Chrome OS ... not rubbish at all!

I keep an eye on the ChromeOS reddit page and I'm sure I've read IT Support folks talking about the printing issue. Indeed! It seems like there's an impasse there. I've not used the enterprise side. Your experience sounds grim! If that had happened as a home user, I would certainly have deemed it unfit for purpose and looked for an alternative.

Since starting this thread I've bought an ASUS C223. I'm very happy with it. Superb battery life and almost instant boot. The trackpad is annoying, but I like a mouse. I have the same grumbles with MacBooks. In terms of the OS, it does all I want - simply, be a browser on a lightweight computer. Done.

Having watched the ChromeOS reddit page for some time now, I'm kinda concerned about how quickly these things can brick up. That said, you can reinstall pretty easily, but from a borked patch? Come on! That's Microsoft territory!

I've not tried printing. I'm going to have a go ...
I still haven't got round to sorting a small laptop - @pjgh out of interest have you tried viewing a PowerPoint presentation on your Chromebook? I need to run presentations fairly regularly but desperately want a small, quick and light touch machine. No experience of Google's own Slides programme converting a PowerPoint.
 
I still haven't got round to sorting a small laptop - @pjgh out of interest have you tried viewing a PowerPoint presentation on your Chromebook? I need to run presentations fairly regularly but desperately want a small, quick and light touch machine. No experience of Google's own Slides programme converting a PowerPoint.

You've two routes: first, Office Online (which also has a Chrome Extension) at https://office.live.com and second, the Android Office 365 apps. The first one you can try for yourself now in Chrome browser.
 
Need a laptop at short notice for my father in law. A Chromebook would seem perfect for him. Out of interest, and having not got around to buying one for myself - does Chrome, the browser on a Chromebook allow for a change of search engine? My father in law swears by Duck Duck Go and had it running on Chrome, on his old laptop. Plus, a suite of addons like adblockers etc. Do Google allow for these on a Chromebook?

Many thanks.
 
Yes it does allow a change of default search engine - and yes you can use adblockers as well - any site that uses the PWA standard can be used online with Chrome - I got a Pixelbook Go last week - and thus far have found it good - it won't completely replace my Macbook Pro - but that isn't what it is for - I found this useful for starters -

Ihttps://beebom.com/best-chrome-os-apps-install-chromebook/

cheers - I.

@Glen_Lee
 
Yes, it's does ... I use DDG. Yes, addons work as per Chrome on any other OS.

In fact, when he logs in (so long as he's syncing everything already), it will all sync to his Chromebook, so extensions, settings, password, etc. Since he's clearly into tinkering with extensions for privacy, he can also setup the networking stack as well, particularly DNS to point to, say, 1.1.1.1 (Cloudflare) or 9.9.9.9 (Quad9) for DNS privacy.

Again, if folks want a preview of what using a Chromebook might be like without actually buying one, this distro can be written to a USB key and booted from: https://www.neverware.com/ < ChromeOS (from Google) does have more bells and whistles, like the Play Store, but this distro is very much the core of ChromeOS. Just don't install it as it will wipe the computer! Unless you want to ...
 
Yes it does allow a change of default search engine - and yes you can use adblockers as well - any site that uses the PWA standard can be used online with Chrome - I got a Pixelbook Go last week - and thus far have found it good - it won't completely replace my Macbook Pro - but that isn't what it is for - I found this useful for starters -

Ihttps://beebom.com/best-chrome-os-apps-install-chromebook/

cheers - I.

@Glen_Lee
Thank you @Digimonkey I'll let me FIL know about search engine etc. The link you sent is a good read.

How do you find your new toy? I have always been intrigued by Chromebooks. Perhaps similar to you, if I bought one myself it wouldnt replace my Lenovo for work purposes. I guess for general internet stuff they are perfectly suited? I love the idea of a light touch machine that boots and runs!
 
Yes, it's does ... I use DDG. Yes, addons work as per Chrome on any other OS.

In fact, when he logs in (so long as he's syncing everything already), it will all sync to his Chromebook, so extensions, settings, password, etc. Since he's clearly into tinkering with extensions for privacy, he can also setup the networking stack as well, particularly DNS to point to, say, 1.1.1.1 (Cloudflare) or 9.9.9.9 (Quad9) for DNS privacy.

Again, if folks want a preview of what using a Chromebook might be like without actually buying one, this distro can be written to a USB key and booted from: https://www.neverware.com/ < ChromeOS (from Google) does have more bells and whistles, like the Play Store, but this distro is very much the core of ChromeOS. Just don't install it as it will wipe the computer! Unless you want to ...
Thank you, Paul. Yep - knocking on 80, but loves to tinker on computers! Very privacy savvy. I think a trip down to Currys or Argos is in order! He also insists on a full HD screen.
 
... and Touchscreen?

I popped into Curry's the other week when Mrs was dropping something back to Next. They're not very keen with hands-on and many, if not all, of the laptops were not switched on which I guess was to prevent folks prodding and poking. Important aspects are the weight and the configuration of the ports. At least you can see them physically. Don't discount Argos - price check Curry's and make your purchase accordingly.
 
... and Touchscreen?

