What's the point of a chromebook?

[crunchytaco]

A co-worker today asked me if it's worth getting a Chromebook. I had no idea what it was so I told her I'd get back to her with an opinion.

 

After looking it up, I find that it's basically a laptop with and ssd HD (from 16gb to 32gb) used mainly for loading up. The rest of the laptop is ran off cloud storage and apps.

 

The Samsung right now runs for 179 (16gb) to 299 (32 gb).

 

Cloud storage and transfer is slow as *beep* if you need to do large file transferring. What cloud app can replace my photo editing softwares and PC games?

 

Technically, you could also get unlimited cloud storage from all these companies giving away cloud storage these days. 

 

Why would you need/want a low spec Cloud laptop?

[Down]

Well, it's to make sure Google has access to all your information, of course.

[suikashoujo]

When I replaced my laptop last summer, I had looked into getting a Chromebook because it was cheap. Thankfully, I realized that this was a terrible idea, and I got a PC.

 

Then, starting that school year, my school started phasing in its new program where each student gets their own Chromebook. That won't actually happen until next year (after I leave, thank god), but every once in a while, we have to use them in one of my classes. They're some of the most useless pieces of trash I've ever had to use- you'd better hope it never loses internet connection (which happens a lot when an entire classroom is using them at once), because they are literally unusable if they do. I've had entire class periods pass where nothing got done because Google Drive kept going offline.

 

So tl;dr don't even bother.

[sirjabberwock]

-in a spooky Halloween voice- There is noneeeee~

 

I've nearly used up the internal space on my 1 TB laptop since I got it for Christmas last year. I wouldn't be able to live with something like that... They're also unbearably small

[arakura]

Because they are lightweight, inexpensive, have very long battery lives, and perform rudimentary tasks as well as you need. My brother has a desktop computer which he uses to play video games or whatever, but I believe he recently got a $300 chromebook to bring to school to do things like type, compile code, browse the internet, and function for the nice things that you might need a laptop for at work or school.

 

I mean... space isnt really that important, is it? and you can always get an external hard drive.

As far as concerns about size go, I'm confident that a person will get used to them. Heck, I barely think about the size of my phone screen when I use it as a browser or a pdf reader

[Jibril]

Well, it's to make sure Google has access to all your information, of course.

^This

[Funyarinpa]

It's mostly for people that only need a computer to surf the web and such similar basic tasks. Think of it like a person getting a Nokia 3310 instead of a Galaxy S5- they just need the barest bones and nothing else.

[Snowtsuku]

It's made for doing basic stuffs. Though I don't see any reason for me to buy them over cheaper laptops at the moment.

[crunchytaco]

When I replaced my laptop last summer, I had looked into getting a Chromebook because it was cheap. Thankfully, I realized that this was a terrible idea, and I got a PC.

Then, starting that school year, my school started phasing in its new program where each student gets their own Chromebook. That won't actually happen until next year (after I leave, thank god), but every once in a while, we have to use them in one of my classes. They're some of the most useless pieces of trash I've ever had to use- you'd better hope it never loses internet connection (which happens a lot when an entire classroom is using them at once), because they are literally unusable if they do. I've had entire class periods pass where nothing got done because Google Drive kept going offline.

So tl;dr don't even bother.

Yeah these are probably perfect examples of why the chromebook is bad. Being unable to access important information due to disconnection is a deathknell for students who rely on all their study notes

I think 300 dollars is still costly for a chromebook. There are laptops that offer similar SSD HDS with windows 8

.1 for equal or less now. With he option of expandability you are saving more money as we're

[arakura]

I only see one reason in that post. Do they not have any storage space at all? I don't know how big an OS is, but I imagine you could store text files or pdfs on it, right?

But yea, I don't support the whole giving everything to Google thing.

