Chrome, chromebook and related apps

How much do you pay for that access?

free (through facebook log in). Didn't hear an ad once in the four hours I was dicking about with it

?

Groovy. I thought the free version was shit for some reason. I'll have some time to check this all out if it's snowing this weekend. Where'd you get your devices from?
Any good deals at the moment?

CB is only on sale at PC world or Amazon as far as I know.. I got mine from Amazon..

If you have an always on PC have a look at Plex, very nice media server (you don't need to be on the same network, nice and easy to use anywhere)

For "cloud" music I use Amazon music, £20/year for 200,000 tracks plus spotify and last.fm are also good

Right.. big play this weekend.. And.... I can't add anything more than the above. maybe because I have no need to try and turn it into something it isn't. It is just a smart little note book browser. Quick, light and well designed.

The Spotify app I downloaded is a "hack" extension that allows you you log in under facebook login and seems to be a back-door around the subscription.. ??

On a down side there's a problem with my machine in that it wouldn't wake up from sleep mode and I had to crash close it and reboot. Had Samsung support on the phone and re-installed the OS (which was relatively easy) but this didn't fix it.. So I have to send it back to Amazon..

You don't need a spotify app, you can just go to https://play.spotify.com/home for the web version of spotify. As it's a beta you may have to link your spotify account to Facebook to access it, afterwards you can unlink them.

It works on all PCs so useful for spotify at work, etc.

Thanks for the reviews Brave.

Asked in the Android thread but wasn't aware there was a Chrome thread.

What's the screen quality like?

For me it'll be mainly used as something to help me study I can take notes with. Did think about a tablet but much prefer the familiar setting of a laptop.

Is it light enough to carry in a bag most days?

Very, very light and thin. Screen is good and I would say it's would be OK for what you need to do with it.

Ipad/Tablets do have better screens of course but I have no need of of that quality for what the CB is used for..

Still tempted by one of these, but not sure which one as Samsung now do a series 5 chromebook?

229 vs. 299 something like that.

Had another play with one in John Lewis at lunch and they look fantastic. Picked it up without looking like I was trying to nick it and they're nice and light too.

Or is it worth waiting for the Google I/o next month?

http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en_uk/chrome/devices/chromebook-pixel/

4.3 million pixels – each invisible to the unaided eye – work together to deliver crisp text, vivid colours, and extra wide viewing angles. The 12.85” screen has the highest pixel density of any laptop, and a 3:2 photographic format designed for the web puts every one of those pixels to good use.

£1,049.00 though.

https://mediahint.com/

If you download you can watch American netflix.

A nice screen and it's meant to be great hardware but I couldn't really see what the point of a Chromebook with an i5 is. I thought all the heavy lifting was meant to be done by the cloud.

aparently there is a netflix chrome app now, reports seem to hint it works on ARM chipped samsung ones (only?)

I quite fancy the new HP 14" number, might just have to pull the trigger on it and suck it up if i canny stream movies.

Does the HP come with an SSD? I think that's the key to Chromebooks.

Barely, 16gb.
Although iv not seen a bigger SSD in a chromebook

Good little offer at the moment on Chromebooks, buy one and get a free samsung phone;

http://www.google.com/intl/en_uk/chrome/devices/samsung-chromebook-offer.html

Looking to buy one of these at the moment. Keeping an eye on ebay but it would be great to get one a little cheaper than ~150. Does anyone have one they're looking to sell? (would need posting as I'm not in London)

HP Chromebook 11 is back in stock on Google Play, I'm very tempted....

The Samsung 11" a little cheaper now but I'm still drawn to the HP one now they have fixed the power problems.

Are the Chromebook users on here happy with them as an overall concept? (I'll be able to tether to a N5 for 4G coverage so connectivity shouldn't be a problem.)

I gave in to temptation and went for the HP a couple of weeks ago. I'm very happy with it so far, I like the ability to charge from the mini USB so I dont need to lug a charger around, and I prefer it to a tablet (Which has become ChromeCast remote since the Chromebook arrival).

The only minor gripe is not being able to open password protected zip files, I'd prefer to be able to keep my USB stick encrypted in case I lose it. But I don't think its possible on a Chromebook??

Does anyone have the Acer C720 Chromebook? http://www.johnlewis.com/acer-c720-chromebook-intel-celeron-2gb-ram-16gb-ssd-11-6-grey/p1097376?kpid=232943458&s_kenid=13f5d9b7-8440-a7a9-53fa-00003a6c1aa8&s_kwcid=128x39161&tmad=c&tmcampid=73

Had a play with a friend's over the weekend and it seems fast and neat.

Thinking about what I actually use my home computer for these days, and my current finances, I certainly can't justify replacing my MacBook - most of my digital life is already saved somewhere in the ether anyway.

These just seem too logical/cheap/good to be true...? Must be some drawbacks...?

I have a Samsung Chromebook and, although it's quite convenient, I found that there were just too many times when it couldn't do what I wanted it to and I had to resort to a proper PC.

Have a think about everything you do and consider whether you can do it in a web browser, because at the moment that's basically all they are.

A few things I found issues with were

• downloading files (bittorrent and NZB),
  
• using Office (I can't really get on with Google Docs but this may not be an issue for many),
  
• playing video files (you have to use their video player which isn't great and it seemed to struggle with some formats),
  
• playing music, there's no easy music library like winamp/itunes (although if you have a network connection the google play music is fine)
  
• printing, it wouldn't work with my wireless printer
  
• USB peripherals, it can cope with mass storage but anything more complicated is hit and miss.
  
  

It's definitely not a replacement for a main PC, as a secondary PC for web browsing and nothing else it's OK, more of a tablet replacement than PC replacement.

^ That's really helpful, thanks!

Anyone had any problems with Chromebooks locking up in browser mode? If it happened on my PC I would expect an error message saying Shockwave had crashed or something but there are no error messages. I can still move the cursor around but can't click on anything and it requires a forced restart. It's an HP device. Nothing on their support pages closely describes it. Happens a few times a day. We've done a 'Power Wash' which did precisely nothing. Bought it less than a year ago.