Chromebooks are awful. And here are some examples why.

[A895]

The link to Amazon lists it at $247.

Admittedly I should have looked at Best Buy first.

Its says $199 on my phone. Best buy has the right price though.

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[Kevin OQuinn]

Why? I can't remember the last time I needed more than 4 hours away from an outlet.

You must not be any sort of business person then. Going from meeting to meeting, or being at conferences and needing the battery life.

I can't remember the last time only four hours of battery life was ok for me.


^^^^^do you see how that sounds? You are not everyone. Each person has a unique use case. Just because something doesn't work well for you does not mean it won't work well for someone else. If my required corporate apps worked on ChromeOS guess what I'd be using for work?

 

[A895]

Why? I can't remember the last time I needed more than 4 hours away from an outlet.

That being said...we are talking about cheap laptops here. You can get way more than 3-4 hours if you want...you will just be buying a more expensive laptop.


You apparently are in the minority...at least from what I have seen so far. I have yet to see a Chromebook in the wild. I only see them in articles online.


I don't think they are even for most people.

1.) If you are a student 4 hour battery life is beyond unacceptable for a laptop.

2.)You wouldn't have to compromise on battery life if you had a Chromebook

3.)I go to a college in the Atlanta area and I have seen quite a few students with a Samsung Chromebook.

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[JeffDenver]

1.) If you are a student 4 hour battery life is beyond unacceptable for a laptop.

Not being able to run common programs like Outlook or Photoshop would be more unacceptable to me. It would feel like half a laptop.

 

[A895]

Not being able to run common programs like Outlook or Photoshop would be more unacceptable to me. It would feel like half a laptop.

Outlook you can get through the web. You can do some photo editing but not on Photoshop levels on a chromebook. If you absolutely need those programs anyways you wouldn't be looking at a chromebook.

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[JeffDenver]

Outlook you can get through the web. You can do some photo editing but not on Photoshop levels on a chromebook. If you absolutely need those programs anyways you wouldn't be looking at a chromebook.

Exactly. So far that list includes everyone I know.

Chromebooks are really glorified netbooks from what I can see. People who are in the market for low end devices are more likely to get a Win8 laptop because it will run actual PC stuff. People in the market for mid or high end devices will just get good laptops or ultrabooks. I just don't see a lot of demand for a Chromebook product.

 

[Ry]

Not being able to run common programs like Outlook or Photoshop would be more unacceptable to me. It would feel like half a laptop.

Exactly. So far that list includes everyone I know.

Chromebooks are really glorified netbooks from what I can see. People who are in the market for low end devices are more likely to get a Win8 laptop because it will run actual PC stuff. People in the market for mid or high end devices will just get good laptops or ultrabooks. I just don't see a lot of demand for a Chromebook product.

...

 

[ultravisitor]

You are not everyone. Each person has a unique use case. Just because something doesn't work well for you does not mean it won't work well for someone else.

This needs to be repeated. On every page. After every JeffDenver post. (Kidding. Mostly.)

If my required corporate apps worked on ChromeOS guess what I'd be using for work?

Same.

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

Exactly. So far that list includes everyone I know.

Chromebooks are really glorified netbooks from what I can see. People who are in the market for low end devices are more likely to get a Win8 laptop because it will run actual PC stuff. People in the market for mid or high end devices will just get good laptops or ultrabooks. I just don't see a lot of demand for a Chromebook product.

Man, I'm glad you're not a market analyst.

They run far better than any netbook I ever used. Heck, they run better than most any cheap win laptop I've used. Tell me again, what $200 laptop can I get from Best Buy that will run as well as a Chromebook? (yeah, i'm sure this has been covered, but humor me, because you keep going back to the same points over and over again too)


I have access to the Asus T100. It's not a bad device honestly. It runs reasonably well. But it sits in a drawer unused. Why? It doesn't run Chrome any better than a Chromebook, and it can't run those "full blown windows apps" that you bring up all the time such as Photoshop very well at all (load times are atrocious, and so are the rendering times). iTunes doesn't even run well on it. And forget any sort of multi-tasking with two or more of those "classic" Windows apps open at the same time, even if one is just sitting idle. This includes Office.

 

[A895]

Exactly. So far that list includes everyone I know.

Chromebooks are really glorified netbooks from what I can see. People who are in the market for low end devices are more likely to get a Win8 laptop because it will run actual PC stuff. People in the market for mid or high end devices will just get good laptops or ultrabooks. I just don't see a lot of demand for a Chromebook product.

