questionsanyone have experience using a google chromebook?


Of course it's at a fraction of the cost of an Apple. It does a fraction of what the Apple does.

Let the downvoting begin. I say this because anytime I've mentioned Apple in any previous comment, I always get negative votes for some reason.

The Apple will let you run things like Microsoft Office. You cannot run that application on the Chrome OS but may be able to download some other spreadsheet application that's similar. Have you ever tried to use a website that required Internet Explorer? There are many but one that I know immediately is those that are for Camera DVR's. They use special plugins that are only compatible with IE. You'll never be able to access those websites on that computer. These are just a couple examples and there are many others.

Regarding the hardware, I'm not sure if you could use external DVD drives or HD's on that laptop. Do some research.

You cannot expect to compare a $250 laptop with a $1000 macbook and expect them to be equal.


The idea is it is a cloud machine. You would not store things on it but any one you log on to is yours.
Example if you would come over and log on using your google credentials you would get your email, docs, plus, bookmarks, google drive. It would not be my machine at all.

"The Apple will let you run things like Microsoft Office." You have google Docs.
Have you ever tried to use a website that required Internet Explorer? Chrome has an IE extension.
I'm not sure if you could use external DVD drives or HD's on that laptop. The idea is you would not need such things everything you need is on the web.

I did not get too excited but I will check it out.
My limited experience was I used a on a dell, just to see if I could get the wifi to work. (at the time it did not, so I did not do much testing).


I have 2 CR-48's (The original Chromebook) 1 for me and 1 for the wife. I love it. I use it mainly for web browsing and email. It can go for days without a charge. Just log in to your google account and all of your settings, saved sites, apps and Gmail are there in seconds. Google Docs is a pretty good alternative to MS Office and you can now read and edit while offline.


@caffeine_dude: I new someone would downvote my comment. Was that you?

Anyway, I mentioned that you can use similar applications like Microsoft Office but not office itself.

Chrome may have an IE mode but I assure you that you cannot use IE extensions within Chrome. You might be able to fake out a website into thinking you have IE installed but for those particular extensions that are made specifically for IE will not work in Chrome.

I suppose you never bought a music CD and wanted to rip your own MP3? As you stated, everything is on the cloud so who do you send that CD to so you can access it from the cloud and then rip your MP3s? Additionally, I like the ability to rip my DVDs of the Big Bang Theory and put them on my MicroSD card so I can watch them at the Gym without using bandwidth from my wireless carrier which would become very expensive.

I doubt I could put all my RAW Canon 1D Mark II photographs on "the cloud" it because that's terabytes of data.


^^^ oops typo. That's "knew" not "new"


@dps47: Chromebooks serve a purpose, but if you're expecting it to do the same as full laptop you might be disappointed. I'm not saying to waste your money on some Apple, but you can find a decent laptop for $80 more that will solve all of @cengland0's problems for $670 less than advertised.

My 7 year old HP which cost under $600 (upgraded to SSD last year)

-- Boots in 20 seconds
-- Hasn't slowed down yet
-- Never had a virus
-- Updating software isn't a problem

So the advantages for the Chromebook:
-- ultralight
-- battery life
-- cloud based
-- inexpensive

I've tested one out, and wasn't a fan from the hour I messed around with it. Just think of it as a non touch-screen Android tablet with a keyboard, that is essentially what it is.


@cengland0: I'm with you on this. I was an Apple hater for a while because I thought I could always accomplish everything with a PC at a fraction of the cost. To a certain extent I was able to, but, after owning a MacBook, I find that I enjoy not having to deal with maintaining everything, like I did on my PC.

Based on what I read about this, I feel like you will get what you pay for. Hence, the people who know what to expect will be satisfied with their limited capabilities with this peewee, whereas, those who are sucked into the google fanfare and "solve-all-your-problems" propaganda, will be sadly disappointed with a number of things about it.


@cengland0: Maybe you were downvoted by the OP because the OP specifically said:
"Everyone's got an opinion, but I want to hear from those have actually used one. What did you like? What did you dislike? Would you buy one again?"
I didn't get the sense from your post that you've ever actually used a chromebook.

j5 j5

@j5: We've both used one in our hearts. And we should all listen to our hearts.


@j5: You're probably right. The OP did say everyone has an opinion and I am technically savvy so I thought he/she would appreciate my comments even though I've never used one.

