Craigyh74 Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 Morning, The wifes laptop has died so I need to get another one. She only wants one for email, web browsing and basic spread sheet work, so it can be cheap as chips, I also need the expert advice of VT'ers :-) I'm toying with getting her one out of this lot but am open to suggestions. http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/laptops-netbooks/laptops/chromebooks/hp-14-x054na-wifi-chromebook-with-8-g2-tablet-16-gb-10094842-pdt.html http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/laptops-netbooks/laptops/chromebooks/asus-c300-13-3-chromebook-with-memo-pad-7-tablet-10094855-pdt.html http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/laptops-netbooks/laptops/laptops/hp-stream-14-z050sa-14-laptop-silver-10029759-pdt.html http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/laptops-netbooks/laptops/laptops/acer-aspire-es1-512-15-6-laptop-black-10071651-pdt.html#cat-0 http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/laptops-netbooks/laptops/laptops/hp-stream-13-c009sa-13-laptop-blue-10077095-pdt.html#cat-0 Thanks Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 Acer Aspire ES1-512, 15.6" Laptop, Intel Celeron, 4GB RAM, 500GB - Black £179 @ Tesco http://www.tesco.com/direct/acer-aspire-es1-512-156-laptop-intel-celeron-4gb-ram-500gb-black/759-2255.prd?pageLevel=&skuId=759-2255&sc_cmp=tp4_aff_1018132 Toshiba C50D-B-120 AMD E-Series 15.6 Inch 4GB 500GB Laptop. £179 at Argos http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SearchMobile?storeId=10151&catalogId=24551&langId=110&searchTerm=245%2F5914 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted December 29, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted December 29, 2014 I have the HP chromebook from your first link. I absolutely love it, but make sure you properly research the restrictions that a Chromebook puts you under. For me it doesn't matter as I only use my laptop for the web. But for others it could be a problem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted December 29, 2014 Administrator Share Posted December 29, 2014 I wouldn't recommend a virus magnet. For that usage I'd go for a chromebook pretty much every time.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P3te Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 Picked up a Samsung 303C over the weekend brand new, clearance stock for $150. Only need it for internet browsing, Gmail and Google Drive, and it's a belter. I can only imagine how smooth the higher end devices are given that this is an older one and significantly less powerful than your average calculator. The cloud is a wonderful thing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tegis Posted January 30, 2015 VT Supporter Share Posted January 30, 2015 I did a similar thing when I found a Toshiba chromebook at that price. I really don't have a need for a chromebook but I wanted to give it a go and just test one out, and at those prices it's worth it. They are extremely capable, even at the lower specs. Mine was a Intel celeron device with makes a standard Linux and windows install pretty laggy indeed. Not here though. For your average user it's a no brainer really. The only stumbling-block I can think of are the backwards sites that use Silverlight for streaming. Netflix works though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrenm Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 I never stumble across any web sites that don't work with my Chromebook now. I'm still on a first gen series 3 Samsung and it's going strong. Wouldn't mind getting a new one soon though. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted January 30, 2015 VT Supporter Share Posted January 30, 2015 Yep, my chromebook suits me down to the ground. More than capable for everything I need it for. Never found a website that doesn't work on it (although my web browsing is fairly limited) The only problem I've had with it is it doesn't play some video formats, i.e. tv shows and movies that I've "acquired". That might be a problem for some people. Doesn't matter for me, I just whack them on my external hard drive and play them through my TV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest av1 Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 I'm in a similar position to the OP. I looked at the Chromebook but I really do need/want a DVD drive for when I'm on nights. I'm useless on computers, only really need one for basic needs,browsing etc, so looking for something pretty cheap. I don't understand tech talk so wondered if the good folk of VT feel this would be suffice for my needs. http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/laptops-portable-pcs/laptops-and-netbooks/hp-255-g3-1283830/review/2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YLN Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 Bollocks to your need for a dvd player. Learn how to watch films and tv shows on netflix or a film equivalent, and get a chromebook. