Well I picked up an acer chrome book 11 today for my birthday. So far I have to admit that I am very impressed. It is very light and the screen is very sharp. I should explain my situation a bit though. I have been using google chrome and google docs a lot on a windows machine. I am a grade 5 teacher and I started using chrome because it allowed me to change some of the things on my computer that I could not change because of the security policies of the school board. So I have been using google docs on and offline for a while. It was my birthday yesterday and I got some cash from my parents enough to buy a chrome book so I thought to myself I can at least try it out for a couple of weeks. Now I should mention as an open discloser that I also work as a technology sales representative for Staples Canada. The store I work for is in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. I love working at Staples. So I am going to use my blog to chronically my usage on my new Chrome book and the advantages and disadvantages. This will be from a lay persons point of view. While I am fairly technological I want to see if an average person could use this.
Okay so the first thing I have notices is how light this laptop is. I am not going to list how heavy it is but it is crazy light. I am obviously writing this post on it. The screen is very clear and crisp and I love the fact that is is a matt finish. I did have a problem connecting it when I first started it up. It said it could not find a DHCP hookup. Now I knew what DHCP is but could not imagine my mother knowing how to fix that. I just hand to reset my wireless router and I was good to go. I was not happy about this at all though. Like I said I know what that is. I did a quick search and found out this is a common problem with chrome books.
If you are thinking about getting a chrome book you have to understand that it uses goggle docs not Microsoft office. Now I can open up word documents and use them but this is a whole different operating system. It would take a while for most people to get used to this. A couple big advantages though
1. I don't need security software. The OS is constantly being updated by Google so you really don't need security software.
2. You don't need to buy office.
So when you buy a chrome book you really don't need anything extra. Now I work at Staples I would highly recommend that you allow us to setup the chrome book for you. If I was talking to a customer I would tell them that we would take their documents and photos and put them on Google Drive for them and setup a Google account if they didn't have one already. I would also highly recommend a one on one tutorial. Like I said it is quite different and while I am enjoying it so far I am already familiar with Google products. If I wasn't this would really frustrating. The setup services that Staples offers is to make the experience of getting a new computer as fun, exciting, and smooth as possible. I would not want my mother to get a new computer without the setup. Now I am the one that sets up her stuff. The question remains would I want my mother to have this? Not sure yet. My kids yes that is easy this would fit their school work perfectly.
I will write some more in a couple of days.
Staples Chromebook Link
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