[Eclipsed]

I always saw Chromebooks as like a Google-specific version of a "everyday computing" budget laptop EDIT: so I think it would be a good option for people who use a lot of Google features like Google+, Google Drive, Hangouts and need a cheap device.

~~~
(Jokings) But the real the real point of it is to demonstrate your loyalty to Google by giving them your information as Down said xD

[edwd2]

another attempt at the netbook. though cheap and good battery life this time. it still heavily relies on internet connection though, for now, I'll still recommend windows 8.1 alternatives.

[Blizzard884]

There is no point in it... Google is just trying to make more money from naive people...

[arakura]

I didn't realize we had such an affinity for pitchforks and torches. Literally this entire thread is just people being unhappy that you need a good connection to fully use a chromebook. The comments about Google, while worrying (believe me I'm not a fan of supercorporations), don't actually say anything except 'be afraid oogabooga' and I'm surprised that people aren't willing to save hundreds of dollars and gain important features like absurdly long battery life at the cost of reliance on internet connection. Oh, and a (probably) imaginary breach in privacy (tell me again what Google is doing with your information, why you're worried about it, and what they couldn't already know about you).

Phases like "prove your loyalty" are just there to scare you away from what you might now see as being a sheep, but don't actually bring any information to the table.

But all that's fine if there are other solutions for under two hundred dollar laptops with huge batteries. Are there?

Honestly I see a whole lot of sheep and a single, maybe two, valid drawbacks in this thread and it's bothering me.

[crunchytaco]

I think it is unlike you to take this personal. 

 

I had my opinion beforehand and had come to see what other conclusion others have drawn on this forum.

[arakura]

Well actually I think pitchforks are fun, don't get me wrong. And also not a fan of Google becoming even bigger than it is. I guess I just think people are being foolish. (Though I admit I didn't actually look to see if I could buy a $200 with Windows)

Cause I mean... dang... is the concept of losing features to save money a new thing?

(But I'm not actually angry or anything, just like being all huffy and puffy sometimes ;D)

[Eclipsed]

*Joking, plz no offend* ^GOOGLE FANBOY! WHIP OUT DEM PITCHFORKS PEOPLE!!!

 

My prove your loyalty comment was just a joke, going off of Down's. My apologies for offenses. My first sentence gave my true opinion regarding Chromebooks.


 

[arakura]

0.0 I wasn't trying to attack you guys that much, was just concerned that we were boarding a train to somewhere err didn't want to go! I'm sorry! Pls love me

[Eclipsed]

0.0 I wasn't trying to attack you guys that much, was just concerned that we were boarding a train to somewhere err didn't want to go! I'm sorry! Pls love me

Don't be sorry, ur point about blind hate was valid

love u~ <3

I edited my earlier post for more clarities. 

[Snowtsuku]

I didn't realize we had such an affinity for pitchforks and torches. Literally this entire thread is just people being unhappy that you need a good connection to fully use a chromebook. The comments about Google, while worrying (believe me I'm not a fan of supercorporations), don't actually say anything except 'be afraid oogabooga' and I'm surprised that people aren't willing to save hundreds of dollars and gain important features like absurdly long battery life at the cost of reliance on internet connection. Oh, and a (probably) imaginary breach in privacy (tell me again what Google is doing with your information, why you're worried about it, and what they couldn't already know about you).

Phases like "prove your loyalty" are just there to scare you away from what you might now see as being a sheep, but don't actually bring any information to the table.

But all that's fine if there are other solutions for under two hundred dollar laptops with huge batteries. Are there?

Honestly I see a whole lot of sheep and a single, maybe two, valid drawbacks in this thread and it's bothering me.

I don't think there's a lot of money to be saved by getting a chrome book. Then you have several cheap 2 in 1 devices. About the internet connection, while it may be fine in several countries, internet is not always available in developing countries. Then you add the Windows ecosystem.

[arakura]

What do you mean by Windows ecosystem?

[crunchytaco]

I just had a customer tell me they used a chromebook to play music at some wedding recently. They assured him that they had spent extra to get reinforced WiFi signal so its reliable. He was a DJ by the way.

Needless to say, his music kept dropping every 5 minutes.

[arakura]

So it's like using YouTube for music? Or Pandora?

[Jibril]

I won't be touching fully-connected devices until at least 5G technologies are out or at least until wifi is a really prominent feature in every country.

[Snowtsuku]

What do you mean by Windows ecosystem?

The fact that you can run most applications on Windows as compared to your Chromebook.