questions about Chromebook

[BananaBandit]

My beloved laptop is approaching a decade of loyal service.  She has occasional issues (I assume they are age-related), and I'm starting to prepare myself for her mortality.

 

As part of this preparation, I seek to find out if the Chromebook would be a good future choice.  Aside from being kinda cheap, such a device seems very convenient for my lifestyle, which includes quite a lot of exploring by foot & backpack. 

 

some Chromebook questions:

 

Is it easy to type on?

 

Say someone sends me a .docx file by attachment.  I can open and modify this file on a Chromebook, correct?

 

I assume I would not be able to use Photoshop on a Chromebook.  Is there any sort of workaround here?   

 

How about the Calibre e-book editing program?   (rather important to me)   Or the Audacity music editing program?    (not quite as important)

 

Based on the above questions, which models of Chromebook would you recommend?

[BananaBandit]

I just went on Lazada and the Chromebooks are far more expensive than I thought. 

 

I don't understand why.  You can get them in the USA for like 4,000 baht. 

 

Is there a better place than Lazada to get them in Thailand?

 

I'd like something under 10,000 baht. 

[ScamperAZ]

• Depending on the model typing is much the same as any laptop.
• If you are a Creative Cloud subscriber you can now run Photoshop in a browser on a Chromebook. 
• Current higher-end Chromebooks support Android apps, which means  you can install the Android version of Calibre as well as the available Android Photoshop apps.
• Intel-based Chromebook typically allow the use of Crostini to install Linux on a Chromebook. If you have the wherewithal to manage installing Linux you can install any and all Linux applications, including Audacity.

A ฿4000 ($120.00) will unlikely offer any of the functionality you desire. You will have to pony up for an Intel chipped Chromebook with sufficient RAM to do what I described above. That said, once done you'll find that Chromebook tremendously useful. Chromebooks are notably light, portable and with long battery life. They are a cinch to backup, reset and restore, and they give you immediate access to the universe of Google apps. I'm on my fourth Chromebook. The three previous I handed off to others and they're all still functioning.

 

If all of the above sounds daunting, consider a Windows Surface Pro. My wife has one and is entirely happy with it.

[BananaBandit]

11 hours ago, ScamperAZ said:

If all of the above sounds daunting, consider a Windows Surface Pro.

I'd never even heard of such a device!   Clearly, there are some rather wide gaps in my tech knowledge. 

 

I will do some research. Thank you!

[Bruno123]

19 hours ago, BananaBandit said:

My beloved laptop is approaching a decade of loyal service.  She has occasional issues (I assume they are age-related), and I'm starting to prepare myself for her mortality.

 

As part of this preparation, I seek to find out if the Chromebook would be a good future choice.  Aside from being kinda cheap, such a device seems very convenient for my lifestyle, which includes quite a lot of exploring by foot & backpack. 

 

some Chromebook questions:

 

Is it easy to type on?

 

Say someone sends me a .docx file by attachment.  I can open and modify this file on a Chromebook, correct?

 

I assume I would not be able to use Photoshop on a Chromebook.  Is there any sort of workaround here?   

 

How about the Calibre e-book editing program?   (rather important to me)   Or the Audacity music editing program?    (not quite as important)

 

Based on the above questions, which models of Chromebook would you recommend?

Cheap ChromeBooks are cheap for a reason.

Remember NetBooks?  Super weak processors; just meant for you to be able to surf the web 

Chromebooks are their natural successor. Cheapest components to drive the relatively light OS and the equivalent of an SD card for storage.

 

Better you repurpose your old laptop; fit it with a 600 baht SSD and install the Chrome OS to it. It will probably be similarly powerful and have more storage than the ChromeBook ????

 

 

 

[Bruno123]

2 hours ago, BananaBandit said:

I'd never even heard of such a device!   Clearly, there are some rather wide gaps in my tech knowledge. 

 

I will do some research. Thank you!

You cannot afford it within your budget. 