I popped into Curry's the other week when Mrs was dropping something back to Next. They're not very keen with hands-on and many, if not all, of the laptops were not switched on which I guess was to prevent folks prodding and poking. Important aspects are the weight and the configuration of the ports. At least you can see them physically. Don't discount Argos - price check Curry's and make your purchase accordingly.
Ha Ha - touchscreen hasnt been mentioned - yet! I'll have a drive down to Currys. I guess, this next month could be interesting for deals.
 
Thank you @Digimonkey I'll let me FIL know about search engine etc. The link you sent is a good read.

How do you find your new toy? I have always been intrigued by Chromebooks. Perhaps similar to you, if I bought one myself it wouldnt replace my Lenovo for work purposes. I guess for general internet stuff they are perfectly suited? I love the idea of a light touch machine that boots and runs!
So far so good - I'd done a fair amount of research before I went for it - as a former press photographer - I had only ever used Macs before. The migration process was fairly intuitive - I just need to get used to the fact everything is now online or cloud based. I'm retraining at the moment to work with words instead of pictures - so needed - essentially - a light, portable word processor that was - important - affordable. The Google eco-system is not as constraining as I feared - as discussed above - ad-blockers work just fine, I have a VPN running - when I think it necessary, completely free and in fact better than the one I paid for on the Mac. The only security element that appears not to be available at the moment is a fully featured JavaScript blocker. I'll live with that in the mean time. One thing you commonly read about Chrome - is that you can't get decent photo editing software - I don't think this is true anymore - unless you are a professional user of such things. On this machine I'll only ever need to edit my SOTD pics! Anything more required can be done on the Mac - I found something called Pixlr - that'll do me fine. If you needed to do Powerpoint stuff - you can either use Office or the Google equivalent - which both are understandable to each other seamlessly. I don't play games - so neither know nor care about that. The build quality of the Pixelbook is superb - the body is metal - this is a real laptop. Given that some of the upper end versions cost as much as a Mac Air - I guess this had to be the case. It is super slim and light - the screen is razor sharp and contrasty - and yes! - you can touch it. It is actually useful for scrolling through text and finding a link. The ratio is 16:9 as opposed to the 3:2, which I was used to. The most impressive thing about it - helpfully given what I will do with it - is the keyboard. The best I have used on any laptop. I can touch type - I don't need to look at my fingers as I write - so will have to learn that some of the commonly used symbols are in different places from the Mac layout - that's just a matter of time. The integration with Android phones is impressive - as is the battery life. So - if you are looking for a light portable Chromebook - that will synch all your files across multiple devices - worth a look - in my opinion. As said before - I was a dyed in the wool Mac user - but within a few days have really taken to it and the whole eco-system - just open it up - and away you go. Cheers - I.
 
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Need a laptop at short notice for my father in law. A Chromebook would seem perfect for him. Out of interest, and having not got around to buying one for myself - does Chrome, the browser on a Chromebook allow for a change of search engine? My father in law swears by Duck Duck Go and had it running on Chrome, on his old laptop. Plus, a suite of addons like adblockers etc. Do Google allow for these on a Chromebook?

Many thanks.
Finally got round to having a play with FiL's Chromebook. Having used Window's machines all my life - cannot believe how simple, quick and intuitive they are!!! Very impressed. As some of you pointed out - they are the way forward in terms of routing everything through Cloud accounts. It was the speed between booting up and being online that made a strong first impression!
 
Chrome books are decent
in fact most of the schools in Scotland give them to the kids these days however i know you said you can’t justify the price of Macbook Air but they really are worth the money.
i have the Macbook Pro and love it.
My son has a Imac for the last 10 years and it’s as good & fast as it ever was.
No need to worry about viruses.
They are just very good machines with a simple to use platform.
unless i was buying a gaming laptop i’m afraid my windows days are over.
Chrome book would be my first choice if i couldn’t afford Apple
 
Yes, it's does ... I use DDG. Yes, addons work as per Chrome on any other OS.

In fact, when he logs in (so long as he's syncing everything already), it will all sync to his Chromebook, so extensions, settings, password, etc. Since he's clearly into tinkering with extensions for privacy, he can also setup the networking stack as well, particularly DNS to point to, say, 1.1.1.1 (Cloudflare) or 9.9.9.9 (Quad9) for DNS privacy.

Again, if folks want a preview of what using a Chromebook might be like without actually buying one, this distro can be written to a USB key and booted from: https://www.neverware.com/ < ChromeOS (from Google) does have more bells and whistles, like the Play Store, but this distro is very much the core of ChromeOS. Just don't install it as it will wipe the computer! Unless you want to ...
If you have an old & slow laptop or PC - Chrome Flex could be worth a go. I have been reading with interest how light touch Flex is for effectively breathing new life into an older device. Plenty of guides on how to convert an old Mac or Windows device.

 
Ah! I know what this is ...

Google (well, the Chrome OS project) bought Cloud Ready and subsequently revoked the API keys for everybody else, thus shutting down other sound projects like Arnold the Bat (yes, Arnold the Bat). Certainly rendering them utterly useless as those APIs were used to log in!

So ... Chrome OS Flex. If it's at all like Cloud Ready (which it will be ... and then some, I'd guess, like the Store and Android Apps) it'll be perfect for many old machines. I run Cloud Ready on an old Dell 12". I'll switch it over to Flex today. Cheers!
 
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