Moving to ChromeOS after growing up with Windows

[Guytronic]

Yes but you can opt out.

I'm not arguing any for or against when it comes to privacy options on any platform.

To me if you communicate via wireless there are no secrets.

 

[Witness]

This is a really nice write-up. Gotta say, a bit suspiciously nice write-up.

Anyways, I've given ChromeOS a shot and I found it too limiting for myself. As for my kids, it would work, but my thought has always been to teach them computing skills that would extend to enterprise computing in the future. Also, seeing that you need screenshot app just to take a screenshot is kind of ridiculous to me when I just hit the "Print Screen" button the PC.

Great that it works for you. Until the day comes where I can use Photoshop, Premiere on a CB that contains more than 32/64GB, it's not a consideration for me.

 

[Tom Westrick]

So... I have a HP Elite X3 and a Surface Pro4. I use the Elite X3 everyday and the Surface Pro4 only gets used for Word Processing, Movies/TV Streaming or Video/Picture Editing. The latter is the reason(s) I would never and could never switch to something like a Chromebook. Well, that and the fact that I could not seeing myself using Google anymore. I use my gmail address for junk email that I may need to access or sending an email to someone that I don't want to have my regular email addresses. The only google product I use occasionally besides that is Google Earth because there is no real replacement sadly, but I don't save ANY data there.

That's fair, and yeah if you don't already use Google services the barrier to entry is that much higher. Though the only services you have to use is Gmail for login and the Chrome browser. No need to use Google Docs, Search, Maps, etc since you can just use Word, Bing and Bings Maps in their place.

Hey Tom,

I just picked up the same Acer R13 Chromebook a few weeks ago. I did it because frankly, I needed to. I've used every platform there is so this was more of another notch in my belt than anything else. It's very zippy and all but I can see that ChromeOS wasn't optimized for 1080p. Text is tiny and I'm always having to pinch and zoom. I haven't gotten on the Beta Channel yet so I wanted to ask, how are the Android apps and how do they scale on a 13.3" FHD display?

I don't remember changing the resolution when I had my R13, but I tried 1080P on the new Asus Chromebook Flip and everything was tiny. I didn't keep it that way for more than a few seconds, so I didn't do any specific testing with Android apps.

I would love to use a Chromebook or an iPad and use the PC as a server. Unfortunately my professional needs can't be met with either of those two devices so I am kinda stuck using a Windows laptop (work issue) and a Surface Pro 3. One of these days I am going to get one for my kid, however currently the school recommends a PC as well so....

That's fair, and I can totally see my needs changing when I go through my career change later this year. If so, I'll survey the market and pick whatever Windows laptop suites my needs.

Well, in my opinion, not having access to your files anywhere you go is an issue - hence a laptop with internal storage counts rather than a chromebook with minimal storage options

Internet isn't available everywhere everytime and at the speeds needed - I have a crappy connection at home that rarely works as it should and I can't change that because there aren't other options available - I want to watch a 360p video on youtube, that will take 4 times longer to buffer than to watch - I'm better off getting the videos copied from someone's hard disk or flash drive

I get that, but I do so much of my stuff online anyway. I'm an online college student, so our books, rubrics, and class discussions are all online anyway. If I'm going to be offline for a while, I need to download my rubric just like I would if I was using Windows.

I don't like using cloud storage either, but physical hard drives fail as well. I keep all my school work saved in Google Drive on the off chance my hardware fails. It's just one less thing to worry about, especially since they include 100gb of Drive storage with a Chromebook.

@Tom Westrick

Is performance really that good? My laptop is an i7 with 8GB RAM, 1TB hard disk and 14 inch screen and it cost me 650USD which is a bit more than 50% more than your device which has 4GB RAM, 32GB internal memory and a media tek processor - I think I got really good value for what I spent

Depends on what you do with it. I did return the R13 since it wasn't quite powerful enough to drive a second display with 20+ tabs open across 4 browser windows, but it was perfectly fine if I just used it as a laptop. The HP Chromebook G1 (m5, 8gb RAM), Asus Chromebook Flip C302 (m3, 4gb RAM) and Samsung Chromebook Plus (Rockchip ARM processor, 4gb RAM) work just fine for me. If I didn't need that many tabs and windows for my school work, I'd be using the R13 since the battery life is ludicrous.

Keep in mind that the processor is only part of the equation. A hard disk drive is going to run slower than the flash storage in the Chromebook. Windows does a lot more and requires more processor power than ChromeOS. so ChromeOS will run smoother on the same hardware. There's also the time investment: ChromeOS is dead simple to get going and use, while Windows seemed to present problems when I really didn't have the time and just needed it to work, even on a high end ultrabook.

