so I have a well defined use case.

Simply put, the ChromeBook is awesome.

• Multiple Users
• Easy Guest user
• Web Browsing and Apps
• Just add WiFi and go.
• Easy on the wallet
• My printer at home integrated

I was considering many things for a personal machine.
iPad
Macbook Air (pawnshop)
Pawnshop Laptop and load Ubuntu

Settled on a Levovo 15inch 8GB ram version. Was on special at Best Buy and the out the door was $300. Quickly got my MS Office working adequately.

I was an early adopter of this type of thing about 1999. Had a Windows CE solid state device with a keyboard. World was not ready for it for a few years until iPad. That device had a PC Card interface and I spent $$$$ for WiFi cards and got it working between the device and my Red Hat Linux acting as an access point and router.

The Chromebook is freaking impressive. It works, do not expect it to break and should go for years. Fit for purpose.

The restriction of Chromebooks is also the advantage. They aren't able to run a lot of higher end stuff, but because of that they also don't get pushed into the forced-upgrade via software bloat.