"Why Chromebook Pundits Are Out of Touch"

[ApK]

Originally Posted by kacir

I personally wouldn't get CromeBook, unless it was a third computer.

Presactly. Mine actually is my third machine. My wife's is her second machine. Neither one of us could do with ONLY the Chromebook, but nor could we find a better value for what we use the Chromebook for.

For a tinkerer that is not afraid to salvage parts from a Dumper there are much better and cheaper options

Making a viable and modern NOTEBOOK from dumpster parts would require something more than a 'tinkerer.' Something more on the order of an EE with SMT equipment.
An especially good ebay deal is a more likely source of a better and a cheaper option for the tinkerer, but for what it's intended for, I really can't see what could be better or cheaper (or more convenient) than plunking $200 down at a local Best Buy and walking out with a fully functional, warrantied device.

I'm curious to know exactly what kind of MBP Sregener got for $240....I've been looking for an affordable iOS development platform and found nothing for close to that price.

ApK

[Kumabjorn]

How well is ChromeDocs integrated with something like Dropbox. I have never liked being entirely dependent on one vendor, the only reason I stuck with DOS when all my friends bought new pastel colored iMacs. In the same vein I wouldn't like being completely tied to Google. I know I could save my documents to Drive and use Google apps to access them. What happens if I save to Dropbox, can I still use those apps to edit documents? Or are there third party solutions I will need? Even if I don't need them, would they be preferable?

[frahse]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

How well is ChromeDocs integrated with something like Dropbox. I have never liked being entirely dependent on one vendor, the only reason I stuck with DOS when all my friends bought new pastel colored iMacs. In the same vein I wouldn't like being completely tied to Google. I know I could save my documents to Drive and use Google apps to access them. What happens if I save to Dropbox, can I still use those apps to edit documents? Or are there third party solutions I will need? Even if I don't need them, would they be preferable?

My wife is the one currently with a Chromebook. (ex. Tonight as we zipped off for a quick bite to eat, she warned me not to put anything on the back seat floor for her chromebook was there.)

Anyway, she has given me another task since I solved her last one involving chromebooks.
"How may she search with her chreombook previous years documents for names and bring up the text the name appears in?"
She can do this easily on her Win7 Toshiba and wishes me to find a way to do it with chromebook.
Drop box is considered the main site to search.
This is a Church oriented search. At work she has other means.

I will probably look at it in the next few days.

Any suggestions?

[Sregener]

Originally Posted by ApK

Then you have utterly missed the point of Chromebooks. It's not about doing more than a standard laptop, it's about doing what a lot of people need, for a lot less money and a lot less maintenance. And it boots up faster.

Okay, I spent $240. A new Chromebook with a 15" anti-glare screen costs how much? Oh, wait, they don't make one. A 14" model is $250.

I don't really get the maintenance thing since I switched to Macs. Windows PCs always seemed to take 6-8 hour chunks a few times a year, with a complete rebuild needed every year or two. But my Macs just work. I'm writing this on a PowerBook G4 that takes 90 seconds to boot (it is an antique) and runs a relatively modern FireFox browser. Other than downloading a new version of the browser, it takes no maintenance whatsoever.

[Sregener]

Originally Posted by ApK

I'm curious to know exactly what kind of MBP Sregener got for $240....I've been looking for an affordable iOS development platform and found nothing for close to that price.

Macbook Pro 4,1 A1260.

They had oodles of 3,1 models on eBay this morning for $200-$240, which would be perfectly fine for iOS development.

[Graham]

Originally Posted by Sregener

Other than downloading a new version of the browser, it takes no maintenance whatsoever.

No updates to iTunes, Adobe Air, Java, security software, anti-virus, etc., or any other application that you're using?

No patches to the operating system or updates to later versions?

Graham

[kennyc]

.......deleted.....

[Graham]

Originally Posted by frahse

"How may she search with her chreombook previous years documents for names and bring up the text the name appears in?"
She can do this easily on her Win7 Toshiba and wishes me to find a way to do it with chromebook.
Drop box is considered the main site to search.

If she has to keep her documents in DropBox then I can't see a way to do it on the Chromebook, because DropBox's search functionality only looks at the names of files and folders. (I'm assuming you're saying that the names appear in the documents rather than in the file names.)

