Chromebook or tablet?

[skelms]

I am curious about purchasing a 2 in 1 style chromebook, budget of around $500 and thinking of getting an asus flip, because I want something small and portable similar to a 9-10 inch tablet.
With android apps it makes it a lot more friendly to gaming, but little SDcard support for android on chrome. it's hard to find smaller screen chromebooks with more than 32 gigs of storage.
But I could install linux on the sdcard and do a bit of dualbooting, but unsure how finicky steam on a chromebook would be.
I use linux on my desktop and do some steam gaming and have a bunch of steam games, and curious about trying out some linux distros but not sure how much time I will want to put towards that.
This year android tablets around 8-10 inches options are limitied, only samsung or amazon HD kindle spark my interest.

 

[pkcable]

Sounds like you already made up your mind.

 

[Inkdnaija]

I am curious about purchasing a 2 in 1 style chromebook, budget of around $500 and thinking of getting an asus flip, because I want something small and portable similar to a 9-10 inch tablet.
With android apps it makes it a lot more friendly to gaming, but little SDcard support for android on chrome. it's hard to find smaller screen chromebooks with more than 32 gigs of storage.
But I could install linux on the sdcard and do a bit of dualbooting, but unsure how finicky steam on a chromebook would be.
I use linux on my desktop and do some steam gaming and have a bunch of steam games, and curious about trying out some linux distros but not sure how much time I will want to put towards that.
This year android tablets around 8-10 inches options are limitied, only samsung or amazon HD kindle spark my interest.

Which one did you buy

 

[li2327]

I originally got the Lenovo 2-N-1 11" chromebook but just got this of it for the Samsung Chromebook Plus W/Pen because of the slimmer design and better screen. I absolutely love it so far. I went through a few laptops trying to find the right one. the Samsung was the perfect choice to go with my Note 9. I will be using both devices daily.

 

[AleC Games]

Both can run a version of Microsoft Office (although it will depend on what Chromebook you have), and both can also run the Google suite of office apps. Both also have excellent battery life. It is your choice.

 

[Morty2264]

I was considering a Chromebook for a time but the fact that there isn't a USB port makes me wary.

 

[B. Diddy]

I was considering a Chromebook for a time but the fact that there isn't a USB port makes me wary.

Which Chromebook? Most if not all Chromebooks have USB ports, but not necessarily USB-A ports (e.g., the Pixelbook only has 2 USB-C ports). Or are you talking about broader USB support for things like optical drives?

 

[L0n3N1nja]

I was considering a Chromebook for a time but the fact that there isn't a USB port makes me wary.

I've yet to see a chromebook without USB so I'm a bit confused by this statement. Some only have USB C but the same is true for Microsoft and Windows. I think even Apple did the same.

 

[Morty2264]

Sorry guys, I'm not very well versed in the realm of computers! I was looking at one and a friend told me that they do not have the USB support for things like, say, printers or external hardware. Perhaps it was a specific Chromebook that I was looking at, or something along those lines.

 

[B. Diddy]

You're right, Chromebooks don't have as wide a range of USB device support compared to PCs. They're primarily for flash drives and input devices. Printer support will probably never come -- Chromebooks rely on Cloud Print.

 

[Morty2264]

You're right, Chromebooks don't have as wide a range of USB device support compared to PCs. They're primarily for flash drives and input devices. Printer support will probably never come -- Chromebooks rely on Cloud Print.

Thank you for clearing that up for me! I'll do a little more research on them, as they still intrigue me as something I'd make good use of.

 

[li2327]

I have an HP wireless printer. it connects right away through Wifi as soon as I turned the printer on. no configuration needed. That seemed to be the best option for me.

 

[itic]

I have a acer chromebook 14. so far ive used the usb and hdmi ports to support ethernet, printers, and projectors. Also its really nice to be able to use android apps on the chrome OS. The only thing im not to happy about is it supporting wifi and bt tethering but not USB tethering b/c wifi and bt tethering deplete the battery faster. YMMV

 

[B. Diddy]

I have a acer chromebook 14. so far ive used the usb and hdmi ports to support ethernet, printers, and projectors. Also its really nice to be able to use android apps on the chrome OS. The only thing im not to happy about is it supporting wifi and bt tethering but not USB tethering b/c wifi and bt tethering deplete the battery faster. YMMV

Wow, I wasn't aware that USB printing was possible! But this article says it's only with certain brands, and you have to install a Chrome extension: https://www.chromebookhq.com/how-to-print-from-chromebook-via-usb/. Which printer do you have?

Hey @Morty2264, I was wrong about USB printing!:'(

 

[itic]

I stand corrected. Dont remember the brand/model of my fathers printer but used google cloud print over wifi not usb.

 

[B. Diddy]

I stand corrected. Dont remember the brand/model of my fathers printer but used google cloud print over wifi not usb.

LOL, you still prompted me to look into this and learn something new to me!

 

[Morty2264]

I have a acer chromebook 14. so far ive used the usb and hdmi ports to support ethernet, printers, and projectors. Also its really nice to be able to use android apps on the chrome OS. The only thing im not to happy about is it supporting wifi and bt tethering but not USB tethering b/c wifi and bt tethering deplete the battery faster. YMMV

Oh wow! That's so cool!

 

[Morty2264]

Wow, I wasn't aware that USB printing was possible! But this article says it's only with certain brands, and you have to install a Chrome extension: https://www.chromebookhq.com/how-to-print-from-chromebook-via-usb/. Which printer do you have?

Hey @Morty2264, I was wrong about USB printing!:'(

Don't worry about it! I'm just glad I may be able to buy one after all! It depends on prices and all that fun stuff, though.

 

[itic]

According to this https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/7225252?hl=en

Note: If your printer doesn’t connect to Wi-Fi or a wired network, you can also use a USB cable to directly connect your printer to your Chromebook.

 

[B. Diddy]

I wonder when this happened? Back when I first started getting into Chromebooks, I remember that this was one of the deficiencies.