For anyone looking for a 2nd home PC, or Kids computer, or student computer...

Hertz32

Just had a Samsung Chromebook Series 5 550 arrive in the post (Sadly, recently discontinued, its still the 2nd best specced Chrmbook they made) And honestly, it's brilliant!  
The screen is large enough to be useful for basically everything, the keyboard is absolutely nuts, and the battery makes it the most useable ultrabook-esque devise I have ever used. the built in speakers are pretty damn good too! Listening to Sweet Disposition - The temper trap on them, and its really quite good. Trebles perhaps a tad too much, but that's to be expected from any kind of stock portable speaker.

It can use Google Docs, Slides, sheets and forms Offline too. So It's not a necessity to be permanently connected, but it's where the device shines really.

Build quality is faultless, rivals a Macbook Air in design and quality for about 1/5 the price. 

The intuitive use of the touch pad is brilliant on Google's behalf too.   It almost feels like using a touch screen device rather than a touch pad. 
Screen colour reproduction is pretty bang on aswell, with the GoPro adverts looking sharp as a pin and in some of the most Vibrant colours I have seen. The OS is pretty intuitive too, It almost feels like a kind of Android laptop, which I suppose it is, given that both are based off Linux. Chrome Apps are pretty nifty too: Spotify, Google Play Music, Google Keep and Pixlr touch up being my current faves. 
I have a USB audio interface in the post, soon as that arrives I'll be plugging that in and seeing if I can use the GuitarFX or Audiotool apps for a cheeky bit of on the fly guitar recording. Will report back on that one! 

The only thing I dislike about the device is the use of a Displayport++ Video out, and lack of USB3.0 despite it's inclusion on more budget models. This is no problem on either of the newer models though. 

All in all, The most brilliant budget laptop I have ever seen! Rock bottom price makes it affordable for students at Uni, Families on a budget, or even the businessman on the go.

Hertz32

As a footnote: The Chromebook pixel, is their most expensive model at somewhere around £1k Which might sound like a rip-off, until you realise that it comes with 1 TB of free Google Drive space for 2 years, which would set you back  around £1.2K anyway. Meaning that actually, if you think about it, you are getting a £200 discount on the space plus a free Laptop, with a better than Retina TOUCHSCREEN, and the coolest looking chassis I have seen on a computer. But you'd never really look at buying that kind of space unless you were a small business... 

All the other chromebooks come with 100GB free cloud storage for 2 years, plus you can use external HDD's with them so the 12GB internal Solid state memory isn't really a setback.

John_P

Thanks for - I could do with a cheap n cheerful laptop type machine for in front of the tv type browing and the odd bit of work - I'll have a look at them.

strumjoughlamps

Personally don't see where this fits in.. I would expect most peeps nowadays have a main machine and a tablet.. I have a Bluetooth keyboard that I use when typing docs on ipad and note 10.1. Cannot see what a chromebook has to offer.. Plus reviews always go on about always needing a connection, is that true? iE you cannot even type out a letter offline?

monquixote

Apparently the new HP Chromebook is meant to be decent.

Hertz32

strumjoughlamps said:

Personally don't see where this fits in.. I would expect most peeps nowadays have a main machine and a tablet.. I have a Bluetooth keyboard that I use when typing docs on ipad and note 10.1. Cannot see what a chromebook has to offer.. Plus reviews always go on about always needing a connection, is that true? iE you cannot even type out a letter offline?

not at all, i just set up Offline Docs, I can do word etc. and save it offline. there are a few good Offline apps too have a look on the chrome web store. it became a whole lot more useful offline with the latest Chrome OS update. the first one was bloody useless without a connection, but these will play movies and music off the hard drive, or USB HDD and a few other bits and bobs Plenty enough for a bit of fun on a car journey or plane trip. 

John_P

Sounds very handy to me - I hate typing on my ipad and mainly want simple browsing but being able to edit word docs on a usb stick would be great for the occasional bit of work at home.

digitalscream

I've got a Series 3 (the dual core ARM version), and it's pretty ace for what it is - you don't expect stunning performance, but it runs ChromeOS and Ubuntu (12.04, natch) quite happily, it's as light as you want and has something like 8 hours battery life. Perfect for the odd work trip to London.

Hertz32

Fair enough, this is dual core Celeron as I recall, 4GB of RAM and a 12.1" 780p screen, better specced to the point that it will transition between several tabs including Spotify (Playing) and Youtube (also playing 720p) With no lag at all! Bloody chuffed with it, I picked it up for £300, well worth the extra £80. there might be 1 or 2 left on Amazon... 
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Series-Wi-Fi-Chromebook-Silver/dp/B007ZZ18S6

digitalscream

Ah, see...I wouldn't have paid full price for the ARM version (although I did really want to see how it performed). I don't think it's worth £240 or whatever...however, I paid roughly half that, so I'm pretty happy

EDIT: The tragedy of it is that my phone is actually higher-specced than my Chromebook in just about every way now (quad core, 1080p screen etc). Such is life...

EricTheWeary

My son has a Samsung chromebook, just the £230 ish one. He can sling it in his bag for college as its smaller/ lighter than a laptop but better for typing/ work than a tablet.

holnrew

Does it do maps and stuff?

digitalscream

holnrew said:

Does it do maps and stuff?

It'll do anything you can do in a browser on a desktop, except run Microsoft plugins like Silverlight (and possibly Java applets). Fortunately, those horrors are pretty rare on the web these days.

holnrew

Hmm, could be the ticket when I start taxiing.

digitalscream

holnrew said:

Hmm, could be the ticket when I start taxiing.

Ah, right - it won't do GPS, though, and you'll need something with an Internet connection (like an Android phone) to use it out and about, because it's wi-fi only. You might be better off with a 3G tablet.

holnrew

digitalscream said:

holnrew said:

Hmm, could be the ticket when I start taxiing.

Ah, right - it won't do GPS, though, and you'll need something with an Internet connection (like an Android phone) to use it out and about, because it's wi-fi only. You might be better off with a 3G tablet.

Yeah I'd tether, I'd use it for entertainment between customers and to do OU work on.

digitalscream

holnrew said:

Yeah I'd tether, I'd use it for entertainment between customers and to do OU work on.

Then yes, I'd say it'd be pretty good for you. Obviously for doing actual constructive stuff, you'll probably have to use Google Apps, but it's pretty comfortable to work in (for me, at least).

Ironically, given what I've already said here, I may be selling mine soon. Give me a shout if you're interested...