MAN Pax

Why did you buy something you had no use for?

DYKWIA

You're obviously not an uber geek like a lot of us

*Opens drawer to reveal a pile of unused junk


**Did I really buy a quad-copter?

JClishe

As I stated in my original message, it was an impulse purchase. I was curious. And as DYKWIA stated, I'm an uber geek.

s0ssos

Hmm, I would doubt evernote. Even on android their offline capabilities are suspect. I want to say they have a premium version where you truly get offline.

CarlTheWebmaster

I've had a Samsung Chromebook for a few years. I keep it in the kitchen for the (fewer and fewer, over time) things I can't do on an iPad, such as remote desktop to a PC, downloading and sending multiple PDFs via email (doable but a PITA on the iPad), printing, etc.

For a long while I also did fairly full-fledged development using Linux in a CHROOT for Apache/MySQL/PHP work using Crouton, which works great for command-line or even limited GUI Linux stuff.

Ultimately I decided I didn't want to leave the Chromebook in developer mode, which leaves it wide open security wise. So I reset it back to the very stable and reasonably secure default state.

If you have a surface pro, and particularly if you want to do graphics editing or evernote, then the Chromebook may not be all that useful.

MAN Pax

Really is horses for courses.... I would much rather use the Chromebook than the tablet for surfing and email. So much easier to type and manage multiple tabs in Chrome that on an iPad. The Chromebook balances nicely on my lap and the keyboard is great.

I keep a tablet in the bedroom for late night browsing (FOMO), alarm clock and early morning news and email but that's it.

My Chromebook was free as an incentive to attend a developer presentation, though I will certainly buy another when this one dies.

Error 601

I won an Asus C300 Chromebook, it was a door prize and it was this or a Microsoft Office 365 license or a really ugly LAX airport branded carry-on.

Convince me not to drop this off at the nearby church that ships computers to schools in West Africa.

MAN Pax

Can't be bothered. Give it to someone else who would appreciate it.

gfunkdave

ChromeBooks need some kind of internet connection, so if the West African school it winds up at doesn't have one, it will be of little use.

(I think...I've never used one, actually). You could send it to me! I'd like to play with one. I'd pay for shipping.

SRQ Guy

It's not a great candidate for West Africa unless they have rock-solid internet.

Boogie711

I'm looking at changing up my road machine... I use an 11" MBA right now which is great, but Apple hasn't updated them in forever and this one is getting... tired. I thought a Chromebook would make a nice alternative (especially because my business is hosted on the Google Apps platform.)

But my fear is:

- using it on a plane. Won't I need to be online, or do some of them come with local storage (albeit, not as much as a 'normal' machine.)
- presentations. Any experience with Google Slides out there? I use Keynote as a semi-professional speaker and consultant, and simply can't operate if there isn't a good presentation software on there I can use.

Thoughts?

SRQ Guy

They all have some local storage, and many of the apps work offline now, and then sync when you go back online. There are various models with between 16GB and 64GB of local storage. They do also generally sport SD card slots for expansion.

Slides works well but if you need 100% reliable compatability with PowerPoint you would need to get an Office 365 subscription.

I use one exclusively for my home and travel laptop, and I remote into my desktop at my office for some of the stuff that I need that must be hosted locally.

Boogie711

Ugh - just saw that Google slides won't show video. Only Youtube videos.

It sucks, because I can live without all the other stuff, but that's a deal killer. 75% of my presentations I'm not online, and I depend on video clips.

That just took me from "Hey, this $300 small, light machine will do what I want" to "Well, it looks like I'm waiting for Apple to update the Macbook Air and drop $1,500 this fall."

jjlmcgrath

I am a Google Apps user and rarely use Slides, a two minute search online showed numerous sites with instructions on how to embed video from a Non You Tube video source. I can not attest to the validity of all of them but given the number of resources it might be worth looking into.

Also, you should look at sites like Fra.Me, you can run a virtual PC from the browser and run nearly anything you can on a PC. I spent $240 on my Chromebook and find it worth every penny, and invaluable resource.

There are numerous sites that offer advice, information tutorials etc on doing almost anything on Chromebooks.

My main hurdle right now is scanning as I love my ScanSnap.

Boogie711

Unfortunately, all of those sites refer to linking from another online source such as my Google Drive. I'm a happy Google Drive user, but - I walk into a conference hall, have 3 minutes to set up a laptop and boom - I'm presenting. I'm not online. I don't have the opportunity to get online.

Heck - sometimes I'm presenting in regions of the world where 'online' is a laughable suggestion.

This is where even a tiny hard drive with the ability to play locally stored presentations would make a world of difference for me.