Opinions On The Chromebook?

[skorpx1]

I have been looking around for a new lap top so I have a place other than my desktop to put my stuff, such as recordings and pictures, and I started to look at the Chromebook for this. It looks decent enough, its only 200-ish dollars and it doesn't take up much space.

What's your opinion on the Chromebook? Would you buy it, or would you get something else?

[bcadoo]

The wife asked for one for Christmas.  So far she is satisfied.  You just need to make sure you can do the tasks you want with it.  Her computing needs are minimal so it is a good fit for her.

[Spikes]

May as well get a netbook with windows 7 on it.

[skorpx1]

The wife asked for one for Christmas.  So far she is satisfied.  You just need to make sure you can do the tasks you want with it.  Her computing needs are minimal so it is a good fit for her.

I have a lot of bass recordings stored on my current desktop that's taking up a lot of memory. So far I have about 100 of them. My computing needs will probably be on the low end as well, so I might install AH/FW for when I go on trips or for when i'm in study hall at school and have nothing to do.


I guess my other question now is can you play some higher end games on it like WoT? Not at max graphics or anything, but good enough to get where you're going.

[Badger85]

To the best of my knowledge, a Chromebook is the wrong machine to get for gaming. It's really intended for people that need the basics: surfing the net, facebook, email, word processor, things like that. My mom and grandmother have one and it suits them perfectly (I love using the Chromebook too when I need to do a quick internet search because they load up so fast).

I think the whole point of Chromebooks is to not store anything on your hard drive (i.e. installing games like Aces High). All of your data is supposed to be "in the cloud" (i.e. stored on services such as Google Drive). Your programs will also be all online -- in other words, you'd be using browser apps for every task. Check out Google Drive or similar online storage/office services and see if they're to your liking for keeping recordings and things like that. Be aware of the fees: they may offer you some space for free for a year or so, but then once you're all cozy with the service, they won't become so free anymore.

But like I said, Chromebook is not a good solution for games. But I'm not a huge computer whiz so others may know better.

[skorpx1]

To the best of my knowledge, a Chromebook is the wrong machine to get for gaming. It's really intended for people that need the basics: surfing the net, facebook, email, word processor, things like that. My mom and grandmother have one and it suits them perfectly (I love using the Chromebook too when I need to do a quick internet search because they load up so fast).

I think the whole point of Chromebooks is to not store anything on your hard drive (i.e. installing games like Aces High). All of your data is supposed to be "in the cloud" (i.e. stored on services such as Google Drive). Your programs will also be all online -- in other words, you'd be using browser apps for every task. Check out Google Drive or similar online storage/office services and see if they're to your liking for keeping recordings and things like that. Be aware of the fees: they may offer you some space for free for a year or so, but then once you're all cozy with the service, they won't become so free anymore.

But like I said, Chromebook is not a good solution for games. But I'm not a huge computer whiz so others may know better.

I wasn't intending on having it for games really. I just want something to hold my current files. Games are optional.

[Dago]

Use a flashdrive to hold files, it's alot cheaper.

[skorpx1]

Use a flashdrive to hold files, it's alot cheaper.

I'd have to buy about 15 different flash drives, and by then its kind of pointless.

[warhed]

I'd have to buy about 15 different flash drives, and by then its kind of pointless.

It doesn't run Windows, it runs ChromeOS, so you're going to be very limited on games. 

[Ack-Ack]

I'd have to buy about 15 different flash drives, and by then its kind of pointless.

Get a portable drive then.

ack-ack

[Spikes]

Netbook with a SSD + Big portable drive
or just a big drive in the laptop.

Flash drives can be bought with very large amounts of memory as well. I bought a 32 gig drive for around 20 dollars I think.

[eagl]

I would avoid anything with atom cpu.  Just bad experience with them, even for simple web browsing.  Not fast enough.  Get a real cpu no matter what you get.

[skorpx1]

Netbook with a SSD + Big portable drive
or just a big drive in the laptop.

Flash drives can be bought with very large amounts of memory as well. I bought a 32 gig drive for around 20 dollars I think.

The Netbook sounds like a better alternative, but how would you rate it on a scale of 1-10? 1= worst 10= best. For the time being, I have well over 200 GB of data on my current desktop and having flash drives to put it on, even a 32gb flash drive like you have would get annoying.

[Spikes]

I owned a netbook for a while, not sure how the specs are these days. It seems most of the new ones have i3s or an AMD A-series CPU in it, eagl is correct...the Atom CPU's are very slow. If you have that much data, pick up a portable hard drive.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136996

They are cheap, this is if your netbook doesn't have a large HDD in it already. 320GB or 500GB drives can be found easily in netbooks unless you find one with an SSD.

I'd assume most netbooks come standard with 4GB of RAM nowadays.

Netbook vs. Chromebook? Netbook would be a better alternative I'd venture to say, then again I've never used a Chromebook.
Netbook in general? Probably a 6-7...you might get more out of a normal sized laptop, but that = more money.

[zack1234]

i have a portable drive, i have a zipped everything on it as well to save space

If your not using data all the time why waste space