You do know that Google is one of very few companies that has actually broken their own privacy policies, right?

Actually, their only way of profit is through invading your privacy.

Chrome is also not the safest browser. Edge is the only browser that has no active exploits out in the wild.

Other than those few flaws in your post, good luck!

If collecting data is their only way to profit, they're going to do everything they can to keep that data safe and maintain trust. Microsoft's privacy policy (under the advertisement section) specifically states they share data they collect with other companies. It doesn't matter how much I trust Microsoft, I also have to trust the companies they share with - and they only list a few. When I did my privacy comparison article in July, Yahoo was one of the listed companies. Because Microsoft only mentions a few companies and "others," how am I supposed to know if my data has been shared with Yahoo?

I'll concede that Chrome as a browser is less secure than Edge as a browser, but ChromeOS and an entire operating system is more secure than Windows as a entire operating system since exploits simply can't run.

Yes but you can opt out.

Microsoft personalized ad preferences

Which you can't do with Google as far as I can tell unless you stop using the service. Or clear search history constantly. But not sure if clearing the search history on google changes advertising since this information is already available to them and new searches will be.

Google even uses information from e-mail and other items and those MS privacy settings say they DON'T do that.

Google is worse than MS and those who keep trying to pretend otherwise are in denial.

Google's "My Activity" hub launched in July.

This is a really nice write-up. Gotta say, a bit suspiciously nice write-up.

Anyways, I've given ChromeOS a shot and I found it too limiting for myself. As for my kids, it would work, but my thought has always been to teach them computing skills that would extend to enterprise computing in the future. Also, seeing that you need screenshot app just to take a screenshot is kind of ridiculous to me when I just hit the "Print Screen" button the PC.

Great that it works for you. Until the day comes where I can use Photoshop, Premiere on a CB that contains more than 32/64GB, it's not a consideration for me.

I'll take that first sentence as a compliment I've been doing reviews on different forums and a Medium page for a few years now, I just don't do too many Windows reviews since I mainly use Android.

That's fair. I don't need a Razer Blade with a GTX 1060, and neither do most people. The existence of Chromebooks doesn't preclude the existence of other laptops, and as I mentioned above if I need something more powerful in the future, I'll move back to Windows.

That app is actually unnecessary, as I found out right after publishing this. I searched for "ChromeOS Snipping Tool", which led me to that app. To find the shortcut - Ctrl+Shift+Switch Window (one of the function keys) - I had to search for "ChromeOS print screen."

I will say, the Photoshop Elements app does a lot of the same functions that proper desktop Photoshop does, but the hardware just isn't there for Premiere.

 

[Bologwp]

Just curious, but why are you trying so hard to convince everyone here that a CB is all anyone needs? If it works for you, that is great, but reading through this thread, it sounds way too much like a sales pitch, JMT.

 

[Giddora]

If collecting data is their only way to profit, they're going to do everything they can to keep that data safe and maintain trust. Microsoft's privacy policy (under the advertisement section) specifically states they share data they collect with other companies. It doesn't matter how much I trust Microsoft, I also have to trust the companies they share with - and they only list a few. When I did my privacy comparison article in July, Yahoo was one of the listed companies. Because Microsoft only mentions a few companies and "others," how am I supposed to know if my data has been shared with Yahoo?

I'll concede that Chrome as a browser is less secure than Edge as a browser, but ChromeOS and an entire operating system is more secure than Windows as a entire operating system since exploits simply can't run.

They make their money on selling the data to the highest bidder. That's their entire income base right there. They don't state what data are being sold and to who.

The Chrome browser is a big security hole, and so will ChromeOS when/if it ever catches on outside of a niche market. The first holes in ChromeOS was found 6 years ago... And when it gets interesting, there will be a lot more. Google isn't very good when it comes to securing their systems.

 

[anon(50597)]

They make their money on selling the data to the highest bidder. That's their entire income base right there. They don't state what data are being sold and to who.

The Chrome browser is a big security hole, and so will ChromeOS when/if it ever catches on outside of a niche market. The first holes in ChromeOS was found 6 years ago... And when it gets interesting, there will be a lot more. Google isn't very good when it comes to securing their systems.

I'm not convinced that's true, but I admit I'm no expert.
I believe what Google does is collect information on you based on your browsing and then send targeted ads to you depending on your interests. So if I'm selling something, I'm not buying your information from Google, but getting people to click on my ad and hopefully buy something. I never see anything about you unless you buy. Google would be foolish to sell your information because they make more this way.
Again, I could be wrong but it's the way I understand it.

Sent from my Alcatel Idol 4S

 

[Tom Westrick]

Just curious, but why are you trying so hard to convince everyone here that a CB is all anyone needs? If it works for you, that is great, but reading through this thread, it sounds way too much like a sales pitch, JMT.

