New Acer Chromebook C710-2055

[Graham]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

True, but for me it is a little like saying: "by a bicycle rather than a car, the engine will never break down and you don't need gas".

For me, it's more like saying, "If all you need is a bicycle, why buy a car?"

Graham

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by Graham

For me, it's more like saying, "If all you need is a bicycle, why buy a car?"

Graham

But you have a car already, that old PC you mentioned.

[Graham]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

But you have a car already, that old PC you mentioned.

But I didn't buy the bicycle (Chromebook) to replace the car. I needed an additional vehicle, and the bicycle was ideal.

Graham

[frahse]

Gentlemen,
and indeed you are.
What a great discussion. Not 1 mention of haters or other such spiteful terms.

Instead a sensible argument on merits, on desires, on experience.

I am going to get a chromebook, but I have never been an early adopter. It goes to my main business sense which is supplying very reliable control systems for processes and production. I want the equipment to be shaken out, to be proven. Only if directed to do so despite my cautions, will I put in the very latest, and then a note will be made in the proposal and contract.
But in the next 1 to 3 years, I will get a chromebook. It will not replace my company Windows machine. It will not replace several other personal machines that are running well. It will replace a net-book that didn't work out. In time I think that it may replace one or more of the personal Windows machines as I proof out my first test model.

As for bicycles and autos, I have both. I also have horses, and for 3 to 4 years I owned first a ultralight craft, and then a 4 seater plane, and it was fun, but I got that out of my system. I have canoes, rubber and other. I have river and ocean kayaks. I have owed power boats, both fishing and recreation for lake, waterways and ocean. I even still have a small sailboat.

Some of these types of fun items are very expensive, and I have settled on my wife's horses as my one whimsical and very expensive transportation system.

Her argument was very impressive!

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Graham

For me, it's more like saying, "If all you need is a bicycle, why buy a car?"

Graham

^ this

[Graham]

Originally Posted by frahse

Some of these types of fun items are very expensive, and I have settled on my wife's horses as my one whimsical and very expensive transportation system.

Excellent!

I have to add that I bought the Chromebook in considerable part out of a sense of whimsy. I expected it to fill a small niche need that I had, and along the way to satisfy my curiousity over this odd addition to our operating system landscape.

I've been surprised at how capable its proved to be outside of that niche.

Graham

[SeaKing]

Tablets and eReaders put the hurt on PC sales and almost finished off net-books.

Now people are realizing that tablets or eReaders aren't as productive as PCs but that Chromebooks with their keyboards and mouses can be, and are nearly as small as the netbooks.

I think that Chromebooks will continue the cannibalization of PCS and stop and then reverse the sales of tablets.

Netbooks probably won't go much lower in sales.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by frahse

That is the catch 22! You still have to have a Windows machine or an new special printer.
My guess is these printers aren't cheap but I haven't looked into it yet. All I use is old printers that came with computers from many years ago. They don't die.

You can also do this with a Raspberry Pi: http://ronnylam.nl/blog/2012/08/09/r...r-printserver/
Costs almost nothing to run all the time, and no fan noise.
I run one as an AirPrint server for an old HP printer.

[Graham]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

You can also do this with a Raspberry Pi: http://ronnylam.nl/blog/2012/08/09/r...r-printserver/
Costs almost nothing to run all the time, and no fan noise.
I run one as an AirPrint server for an old HP printer.

Ooh, thanks for this. I have a Raspberry Pi and this would be a great use for it.

Graham

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

^ this

Your problem is that you already have 2 dozen bicycles, you buy another one every time something is on sale...

[DarkScribe]

Originally Posted by Graham

Except that this works both ways. The Windows machine needs to jump through hoops to do some of the things that are the strength of the Chromebooks, if indeed it can do them at all:

• Running silently
• Booting from cold in about 6 seconds
• Waking from sleep instantly
• Updating the operating system with a 6 second reboot
• No antivirus or security updates
• No application updates
• No slowdown from application clutter

I've documented above where I need my Windows machine instead of the Chromebook, but I think printing's the only thing that I do on the Chromebook that requires a bit of hoop-jumping. One hoop (turn on Windows machine), though, not dozens.

It's also worth noting that when we moved to Windows 7 we had to buy a new printer. Our HP Laserjet of the time was not supported.

A couple of years ago, Chromebooks were an interesting experiment but flawed. They've now reached the point where they are very, very nice secondary machines for people with a Mac or Windows PC, and also ideal sole machines for people who don't need specific niche or high-end software.

It's going to be fascinating to watch the system improve over the next few years, to see how much of the market share it can take.

Graham

My MacBook Air will do all of these things with the exception of application updates. My wife was given a Chromebook last week and I had a play with it over the weekend. I regard it as a toy. I have a Windows7 i7 32GB desktop, a MacBook Air for out of Office and an iPad3 to play games, check email etc. I can't see a Chromebook ever being of use. My wife has already lost interest in hers. Among other issues I will never trust any form of cloud computing. (Talk about putting all of your eggs in one flimsy basket.)

[QuantumIguana]

Your eggs are no more in one basket with cloud storage than they are with local storage - your hard drive can fail. The Chromebook is not a toy. It meets my needs. If it doesn't meet your needs, by all means, feel free not to use it.

[Graham]

Originally Posted by DarkScribe

My MacBook Air will do all of these things with the exception of application updates. My wife was given a Chromebook last week and I had a play with it over the weekend. I regard it as a toy. I have a Windows7 i7 32GB desktop, a MacBook Air for out of Office and an iPad3 to play games, check email etc. I can't see a Chromebook ever being of use. My wife has already lost interest in hers.

The MacBook Air and Windows ultrabooks are superb machines, and we're not claiming that the Chromebooks have the same breadth of functionality. However, for those of us whose requirements are covered by ChromeOS, they're a great hassle-free choice.

If you have a pressing need that the Chromebook can't handle then it's not for you, but if it does what you need then it's certainly not a toy. As I mentioned above, there have been several days now when I didn't switch on my desktop. The Chromebook was able to handle all my day's work.

Originally Posted by DarkScribe

Among other issues I will never trust any form of cloud computing. (Talk about putting all of your eggs in one flimsy basket.)

If you're travelling with a traditional laptop without cloud computing and you lose it you're in for a world of hurt.

If you're travelling with a Chromebook and lose it you simply buy another one, reconnect to the internet, and carry on. In fact, you can simply wander into an internet café and carry on.

This also applies of course if you're out and about without your laptop. In the last three weeks since I switched my workflow to the cloud there have been several times when I've been sitting at a 'foreign' machine and have simply logged back in to Chrome and continued with my work.

With regard to your eggs being in one basket, if you don't trust a single cloud solution you can of course keep a local copy. There are also cheap solutions to maintain a live backup either locally or to a different cloud provider.

Graham

[DarkScribe]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

Your eggs are no more in one basket with cloud storage than they are with local storage - your hard drive can fail. The Chromebook is not a toy. It meets my needs. If it doesn't meet your needs, by all means, feel free not to use it.

Not even close to being so. I have multiple redundancy backup and with my own hardware no one is trying to hack into my data. So far Google, Apple, Dropbox and Evernote have all been targets. I keep my data under my control.

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by frahse

That is the catch 22! You still have to have a Windows machine or an new special printer.
My guess is these printers aren't cheap but I haven't looked into it yet. All I use is old printers that came with computers from many years ago. They don't die.

The printers are pretty cheap. In fact, most new printers are already cloud Print compatible.