Question is in the title really, I’m wondering stuff like do they work like normal PC/Macs, run Excel have any local storage if the net is unavailable and how they deal with the worse broadband in Christendom (South Kent).

Can see they could improve if 4G gets any traction, but right now is it to early days for a cloud terminal if that’s what they are?

that’s what they are

A very good one, but you’ve pretty much summed it up.
Got one for my parents last Christmas, and it’s been great for them. Lovely screen and keyboard, massive battery life, instant on, 3G portability. But if you want a PC, that’s what they’re not.
There’s a little bit of offline storage for using apps like google docs, but you won’t be putting excel on it.

I’d get one myself, but it’s more of a netbook/tablet portable replacement.

I thought you didn’t run local applications eg Excel, everything was web based eg Google docs, which have a simple Excel clone (but no where near as powerful as Excel).

I’ve had one for a year or more. You can’t install any software on them unless you jail-break them and put a proper OS on them, but they you may as well buy a cheap laptop. Google docs (whichs take the place of Work, Excel etc.) is getting better, as is the functionality of the machine itself as the not-really-an-OS is regualrly updated.

Honestly there’s not a lot you can’t do with it by finding some kind of web-app unless you want to back up your smartphone (except android phones) update the likes of a TomTom or other connected device or have some sort of peripheral interface working. The thing that doesn’t work as well as a PC or Mac is the normal integration of programmes that you really take for granted now, for instance very limited drag and drop of files means moving stuff around is a proper PITA, file conversion/compatibility is poor. If you want to do anything except just surfing the net or use a web-app it’s really pretty clunky.

What they really are is a tablet with a proper keyboard and mouse. Brilliant for web-based work, but not yet a replacement for a proper PC and I don’t see that happening soon, if ever.

Hope that helps.

What they really are is a tablet with a proper keyboard and mouse

Not even that. Tablets can work offline and have local storage.

If you want to work then you can embrace Google Docs and it’ll work.. but only with a network connection…

Can you run Android apps on them?

No, it doesn’t run android, it runs Chrome Os.

And you can’t run anything ON them, that’s the whole point. You run apps on the sever, the device is simply a terminal.

I have put ChromeOS on a usb stick and can boot from that.
Have a play
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/download-google-chrome-os-and-run-on-a-real-computer/

Googles version of Excel is not that bad unless you want to use mega formulas and VBA.

As I understand it, whatever you can do in the Chrome browser, you can do on a Chromebook.

I’d not want one as my only device, but I’m doing more and more in the browser each year so I can see them maybe having a place one day soon.

Not really a terminal either. As there are plenty of offline apps.
You can install anything in Chrome Store
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/category/home

Thanks for that chaps, always reliable this place, so it’s pretty much what I guessed it was, not actually as much use an an iPad with a keyboard which is pretty useless at anything other than showing pre defined spreadsheets. (Not saying it isn’t useful for loads of other stuff, my needs are spread sheets with often complicated formula which Mac Numbers wont even crunch.)

So it’s back to plan A and a bloody expensive macbook air, I’m just fed up with travelling with a full macbook pro, it weighs a ton after a while in the jolly old back pack of joy…

I bet the chrome book style of thing is eventually where we’ll all end up eventually, the sheer volume of cash that is being invested in server farms is off the scale but we need more reliable up and downlinks than we currently have particularly here in Kent, anyone tethered a 4G mobile device yet?

Why a macbook air?

Plenty of other options if you want something small.

molgrips – Member
Why a macbook air?

Plenty of other options if you want something small.

Er name one, that isn’t a netbook or pad pc thing..

Oh and I’ve used Macs since before it became a fanboy thing – graphic designer in another life – so I find them easier to deal with, but, they (Apple) are beginning to get above themselves so I don’t have the loyalty I once had and they are the computer of chav choice these days I notice…

11.6″ PCs are not netbooks and are £300you at their cheapest. You can get 6Gb ram, plenty of power for office Apps, 8 hour battery life and they are light. Unless you have bad eyes or need photoshop or something they are ideal.

Then for MBA money there are many Ultrabooks now, may be more powerful than MBA, I have not looked 🙂

I have a Lenovo x121e for portable work use (which seems to have been replaced with the x131e recently). Either AMD processors which are a little beefier than a netbook CPU, or a Core i3. They take up to 8GB RAM, normal HDs/SSDs (albeit in the slim 7mm thickness), weigh about 1.8kg.

The lenovo store is doing the i3, 2GB RAM, 320GB HD, 6-cell battery ones for £359 right now, which will do the web stuff better than the Chromebooks AND run real Windows apps.

Lenovo, that was the name I was trying to remember i saw one at Eurobike, one of the Electra reps had one, it looked remarkably MBA-ish, tbh I was very disappointed with Mountain Lion and have had to use Windoze 7 is it the latest, so I can log onto the European outfits crap software that I work for and these days so much of the Mac stuff is portable, iTunes, iCloud I thought about giving it a whirl, at the end of the day Excel is Excel no matter what the platform.

Thanks for reminding me three hundred and fifty quid is a big saving from a grand or more which you need to spend to get any half decent storage, then all i need to do is keep this Macbook Pro 17 as a desk machine, maybe fit it with one of those flash drives and jobs a goodun..

The new Samsung/Google Chromebook looks lovely: http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en_uk/chrome/devices/

OK thread resurrection time 🙂

The new Chromebook costs £229, thats new as in hitting the shops next week or so

Its caught my eye as my eldest has just hit Y7 and the school have an IT bias and encourage the kids to get a laptop and bring it to school, now theres no way we’d have ever sent her off with a MacBook but at this pricepoint (and weight) its a different matter

The thing is what does it actually do?

Or more specifically are the Google word processor and spreadsheet really easily compatible with Office when shes at school?
More importantly if she doesnt have a web connection (eg doing homework on the bus) which of the offline Google doc apps are worth looking at?

Almost finally, is it simple for her to upload her pics to the cloud and look at them herself – obviously this wont be available offline

Finally shes 12, she needs to be 13 or 14 to have a Google account
I think I know the answer to this one LOL

cheers