If she was happy to move her files over the Google Drive then to find the documents she would simply type the name in the Drive search box and it would list all documents in which the name appears (frighteningly quickly!). Then she'd need to go into each document in turn to find the passage where it appears.

I don't think there's a way to display the passage from each document in one search.

Graham

[Graham]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

How well is ChromeDocs integrated with something like Dropbox. I have never liked being entirely dependent on one vendor, the only reason I stuck with DOS when all my friends bought new pastel colored iMacs. In the same vein I wouldn't like being completely tied to Google. I know I could save my documents to Drive and use Google apps to access them. What happens if I save to Dropbox, can I still use those apps to edit documents? Or are there third party solutions I will need? Even if I don't need them, would they be preferable?

The Google Drive save, open, sharing and comment functionality is deeply embedded into the Google Apps on the Chromebooks. They're automatically saved to Google Drive, and you only have the option to move to a different folder within Drive. You'd need to export the Google Doc to a different format to save in Dropbox.

However, if you want to use non-Google formats then you're free to use DropBox or any other cloud solution. But Google formats really only make sense in the context of being in Google Drive. In one sense Google Drive is simply the collection of your Google Docs with added storage for third party formats.

Graham

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Acer C720 4GB from Amazon for $249. It should arrive tomorrow. I'm inheriting a netbook that will solve my audiobook problem. Now I'm free to switch to Chrome and ditch my desktop.

It arrived today. Won't get a chance to play with it until tomorrow.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by kennyc

.......deleted.....

Are you aware that you're "deleted" statement is not symmetrical? There are seven dots on the left and only five on the right. I mean, this is a quality board you're posting to. Let's get with the program.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Sregener

They had oodles of 3,1 models on eBay this morning for $200-$240, which would be perfectly fine for iOS development.

Looks like the most inexpensive of the MCPs I see on ebay in working condition are running Lion. I've been told to get at least Mountain Lion, and those seem to be more in the >$350 range.

Any way, those would be used, with no warranty or support, with hopefully all the 5-year-old hardware in good condition, right?
Might indeed be good for my dev needs, and I'm going to look closer at them, but that's not what we got the Chromebook for.
You wanted a 5-year-old 15" laptop. Great, that's what you should get.
We wanted a current, light, small device for mainly web browsing, email and video, and an easy convenient exchange if we didn't like it. We got a new Chromebook for $199. We could have gotten a similar windows Machine for about $100 more, or maybe a refurbished Macbook Air for $850, but why, exactly, would we have wanted to do that?

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Are you aware that you're "deleted" statement is not symmetrical? There are seven dots on the left and only five on the right. I mean, this is a quality board you're posting to. Let's get with the program.

Hey look, Bananas!

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by ApK

.....
Any way, those would be used, with no warranty or support, with hopefully all the 5-year-old hardware in good condition, right?
Might indeed be good for my dev needs, and I'm going to look closer at them, but that's not what we got the Chromebook for.
You wanted a 5-year-old 15" laptop. Great, that's what you should get.
We wanted a current, light, small device for mainly web browsing, email and video, and an easy convenient exchange if we didn't like it. We got a new Chromebook for $199. We could have gotten a similar windows Machine for about $100 more, or maybe a refurbished Macbook Air for $850, but why, exactly, would we have wanted to do that?

Well and there is the processing speed issue things have changed significantly in 5 years.

If all you need it to get on line, do email, maybe a few docs using the google applications that's exactly what a chromebook is for and that's what he's not getting. It all depends on what your needs are, how simple you want to make your life, etc.

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by Graham

The Google Drive save, open, sharing and comment functionality is deeply embedded into the Google Apps on the Chromebooks. They're automatically saved to Google Drive, and you only have the option to move to a different folder within Drive. You'd need to export the Google Doc to a different format to save in Dropbox.

However, if you want to use non-Google formats then you're free to use DropBox or any other cloud solution. But Google formats really only make sense in the context of being in Google Drive. In one sense Google Drive is simply the collection of your Google Docs with added storage for third party formats.

Graham

In other Words, I would be entirely dependent on Google to make it work.