So my daughter on the other coast asked for a laptop to help with school. Her needs are modest and I am thinking she’s a perfect candidate for a Chromebook. The World Of Google has pretty much everything she needs, and it’s a way to get her a little more power and battery life in a smaller chassis without spending more than I’d like.
Any comments from those who have used Chromebooks at the beginning undergrad level?
My one concern is printing - how much of a hassle is it to print papers etc. with Cloud Print; can Chromebooks save to, say, a thumb drive to allow printing from another computer? This sounds like the biggest hassle if you don’t have ready access to a “Cloud Ready” printer.
If her papers are saved on Google Drive, or in her web-based email account, would she need to move them to another computer? If they are in the cloud then they are accessible from anywhere.
You need to make sure she won’t need to use any particular software for classes, even down to e-textbook viewers. Any computer can use its printer as a cloud printer.
My roommate has one that he uses for university daily so I have some experience with it.
Cloud Print depends on having printers that are either already compatible with it, or having a computer act as an go-between. School computers and printers likely won’t support cloud print at all (because you need admin rights to install the software, and schools typically don’t grant that to students). Saving to PDF and printing from a school computer is an option.
Other hassles:
She won’t be able to reliably open MS Office files. She can probably read the gist of Word documents, but illustrations and tables might be messed up, Powerpoints won’t work right, some Excel formulas will break, etc. Her peers are likely able to adapt to Google Docs just fine in groupwork if she warns them ahead of time. Her professors are less likely to accommodate her.
The Chrome PDF viewer is functional but not the best – limited highlighting, page display, reflow, etc. options.
No or limited Zotero support (a useful research/citation management tool)
No Skype or Facebook Video Chat (if her classmates ever use it to communicate with each other)
No iTunes support (meaning it won’t work that great with her iPod if she ever gets one)
No ability to install special educational software (whether it’s ebook software or classroom software that some majors need)
I think that a hybrid Android notebook (like the Asus Transformer) would be a better choice than a Chromebook because there’s at least a thriving app ecosystem that solves many of the above problems. An even better choice, if you can afford it, is a regular Windows laptop or Mac. They’re not that expensive these days, especially if she doesn’t mind an older, used, or refurbished system. There are gazillions of them floating around.
ETA: Her school also likely has deals with the big manufacturers to offer discounted educational pricing. Check with their bookstore or IT department. And even if they don’t, Apple, Dell, Microsoft, Sony, and others all offer educational prices that are worth checking out.
She may tell you, or you assume, that her needs are modest. Her fellow students will, for the most part, have laptops with wide screens that are capable of showing films and TV, and playing on-line games, as well as the mundane stuff of word processing and spreadsheets.
Part time, community college, one writing class; needs a word processor and basic browsing/research she can take with her. Small, light and long battery life were her priorities; not spending $1k on the unit was mine. She has a decent full-size laptop she shares with her SO, needed on-the-go capability.
If she gets to the point where she needs to run crapware in class, maintain continuous Skype links or manage her iPod on the go, we’ll move on.
Ask your daughter if she’s ok with that. If she asked for a laptop and you get her a Chromebook, she might be disappointed. As a compromise, it would be better to give her the money a Chromebook costs and let her apply it toward a laptop of her choice.
And yes, I’m speaking from experience. I asked for a Kindle and got a Kindle Fire. I was gracious, because I’m not a dick. But I was disappointed because the Fire was terrible for the purpose I desired (reading ebooks). Too heavy and backlit. In this case, my gift-giver actually spent more for a less-desireable result. You’re looking to spend less, so it’s a slightly different situation. But don’t just spring a Chromebook on her without asking her if she’d even use one.
I have a chromebook and its pretty much all I use at home. But I just mostly internet browse, with a little bit of google docs stuff - budgeting, recipes, etc. For me it is perfect. I don’t see why it couldn’t work well for a student. You can take notes, internet surf, docs & simple spreadsheets. I think most teachers accept emailed papers now, so printing isn’t really an issue.
I’m not sure where everyone is getting the idea I unilaterally shoved a Chromebook up my daughter’s nose. We went back and forth on her needs, how much daddy-budget she wanted to spend, etc. before settling on “thin, light and long battery life at a reasonable price” being more important than “being able to Skype, FB, play COD and use MS Office simultaneously.” It was ME that had some questions about the usability, especially with the lack of direct printing support.
She got it today; is thrilled; already wrote the paper due for Monday on it.
What’s the latest? I’m considering one. I have a power machine at work and a kindle for tablet type stuff.
My current home machine is an HP Mini that runs XP and I’ve pretty much decided I will migrate (quickly!) away from that for security reasons.
I love my HP mini cuz it’s small and convenient to travel with. I mainly browse the internet, use Quicken to pay bills and use basic excel spreadsheets.
As for email I’m a big fan of Outlook Express/Outlook… don’t much care for the web based email managers.
I think I know that Chromebook isn’t ideal for the above but still …
It handles all my internet needs and I never see any ads. I am always surprised when people mention banner ads on a page I’m viewing 'cause they’re not there for me.
The ONLY thing I wish is that I could read it in sunlight. I can’t take it outside to play when the weather is so beautiful now that sitting indoors seems criminal.
You can get her a perfectly good Windows laptop for $300. Why bother with a Chromebook? I thought long and hard about buying one for myself but Word compatibility issues were a deal-breaker.
I’ve got a Chromebook, but it’s just a computer I keep by my recliner to use with a Chromecast and surf the Internet. It’s not adequate for document editing and such. I can read a document on it, but not do serious editing. I also can’t get it to work with any of my printers (no matter what Google claims).
My Chromecast is a small, refurbished one with a SSD drive that I got cheap on Ebay. It’s fast, and great for what it does well (streaming Netflix and surfing the Internet), but I would not want it for as my main computer.
It’s still meeting all her needs in first-year college - including all social media, Google Docs, Netflix etc. She has access to more powerful computers if she needs them but so far hasn’t.
The new world of browser-centric users can get by without even things like MS Office, much less the array of apps we used to require.
I like my Chromebook (Acer). It’s streamlined and clean. I used to have an HP mini and considered switching to a Mac Air but decided to try the Chromebook first.
Another thing to keep in mind, though it might not be the most convenient, is that at any college you are paying substantial “technology” fees and so have access to computer labs, printers, etc. I used to go print out at the lab because it’s included and why not use what you’ve paid for?
Have you tried a screen polarizer like the 3M Privacy Filter? It does a decent job at blocking out light not coming from your screen and it reduces glare quite significantly.
I’m on one now. It serves purposes, but there are things that I can’t do on it or gave up trying to figure out. Mostly small things, but they can sometimes be annoying. Like, I have no idea how to highlight, copy and paste something. I mean, I guess I know how but it’s impossible to manipulate the right way with my fingers. The scrolling works backwards, so once I’m used to it and go use a regular laptop it takes a minute to switch back.
I could say “Well, I could get a full laptop for $300,” but I got my son a $300 laptop and it sucks. So I have my $240 Chromebook and I think it’s decent for a sucky laptop.
