Let's Talk Chromebooks

[TwiceHorn 30834]

A few years back, my MBP had to go into the shop for a keyboard/top case replacement.  They said it might take two days and it was over a weekend.  I realized that my old laptops were probably pretty non-functional and therefore I had no real backup.

So, that provoked me to go buy about the cheapest Chromebook I could find, an all-plastic 15-incher that I wound up loving despite its limitations.  It gave up the ghost after a couple of years, which didn't bother me much because of its low cost.  So, I hunted around for a replacement and found a really good deal on a Chromebook Plus for about 200 bucks at the Acer Refurb store.  The main item of interest there was 8GB memory, but it has a Ryzen 5 and 128GB storage, both of which are probably overkill.  It also happens to be convertible with a touchscreen, neither of which I use very much.  Occasionally, "tenting it" is handy to show people something in a low-key presentation sort of way.  The 128 allows me to be lazy about moving stuff to Dropbox for more permanent storage, but I try to be rigorous about it and it forces me to be somewhat disciplined about maintaining my files.  I don't sync up my phone.

I found Android apps to be pretty useless on a Chromebook, so install everything as a "webapp."  I use dropbox for cloud storage/backup/sync on my MBP and also with the Chromebook.  Not as convenient as Google Drive, but fuck Google anyway.  I started to use my unlimited Google Drive from utexas.edu instead of Dropbox, but Google yoinked that, so fuck Google again.  I don't like the file organization on Google drive anyway.

I have installed Linux and use flatpak to keep Libre Office installed and am about 90% functional on this thing.  Obviously, I don't do media editing/production.

I really like these things.

Edited July 25 by TwiceHorn

[next2naus 436]

They are fine and cheap as fuck. our school district gives them out to the kids. makes sense, cheap, enough SSD space, everything else is cloud storage and apps. If you are a windows users thy are useful option. 

[TwiceHorn 30834]

2 hours ago, next2naus said:

They are fine and cheap as fuck. our school district gives them out to the kids. makes sense, cheap, enough SSD space, everything else is cloud storage and apps. If you are a windows users thy are useful option. 

I guess my point is that they are more capable than people give them credit for, depending on your usage.  I've been out of the Windows ecosystem for nearly a decade now and don't miss it at all.

[rage-a-holic 4242]

meh, Dell has cheap refurb deals all the time in the $200-250 range. I can't imagine paying over $125 for a glorified tablet.

[Fudge Nuggets 18899]

3 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

A few years back, my MBP had to go into the shop for a keyboard/top case replacement.  They said it might take two days and it was over a weekend.  I realized that my old laptops were probably pretty non-functional and therefore I had no real backup.

So, that provoked me to go buy about the cheapest Chromebook I could find, an all-plastic 15-incher that I wound up loving despite its limitations.  It gave up the ghost after a couple of years, which didn't bother me much because of its low cost.  So, I hunted around for a replacement and found a really good deal on a Chromebook Plus for about 200 bucks at the Acer Refurb store.  The main item of interest there was 8GB memory, but it has a Ryzen 5 and 128GB storage, both of which are probably overkill.  It also happens to be convertible with a touchscreen, neither of which I use very much.  Occasionally, "tenting it" is handy to show people something in a low-key presentation sort of way.  The 128 allows me to be lazy about moving stuff to Dropbox for more permanent storage, but I try to be rigorous about it and it forces me to be somewhat disciplined about maintaining my files.  I don't sync up my phone.

I found Android apps to be pretty useless on a Chromebook, so install everything as a "webapp."  I use dropbox for cloud storage/backup/sync on my MBP and also with the Chromebook.  Not as convenient as Google Drive, but fuck Google anyway.  I started to use my unlimited Google Drive from utexas.edu instead of Dropbox, but Google yoinked that, so fuck Google again.  I don't like the file organization on Google drive anyway.

I have installed Linux and use flatpak to keep Libre Office installed and am about 90% functional on this thing.  Obviously, I don't do media editing/production.

I really like these things.

Sir, this is a Wendy’s. 

[TwiceHorn 30834]

4 minutes ago, rage-a-holic said:

meh, Dell has cheap refurb deals all the time in the $200-250 range. I can't imagine paying over $125 for a glorified tablet.

And I imagine they are hideously shitty running W11.  

[rage-a-holic 4242]

16 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

And I imagine they are hideously shitty running W11.  

I have a similar model I paid $220 for last year and it runs W11 fine.

[atomheartbevo 88913]

2 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

I guess my point is that they are more capable than people give them credit for, depending on your usage.  I've been out of the Windows ecosystem for nearly a decade now and don't miss it at all.

Yeah, a lot of people could do everything through cloud services and not even r really think about it.

