matrips Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 I had never really heard of them until today at best buy. I'm shopping for my mom. It seems perfect, since she mainly just uses the Internet anyway. I'd get her a large external monitor, keyboard and mouse for regular usage at a desk. They showed me the box one, but thinking the laptop style might be handy if she ever travels or is sick or something? Do hospitals or nursing homes even have wifi or let patients bring a tablet/laptop? Anyway, can you tell me what you love, don't love about it? The basic box one was $159. I see the Toshiba 2 for $329. Not a huge difference price wise if the extra functionality would be handy. She had been expecting to pay for an all in one pc, so any chrome book setup is less than that. Do you have the 2g or 4g. Use it alone or with external items? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slache Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 I've probably only posted to the hive from it. It's my chores are done downtime thing. It's small, cheap, and efficient, but you get what you pay for. It's two years old and on its way out. It does not replace a computer. It is incompatible with most programs including Word and iTunes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joyofsixreboot Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 The PS my ds attends uses them vs iPads. He can access the Internet and use google docs. I know he can play games, LOL. It's not a computer but if she wants to check email, facebook, etc it's nice, cheap and simple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFwife Claire Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 We have 2, and like everyone else has said, they are great for surfing the web. They're small, and they start up quickly, since you can't download any programs onto them. I like them a lot better than the ipad because you are actually using the websites, not the apps, for like facebook and here. We bought one for my parents for Christmas. My oldest son uses google docs for a lot of his stuff, and he can work on all his papers from the chromebooks because of it. But we have to have actual laptops as well, because they can't do Potter School classes on one, for example, since you can't download the Studyplace program. You can use it with a portable hard drive, to look at pictures or other documents, or whatever. I never do, because I just use a regular computer. I think most hospitals probably have wi-fi at this point. The military hospital at Bethesda does not on the maternity ward, though! I think they are saving all the bandwidth for the wounded warriors, and it's hard to begrudge them that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matrips Posted January 2, 2015 Author Share Posted January 2, 2015 Do you have the 2 or 4 g ram? Do you stream Netflix? Does it work well? I have no idea how to stream but it seems like it would be easy to learn on that thing. That and Internet would thrill my mom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFwife Claire Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Do you have the 2 or 4 g ram? Do you stream Netflix? Does it work well? I have no idea how to stream but it seems like it would be easy to learn on that thing. That and Internet would thrill my mom. Ds says ours have 4 g ram, he thinks, and he streams Netflix on it all the time. He says, "You just press 'play'. You don't have to know anything to do it--they make it easy." So there you have it, LOL. I've never streamed anything because I just don't have time, so no personal experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sk8ermaiden Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 We have been in a lot of hospitals lately and they all have wi-fi. I'll wager a bet the nursing homes do to. DH was in an inpatient rehab center last year and they did - and they're in the same vein as a nursing home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ocelotmom Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 We essentially only have Chromebooks at our house, and are pretty happy with them (obviously, as we upgraded to a second set of them and gave the old ones to the kids). I have 2GB RAM. I do tend to get windows crashing from lack of memory because I have too many things open, but it's really barely even an annoyance - just close a few things and reload. But I'd probably go for 4GB given the choice. The battery life is excellent. We don't have Netflix, but I stream Amazon Prime content all the time without problems. I use Google Docs for school, and you can set up Google Docs to work offline, so you don't absolutely have to have an internet connection for that. Printing can be an issue - you need a Google Cloud-enabled printer or print server. (There are workarounds to this and a lot of additional functionality you can enable, but it is pretty technical.) My only complaint really is that I spilled salad dressing on it and it hasn't been the same since, but that's my fault. It gets knocked around a lot and tolerates it very well. The nursing home I work at has wireless, and a lot of the more functional residents have some sort of computing device. But availability is going to vary from place to place. I think the other facility I work at (hospital/nursing home) has wireless too, but I'm not 100% sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hen Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 we have 4 plus 1 the charter school is lending us. We are pretty happy with them. Our kids each have one, we are very happy with the price, and they can do almost everything they need to on them. For reports, they use google docs, google also has a power-point program that is very easy to use. When they need to print, they sign on to our desktop and print from their google account. The only drawback is you can't load programs onto it, say like a math computer program. It seems like more and more companies are offering online streaming, though, so that might become less of a problem in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 We got one for DD last year and it's great. We do have a cloud printer and it likes DD's laptop better than my windows machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 We got my DD one for her first year of college. So, she has had it for just a half year, and it serves her needs fine. She can surf the internet, check her email, and write college papers on it via Google Docs. She does have an iPad Mini too, so between the two of them she can do everything she needs to do. She does say she can watch Netflix on her Chrome. I believe all hospitals and rehab facilities have wifi now, so it shouldn't be a problem in your mother's case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peach Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 I have a Toshiba chromebook and love it. I passed my laptop on to my middle child. I do have a desktop but I wanted the Chromebook for carrying on campus. It's light, I can access Google docs and all their other office type apps, and anything I need to do on the web. It weighs almost nothing so isn't a hassle to carry in my backpack either. These days, so much that we do has shifted to online/done in a browser window vs. having to download that there is very little I can't do on it. You can even install apps from the Chrome store for oodles of things and IM+ has an online chat service that connects to Google chat, AIM, etc, for online conversations without downloading a messenger program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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