Monday, February 22, 2016

Make your next computer a Chromebox

I just got one for the house.  All it is ever used for is Facebook, YouTube, and email.  A Chromebox (cb) can do that and so much more.  I like the small size and no noisy fan.  The kids usually turn off their computers in their bedrooms because of the noisy fan at night.

This is easy to set up, and no worries about viruses and other gunk.  I'm happy because I'm the 'goto' guy when things go wrong.  And boy, can they go wrong in the win world.  A Chrome extension allows access to my Samba network, and Cloudprint allows printing on the local printer which is connected through Chrome.

From what I was reading, ChromeOS has gone through all its teething troubles, and is solid.  The only thing I read is that you may want 4 gb instead of 2 if you have a lot of active tabs open.  I never do.  I tried all the utilities such as docs, sheets, etc, and they all work.  G+ allows simple photo editing, etc.

On my main machines, I do video editing, scanning, etc.  It will be a while before any of this can go through the cloud.  But if you have anybody you 'support', like neighbours, or relatives, get them a Chromebox.  This is only good if you have a good hdmi monitor, and the keyboard, etc.  I wouldn't get them a Chromebook if they are not used to to laptops.  My old guy recently got a win 'all in one' all on his own.  The computer is attached to to monitor, and will be impossible to 'convert'.  I don't recommend standard Linux, like I have, because you have too many problems with updates.

Of course, with high-power games, like those of my son, you are stuck with ms forever.  :(

Problem1:  itunes, the most horrible thing in the world.  The library can be moved to the laptop.

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