My parents old mac has died and it really isn’t worth spending Mac money for what they do (online banking, browsing, emails etc).

I’m reluctant to chuck them into the PC world as I very much doubt they’d keep on top of the anti-virus/malware checks needed to keep them safe.

So this brings me to Chromebook! I’ve heard they are a secure system, but is this true? Surely 3rd party apps can mess with things if they download something from a dodgy developer?

Any advice appreciated.

I would say yes, virus free.

There’s no such thing as an app in the traditional sense. Nothing at all can be installed on the thing, which includes malware.

There may possibly be other security attacks, like spoof emails/phishing etc but that’ll be true of anything. Malware cannot install itself, because nothing can be installed.

Thanks!

So effectively without an internet connection is it unusable?

I’d say you’re pretty safe 🙂

It is possible to install Chrome extensions which *potentially* could be malicious but I’m not sure about how much warning Chrome will flag up if something tries to install an extension surreptitiously. I would have thought google would have covered that possibility.

So effectively without an internet connection is it unusable?

A number of apps are cached, such as google docs so you can work away from network for a while.

So effectively without an internet connection is it unusable?

To a point, yes, but so is their mac if they are just using it for banking, browsing, emails.

You can work on documents / emails* while offline and then sync up again with the cloud when you’re next online.

* as in read previously downloaded ones + compose new ones.

Some apps can be used offline:

– watching videos, looking at photos you’ve actually downloaded to it or off a USB stick, etc
– Email (it’ll sync when you connect)
– Spreadsheets

and so on but really like most of what people use, the internet is what you want.

In simple terms, imagine a computer that only allows you to use a browser (chrome!) – that’s a chromebook (with the exceptions above)

I can highly recommend the HP chromebook 14

OP, when you say “died” what do you mean, what model and what year ?

It is possible to install Chrome extensions which *potentially* could be malicious but I’m not sure about how much warning Chrome will flag up if something tries to install an extension surreptitiously. I would have thought google would have covered that possibility.

I don’t know much about Chrome, but Google don’t seem at all bothered about security / malware on Android……

OP, when you say “died” what do you mean, what model and what year ?

It’s the last of the G4 mac minis – so not very current! Just refusing to start up in any mode.

I’ve just dug an old G4 tower out (dual 1ghz processors), but a lot of current browsers won’t tun on 10.5.8 anymore. Its still has OS9 on it as well – I’d forgotten how fast that OS was!

I don’t know much about Chrome, but Google don’t seem at all bothered about security / malware on Android

What makes you say that?

The reason there’s a fuss about malware on Windows is that the OS is susceptible to it. If you design an OS with security mind up front then you need to care far less.

* as in read previously downloaded ones + compose new ones.

“downloaded” to where?

Chromebooks all have some local storage for the ‘OS’ – mine has around 16GB IIRC. Or you can plug in USB sticks, SD cards, external hard drives, etc.

What makes you say that?

The fact that Android wasn’t designed with security up front e.g. Apps are much less sandboxed than with iOS and so can cause far more problems. Apple also police their Appstore whereas Google seem very lax with their Play store.