Chromebooks

Bigsy · 12 Mar 2013 at 18:26

What I meant is that they may use a third party for their vpn like checkpoint or such like, which would mean you require a checkpoint client and this wouldnt be supported.

Sounds like it will work find as the options outlined are default features of ubuntu.

As for sdcards... it depends what you plug in the usb2 port, if its something that can max usb2 transfer speeds then that will be quicker than 99% sdcards unless you want to spend big on one. But if you plugging in a pendrive then an sdcard would probably be better and a lot more descret.

I suspect if you don't know what apps are Java then you probably don't need it, but also some website require a java pluggin that may/may not work using OpenJDK.

Also remember its quite difficult to get flash working inside ubuntu, think you have to symlink across to chrome libs to get it going.

Also checkout a thing called "crouton" I've not tried it yet but its meant to let you switch between ubuntu and chrome on the fly.

syahn9988 · 14 Mar 2013 at 09:45

Hey thanks for the info

Cheetah Designs · 2 Apr 2013 at 09:46

I've got a Chromebook and had one for a few months now. I absolutely love it. I can get access to the internet and emails straight away and can remote desktop into my Windows machine for development.

The reason I went for this over something else was that it was slim, light, silent, charged quickly and had decent battery life.

breeza · 2 Apr 2013 at 18:54

The pixel looks amazing but the series 5 550 was more in line with my pay grade

I grabbed the 3g version £299 and £7 cashback then added an Ovivo sim for a one off £15. That gives you 500MB per month and you can use the £15 to top up with extra GBs. The wifi only version can now be had for a bargain £269. There is probably a refresh coming for google IO but the new model will probably be more like £400+.

Much prefer the screen on the 5 compared to the 3 series and the acer version is a dog so the choice was easy for me.

7 second cold boot (3 from standby) and 3 second shutdown just fantastic.

Sunbed · 10 Oct 2013 at 08:56

Two new Chromebooks announced:

Acer C720 - http://www.theverge.com/tech/2013/10/10/4821234/acer-brings-haswell-power-to-the-new-c720-chromebook

HP Chromebook 11 - http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/8/4815792/google-multi-color-hp-chromebook-11-price-availability

The HP is on Google Play and elsewhere at £229. It's bascially the same as the Samsung ARM Chromebook but with a nicer build and an IPS screen.

The Acer C720 could be the game changer though. Haswell 2955U Celeron CPU, 4GB RAM, SSD, 8.5 hours claimed battery for less than the $279 US price of the HP. No UK price yet but it could come in at £199. Even at the same price as the HP, that's good hardware for the money. Still the crappy 1366 x 768 res but both new models seem to have nicer screens than the Samsung ARM.

I'm awaiting Samsung to announced their latest model, but if the trend continues then Chromebooks are getting way better value for money.

muon · 10 Oct 2013 at 18:41

The HP released with a lot of fanfare but the Acer C720 is better.

Snax · 11 Oct 2013 at 09:18

The moment a proper equivalent to VLC comes out on these, I'm in.

They are hugely attractive to me but the flakey codec support kills it for me.

Sunbed · 11 Oct 2013 at 11:36

Yes, local media support is poor. Is there a website that will decode and stream uploaded media files?

V4NT0M · 11 Oct 2013 at 13:44

The Chromebook 11 looks pretty good, things like the micro usb charging make it even more portable. It's basically what we have come to expect from tablets in a laptop.

I guess this really fits what I would want with a laptop, stuff synced to drive and nothing kept local. Not interested in media for it either.

Only a few questions about chrome though if anyone can answer...

How is office and HTML support?

I would mainly be using it for:
Browsing
Spreadsheets
HTML editing using FTP

Basically the kind of stuff that is very time consuming on a tablet. Am I looking at similar multi window workflow to windows? For example, I ftp a file down to my desktop, i open it in a text editor and then upload it back to refresh the page in a browser. Is it going to be as easy as this currently is in windows or harder?

Cheetah Designs · 11 Oct 2013 at 14:29

Skyfall said:
The Chromebook 11 looks pretty good, things like the micro usb charging make it even more portable. It's basically what we have come to expect from tablets in a laptop.

I guess this really fits what I would want with a laptop, stuff synced to drive and nothing kept local. Not interested in media for it either.

Only a few questions about chrome though if anyone can answer...

How is office and HTML support?