 

Surface Pro 8 is beyond your budget, as is the Surface Go 3.

Even the Surface Go 3 lowest model with WiFi only is 15k. 20k for the model with 4G SIM card utiliy and an SSD. Cheapest uses eMMC(SD card like storage).

[Paulaew]

Before you jump into the Chromebook, you should have a reasonable understanding of how it works. It has very limited local storage and is designed to work with cloud-based applications and assumes an internet connection. If you're planning to use it while backpacking, it might not be the solution you need.

 

The operating system on the Chromebook (Chrome OS) is Linux-based and there is a version of the highly useful Calibre e-book management application for Linux that will run on Chromebooks. You'll find information for installing Calibre on Chrome OS here:

 

https://chromeunboxed.com/how-to-installing-calibre-e-book-manager-on-a-chromebook/

 

Audacity will not really run well on Chromebook for various technical reasons, but there are some alternatives that might work for you. Here is more information:

 

https://audacityguide.com/audacity-for-chromebook

 

Hope this helps.

 

Paul Laew

Edited December 21, 2021 by Paulaew

[chrisjr761]

On 12/18/2021 at 9:32 PM, BananaBandit said:

I just went on Lazada and the Chromebooks are far more expensive than I thought. 

 

I don't understand why.  You can get them in the USA for like 4,000 baht. 

 

Is there a better place than Lazada to get them in Thailand?

 

I'd like something under 10,000 baht. 

dr sebi food list

what about acer book?

[kekalot]

On 12/18/2021 at 9:54 PM, BananaBandit said:

I assume I would not be able to use Photoshop on a Chromebook.  Is there any sort of workaround here?   

not directly no, but you should be able to use this, since it's web based :  https://www.photopea.com/

my friend who is a graphic designer said it was practically the same thing but he had only a quick look at it.

 

[it is what it is]

On 12/21/2021 at 6:30 AM, Paulaew said:

Before you jump into the Chromebook, you should have a reasonable understanding of how it works. It has very limited local storage and is designed to work with cloud-based applications and assumes an internet connection. If you're planning to use it while backpacking, it might not be the solution you need.

 

The operating system on the Chromebook (Chrome OS) is Linux-based and there is a version of the highly useful Calibre e-book management application for Linux that will run on Chromebooks. You'll find information for installing Calibre on Chrome OS here:

 

https://chromeunboxed.com/how-to-installing-calibre-e-book-manager-on-a-chromebook/

 

Audacity will not really run well on Chromebook for various technical reasons, but there are some alternatives that might work for you. Here is more information:

 

https://audacityguide.com/audacity-for-chromebook

 

Hope this helps.

 

Paul Laew

 

agree. some people swear by chrome books, personally i find them awful. really depends on the user (your) requirements.

[JFHuaHin]

I own a 50K dell laptop, 30k macbook, 2k 2nd hand chromebook

 

guess which one I use most,

 

it supports android apps, this means 1000s of apps.

 

battery power lasts for 5 hours when watching tv

[BananaBandit]

On 1/28/2022 at 4:59 PM, JFHuaHin said:

2k 2nd hand chromebook

From where?

[JFHuaHin]

2nd hand, fb ad

[thoengthaied]

I'm now on my 2nd. chromebook. The first one was an Acer 15 inch and I substituted it for an Asus 15 inch only because there is a limit to the number of years that Chrome guarantees free upgrades. The Acer was a more robust machine and the Asus on which I'm typing now has a bit more "tinny" feel. However, I have been very happy with both of them. It has been a learning curve, for sure, and sometimes in the beginning I got frustrated with one or two functions that the chromebook couldn't perform. However, there's always been a workaround and I rarely get issues now I understand more. 

 I bought the first one from a guy who advertised it on Craigslist. It was surplus to requirements as his company had brought several to Thailand for a school project. The second one I bought from the US on Amazon and had it shipped here. If I had to replace my current model I would probably look at Amazon again.