New Acer 15" Chromebook,

[Arctos]

I know this is an Android section but there is no Chrome OS one.

Anyone able to give any insight into the use of these 'books not necessarily the one's I have linked to.

I have been toying with the idea of getting a new notebook, but I do not want to have to go with the Win 10 carp again. I have seen Acer Chromebooks
at JB's and quite like the look of them, the cheaper one of these two is in my price range

https://www.jbhifi.com.au/computers-tablets/laptops/acer/acer-cb3-431-c2gr-14-chromebook/638884/
https://www.jbhifi.com.au/computers-tablets/laptops/acer/acer-cb515-1h-p6e4-15-6-chromebook/638885/

I am not really interested in using any office software on it as Google Docs will do me, most of my diabetes monitoring software is app based on my mobile so can install the respective android apps.

 

[Crush]

I have the Samsung Chromebook 2 and am quite happy with it. For basic stuff it works perfectly. The ones you linked to are quite a bit more powerful than mine. I'm not sure if it's just the fact that I am in the US browsing an Aus domain, but at those prices I would give it a pass in favor of an AMD Ryzen powered laptop.

~$200 US is the sweet spot for me for a Chromebook. You aren't going to be running full fat Win32 apps, but you can browse Netflix, use Plex and do basic web browsing and some light content creation in the Google ecosystem.

Something to be aware of when buying a Chromebook is all are not created equal. If you get an older one, it will not support full Play Store apps.

 

[Arctos]

Something to be aware of when buying a Chromebook is all are not created equal. If you get an older one, it will not support full Play Store apps.

They are the latest model Acers at JB's, neither JB or Officeworks have the Samsung by the looks of it.

I only want it for light stuff as in my op, any thing has to be better that teh Win 10 pos i5 HP i am using, that when opening a notepad says "working on it".

Will have to think about it a bit more I think mate.

 

[Arctos]

I ordered the Acer Chromebook on Wednesday, and picked it up from the store yesterday morning.

All I can say is WOW!

It's fast starting up, opening apps, loading multiple browser tabs, so hoping it will meet all of my expectations, It did not take very long to update itself with my Google profile, it even brought in the ad blocker uBlock Origin.

The Chrome OS build is Version 74.0.3729.125 (Official Build) (64-bit) which is what the update was yesterday.

@Crush I am looking for graphic editing app similar to Irfan View in Windows, where I can resize easily,

Will post some pix later on.

 

[Arctos]

Here's the specs for it at Acer, when I was getting the warranty card out of it's wrapping there is a date on it when it was built 26/05/19.

https://www.acer.com/ac/en/AU/content/model/NX.GP0SA.001

 

[Lord Chance]

Here's the specs for it at Acer, when I was getting the warranty card out of it's wrapping there is a date on it when it was built 26/05/19.

https://www.acer.com/ac/en/AU/content/model/NX.GP0SA.001

Nice one Arctos. Forgive me my friend but the chrome books are too pricey for what they are in my opinion. Of course my exwife always said I was a cheap old SOD. At any rate, if it works for you then good on ya. It is not about what I think.

I wish I had known you were looking. The local college just sold 15 Chrome Books that were student loans. All 1 to 2 years old. $400 USD took the lot and all were fresh out of the box. I could have sold 4 or 5 of them to recoup my money and give the rest away.

 

[Arctos]

I found a free online image resizing app, in the Chrome store called Simple Image Resizer, works ok so far.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/...bnjdgcmbipgnbi?utm_source=chrome-app-launcher

Sounded like a good deal if you could have got them LC.

 

[Lord Chance]

Getting them was never an issue Arctos. I was offered first take because I was the local computer shop. I turned them down because I didn't want to be drawn back into the addiction. I only regret not knowing you were looking. I could have sent you two of them and sold the rest. Your only cost would have been buying Aussie power bricks for them since they were Merican issue. Those 110 volt bricks wouldn't stand up to Aussie Mains voltage.

 

[Lord Chance]

Give this a look see Mate. I use it on my Samsung Android Tablets. Works good.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pixlr-editor/icmaknaampgiegkcjlimdiidlhopknpk?hl=en

 

[Arctos]

Thanks LC, I will try that one out as well.

 

[Arctos]

As the Chromebook does not have numeric keypad, I have had to brush up on my unicode for special characters, as I use a lot which I can't get to stick in my head so have cheatsheets again for the first time in years.

No function keys with out a bit of keyboard shortcut trickery, no caps lock either yay! It's agood learning experience again hopefully.

My Brother laser printer will not work with as it is not supported, so have to keep using winders for print jobs,as I do not want to buy another printer as yet.

 

[Lord Chance]

For most part the chrome book keyboard is ok but you might think about getting a regular keyboard to plug in. It should be fully functional under Chrome. As for the printer, There are workarounds for that I would think.

 

[Arctos]

For most part the chrome book keyboard is ok but you might think about getting a regular keyboard to plug in. It should be fully functional under Chrome. As for the printer, There are workarounds for that I would think.

I am out of usb ports so cannot plug anything else in, I will get used to it. I have tried all the workarounds, it is not much of a hassle to print fro winders I do not print much out nowadays, the main thing I do print out is my diabetic logbook which is winders program that uploads the data from the meter.

 

[Lord Chance]

Any print jobs you need from the Chrome Book could be printed to a PDF file then taken to the Windows machine. As for filled up USB ports, they build USB hubs every day.

 

[Arctos]

As for filled up USB ports, they build USB hubs every day.

I gotta mouse in one usb 3 port, a 1 Tb drive in the other usb 3 port, I have two usb c ports one with the power cable in and the other is empty I have an type c adabter but it will fit not the infra red mouse receiver it's wrong gender.

 

[Lord Chance]

I gotta mouse in one usb 3 port, a 1 Tb drive in the other usb 3 port, I have two usb c ports one with the power cable in and the other is empty I have an type c adabter but it will fit not the infra red mouse receiver it's wrong gender.

When I need to adapt for a keyboard and mouse I use something like this,

Logitech-MK345-Wireless-Combo-Right-Handed

It uses a usb dongle to wirelessly connect both.

 

[Arctos]

I am looking for graphic editing app similar to Irfan View in Windows, where I can resize easily,

I found a free online image resizing app, in the Chrome store called Simple Image Resizer, works ok so far.

Fossicking around in the Files folder, I clicked on a pix and had a look at the buttons more closely and there is a pencil for editing. It resizes to what pixel size you want. It's not Irfan View but it will do what I want for a simple job.

 

[Arctos]

I tried to do this and most of the images are simply too small to apply transparency on, if I had larger images to work with Id have all the smilies set with transparency by now >_>

Mine are all transparent with the Acer's 1980 x 1080 resolution, the shelf ones I have reduced the transparency so I can see them better, magic operating system Chrome OS...

 

[Arctos]

Had a strange thing happen when I was typing a post on another forum, some of the characters were getting transposed.

I was shift " and getting @, and vice versa plus a lot of others that were changed.

I was going to put a report in to Google about it, but just happened to notice that I had somehow changed the keyboard to GB instead of the correct / default US keyboard.

Pleased I did not send the report in...