What are your experiences with Chromebooks?

[mech-eng]

TL;DR Summary

I wonder about your opinions about Chromebooks?

I am planning to buy a new laptop, and it might be a Chromebook. Would you please share your experiences and opinions about them? I think a chromebook refers to the chrome operating system. So

1. How good are apps for that OS? Does Chrome OS support free apps that can be executable in Linux such as Octave, Open Office, Maxima?

2. Can .exe files that is windows programs be executed in them?

3. How secure are they?

4. How fast are they?

5. Are there laptops that have both windows and chrome? This would be the best option.

Regards,

 

[anorlunda]

I had a chromebook, and I liked it a lot.

First, you should get the idea that the idea behind ChromeOS is that everything you do is on the Internet, accessed via the Chrome browser. Your office programs are on the web. The files you create are on the web. You access PF with Chrome, instead of a PF app. I watch videos with Netflix and Youtube rather than download video files to my computer and use a media app to play the video. That is why Chromebooks are simpler, faster, and less expensive in the first place.

IMO, they could have gone an additional step. No OS at all, no local storage other than ROM, just Chrome running when you turn it on. It would be very hard to hack, faster, simpler, less expensive. But Google wants you to store cookie files on your machine to track you, so they didn't do that.

But it is true that there is some limited storage for local files, and apps installed locally. For the most part, you would be better off ignoring that, and plan to use online versions instead. There are few apps that can't be found online.

There are limits. I became interested in Microsoft Flight Simulator. That can not be run on a Chromebook. I had to buy a Windows 10 machine with a GPU to handle that.

One thing I hated was that I was forced to use my Google password to unlock the Chromebook. That forced me to dumb down my password to something I could easily remember and easily type. IMO, that is a serious security flaw.

 

[phinds]

My wife (TOTALLY computer illiterate) has used a ChromeBook for years and loves it. As stated above, it's a dumb terminal, working via the Chrome O.S. with essentially everything in the cloud.

Personally, I would not be able to stand it at all since I'm a developer and a power user, but for everyday non-computer-specialist things like Excel, email, SKYPE, etc, it's great.

 

[FactChecker]

My wife (TOTALLY computer illiterate) has used a ChromeBook for years and loves it. As stated above, it's a dumb terminal, working via the Chrome O.S. with essentially everything in the cloud.

My sister HATES computer technology. I would like to get her to try a Chromebook, but she refuses to even get an internet connection.

 

[mech-eng]

First, you should get the idea that the idea behind ChromeOS is that everything you do is on the Internet, accessed via the Chrome browser. Your office programs are on the web. The files you create are on the web. You access PF with Chrome, instead of a PF app.

But some of them have 8 gb ram and 256 GB SSD. If you are doing everything on the internet, does this mean you are using server's hardware. So why need 8 gb Ram?

That is why Chromebooks are simpler, faster, and less expensive in the first place.

I have checked their prices in Turkey, some models are quite expense compared to Win PCs.

 

[phinds]

If you are doing everything on the internet, does this mean you are using server's hardware. So why need 8 gb Ram?

Uh ... where do you think the Chrome browser runs from ? Remember, Chrome (the O.S.) is local. Pretty much everything else in in the cloud.

 

[mech-eng]

Uh ... where do you think the Chrome browser runs from ? Remember, Chrome (the O.S.) is local. Pretty much everything else in in the cloud.

Yes, but isn't 8 gb still excessive for those?

 

[phinds]

Yes, but isn't 8 gb still excessive for those?

My understanding is that most are shipped with 4Gb and that's more than enough but I haven't looked into what all the RAM is used for.

 

[FactChecker]

My Firefox browser on a Windows OS is currently using 6Gb from 7 open tabs.

 

[symbolipoint]

Nice idea to ask people how they like their Chromebooks. Two things turn me off about ever trying any Chromebook:

• Power-failure means no internet so the machine is useless; traveling means too often no consistent internet making the machine very often useless.
• Some people want to use a machine wired to a printer and print pictures or documents.

 

[anorlunda]

Power-failure means no internet so the machine is useless; traveling means too often no consistent internet making the machine very often useless.

One local thing I did with my Chromebook was to utilize the "offline mode" with google docs. That allowed me to continue working on documents even without an Internet connection.

The size of those local documents (including embedded images) influences how much RAM I needed.

 

[phinds]

My Firefox browser on a Windows OS is currently using 6Gb from 7 open tabs.

That's weird. I currently have 8 open tabs in Firefox and it's using less than 1Gb. Wonder what is causing such a large difference?

 

[FactChecker]

That's weird. I currently have 8 open tabs in Firefox and it's using less than 1Gb. Wonder what is causing such a large difference?

I have no idea what it is doing. I have 5 tabs open now and I get this:

 

[phinds]

Just for grins, I cranked it up to 20 tabs and it took just under 2Gb.

 

[FactChecker]

Just for grins, I cranked it up to 20 tabs and it took just under 2Gb.

I have often thought that my Firefox must have a memory leak or something.
(But I am afraid that I have hijacked this thread and should save this conversation for another thread.)

 

[Vanadium 50]

Yes, but isn't 8 gb still excessive for those?

Then don't buy one.