Just like the Microsoft surface, I have no desire to use this Google chromebook because I already know ahead of time that it's not the product for me.

I'm not anti-Google, just the opposite. I have Google's Nexus phone and the Asus Transformer Infinity with detachable keyboard using Google's Android operating system. They do not do everything I need in life so I also have an iPhone, 2 Macbook Pros, a Mac Pro, a Mac Mini, and an iMac.

Before any of you say it, I'll save you the time. No, I don't have any what you would call "PC's". Apple computers are PC's too you know. PC stands for Personal Computer and I do run XP and Windows 7 on my Apple products. I don't need a Dell, HP, Compaq, or whatever other brand there is, if I have an Apple with an Intel processor.


I do not consider the Chromebook as a replacement for a full-fledged computer unless you are talking about a tablet. It would make a decent replacement for one if that is your intent.


I got one of the free beta units. I like it (especially at the price of zero) but I honestly only prefer it over my tablet when I need to bang on the keyboard a lot.


I would agree the line between this and a table is probably pretty thin as that goes. It has most of the aspects of what people are searching for in a tablet + a keyboard.. So compare it with a tablet thats probably a better comparison.


@cengland0: I save my downvotes for abusive people, spammers, or people who are absolutely wrong. I did not downvote you even though I did not agree with you.
Example if you would have said "the chromebook runs xp in the background" or something positively wrong I would have downvoted you and corrected you.

You gave your opinion, I wanted to expand on it, while you are right, it will not use Microsoft Office Google Docs is the alternative. I am dying to downvote 'was it you that downvoted me' comment, but you added more valid points, which I am going to talk about.
I wish all my photos were in the cloud I am not very good about backing my stuff up. They live on backed up servers and I would never need to worry about a hard drive crash taking all of my pictures. With google Music you can store your music on the cloud, but you will need to get them there first.


Ran out of room:

To the OP do you have a 4gb + drive that you can experiment with? You can try chrome book and follow the instructions. I can assist you if you wish. You can test the OS feel.


This is to 'Fix your USB drive when your are done'

1) Type "DISKPART" from the Command Prompt (accessible by clicking on Start and then typing "cmd" into the open field); you will then see the following prompt: DISKPART>
2) Type "LIST DISK" to see what number your USB drive is listed as.
3) Type "SELECT DISK 2" (if your USB is disk 2; replace # with your disk #); Diskpart will confirm that "Disk 2 is now the select disk."
4) Type "SELECT PARTITION 1" (this command selects what should be the only partition on your USB drive, the small one that you want to delete to get back the larger, full partition size). Diskpart will confirm with "Partition 1 is now the selected partition."
5) Type "clean". This will delete all partitions. There are no warning prompts if you have existing data - make sure you have copied everything off before doing this!


6) Type "CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY" to create a new, full-size partition. Diskpart will confirm with message of "Diskpart succeeded in creating the specified partition." You can type in "LIST PARTITION" to confirm the new, full-size.
7) Type "EXIT" to leave Diskpart. You can now format your USB drive by using the standard Windows formatting process.


My Dell D620 is using hexxeh's chrome book right now with the Motorola bluetooth mouse I got off of woot. Instead of the usb drive I am using a 6gb hd I pulled from an old laptop running win98. I used adapter that is treated like a usb drive.
The wireless still is not fixed. but Ethernet is working. Obviously the netbook's wifi would work. It remember woot's user name and password (password sync in google)

I was under the impression that my extensions would be on this chrome book, but this is not true.


Sorry I have one last thing to say:
This is not true when I logged on this morning my extensions I installed on my PC were on the chrome book.


@cengland0: I have a chromebook and from your comments it's obvious to me that 1, you don't have one and 2, you are an apple fanboi.

The chromebook will support adding an external drive. I have a USB external DVD burner and it rips audio cd's just fine. I have 16 gig of internal storage plus an sdcard slot on the side plus a second usb port to hook up an external hard drive. You do not rip to the cloud unless you want to. I rip to internal/ external storage.

The IE tab does more than report IE as the default browser. It actually emulates IE. I run an app called UA spoofer which spoofs (falsely reports) whatever browser I choose. My bank requires IE and if I use the spoofer to self report IE, the webpage still will not load. However if I use an IE tab (which emmulates active X) the bank loads just fine.

Will the chromebook do everything? No. It was designed to be optimized for what the majority of people do with a computer; get on the internet. For that, it excels.