You know how iPads sell so well? I want you to imagine taking away the touchscreen adding a keyboard, adding more integration with Google stuff, flash in the browser, and less games and take about $300 or so off the price and you have a chromebook. I bet majority of people who spend hundreds on a tablet would be better served by a chromebook. What do people mainly do when they are on a computer or tablet? My best bet would be web browsing and thing like email. Now imagine doing that on a laptop that cost less than $300 and in the case of C720, $199. Does that not sounds awesome?

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[JeffDenver]

Tell me again, what $200 laptop can I get from Best Buy that will run as well as a Chromebook? (yeah, i'm sure this has been covered, but humor me, because you keep going back to the same points over and over again too)

Post #174.
http://forums.androidcentral.com/ge...ful-here-some-examples-why-7.html#post3467742

I have access to the Asus T100. It's not a bad device honestly. It runs reasonably well. But it sits in a drawer unused. Why? It doesn't run Chrome any better than a Chromebook, and it can't run those "full blown windows apps" that you bring up all the time such as Photoshop very well at all (load times are atrocious, and so are the rendering times).

I just got a Dell for my Dad...it loads Photoshop slower than my desktop, but it is very usable. Far better than I was expecting.

iTunes doesn't even run well on it.

iTunes doesn't run well on anything. Which is why I never use it except to buy music.

 

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

As an aside (and a LOL) loading and activating the bundled MS Office suite that came with the ASUS we bought has made this Windows laptop unusable. The disk never stops caching, and CPU usage is over 100%, 100% of the time.

So I did get scroggled after all.

I should have ignored Microsoft, and spent $600 more to get a "real" laptop.

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

Post #174.
http://forums.androidcentral.com/ge...ful-here-some-examples-why-7.html#post3467742


I just got a Dell for my Dad...it loads Photoshop slower than my desktop, but it is very usable. Far better than I was expecting.


iTunes doesn't run well on anything. Which is why I never use it except to buy music.

Refurbished is disqualified. The other one won't run well enough. I'm on a core i7 laptop with 4gb ram and 500gb spinning disk. It's not a good experience. Take away the processing power and guess what happens? Yep. Crappy performance. Let me have one document open in Word, one in Excel (just a basic spreadsheet, no fancy pivot tables or anything), Outlook doing it's normal stuff, and Chrome with 4-5 tabs open. SSSSSLLLLLOOOOWWWWW (and Dead Jim on a few occasions too) And the size and weight of that Dell comparatively....is borderline not portable at all. Definitely not as portable as a Chromebook. There's no estimate on battery life, but that's not a Haswell Celeron so my hopes are low. How is that comparable?

There are more than a few "light" photo editing solutions for Chrome that are also "usable". They just don't have all of the features of Photoshop (but will do most of the high level stuff). "Does it run Photoshop" is not a question people ask when buying a laptop, I know because I used to sell them.

iTunes runs perfectly fine on a reasonable machine. "iTunes doesn't run well on anything" is a cop out answer for those that don't have a machine that can run it. I don't like iTunes as a program, but it's not because of performance.

 

[JeffDenver]

Refurbished is disqualified.

Um...you do know the $229 one is not refurbished, right?

EDIT: Found another one.

http://www.microcenter.com/product/428277/D550MA-DS01_156_Laptop_Computer_-_Black - $229

I'm on a core i7 laptop with 4gb ram and 500gb spinning disk. It's not a good experience.

The I don't see why you would like Chromebooks...they are definitely not better than that IMO.

Take away the processing power and guess what happens? Yep. Crappy performance. Let me have one document open in Word, one in Excel (just a basic spreadsheet, no fancy pivot tables or anything), Outlook doing it's normal stuff, and Chrome with 4-5 tabs open. SSSSSLLLLLOOOOWWWWW (and Dead Jim on a few occasions too) And the size and weight of that Dell comparatively....is borderline not portable at all. Definitely not as portable as a Chromebook. There's no estimate on battery life, but that's not a Haswell Celeron so my hopes are low. How is that comparable?

In my experience, multi-task performance relies more on RAM than CPu. Installing 6 gigs of RAM (from 2 gigs) on my dual core Win8 desktop was a night and day difference. It was dramatic. That was a $40 upgrade for me.

There are more than a few "light" photo editing solutions for Chrome that are also "usable".

I guess it depends on what you consider "usable". Nothing I have seen even approaches photoshop.

iTunes runs perfectly fine on a reasonable machine.

It runs like crap on my desktop. It has run bad for so long, and on so many different systems, that now I just kind of accept it and don't notice it anymore. iTunes for me is just a way to purchase music...I never use it for actually viewing or listening to anything.

But when you can get iTunes to run better on a Chromebook, let me know.

 

[JeffDenver]

As an aside (and a LOL) loading and activating the bundled MS Office suite that came with the ASUS we bought has made this Windows laptop unusable. The disk never stops caching, and CPU usage is over 100%, 100% of the time.