1 hour ago, rage-a-holic said:

meh, Dell has cheap refurb deals all the time in the $200-250 range. I can't imagine paying over $125 for a glorified tablet.

I buy refurb ThinkPads every few years because keyboards, durability, and repair ability, but same principal.  My main system is a Mac, but when I’m out and about I’ve got an older Thinkpad that I got for under $500, that was over $1,500 three years ago.

[atomheartbevo 88913]

1 hour ago, TwiceHorn said:

And I imagine they are hideously shitty running W11.  

If you can get a quad-core i5 made within the last 5 years, and at least 16GB RAM, it’ll be fine for most people. Just avoid shitty displays.

[dcbc 14235]

I've got a five year old Lenovo convertible (tablet/laptop) Chromebook that's been humming along as my travel machine for 5 + years.

[burntorangebongos 10656]

Mine is 8 and won't be able to upgrade to windows 11. Was thinking refurbished Dell might be the way to go. I kind of like the smaller size though.

[ztejas 42775]

I mean I got this a few months back and it absolutely fucking shreds.

[Fudge Nuggets 18899]

If only there was a Nerds board for you dorks to discuss this. 

[atomheartbevo 88913]

That could keep you warm in the next winter-related power outage, at least until the battery went out,

[ztejas 42775]

Just now, atomheartbevo said:

That could keep you warm in the next winter-related power outage, at least until the battery went out,

It stays plugged in. And it's loud. 

But God damn does it perform. 

[TwiceHorn 30834]

3 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

Yeah, a lot of people could do everything through cloud services and not even r really think about it.

I buy refurb ThinkPads every few years because keyboards, durability, and repair ability, but same principal.  My main system is a Mac, but when I’m out and about I’ve got an older Thinkpad that I got for under $500, that was over $1,500 three years ago.

For me, word processing was the deal breaker on apps.  But Linux to the rescue.

[atomheartbevo 88913]

57 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

For me, word processing was the deal breaker on apps.  But Linux to the rescue.

Get DOSBox https://www.dosbox.com

or 86 Box http://86box.net

Get MS-DOS 6.22 or DR-DOS https://winworldpc.com/library/operating-systems

And then get WordPerfect 6 and you're good to go https://winworldpc.com/product/wordperfect/6x-dos

No Windows involved.

[TwiceHorn 30834]

9 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

Get DOSBox https://www.dosbox.com

or 86 Box http://86box.net

Get MS-DOS 6.22 or DR-DOS https://winworldpc.com/library/operating-systems

And then get WordPerfect 6 and you're good to go https://winworldpc.com/product/wordperfect/6x-dos

No Windows involved.

I used to love WP.  But there's a Linux VM built into every chromebook.  The only problem is the LibreOffice version in the apt repository is several versions back.  Can either install a tarball or use flatpak.  I had success with the former for a while, but then it stopped opening, flatpak has become my solution.

[Gil Bang 25551]

10 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

A few years back, my MBP had to go into the shop for a keyboard/top case replacement.  They said it might take two days and it was over a weekend.  I realized that my old laptops were probably pretty non-functional and therefore I had no real backup.

So, that provoked me to go buy about the cheapest Chromebook I could find, an all-plastic 15-incher that I wound up loving despite its limitations.  It gave up the ghost after a couple of years, which didn't bother me much because of its low cost.  So, I hunted around for a replacement and found a really good deal on a Chromebook Plus for about 200 bucks at the Acer Refurb store.  The main item of interest there was 8GB memory, but it has a Ryzen 5 and 128GB storage, both of which are probably overkill.  It also happens to be convertible with a touchscreen, neither of which I use very much.  Occasionally, "tenting it" is handy to show people something in a low-key presentation sort of way.  The 128 allows me to be lazy about moving stuff to Dropbox for more permanent storage, but I try to be rigorous about it and it forces me to be somewhat disciplined about maintaining my files.  I don't sync up my phone.

I found Android apps to be pretty useless on a Chromebook, so install everything as a "webapp."  I use dropbox for cloud storage/backup/sync on my MBP and also with the Chromebook.  Not as convenient as Google Drive, but fuck Google anyway.  I started to use my unlimited Google Drive from utexas.edu instead of Dropbox, but Google yoinked that, so fuck Google again.  I don't like the file organization on Google drive anyway.

I have installed Linux and use flatpak to keep Libre Office installed and am about 90% functional on this thing.  Obviously, I don't do media editing/production.

I really like these things.

South Austin's mom has some of those laying around.

[David Dennison 17754]

1 hour ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

If only there was a Nerds board for you dorks to discuss this. 

[F250 28471]

14 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

I have installed Linux and use flatpak to keep Libre Office installed and am about 90% functional on this thing.