[Technology] Chromebooks

[HHGull]

My mum (75 yrs) is running a 15 year old laptop. I was called round there for urgent IT issues earlier this week and have diagnosed her laptop is old and useless.

I’m thinking of buying her a new one - she just needs something very easy going for Internet and email. I’ve never ventured into Chromebooks, but thinking this is probably the way to go for her.

Any recommendations? Sub £200 preferably.

Seen this on Currys for £159 - https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/compu...ebook-32-gb-emmc-grey-black-10205065-pdt.html

 

[1066familyman]

Linux.

Free. Very easy for your Mum to use, once you've installed it on her old laptop for her.

She'll be amazed that her old laptop is running like new again.

 

[Bry Nylon]

I bought x2 Chromebooks for my children (8 and 10) from PC World last September, back when there were shops and things.

I can't remember the model but they are HP ones and cost circa £220 each. They are perfect for browsing the internet and even though my 10 year old daughter was previously right on the money with MS Powerpoint, she'd taught herself how to use Google Slides within about a day

The best thing is that they just boot up immediately. My daughter's one hasn't missed a beat and gets heavy usage although my son's screen broke within about 2 months. However that may be because he dropped it onto a quarry stone floor. :

 

[LamieRobertson]

I bought x2 Chromebooks for my children (8 and 10) from PC World last September, back when there were shops and things.

I can't remember the model but they are HP ones and cost circa £220 each. They are perfect for browsing the internet and even though my 10 year old daughter was previously right on the money with MS Powerpoint, she'd taught herself how to use Google Slides within about a day

The best thing is that they just boot up immediately. My daughter's one hasn't missed a beat and gets heavy usage although my son's screen broke within about 2 months. However that may be because he dropped it onto a quarry stone floor. :

Does he take after Dad?

 

[Mr Banana]

I took a chance on one after reading Easy (with a typically eloquent turn of phrase) describe them as "slicker than an otter's pocket" on here.

It's the first laptop I can describe as a joy to use and compares favourably to £500 company ones I've used. I'm sure it'll promptly pack up now I've said that.

I absolutely batter it for work as well. Usually have about 30 tabs open including scrolling feeds, multiple videos, spreadsheets, editing software and all that.

It occasionally crashes (maybe once a day when I'm working) if I've got loads of tabs going and then open a news site that's horrible to load and full of ads, like the Indy or Mirror. But a desktop or Windows laptop would be just as likely to do that and at least when you reboot you know it'll take two minutes rather than cranking up and telling you to wait ten minutes while it updates

 

[OzMike]

I still run my desktop on XP without any problems. I have up graded the memory capacity which helps with the speed and clear the memory regularly, if it aint broke........

 

[Deleted member 22389]

Linux.

Free. Very easy for your Mum to use, once you've installed it on her old laptop for her.

She'll be amazed that her old laptop is running like new again.

I agree. My dad passed away years ago, but I'm still in contact with one his old friends and sort out his computer. I got so fed up with dealing with his Windows problems a few years back, I ended up installing Xubuntu on his machine.

The only problem I got called out too in that time was an outdated Browser, which required an OS update and was done in about 10 minutes. So simple to upgrade through the terminal.

Xubuntu runs as good as when I first installed it. He doesn't need any anti virus, spyware removers and all he has is a very basic firewall installed.

Linux is a good choice these days if your user isn't too demanding or isn't tied to a specific Windows programme that doesn't have a Linux version. However running programs through Wine has improved massively over the years.

 

[Rogero]

I bought a chromebook as it was cheap and touchscreen and it is great for browsing and E mails . However it is difficult for organising photos etc.

 

[CheeseRolls]

I bought a chromebook as it was cheap and touchscreen and it is great for browsing and E mails . However it is difficult for organising photos etc.

How so Rogero? Do you not want to use google photos?

 

[blue-shifted]

I've got one.

It turns on very quickly.

Fiddly if you want to do anything with word documents or anything.

Get one if all that's needed is browsing

 

[Rogero]

How so Rogero? Do you not want to use google photos?

I do use it but I also have thousands not in there but on my computer . It was a lot easier on windows.

 

[Deleted member 22389]

I do use it but I also have thousands not in there but on my computer . It was a lot easier on windows.

I think you can now install Linux packages on Chromebooks these days, there are plenty of applications on Linux that can manage your photos.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

I use Chromebooks both at home and work and help administer hundreds of the things. They are largely trouble free and although as one poster stated, can be weird with word documents, are usually fine and in any case, any docs can be written in Google docs which is fine. The kids in my school use them for docs and other school work all the time and there is no problem at all.

I'm a huge advocate, they are the dog's.

 

[herecomesaregular]

I'm a big fan of Ubuntu Mate and Puppy Linux for older laptops, to replace Windows.

However, an older laptop is likely to have a dead battery and I've found replacement batteries to often be poor quality and short life.

If she wants the convenience of a new machine with a new battery then I'd get her a cheap Chromebook.

 

[CheeseRolls]

I do use it but I also have thousands not in there but on my computer . It was a lot easier on windows.

and probably any other platform as well. Chromebook wins on simplicity, it isn't just about browsing and email, you can do an awful lot with the docs suite, chat, meet and keep and the devices are very low maintenance. If they do go wrong the rebuild and restore process is a doddle. Using a chromebook to store your photos, is a bit like towing a caravan with a smart car. You could think about adding a network attached storage (NAS) to your home network for this.

 

[happypig]

Try linux first (my preference is Mint). If that doesn't suit her, then buy a chromebook.