I would mainly be using it for:
Browsing
Spreadsheets
HTML editing using FTP

Basically the kind of stuff that is very time consuming on a tablet. Am I looking at similar multi window workflow to windows? For example, I ftp a file down to my desktop, i open it in a text editor and then upload it back to refresh the page in a browser. Is it going to be as easy as this currently is in windows or harder?

Trying doing all your tasks using the Chrome browser + any Chrome apps. If you succeed and are happy, then you can use a Chromebook.

There no "multi-window" workflow. Its a Chrome browser, that is all - at best you have tabs for "multi-window"

Sunbed · 11 Oct 2013 at 15:38

Skyfall said:
HTML editing using FTP

I think this would meet your needs for local text editing: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/...l/text/mmfbcljfglbokpmkimbfghdkjmjhdgbg?hl=en

Easier than editing stuff in Google docs probably.

V4NT0M · 12 Oct 2013 at 12:16

Cheetah Designs said:
Trying doing all your tasks using the Chrome browser + any Chrome apps. If you succeed and are happy, then you can use a Chromebook.

Thanks that's really helpful.

Sunbed said:
I think this would meet your needs for local text editing: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/...l/text/mmfbcljfglbokpmkimbfghdkjmjhdgbg?hl=en

Easier than editing stuff in Google docs probably.

That looks like the perfect app for editing, thanks.

Xinn · 12 Oct 2013 at 15:06

Still no luck on a higher res screen with the recent Chromebook offerings. Hope Samsung do a refresh soon with something as sleek looking as the HP 11.

loltim · 13 Oct 2013 at 15:31

I wonder how well Office 365 works with a Chromebook?

Cheetah Designs · 13 Oct 2013 at 18:27

Skyfall said:
Thanks that's really helpful.

That looks like the perfect app for editing, thanks.

I personally couldn't handle any type of development on my Chromebook....had to remote desktop to something else.

Anything that is cloud development might be ok though?

RastaManBob · 14 Oct 2013 at 10:40

Is anybody aware of a Chromebook alternative? I like the idea of what the Chromebook stands for but it does not *quite* tick all of the boxes. Some people suggest it has the disadvantages of both a tablet and a laptop but I'd argue it has the advantages of both - The low maintenance of a tablet with the form factor (physical keyboard!) of a laptop. I love the idea of never having to update the device... I have a number of machines and that time each month whether Windows releases updates can be a real chore!

So, anything of a similar style? Joli OS seems wonderful albeit I think it's clearly dead having not been updated so long... Anything else out there?

manic111 · 14 Oct 2013 at 12:42

RastaManBob said:
Is anybody aware of a Chromebook alternative? I like the idea of what the Chromebook stands for but it does not *quite* tick all of the boxes. Some people suggest it has the disadvantages of both a tablet and a laptop but I'd argue it has the advantages of both - The low maintenance of a tablet with the form factor (physical keyboard!) of a laptop. I love the idea of never having to update the device... I have a number of machines and that time each month whether Windows releases updates can be a real chore!

So, anything of a similar style? Joli OS seems wonderful albeit I think it's clearly dead having not been updated so long... Anything else out there?

Possibly something like the Asus transformer? Or even the Microsoft Surface RT?

Sunbed · 24 Oct 2013 at 11:05

The Verge review of Acer C720: http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/23/4948120/acer-c720-chromebook-review

Pretty good score. Everyone going mad that it got a higher score than the Surface 2. I think I'll get one for my Auntie because she is always installing crap on her Windows laptop. We should have UK release within a week I think. Should be £199.

Rumours are that Toshiba and Samsung are making Chromebooks too.

My ideal Chromebook would be the internals of the Acer C720, but with 13 inch IPS display, slightly higher resolution and chassis of the HP 11. Do that for £280 it's a winner.

Sanchez · 24 Oct 2013 at 13:06

RastaManBob said:
Is anybody aware of a Chromebook alternative? I like the idea of what the Chromebook stands for but it does not *quite* tick all of the boxes. Some people suggest it has the disadvantages of both a tablet and a laptop but I'd argue it has the advantages of both - The low maintenance of a tablet with the form factor (physical keyboard!) of a laptop. I love the idea of never having to update the device... I have a number of machines and that time each month whether Windows releases updates can be a real chore!

So, anything of a similar style? Joli OS seems wonderful albeit I think it's clearly dead having not been updated so long... Anything else out there?

How about something like the Lenovo A10?

Sunbed · 16 Feb 2014 at 09:58

I just got my new toy 2nd hand off ebay:

It's easily the nicest laptop I've used. Having said that I've never tried a macbook air so my comment doesn't really stand for that much.