Last month it was time to recommend a replacement laptop for one of these friends. Lyn tells me her bulky Windows machine sometimes takes 30 minutes to boot and doesn't last even that long on battery--even though it's only a few years old! I started explaining the benefits of Apple, with my personal stories of genius bar appointments where I walk away with my software/hardware problem solved, either through tuition, software or hardware repair, or even full hardware replacement! I couldn't promise the hardware would last longer than Windows equipment, but I thought the support that you get with Apple products might justify the significantly higher price. But these days there are more choices than bloated Windows or expensive Apple. Ultimately she bought the third choice, the first time I've recommended a Chromebook.
For this comparison, we're not really trying to compete with a high spec laptop. There's no DVD player and not a lot of memory or storage space. But this is a middle ground option--below a less expensive laptop, and above a tablet. Think a tablet with a physical keyboard and USB ports added--although this Chromebook is cheaper than an iPad or iPad Mini. Although my testing has taught me that it's not quite a tablet either. The only Apps that will install seem to be those that run in the Chrome browser, which I'll discuss more later.
Like some laptops, the Chromebook has SD storage instead of spinning disk drive.
I read reviews of this Toshiba Chrombeook and someone complained of a bug where it looses connection to WiFi routers that transmit dual SSIDs, but it's working fine for me.
Ecosystem: If you are a big user of Google for email and especially Google Docs (drive.google.com) and/or an android phone, then you'll connect easily into the Google ecosystem. Similarly, if you are an Apple user then you are likely to try their other products and you'll know they are the best at tempting customers to take advantage of benefits of their ecosystem (Apple iTunes for music/movies, App store purchases, etc.). I bought Apple's office productivity software for one computer and can use it on all my other Apple computers--a different pricing model than anyone else (Microsoft) offers. Microsoft's ecosystem isn't as far reaching but they are trying. Their phones are the weakest link in their product chain. But back to the ecosystem. If you're a Chrome user, and unless you've reduced your security, it's great when you first log into a Chromebook as your usernames (and passwords if you've opted in) are right there remembered for you. As are your URL history, helping you by suggesting the websites before you finish typing their names. Great!
Price: The idea has always been that you have to pay premium price to get the top Apple experience. and that Microsoft is cheaper. But there are so many hardware choices, and my comparison Dell option is more expensive than a Macbook Air with the same amount of SSD storage--though the difference can be explained in part because Dell has twice memory. But, I just noticed the Dell Lattitude option includes the cost of £130 (for Home edition) or £230 (for Office Edition) of Microsoft Office alone! £1290/1400 total. Worth considering you can buy a Chromebook and get working for about the same price as Microsoft Office software alone. This is very complicated. For example, if you buy an HP Pavillion 11 inch from PC World, you can get office for £80.
Security: ChromeOS is based on Linux and gives hardened operating system featuring auto-updating and sandboxing that Google says will reduce malware exposure. Chromebook is designed in a way that means far less security issues. If you don't have any "deal breaker" software locally installed on your laptop, then a Chromebook might be right for you. The only way software is added to a Chromebook is via the Google Play Store, which is more controlled than Apple OSX and Microsoft Windows. It's a balancing act between strengthening security by limiting software versus expanding choices but opening up security risks. At the moment Chromebook is stronger on security by limiting Apps that can be installed to only those that run in the Chrome browser. This may change as they allow Apps from the Google Play app store, as insinuated in the Pixel video clip above. I predict the apps available will increase, which is good for function, but it might be a good idea to allow companies to have lock-down options or security levels to limit/allow this depending on whether security or flexibility are their priority.
Speed & Ease of Setup: I'm writing this sentence less than 5 minutes after turning on the Toshiba CB30-104 for the first time. I connected to WiFi and gave a Google login username/password. That's all--ready to go. I'm ready to work.
Chromebook wasn't designed to run high-end software like Adobe Photoshop, but is meant to compete with lower spec netbooks. However, a quick look at Gimp (the open source Photoshop clone), shows a rich feature set. Seems to work fine, just a little slower as it runs over the internet.
Still, comparing apples and oranges, this Chromebook powered up in 8 seconds, login and loading my 10 browser tabs took longer, an additional 40 seconds. My high-spec work laptop took 14 seconds to boot to Windows and 30 seconds to login and bring up the same browser sessions.
Hardware & Build Quality: Keyboard & Mouse feels fine at first. The plastic case feels noticeably cheaper than what I'm used to from Apple and Dell, but so far it's working very nicely and it's not bad. After a while I miss my premium keyboard on my Mac and I do have some frustrations with the mouse getting a bit confused and slowing me down a bit. I'd use that external mouse if I was working for more than an hour or so--easy workaround. I carried the device for about 15 minutes and noticed a few ways of carrying it the plastic case gave a little, but I wouldn't expect it to crack unless I was really careless.
The battery reports over six hours of life, and I got 5 hours of light to moderate use and still had 39% and 3 1/2 hours remaining! That's very good in my view.