 

[anorlunda]

The debate about smart (PC) versus dumb (Chromebook) remote devices is hardly new. When I started with computers in 1966, it was already old news. Here are some passages from The Hacker's Dictionary, 1983.

https://www.outpost9.com/reference/jargon/jargon_18.html#SEC25
cycle of reincarnation /n./

[coined in a paper by T. H. Myer and I.E. Sutherland "On the Design of Display Processors", Comm. ACM, Vol. 11, no. 6, June 1968)] Term used to refer to a well-known effect whereby function in a computing system family is migrated out to special-purpose peripheral hardware for speed, then the peripheral evolves toward more computing power as it does its job, then somebody notices that it is inefficient to support two asymmetrical processors in the architecture and folds the function back into the main CPU, at which point the cycle begins again.

Several iterations of this cycle have been observed in graphics-processor design, and at least one or two in communications and floating-point processors. Also known as `the Wheel of Life', `the Wheel of Samsara', and other variations of the basic Hindu/Buddhist theological idea.

smart terminal /n./

1. A terminal that has enough computing capability to render graphics or to offload some kind of front-end processing from the computer it talks to. The development of workstations and personal computers has made this term and the product it describes semi-obsolescent, but one may still hear variants of the phrase `act like a smart terminal' used to describe the behavior of workstations or PCs with respect to programs that execute almost entirely out of a remote server's storage, using local devices as displays. 2. obs. Any terminal with an addressable cursor; the opposite of a glass tty. Today, a terminal with merely an addressable cursor, but with none of the more-powerful features mentioned in sense 1, is called a dumb terminal.

 

[FactChecker]

The debate about smart (PC) versus dumb (Chromebook) remote devices is hardly new. When I started with computers in 1966, it was already old news. Here are some passages from The Hacker's Dictionary, 1983.

It's a little ironic that we are returning to the "dumb terminal" days. There are some serious advantages to it.

 

[mech-eng]

My another question is that can we install another O.S in a chrome book (as far as I know there are four more basic types: Windows, Linux, and BSD (Free BSD), and Android). Secondly, can we install a Chrome OS to a windows PC?

 

[anorlunda]

Chrome OS is a variant of Linux.

 

[mech-eng]

Chrome OS is a variant of Linux.

This means chromebooks can be installed on a Windows PC, and windows operating system can be installed a chromebook. Then what is the point to call them Chromebook? They are just ordinary laptops with Chrome OS. That's all.

 

[anorlunda]

This means chromebooks can be installed on a Windows PC, and windows operating system can be installed a chromebook. Then what is the point to call them Chromebook? They are just ordinary laptops with Chrome OS. That's all.

You're probably right about cross installations. However:

My Chromebook was affordable. $250 new. One way to make it cheap was no hard disc, no SSD. Just 16GB flash memory plus some RAM. That probably doesn't meet the minimum hardware requirements for Windows 10.

Also, Newegg sells Windows 10 OEM license for $109. ChromeOS is open source. I'm not sure there is any royalty with it.

 

[anorlunda]

I wonder. Is is possible that the Chromebook runs the Chrome browser directly from flash memory rather than loading it into RAM?

 

[Vanadium 50]

This means chromebooks can be installed on a Windows PC, and windows operating system can be installed a chromebook.

Not necessarily so, and certainly not for the reason you state. You can run ChromeOS on hardware not fully supported by Windows, for example, like 32-bit ARM v7.

 

[pbuk]

You can't really compare a Chromebook with a thin client. Modern web applications do all the heavy lifting locally in JavaScript, and all but the first Chromebooks can run Android apps natively.

 

[Algr]

Okay.

The problem with Chromebooks is that they give Google a dangerous amount of control. They can really screw up your life with lazy moderation and lack of accountability. (See video above.) Their performance is needlessly poor when internet access is slow or non-existent. And the hardware quality tends to be low, with dull screens and short hardware lifespans. Consider an iPad instead. (With third party keyboard. Apple's is overpriced.)

 

[Vanadium 50]

Except that the cheapest iPad is almost triple the price of a cheap (but not the cheapest) Chromebook.

 

[Algr]

How long do Chromebooks last? Will you use them as extensively as an iPad? If you watch videos on them, how clear are the speakers? Can you listen to it while cooking dinner?

 

[jedishrfu]

Chromebooks are by design low power computers for casual use by non professionals. Prior to their rise, there was a simple terminal called I-Opener that was specifically designed for people not familiar with computers giving them internet access in a friendly manner:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-Opener

Sadly, I-Opener bit the dust after hackers found they could repurpose the hardware to make a cheap standalone computer thwarting the I-Opener business model of selling a service with the I-Opener being a loss leader ie (the lost money but recouped it through monthly service fees)

I'm sure Google learned something from the Netpliance debacle when they designed ChromeOS with access to their online tools and then allowed hardware vendors to construct these low cost under powered machines.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Will you use them as extensively as an iPad?

This is very close to "This doesn't serve my needs. Therefore it doesn't serve anybody's needs!"

A factor of 3 in price is non-trivial. If someone were car shopping and looking at an Econobox, would the advice be,. but you can get a Mercedes for less than tripe the price!

 

[Algr]

This is very close to "This doesn't serve my needs. Therefore it doesn't serve anybody's needs!"

I had assumed that mech-eng had free will and was capable of disregarding my advice based on his/her needs not matching mine.

 

[mech-eng]

How long do Chromebooks last? Will you use them as extensively as an iPad? If you watch videos on them, how clear are the speakers? Can you listen to it while cooking dinner?

Thanks I will consider all the advices. I am mainly thinking one to discover new devices and technologies.