Any other Chrome fanatics?

Tech Talk ChromeOS
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Any other big Chrome OS fans here?

I went from zero Chrome OS devices to 3, between Jan and May of this year.

I kept hearing Leo talk about Chromebooks. When I discovered I would not have to buy and run antivirus software, I started to listen.

On my Windows PC, I was running Norton, Malwarebytes, and 4 other similar programs manually. About 2x a year, no matter how careful I am, I’d still pick up something on 1 of the programs. Rather annoying.

After the last time of this, I broke down and bought a Asus Chromebox 3. I really got hooked on the operating system. And after a few weeks, I found ways to do just about everything I did on my Windows PC. Other than hooking up my Ipod to my Windows laptop, I can do everything on my Chromebox.

I found a cool Android checkbook register app called Volkron Checkbook. I use Pixlr Editor as a clone of Photoshop. There are several Android streaming apps that work well. And, the online version of MS Word works great.

I later bought the 14" Dell Two-In-One chromebook. Then, when I discovered the HP Chromebook 2 - I bought that too. The HP Chromebook X2 works like a Microsoft Surface - fully detachable keyboard. In fact, I use it as a tablet, and don’t ever attach the keyboard.

I wanted to replace my Samsung S2 tablet. I was looking at the Samsung S4, but then I discovered the HP. I like that Chrome on the HP Chromebook X2 is the full desktop version, whereas you have to use the android version of Chrome on the S4. Plus, the Chromebook X2 was cheaper than the S4 (I got a great sale at BestBuy for $399 - $200 off).

It’s so nice to be able to bring around a full computer that is the size of an Ipad. I was sorry to see that Best Buy discontinued that model recently.

What Chrome devices do you guys have here?

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My wife really likes it, especially the Chrombook she got that folds into a tablet. Although it is her second one since the first got hit with a bad security chip that made the system unbootable. But once she logged into the new one it restored all her settings and extensions.

I got the ‘work’ version that has 8GB of RAM, but does not fold into a tablet. I used chrx.org to partition the internal disk and dual-boot Linux. GalliumOS works well and is tweaked to work with the firmware and special keys, but you would think that running ChromOS that Linux would work easy, but there is lots of binary firmware that the hardware needs to work well that is not part of a normal Linux install.

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I have a chromebox at home as a guest pc.

At work, we have a dozen cheap chromebooks for doing physical inventory to shared Google Sheets over WiFi.

We also have a about 8 chromebits to display digital signage on TV’s across our factory.

I love the security and simplicity of Chrome OS. Although I spend most of my time in Linux or Mac OS, I use Chrome OS where I can.

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I have seen some mixed reports about the Chromebits. Any problems with them?

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I don’t know if I’m a CB fanatic, but I use my Asus C302CA-DHM4 Chromebook Flip 12.5-Inch in bed at night because it supports the two reddit extensions that make my life as a mod much easier.

I’d use my iPad, but those two extensions aren’t available in Safari. Plus the “tent” mode makes it much steadier in bed than the iPad Smart Cover does.

My first CB was a very inexpensive ($165 USD) HP I got on sale from Amazon, but in less than three months the screen died so I decided to spend a bit more money ($470 USD) on the Asus in September 2017.

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For simple use hooked to a TV, chromebits are fine. They are basically like the lowest end chromebook as far as speed and power. If I was going to regularly surf with it, I’d rather get more memory in a chromebox form factor.

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Over here they are simply too expensive. They generally cost more than a better specced Windows laptop.
Google feels that ChromeOS is so good that on their website in Germany they sell a grand total of 0 (ZERO) Chromebooks, not even their own Pixel series.
Edit: For example, the last time I did a comparison, I could get a Windows laptop with Core i3, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD and put Chrome on it for the same price as a Celeron Chromebook with 4GB RAM!
On Amazon.de I think I’ve only seen 1 Chromebook make it into the top 100 best selling laptops.
It is a shame, there are some good devices that would make sense for more limited use cases or people who just need to surf the web. If only they were as cheap as some other countries. Although I’d prefer a ChromiumBook, with no Googliness.

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That is what I always figured. With the RAM they come with, I did not think it would be something super usable to surf with. All 3 of my Chrome devices have 4GB of RAM, and they work great. I haven’t felt the need to upgrade my Chromebox to 8GB. When I first got it, I thought I might. But, it works great.

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Sorry to hear that they haven’t really tried to aggressively enter the market in Germany. Here, Chromebooks are pretty cheap. Although, the cheapest ones usually have terrible screens. And, I also avoid Acer - mainly because I remember the days when Acer computers were not really the best.

But, you can get some sweet Chromebooks on sale in the $400-something dollar range here. You CAN get decent WIndows laptops for less than $500 if you hunt around, but they typically are not the fastest for that price range.

I love how apps run almost instantly on a Chromebook - similar to the way they do on a smartphone. And, the Chromebook starts up much, much faster

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I was considering getting one as like a Home Hub. It’ll sit in my living room and have my Google Wifi app, Netflix, Hulu, Prime, Disney+, MLB TV, Spectrum TV and VLC for connecting to my media drive for all my local files. It will be what I use to control my IOT and streaming services.

I’ve never used one though, is all this possible?

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Been using Chrome OS since I saw the CR-48 and was tinkering with Chromium till the devices matured.

My office is run on Chrome OS, and have been slowly swapping out Chromeboxes for laptops. I have settled on the Asus range and have used all of their flip devices. Currently daily driver is the C434.

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I’ve turned 2 laptops into Chromebooks by installing Neverware’s Cloudready from a USB stick. Both of the laptops were old and slow though and Chrome chewed through the RAM really quickly.

I suppose they would be better with something like Lubuntu or Xubuntu.

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I think you’re right. My only recent Linux experience has been with Linux Lite, but as it’s an Ubuntu-based distro expressly for limited performance machines there should be some similarities. It’s been very successful for me on Celeron and Atom processors with 1-2Gb of RAM, and in one case (an Asus EEE-PC) has actually turned it into a usable PC for simple tasks.

Chrome seems to be a bit of a memory hog on most platforms, so another advantage of trying a different distro is that you can see how other browsers perform on your hardware.

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Yes, we discussed that on another thread recently. But, yes. They work great for that.

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