How many Chrome devices do I own?
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| seatex May 01, 2015 9:16 PM EDT |
I currently own zero Chrome devices, and have no desire to get one. |
| penguinist May 02, 2015 3:12 PM EDT |
My score is: Chrome devices: 2 Chrome OS: 0 Good cost effective hardware, but I prefer a full OS. I'm not cloudy about this. <ahem> |
| Ridcully May 03, 2015 4:52 AM EDT |
I have no Chrome devices and am not interested. They will NOT run the software I require purely because I still MUST have access to a form of Win Office, Photoshop, a mapping program called DMAP and an accounting package. All of these are essential and currently run very nicely in Wine. Personally, I think Chrome's fine if what you want is browsing, email and document creation.....plus a few other items supplied via Google. And that locks me out completely. But for those it fits, a Chrome PC of some sort is excellent - or that's my understanding anyhow. |
| Jeff91 May 04, 2015 7:06 AM EDT |
Ridcully you seem have this false thinking that Chrome OS is directly tied to the hardware. Chrome OS isn't tied to the hardware any more than Windows is. Just like people buy Windows laptops and install Linux on them you can buy a Chrome device and put a full OS on it. |
| CFWhitman May 04, 2015 9:18 AM EDT |
I have a Chrombook, but it does not have ChromeOS on it. I can basically do everything ChromeOS does in Chrome if I want, so I saw little value in keeping it on the system. Some might find it convenient, though. |
| JaseP May 04, 2015 9:56 AM EDT |
Chrome is good for the Grandma types... Put 'em on a device where you don't have a lot of hardware to worry about and where you can easily switch them to another (transferring all their stuff over the "cloud") as soon as that device reaches end-of-life... My girlfriend and I are seriously considering this for her mother. She recently got her an Android tablet, and her mother loves it (took a while). Her mother is the type that would otherwise be calling about trying to do this-or-that (Windows viruses, mostly). The tablet simplifies this, and so would a Chrome book. For myself,... I agree that Chrome OS is too limiting. I experimented with Chromium on a couple of netbooks that I have (including a touch screen one, where it was nice). However, I found Chrome(ium) too limiting to actually be useful. I can see Chrome being useful for a home communications station (video voicemail/VOIP, web-mail, etc.), or a home automation controller device,... But other than that?!?! Even casual browsing is better on a tablet or a laptop... |
| Ridcully May 04, 2015 5:29 PM EDT |
Jeff91....to be honest, I didn't look at it that way. My only experiences are from Chrome installed on laptops. I'm happy to be corrected though. If Chrome will run Wine, Photoshop, Thunderbird, Devede and a host of other Linux stuff, I'm a little more interested.....but not much. All the material I've seen so far seems to indicate exactly what JaseP puts on his post above: video, voicemail/VOIP, webmail, etc.....browsing......and that to me seems very limiting, but superb for some applications: business, education to name just two. |
| penguinist May 04, 2015 8:52 PM EDT |
I can see that we have an alphabet soup of Chrome.* terms. Ridcully and Jeff91 are both stating valid opinions but the words are getting in the way I think. Let me see if I can help: Chromebook: this is the hardware, it usually comes pre-loaded with Chrome OS but many of us wipe that out and load our favorite Linux distribution on that hardware. ChromeOS: This is the operating system that Google offers. It is very "cloud based" and does not support many of the native applications that we like to run. ChromiumOS; An open source version of ChromeOS. Chrome: A web browser. Chromium: An open source version of Chrome. Wow, I didn't realize just how confusing this terminology was until I started to make the list. Ridcully: Jeff91 is recommending Chromebook hardware, you and he both dislike ChromeOS. |
| the_doctor May 04, 2015 9:29 PM EDT |
How to Run Windows Software on a Chromebook |
| Ridcully May 05, 2015 3:43 AM EDT |
My thanks penguinist.....That's a darn useful "encyclopaedia" of the Chrome area. One thing I do know from SJVN's writings on ZDnet is that the Chromebooks laptops themselves appear to be utterly lovely as regards resolution and quality of video output. One is "ALMOST" tempted......but not yet. For "the_doctor", that's a novel way for me to solve a problem that at present can be totally solved so easily with Wine and a standard HP laptop. But very interesting in how you've done it.........Thankyou for your input, but that's not a solution I'd be keen to implement. I prefer to keep only one computer running at a time for power saving reasons. |
| penguinist May 05, 2015 10:07 AM EDT |
Since we are on the topic of Chromebook hardware, I just noticed that there is now a Chromebook out that supports 4K 2160P resolution on its hdmi 2.0 port at full 60Hz frame rate. I've mentioned before that I'm now using a repurposed Chromebook with Fedora loaded on it to act as a media center for my 1080P television. It's getting close to the right time to upgrade our entertainment system to the higher 4K resolution, but the lack of an economical Linux-capable media computer has been holding me back. With a price tag of $220, this new "Acer Chromebook 13" fits the budget. I'll be watching for reports on installing and running Linux distros on this hardware. With this roadblock now cleared I predict that we'll be enjoying 4K in our living room before the end of 2015. |
| CFWhitman May 05, 2015 11:24 AM EDT |
If for any reason you do decide to venture into the world of running Linux on a Chromebook (Chromebox, etc.), make sure you know what kind of hardware you are getting. You can run Linux on an ARM Chromebook, but, though adding Linux to Chrome OS is still fairly straightforward, wiping out Chrome OS and installing Linux instead is not easy on that kind of hardware. Also, running software that is specific to x86 (like conventional Wine) is not possible without using an emulator (which greatly reduces performance). If you get an x86 (generally x86_64) Chromebook, then you have to note whether or not SeaBIOS is available for booting to Linux. If it is not, then again, adding Linux to Chrome OS will be fairly straightforward, but eliminating Chrome OS to install Linux by itself will be an adventure if it is possible at all. If a complete SeaBIOS is available, then wiping out Chrome OS and installing Linux will not be too difficult. |
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