Time for a RAM upgrade.

4 gigs should be considered the bare minimum IMO.

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

Um...you do know the $229 one is not refurbished, right?


The I don't see why you would like Chromebooks...they are definitely not better than that IMO.


In my experience, multi-task performance relies more on RAM than CPu. Installing 6 gigs of RAM (from 2 gigs) on my dual core Win8 desktop was a night and day difference. It was dramatic. That was a $40 upgrade for me.


I guess it depends on what you consider "usable". Nothing I have seen even approaches photoshop.


It runs like crap on my desktop. It has run bad for so long, and on so many different systems, that now I just kind of accept it and don't notice it anymore. iTunes for me is just a way to purchase music...I never use it for actually viewing or listening to anything.

But when you can get iTunes to run better on a Chromebook, let me know.

Read the rest. I compared the non-refurbished Dell. I dismissed the refurb.

My point in listing my laptop specs was to tell you that no, specs aren't always the deciding factor. I completely understand what will affect multi-tasking, which leads me to my next point.

Cool, spend more money to upgrade the RAM to get acceptable performance that I can already get from a Chromebook? That's going to make the price difference even greater, and now you have to have the knowledge to take apart your machine to install RAM. How user friendly that solution is.


Sounds like you need faster desktop.

I can run Google Music on a Chromebook perfectly fine. And also be able to have other tabs open to do other stuff.

Keep trying. This is getting fun.

- - - Updated - - -

Time for a RAM upgrade.

4 gigs should be considered the bare minimum IMO.

4gb of RAM is not enough for a good Windows experience. It's just not. 6gb is a bare minimum to get a good Windows experience. "Good" and "acceptable" are not interchangeable.

 

[JeffDenver]

Read the rest. I compared the non-refurbished Dell. I dismissed the refurb.

My point in listing my laptop specs was to tell you that no, specs aren't always the deciding factor.

I agree...real world performance is. I've seen it, directly.

Cool, spend more money to upgrade the RAM to get acceptable performance that I can already get from a Chromebook?

LOL, no. The ones I linked to already have 4 gigs.

My desktop (not laptop) is what I upgraded. I used it as an example to illustrate how big a difference RAM can make. it is not always about the CPU.

Sounds like you need faster desktop.

Not anymore.

My desktop at home has 8 gigs RAM, and a six-core AMD processor, and a Radeon 7770 video card. iTunes still sucks on it.

Keep trying.

Trying what? To convince you that I do not see what I am seeing? I'm not sure what your point is.

4gb of RAM is not enough for a good Windows experience. It's just not.

Sorry, I disagree. My own experience tells me differently.

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

I agree...real world performance is. I've seen it, directly.


LOL, no. The ones I linked to already have 4 gigs.

My desktop (not laptop) is what I upgraded. I used it as an example to illustrate how big a difference RAM can make. it is not always about the CPU.


Not anymore.

My desktop at home has 8 gigs RAM, and a six-core AMD processor, and a Radeon 7770 video card. iTunes still sucks on it.



Trying what? To convince you that I do not see what I am seeing? I'm not sure what your point is.


Sorry, I disagree. My own experience tells me differently.

As does my own experience. 4gb is not enough for Windows to run well. Ok, let me rephrase. It will run well, but it won't run well AND run apps well at the same time. Like I said before, with 4gb RAM it can't handle Outlook, Word (one document), Excel (one document), and Chrome at the same time. It chokes, and switching apps takes what seems like an eternity.

I can't tell if you're purposely ignoring parts of what I'm saying or just aren't reading my entire post before replying. I already said that I'm well aware of what parts of a computer will affect what areas of performance. In other words, I'm well aware of what RAM does for a computer.

 

[JeffDenver]

As does my own experience.

You're allowed an opinion too.

It will run well, but it won't run well AND run apps well at the same time.

It has in my experience.

The lag I see usually involves virtual memory usage. More RAM eliminates that. I am not seeing CPU-based lag anywhere on these Win8 systems when they have enough memory. Office apps in general are not all that demanding.

Like I said before, with 4gb RAM it can't handle Outlook, Word (one document), Excel (one document), and Chrome at the same time. It chokes, and switching apps takes what seems like an eternity.

Not on the laptops I have used it doesn't.

The desktop system I am using right now has similar specs. I have Outlook, Word, Origination software, Chrome (with 5 tabes) and Photoshop open. I can swap between them at will with no disk activity and no lag. this desktop is windows 7...my experiences on Windows 8 are even better.

 

[ultravisitor]

Sorry, I disagree. My own experience tells me differently.

Ahem:

You are not everyone. Each person has a unique use case. Just because something doesn't work well for you does not mean it won't work well for someone else.