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted April 30, 2015 VT Supporter Share Posted April 30, 2015 (edited) I'm fairly sure you can buy external CD or DVD drives for Chromebooks if you REALLY need one. I'd wager a Chromebook plus a DVD drive would be less money than a normal laptop. (Don't take my word for it though. I'm just guessing really) Edited April 30, 2015 by Stevo985 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgyknees Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 Who has a Chromebook? I was going to get the missus a tablet for Xmas, but am now swaying towards a Chromebook... can she play games on it though? She's a bit of a gamer (nothing major!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted September 29, 2015 Administrator Share Posted September 29, 2015 Depends on the games. If they are browser based then yes, otherwise probably not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgyknees Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 She likes to play a few on steam, but also a few from the Play store.. it seems Chromebooks can play games from the Play store? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted September 30, 2015 Administrator Share Posted September 30, 2015 Chrome has its own store, but it's my understanding that you can get almost all android apps to run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted September 30, 2015 VT Supporter Share Posted September 30, 2015 I have a Chromebook.I have a HP Chromebook 14 in white. It's **** great. Cost £250 about a year go, so might be cheaper now.Probably wasn't the best on the market when I got it (there was a touchscreen acer one that was nice but I couldn't find it in stock in any stores, and I was getting a new laptop through insurance so I couldn't buy online) so there are probably better out there. But for me it was an excellent solution. I'd come to realise that 95% of the time I used my laptop to browse the internet and watch movies/videos. A tablet may have done the job but given my life ruining addiction to VillaTalk, I needed a keyboard. But they're cheap compared to a normal laptop, Easy to use, Light, Looks great, boots up almost instantly has 6/7 hours battery life (I think they claim 10 hours but in reality it's less. There are drawbacks. You can't run "normal" programmes on them like you would on a laptop. Everything has to be chrome based. I think limpid is right and you can get normal android apps running on it, but I've never tried it. Most of the "apps" are just bookmarks to webpages.So you can't play games on it.You can, however, get linux working on them. Again I've never tried it, but I briefly explored the possibility when I wanted to play Football Manager. I think this is a solution for playing Steam games. You can get that running on Linux. There are tutorials out there on how to do it. Other drawbacks:no CD drive - Not an issue for me as I don't ever use it, but might be for some people.Not much storage - I actually can't remember how mcuh it has, but it's only something like 15GB. I bought an external hard drive when I got mine and just put everything on there. Plus you get Google Drive storage. So you'd have to get used to using those storage methods as opposed to having everything on your laptop.Some video formats don't play - this is probably something that's easily fixable, I'm sure there's a way to download codecs. But I usually play downloaded videos off my hard drive through my telly so it's not an issue for me so I've never tried to fix it.That's it really. I love it, but I think it has to suit your needs, so do a bit of research first and make sure it's what you/her wants. But if mine broke tomorrow, I'd not hesitate to buy a new one to replace it.Any questions just shoot 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgyknees Posted September 30, 2015 Share Posted September 30, 2015 Sounds perfect for her - she mainly needs it for sorting bits for work (spreadsheets, logging in to her online system). The boot up speed is a positive too, she's using an old windows machine right now and boy, that's a lot of fun to boot up...I'm sure i'll have some more questions, so I will pop them here when I think of them. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted September 30, 2015 VT Supporter Share Posted September 30, 2015 Be aware that it doesn't run Excel (which I'm assuming her spreadsheets are in) so you'll have to use Google Docs. Google Docs is, despite what some people on here will tell you, not as good as Excel. It's usable, but not as good.There also seems to be formatting issues between Excel and Google Docs. I've sent stuff home before from work so I can work on them at home but when I've opened them in Google Docs the formatting is all over the place. Again, there maybe a solution to this, a Chrome Based Excel programme that is more compatible, but it's never been enough of an issue for me to bother investigating further. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted September 30, 2015 Administrator Share Posted September 30, 2015 I thought there was an Excel Android App now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgyknees Posted September 30, 2015 Share Posted September 30, 2015 Good point, I will look into the Excel thing - it's not a major issue though, it's just so she can arrange a planner for the day for her own use - so she can use docs if needs be. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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