So I bought a chromebook

[JesseBassett]

Hey all,
So I bought a chromebook for my upcoming vacation to Hawaii next month! This laptop is slick. Its touchscreen and it can act as a tablet (reversable display). Here is a link to what I got. Mind you the one I have has 105gb of HDD and 8gb Ram. But either way I love the efficency of ChromeOS and this device! Have any of you used ChromeOS before? What were your impressions/thoughts on it?

Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5 13"

 

[AlexB23]

Hey all,
So I bought a chromebook for my upcoming vacation to Hawaii next month! This laptop is slick. Its touchscreen and it can act as a tablet (reversable display). Here is a link to what I got. Mind you the one I have has 105gb of HDD and 8gb Ram. But either way I love the efficency of ChromeOS and this device! Have any of you used ChromeOS before? What were your impressions/thoughts on it?

Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5 13"

Chromebooks are craptops. You can not install any Windows or Mac apps, have no storage and they are slow. Linux is probably way better compared to ChromeOS.


This modular laptop is more expensive, but you can upgrade the RAM and replace parts when needed.

Framework 13

 

[JesseBassett]

Chromebooks are craptops. You can not install any Windows or Mac apps, have no storage and they are slow. Linux is probably way better compared to ChromeOS.


This modular laptop is more expensive, but you can upgrade the RAM and replace parts when needed.

Framework 13
View attachment 346037

While I appreciate the honest opinion, I disagree on one thing. You CAN actually install windows on the chromebook but a lot of steps are involved first. Also the reaosn I got this chromebook was not because of wanting windows but wanting a chromebook. Its fast, I have all my apps on it, and its all virtual. Personally it does what I need. But hey their not for everyone.

 

[JesseBassett]

Also as for the speed of this laptop, its fast as I'll get out .....so I do not get the "their slow" aspect.

 

[AlexB23]

While I appreciate the honest opinion, I disagree on one thing. You CAN actually install windows on the chromebook but a lot of steps are involved first. Also the reaosn I got this chromebook was not because of wanting windows but wanting a chromebook. Its fast, I have all my apps on it, and its all virtual. Personally it does what I need. But hey their not for everyone.

It is too much work to install Windows on a Chromebook. Well, maybe Chromebooks have improved in the past few years, so maybe the laptops are faster now. But, if travel to an area with poor internet, good luck accessing your documents on the cloud.

 

[JesusFollowerForever]

Hey all,
So I bought a chromebook for my upcoming vacation to Hawaii next month! This laptop is slick. Its touchscreen and it can act as a tablet (reversable display). Here is a link to what I got. Mind you the one I have has 105gb of HDD and 8gb Ram. But either way I love the efficency of ChromeOS and this device! Have any of you used ChromeOS before? What were your impressions/thoughts on it?

Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5 13"

they are ok, simple, no need to constantly mess with windows flawed updates, these chromebooks they update themselves and have antivirus, chrome os is not perfect but for a small portable laptop to mostly use internet it will work just fine, bought one for my ant who is past 80, she has no problems with it and it always works with no efforts from her. in general for simple applications i think it is a good buy for the price.

 

[JesusFollowerForever]

It is too much work to install Windows on a Chromebook. Well, maybe Chromebooks have improved in the past few years, so maybe the laptops are faster now. But, if travel to an area with poor internet, good luck accessing your documents on the cloud.

it would be crazy to install windows on a chromebook, the processors are usually too slow for crappy windows with over a billion lines of patched code, in computing , more code is always bad.

 

[AlexB23]

it would be crazy to install windows on a chromebook, the processors are usually too slow for crappy windows with over a billion lines of patched code, in computing , more code is always bad.

Yeah, so that is where a laptop with a better CPU comes into play. My laptop can run a local, free open-weights AI with 7 billion parameters.

 

[JesusFollowerForever]

Yeah, so that is where a laptop with a better CPU comes into play. My laptop can run a local, free open-weights AI with 7 billion parameters.

linux or windows?

