{"id":5,"date":"2014-04-08T22:40:31","date_gmt":"2014-04-09T02:40:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tealdragon.net\/wp\/?p=5"},"modified":"2014-04-08T22:56:59","modified_gmt":"2014-04-09T02:56:59","slug":"love-my-chromebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tealdragon.net\/tealdragongal\/2014\/04\/love-my-chromebook\/","title":{"rendered":"Love My Chromebook!"},"content":{"rendered":"

I bought a Samsung 11″ Chromebook<\/a>\u00a0laptop in February and I love it! \u00a0I was researching laptops and considered several different types.<\/p>\n

Windows 8 is getting bad reviews, and I’m so tired of the unstable, high maintenance Windows operating systems. \u00a0In addition, to get a Windows laptop with decent processing speed, it was going to cost easily over $500.<\/p>\n

If money were no object, I’d get a Mac laptop. \u00a0No question. \u00a0But while I think very highly of Apple’s excellent quality products (love my iphone!), they are priced outrageously high!<\/p>\n

A friend’s daughter has a Chromebook and really likes it. \u00a0I started doing research and decided that it was worth trying. The Chromebook runs the Chrome operating system (OS) (as opposed to Windows or Mac OSX) which is a browser based OS. \u00a0While some have claimed that without WiFi, it’s as good as a brick, there are also apps, such as Gmail Offline, that allow you to continue to work with your email and Google docs without an Internet connection.<\/p>\n

For my purposes, I wanted a device with a physical keyboard and a decent size screen for typing long emails, viewing web pages not intended for mobile devices’ tiny screens, doing word processing, working with spreadsheets, doing WordPress web design, and image editing. \u00a0I had already been using Gmail as my email interface and was using Google Drive for docs and spreadsheets anyway. With the current trend in cloud computing (storing your data on the Internet so that it’s accessible from whichever device you happen to have at the moment), there are a lot of applications available via the web, including several image editing applications (such as Pixlr) which I will share in a future post.<\/p>\n

I chose the Samsung 11″ Chromebook because it has very good reviews on Amazon, and I like the feel of the keyboard and track pad. \u00a0I like the 11″ screen size which is small enough to be very portable and lightweight, but feels to me like plenty of screen space. \u00a0I read reviews for different Chromebooks which discussed the feel of the keyboard and trackpad, so I went to a couple stores before buying so that I could try them out. \u00a0The Samsung keyboard has a satisfying clicky feel as opposed to the different feel of some other brands. \u00a0Seeing them in person also gave me a chance to see their actual size and compare their weight.<\/p>\n

The Samsung 11″ Chromebook<\/a> is about $250 on Amazon. \u00a0It has a 16 GB hard drive and two USB ports. \u00a0If you need more storage space than the hard drive (keep in mind that Google Drive gives you 15 GB of cloud storage), you can get a SanDisk 32GB USB Flash Drive<\/a> for under $20. \u00a0This Chromebook also comes with an offer for a free 100 GB\u00a0Google Drive storage for two years.<\/p>\n

Set-up was as easy as the reviews say. \u00a0I just plugged it in, turned it on, and signed into my Google account. \u00a0I spent a little time becoming familiar with the Chrome browser and settings since I had only recently started using it.<\/p>\n

If you’re considering a Chromebook, I’d highly recommend installing the free Chrome browser<\/a> on your current device. \u00a0Since the OS is based on the Chrome browser, that is the essence of the Chromebook experience. \u00a0Now I love that I can use the Chrome browser on my laptop, iPhone, and desktop PC (on rare occasions); and I always have access to all my bookmarks!<\/p>\n

While I am very happy with the Chromebook, there are a couple of limitations to the that I’ve found –<\/span><\/p>\n