I just got an Acer C7 Chromebook for the girlfriend, all she's going to do is watch movies and surf the internet so it was perfect for her. I heard about people dl Ubuntu for it, but will that make it more user friendly for her since we are both new to this Chrome OS? Should I even DL it? Any suggestions on apps to DL to make it more user friendly for her? Thanks for the help.
Chrome OS = crap. It's basically force feeding Google services that "replace desktop functions"-ish e.g. Google Docs, Drive, Youtube and, quite frankly, they're half-baked. Most of these services you can use on a regular netbook, anyway. So, basically, a Chromebook is an even more castrated netbook unless it's one of those new ARM-based Chromebooks - those are the first few consumer ARM computers in a notebook form-factor.
Oh, on the topic of downloading Ubuntu. Yes, definitely. Ubuntu's an actual fully featured OS for the desktop.
I have the Samsung chromebook and it is awesome. OP, play with one at the store and see if the extra $50.00 isn't worth it. It is much better than the Acer.
The Acer is also thicker, heavier, has a much worse form factor and a shorter battery life. The Samsung has no spinning hard drive, no fan and is totally silent.
I love my Chromebook and Chrome OS. I see zero need to alter it in any way. If you want a laptop, get a laptop. If you want a sexier version of a netbook, get a Chromebook.
www.ubuntu.com? Idk if there's a specific version, though. They provide a DVD iso which you'll need to turn into a bootable USB (not particularly familiar with this process).
Watch movies and surf the web? Sounds like a tablet would be best for this. The Nexus 7 is really cheap and way better than a netbook, in my opinion. I own an iPad, but it's much more expensive.
Got my wife a Nexus 7 for her birthday 3 months ago. It's great and has changed her life. She went from being disconnected to very connected almost overnight. But for some of us who like keyboards, the Samsung Chromebook nukes tablets of any size for surfing the web (and watching movies & videos if that's important).
What does everyone have against notebooks? They do everything a tablet or netbook would do except 100x better. Sure they are a little bigger but in my opinion if you already have a notebook there is really no need for a tablet.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XcIwXVKQjsQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>/IMG] can you do this with your notebook?
I've had my Chromebook a year and love it more than when I first got it. They are great as 2nd and 3rd computers to carry around. (Tablets aren't for me). But the whole category still seemed like a novelty that wasn't catching on. When MS started aiming commercials specifically against Chromebooks, I just thought it was more stupidity along the lines of their pathetic "Scroogled" campaign. MS and Google obviously detest each other and it seemed like MS was wasting effort trying to kill a concept that wasn't much of a threat in the consumer market. My guesstimation was Chromebooks were most successful in educational circles Perhaps MS knew something the rest of us didn't until now. I have no idea how credible NPD is, but 21% of all notebooks sales seems high. Then again, there has to be a reason MS would take the time to call Chromebooks out. http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9245050/Chromebooks_success_punches_Microsoft_in_the_gut Chromebooks' success punches Microsoft in the gut Amazon, NPD Group trumpet sales of the bare-bones laptops in 2013 to consumers and businesses By Gregg Keizer December 27, 2013 11:07 AM ET Chromebooks had a very good year, according to retailer Amazon.com and industry analysts. And that's bad news for Microsoft. The pared-down laptops powered by Google's browser-based Chrome OS have surfaced this year as a threat to "Wintel," the Microsoft-Intel oligarchy that has dominated the personal-computer space for decades with Windows machines. On Thursday, Amazon.com called out a pair of Chromebooks -- one from Samsung, the other from Acer -- as two of the three best-selling notebooks during the U.S. holiday season. The third: Asus' Transformer Book, a Windows 8.1 "2-in-1" device that transforms from a 10.1-in. tablet to a keyboard-equipped laptop. As of late Thursday, the trio retained their lock on the top three places on Amazon's best-selling-laptop list in the order of Acer, Samsung and Asus. Another Acer Chromebook, one that sports 32GB of on-board storage space -- double the 16GB of Acer's lower-priced model -- held the No. 7 spot on the retailer's top 10. Chromebooks' holiday success at Amazon was duplicated elsewhere during the year, according to the NPD Group, which tracked U.S. PC sales to commercial buyers such as businesses, schools, government and other organizations. By NPD's tallies, Chromebooks accounted for 21% of all U.S. commercial notebook sales in 2013 through November, and 10% of all computers and tablets. Both shares were up massively from 2012; last year, Chromebooks accounted for an almost-invisible two-tenths of one percent of all computer and tablet sales. Stephen Baker of NPD pointed out what others had said previously: Chromebooks have capitalized on Microsoft's stumble with Windows 8. "Tepid Windows PC sales allowed brands with a focus on alternative form factors or operating systems, like Apple and Samsung, to capture significant share of a market traditionally dominated by Windows devices," Baker said in a Monday statement. Part of the attraction of Chromebooks is their low prices: The systems forgo high-resolution displays, rely on inexpensive graphics chipsets, include paltry amounts of RAM -- often just 2GB -- and get by with little local storage. And their operating system, Chrome OS, doesn't cost computer makers a dime. The 11.6-in. Acer C720 Chromebook, first on Amazon's top-10 list Thursday, costs $199, while the Samsung Chromebook, at No. 2, runs $243. Amazon prices Acer's 720P Chromebook, No. 7 on the chart, at $300. The prices were significantly lower than those for the Windows notebooks on the retailer's bestseller list. The average price of the seven Windows-powered laptops on Amazon's top 10 was $359, while the median was $349. Meanwhile, the average price of the three Chromebooks was $247 and the median was $243, representing savings of 31% and 29%, respectively. In many ways, Chromebooks are the successors to "netbooks," the cheap, lightweight and underpowered Windows laptops that stormed into the market in 2007, peaked in 2009 as they captured about 20% of the portable PC market, then fell by the wayside in 2010 and 2011 as tablets assumed their roles and full-fledged notebooks closed in on netbook prices.
If you want a good chromebook, You want the AcerC720 It has Intel Haswell architecture. Fastest one I've used. Then again, I only used the first Samsung one and that one is a bit slow