 

[JesusFollowerForever]

Yeah, so that is where a laptop with a better CPU comes into play. My laptop can run a local, free open-weights AI with 7 billion parameters.

nice, enjoy

 

[AlexB23]

Yeah, so that is where a laptop with a better CPU comes into play.

linux or windows?

Windows, but Mistral 7B via Jan is available on Linux also. I will switch to Linux in 2025.

Mistral 7B running on Jan (April 12, 2024)

 

[elytron]

I wouldn't want to travel with my best machine, unless need the extra processing for something specific. He is going on a trip and a Chromebook is fine. Sometimes luggage gets lost or stolen. Would be a nervous wreck if my best laptop were sitting in my hotel room all by itself. While I'm out on a volcano or something.

 

[AlexB23]

I wouldn't want to travel with my best machine, unless need the extra processing for something specific. He is going on a trip and a Chromebook is fine. Sometimes luggage gets lost or stolen. Would be a nervous wreck if my best laptop were sitting in my hotel room all by itself. While I'm out on a volcano or something.

You make a good point. I wouldn't want to use my best machine either, unless I need to use locally installed AI for something, or need extra computing power. Airlines sometimes lose luggage, and thefts are known to happen on trips. That is why I use my phone on trips (for photos), unless I need to use a computer.

 

[JesusFollowerForever]

Windows, but Mistral 7B via Jan is available on Linux also. I will switch to Linux in 2025.

Mistral 7B running on Jan (April 12, 2024)
View attachment 346061

oh well you tempt me into trying this....maybe I will...LOL
'

cheers.

 

[AlexB23]

oh well you tempt me into trying this....maybe I will...LOL
'

cheers.

You need ideally 16 GB of RAM, but it works on 8 GB of RAM. Be careful that AI can get some things wrong, so if you ask it to give you Bible verses to help you with a life situation, be sure to verify the verses it gives you with your Bible.

This is Mistral 7B describing a concept that some corporations use.

 

[Wookiee]

Have any of you used ChromeOS before? What were your impressions/thoughts on it?

As someone who has managed and fixed them before:
From a perspective of "I need something cheap/light to just get on the internet with"/"I need a cheap laptop for my kid to do school work" - great!

From a perspective of "I need something longterm for a variety of things" - you're better off investing in anything else.

They're great in a school environment in terms of being essentially disposable-camera level laptops. But you certainly go through a few of them. Google management console was pretty awful at the time, and many Chromebooks had weird manufacturer-related quirks that made them painful to deal with (side note: somehow Acer of all brands made the most reliable one).

So as I said: if you need something cheap to throw around and not get a lot of life out of, they're great. I'd never ever get one for myself for any real reason, and you couldn't pay me enough to have to manage them from an IT-department ever again.

 

[jas3]

Oof, I had no idea Chromebooks had gotten so expensive. I thought they were supposed to be basically cheap thin-clients/browser machines and occupied the <$150 price range (it does look like there are some still in that price range, in all fairness).

Personally, if I wanted a laptop to fill a comparable role to a Chromebook, I would go with a Pinebook Pro: 14″ PINEBOOK Pro LINUX LAPTOP (ANSI. US Keyboard) - PINE STORE
Or if it has to be x86, there are still non-Chromebook laptops in the <$200 price range, especially if you're willing to get a refurbished one.

 

[JesseBassett]

Oof, I had no idea Chromebooks had gotten so expensive. I thought they were supposed to be basically cheap thin-clients/browser machines and occupied the <$150 price range (it does look like there are some still in that price range, in all fairness).

Personally, if I wanted a laptop to fill a comparable role to a Chromebook, I would go with a Pinebook Pro: 14″ PINEBOOK Pro LINUX LAPTOP (ANSI. US Keyboard) - PINE STORE
Or if it has to be x86, there are still non-Chromebook laptops in the <$200 price range, especially if you're willing to get a refurbished one.

It all depends on the features one wants for their chromebook as to what the price will be.