[Android Central Question]

Looking for advice and opinion, need a small light solution for travel. Falling out with Windows as notebook OS, too much maintenance with updates, virus issues, too slow to boot, too bloated. Have never used a Mac. Started looking at £300 Chromebooks but might push budget and get Pixelbook.

Intended usage
Its a mobile solution, web browsing, email, Google Docs, Google Drive, transferring photos from DSLR to external HD. Ability to view and do simple edits to digital photos.

Constraints
Small & light max 13" screen. Fast boot times <15sec. Good battery life. at least 2 USB ports, decent screen for image viewing. Must be able to transfer images from CF cards to an external self powered 2.5" USB hard disk or SSD.

My questions

Will I be able to connect a WiFi / B'tooth mouse to a Pixelbook?
Will a Wacom Intuos work?
If I install Lightroom (the chrome/Android version) will I be able to work with Canon RAW or Adobe DNG files? For info I have an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription.

All opinion/comment/suggestion welcome.

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! You can definitely connect a wireless or Bluetooth mouse to any Chromebook. I currently use a Logitech wireless mouse, which is simply plug & play.

The Wacom Intuos seems to work on Chrome:



Sorry, but I don't know the answer to your Lightroom question.

It shouldn't be a problem to connect a CF reader via USB-C, like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Belker-Adapte...cUvbUpU6052919

[L0n3N1nja]

Lightroom mobile handles the RAW files created by my S7, never tried with my Nikon but I imagine it will.

On a side note not sure what windows laptops you've used but my Surface Pro starts faster than some Android devices I've used, and haven't had a virus on windows in nearly 10 years. But to each their own, I'm interested in a Chromebook as well, but not because I'm trying to ditch windows.

[David404]

Lightroom mobile handles the RAW files created by my S7, never tried with my Nikon but I imagine it will.

On a side note not sure what windows laptops you've used but my Surface Pro starts faster than some Android devices I've used, and haven't had a virus on windows in nearly 10 years. But to each their own, I'm interested in a Chromebook as well, but not because I'm trying to ditch windows.

Thanks for the feedback on Lightroom mobile. One more question if I may. Does Lightroom mobile work when the Chromebook is off line?

In fairness the Windows notebooks I've used in the past have all been very old, this will be the first time I've spent real money on a notebook as now i have a real need for a better mobile notebook device.

Boot times - I have an almost new Lenovo Yoga at work but the boot time for what I want a device for is way to slow. I'm looking for almost instant on performance from a power off state.

I'll be traveling a lot more and often wont have reliable internet connection, I dont want the update downloads and AV definitions updates that Win demands but my device needs to be secure.

Image editing I have covered at home and already have Adobe CC on the allowed 2 machines. On the road i dont need full feature desktop Apps and dont have budget for additional licences.

And find i'm just falling out of love with Windows, Microsoft have sold me two duds the original Surface RT and a Windows phone. Now i have an Android phone find myself drifting Google's way for a mobile solution. I'm currently looking at smart home devices, originally was planning on Amazon Alexa but now drifting to the Google Home product. If i get a Pixelbook can see I'd finish up with a Pixel Phone in the next 6-12 months as a replacement for the horrid Huawei device but thats another story.

[B. Diddy]

In my experience with Windows 10, the quick bootup is a bit of an illusion. Windows 10 does boot up to the desktop pretty quickly now, but the background processes that have to be initiated still take additional time. So even on my wife's Surface Pro 3 with the i5 CPU, trying to start a program as soon as the desktop appears is not immediate.

And the updates. Ohhhh the updates. The Fall Creators Update took something like 30 minutes on the SP3, from initiation of the download to when I could finally do something after the restart. (And my older laptops took several hours.)