Not trying to sell anyone on anything, just sharing my experience.

They make their money on selling the data to the highest bidder. That's their entire income base right there. They don't state what data are being sold and to who.

The Chrome browser is a big security hole, and so will ChromeOS when/if it ever catches on outside of a niche market. The first holes in ChromeOS was found 6 years ago... And when it gets interesting, there will be a lot more. Google isn't very good when it comes to securing their systems.

You speak like you don't know how their setup works. All data stays within Google's ad network, it isn't sold to outside parties.

 

[Tom Westrick]

I'm not convinced that's true, but I admit I'm no expert.
I believe what Google does is collect information on you based on your browsing and then send targeted ads to you depending on your interests. So if I'm selling something, I'm not buying your information from Google, but getting people to click on my ad and hopefully buy something. I never see anything about you unless you buy. Google would be foolish to sell your information because they make more this way.
Again, I could be wrong but it's the way I understand it.

Sent from my Alcatel Idol 4S

Correct.

 

[fatclue_98]

I'm not convinced that's true, but I admit I'm no expert.
I believe what Google does is collect information on you based on your browsing and then send targeted ads to you depending on your interests. So if I'm selling something, I'm not buying your information from Google, but getting people to click on my ad and hopefully buy something. I never see anything about you unless you buy. Google would be foolish to sell your information because they make more this way.
Again, I could be wrong but it's the way I understand it.

Sent from my Alcatel Idol 4S

I hear what you're saying and I don't know who's right and who's wrong, but I do know that when I had my G5 and I walked in to any major retailer I would instantly receive an email ad related to that place. That's an invasion of my privacy.

Sent from Alcatel Idol 4S with Windows via mTalk

 

[anon(50597)]

I hear what you're saying and I don't know who's right and who's wrong, but I do know that when I had my G5 and I walked in to any major retailer I would instantly receive an email ad related to that place. That's an invasion of my privacy.

Sent from Alcatel Idol 4S with Windows via mTalk

That may not be because of Google. Every store you buy something in collects data and may sell it. We can't get away from it too easily but I hear ya.

Sent from my Alcatel Idol 4S

 

[Tom Westrick]

I hear what you're saying and I don't know who's right and who's wrong, but I do know that when I had my G5 and I walked in to any major retailer I would instantly receive an email ad related to that place. That's an invasion of my privacy.

Sent from Alcatel Idol 4S with Windows via mTalk

That's the store's doing, and is available for every OS

 

[tgp]

You speak like you don't know how their setup works. All data stays within Google's ad network, it isn't sold to outside parties.

That's basically correct. The last thing Google wants to do is to sell the data. That would essentially be killing the goose that lays the golden egg. They get paid for targeting ads. A company selling vacuum sweepers, for example, isn't wasting money sending ads to 16 year old high schoolers.

Protecting your data is extremely high priority to Google, because once the companies have your data, they don't need Google.

Last year Newsweek published an article related to data collection - THE SECRETIVE WORLD OF SELLING DATA ABOUT YOU.

Credit card companies and department stores have data about their customers that the big tech companies cannot collect. They make Google look like a novice. For example, Google knows you went to Target. Target and your credit card company know you went to Target, and they both know exactly what you bought! Plus, they actually sell the data.

 

[Chintan Gohel]

What percentage of devices sold worldwide were chromebooks? Vs windows devices and apple devices

That should give a good indication of how viable they are

And if we can get statistics per region or even country, that would be excellent

 

[Tom Westrick]

What percentage of devices sold worldwide were chromebooks? Vs windows devices and apple devices

That should give a good indication of how viable they are

And if we can get statistics per region or even country, that would be excellent

More than Windows 10 Mobile devices.

 

[Timbre70]

I think this post serves as a warning about a likely demise of certain os in the coming future if people continue to be complacent.

 

[Cryio]

Chrome? Bleh. Opera & Edge 14 all the way.

 

[mjperry51]

More than Windows 10 Mobile devices.

Strawman -- come on. . .

 

[anon(50597)]

More than Windows 10 Mobile devices.

Edit: of course mobile.

Sent from my Alcatel Idol 4S

 

[Laura Knotek]

This article is almost a year old, but Chromebooks outsold Macs last year. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.th...gy/2016/may/23/chromebook-mac-google-pc-sales

 

[anon(50597)]

This article is almost a year old, but Chromebooks outsold Macs last year. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.th...gy/2016/may/23/chromebook-mac-google-pc-sales

It also mentioned in the article that Windows devices are still "very much on top" in terms of sales.

Sent from my Alcatel Idol 4S