Working Offline: Apple is either annoying or brave to be the first to reduce and remove ports, floppy drives, DVD drives from their Mac devices. Similarly the concept of a Chromebook limits you to do everything on your web browser, which means you can't do much without internet access. That's may seem silly but I think it's a brave idea. Of course, we still want to work offline. The best solution is to buy your Chromebook with a 3G plan so it can connect like your smartphone does when no WiFi is available. Alternatively, I've tethered my Chromebook with my phone's 3G in about a minute and I'm typing this now using the 3G connection just fine.
Microsoft Office Offline
Office365
Office was a huge failure offline. The official Office 365 blurb says you need a PC or Mac and the client software installed. Then offline it claims to give three days worth of items, or 150 messages, which ever is larger. Attachments do not open while offline and up to 20 folders are sync'ed. Search is not supported either.
Again, with the free versions, Word, Excel and Powerpoint gave an error message indicating loss of connection to the server not long after disconnecting WiFi on the Chromebook and froze.
The web software was useless and I couldn't make changes or more around the software at all. The only exception was OneNote collaborative software which I'd never noticed, definitely not heard of anyone using..
I created a few Gmail test emails while offline. Then searched and viewed some fairly old emails too. Plus sent an email while offline and can confirm it was automatically sent once Chromebook reconnected to WiFi.
I've not put a lot of time into testing this because I usually have internet at home or the office or a cafe or the airport (and can even get it on a plane these days).
It's easy to find out how to change things or learn about settings on your Chromebook. Printing is easy enough to setup at home too. It took less than 2 minutes.
Pros'
Setup and ready to use faster than any computer I've used.
I plugged in the nearest mouse and keyboard, and it's working without a missing a beat (no popups about installing drivers, just plugged and played).
Websites I've tested to make sure Flash/Silverlight works ok:
Netflix, Amazon Prime Instant Video, YouTube, Google Play, Google Play Music
Con's
No Visio, though Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote are all there via OneDrive online.
HDMI port for external display, rather than the usual 15 pin VGA or the newer standard I'm seeing on Dell and Mac.
No Skype! I use it on my Apple OSX, IOS devices as well as Windows PCs and Window Lumia smartphones, so this is really unfortunate. Of course you can use Google hangouts, but to give your granny a Chromebook then tell her she needs to convince her grand-kids to change from Skype is unfortunate.
There's plenty of advanced settings that you have to live without that super users take for granted on Mac/PC tablet, but they're really not that important. If you can't do without things like controlling what your laptop does when you close the screen (power-save mode is default), how long it runs before automatically sleeping, etc., then you need a more expensive laptop rather than this web and app launcher.
Screen Display: Here's a few photos of images displayed on the screens of a £170 Chromebook on the right and a £800 MacBook Air on the left. Can you see the difference? Is the difference worth the cost? I did a non scientific experiment posting this on Facebook and the few people who voted seemed to notice a small advantage on the more expensive Macbook, but even my son who has a very good eye for this kind of thing had to admit the difference wasn't large.
| Chromebook Toshiba CB30-104 | Windows Dell Lattitude 14-7000 | Apple OSX MacBook Air | |
|---|---|---|---|
| price | £169 | £1290 | £850 |
| security | best | viruses | 2nd best |
| features | android app store | touchscreen bloatware runs most software | premier |
| ecosystem | Google best for G-Drive/Gmail | Microsoft best for Office/Outlook | Apple Office Suite or MS Office best for iPhone |
| build quality | depends on price | depends on price | depends on price |
| screen | 13.3 | 14 | 13.3 |
| SSD storage | 16 Gb +128 Gb via SD | 256 Gb | 128 Gb |
| RAM | 4 Gb | 8 Gb | 4 Gb |
| remote working | fair integration with Windows | best integration with Windows | 2nd best integration withWindows |
Windows You can install anything you can think of from small business finance software to video and audio editing to code compilers for students learning computer programming at university. Mac offers all of these categories, but sometimes not as many choices. Windows is strongest in workplaces (Microsoft Office) and gaming and it's always been a safe bet for most computing needs. Lately the viruses and bloatware forced on users as a way to push advertising or try to sell software has become a high price to pay to reduce the initial cost of the laptop. This along with virus and antivirus hassles are both big reasons to consider ChromeBook.
The Mac can install most kinds of software that Windows offers, but doesn't give the options for the serious gamer or a few other niche users. Not everyone knows how to use a Mac, but people who try them usually are more than happy with the differences. Although opinions differ, Mac is the Mercedes/BMW/Cadillac of personal computing. Plenty of people really cherish their Apple products. They are designed to be things of beauty instead of inexpensive tools. Mac has always been the strongest presence in the creative pursuits: music creation, film making, graphics design, photography, publishing, etc. Note that you can still buy Microsoft Office for Mac and I can attest that it works great on Mac.
As more and more of our computing is done in the cloud, a beefier Chromebook like the Chrome Pixel makes sense aimed at users of high end laptop like the MacBook Air.
Sample Screenshots
Summary: As usual, whether this is right for you depends on what you need. The cost savings and security of a Chromebook are perfect for someone who doesn't use their computer for advanced or niche purposes. Employees might be able to use a Chromebook if enough of the software is located on servers or a remote solution like VDI is available. As time goes by more and more laptop users will be able to work with an inexpensive device that boots super quick and is very simple, secure and less expensive to maintain.
