Jason w/i (TWIG #541) said ya uses a Mac for deskjocking. Jason, if you aren’t doing audio nor video editing, I’d like to suggest a chromebox! I got a CTL 4GB Chromebox last year. I upgraded the RAM (16Gb) and storage (128Gb). The USB-C gives a second monitor. The Family is very happy w/ it.
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I keep thinking about wanting to check out one of these Chromeboxes (or even a Chromebook) but every time I check the prices, I keep thinking for the same money or less I can build my own custom PC and have a much better PC and run Linux or Windows on it and have more options for apps. (Also, the idea of trusting my stuff to a flakey cloud just doesn’t appeal.) That CTL with 16GB of RAM and 128GB of storage probably cost $500US or so and for a little more money (probably about $700US) I built a tiny little PC with an AMD3400G (Intel I5 equivalent, but better graphics), 32GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD. I discussed it here:
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I love my ASUS Chromebox 3. I paid $239 for mine in Jan 2019. Now, they are about $50 more. It was my first chrome experience.
Since then, I bought 2 Chromebooks - 1 a laptop, and one a laptop/tablet (like a MS Surface - the keyboard detaches). But, the CHromebox is my daily PC, and I leave it on 24 hrs a day.
All 3 of mine have 4GB of RAM. It is more than adequate. I have never wished for 8GB of RAM this entire time.
However, I did get a Chromebook for my son, and he wanted the HP model with 8GB of RAM and a 64GB SSD. He hooks up a playstation controller to his Chromebook, and he plays some heavy duty Android games on it. For that, I can see why 8GB would be better.
But for most other things - I have never wished for 8GB. And, I actually initially planned on upgrading my Chromebox to 8GB (very easy to do). But, I gave up on that idea, because I don’t need it.
Now, my Dell Chromebook 14" 2-in-1 comes with a 128GB SSD. You really do not need that much storage. You are only using the SSD for programs - or at least, that is what you should be doing…
You do not want to save ANY data on the main SSD on a Chromebook. Why? Well, every once in a while, something acts weird, and ya gotta powerwash it. Whenever you do that, anything on the SSD gets erased when you do that. You don’t want to have to deal with moving stuff in the middle of trying to solve a problem with the computer…
What you want to do is store any local data on the SD card - you basically use that as a “hard drive”. That is where I keep movies and all my music files.
I only ever keep the image that I use for wallpaper on the Chromebook SSD. Everything else should be stored on the cloud anyway…
So, I guess I just see that getting a 128GB SSD and 8GB of RAM, and anything over an I3, as overkill with the Chrome OS. It’s like buying a Ferrari and using it to drive around the block everyday.
4GB of RAM and an i3 will do 90%+ of what ya need on the Chrome OS. And, I have now spent 1 full year on Chrome OS - basically giving up on Windows except for my Ipod (itunes) and the Turbo Tax PC program.
Spending those kinda bucks unnecessarily for the Chrome OS, because you are just used to it on a Windows PC, it crazy… IMHO…
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I agree with you for myself.
I have no problem with all that complexity (Linux, BSD, &/or Windows), but many of my family members do. These Chrome OS devices are for everybody else.
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I agree with you for a single user Chrome OS device.
I put the extra HW & $$$ due to the other six login profiles, and the Linux Shell/VM. I got Brave running the Linux VM; The store app is crashing; no idea why.
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