Brennanisgreat
Brennanisgreat's Stats
- Review Count1
- Helpfulness Votes9
- First ReviewAugust 7, 2013
- Last ReviewAugust 7, 2013
- Featured Reviews0
- Average Rating5
Reviews Comments
- Review Comment Count0
- Helpfulness Votes0
- First Review CommentNone
- Last Review CommentNone
- Featured Review Comments0
Questions
- Question Count0
- Helpfulness Votes0
- First QuestionNone
- Last QuestionNone
- Featured Questions0
- Answer Count1
- Helpfulness Votes0
- First AnswerAugust 7, 2013
- Last AnswerAugust 7, 2013
- Featured Answers0
- Best Answers0
Brennanisgreat's Reviews
Samsung - 11.6" Chromebook - Exynos 5 - 2GB Memory - 16GB Flash (eMMc) Memory - Silver
Samsung XE303C12-A01US Chromebook: This ultrathin and ultralight HD laptop is super portable, making it easy to always stay connected and productive . Easily access your files at home or on the go with free 100GB cloud storage for 2 years, or even work offline.Learn more about Chromebooks ›
Surprisingly Useful
Customer Rating
5.0
Display
5.0
Performance
5.0
What's great about it: Simplicity, ease of use, great battery life
What's not so great: Body plastic feels flimsy
After a few years of watching the Chromebook's development, I decided to finally take the "Pepsi Challenge", and have been thoroughly satisfied after over a month’s worth of use.
Boot and wake times are, in purely technical terms, exactly what Google says they are, but from a user's perspective go almost unnoticed. This is a good thing. The boot and wake times are so low I don't notice them, or if I do, it's only to think how nice of a change it is to have something boot this quickly.
The Chromebook’s body is attractive, but the plastic used by Samsung seems a bit flimsy at times. The Chromebook has held together, though, and I don’t see any sign that it could break from normal use any time soon. The island-style keyboard is delightful to type on, but the lack of a “delete” seems a bit strange. It doesn’t take long, though, to get used to using “Backspace” exclusively. Another strange omission/replacement is the search key in the place of the former “Caps Lock” key. Soon after buying the Chromebook, I changed the function of this key back to Caps. There are no F-keys at the top, instead being replaced by useful keys dedicated to simple browser functions, brightness, volume, and screen switching. The trackpad is smooth and accurate. Its multi-touch support is convenient and fluid. Speakers aren’t the best in the world, but do produce clear audio.
The desktop environment is minimal but exactly what it needs to be. There are no desktop shortcuts, but there is a "Files" folder containing only two sub-folders: downloads and Google Drive (inserting external media creates folders in the same way folders appear in Windows). Downloads is exactly what you'd expect. Clicking office files in the Google Drive folder opens them in Google Docs. Clicking image, audio, and media files open them in Google's on-board file apps. iTunes music works, but be sure to play songs from the downloads folder, not the Drive folder. Video playback for files saved to the Chromebook’s hard drive is smooth and easy. A Chrome shortcut and an apps launcher come pre-pinned to the taskbar, and other apps can also be pinned to the taskbar a la Windows or Mac. Simply put, it’s easy to find your way around the Chromebook.
However, it’s likely you will spend most of your Chromebook time in the browser. See, aside from basic media file-launching, everything on the Chromebook is done in the Chrome browser. This may sound rather limiting, but it isn’t. Google made a bet that just about everything you do on a computer is done in a browser, and if it isn’t, they can find a way to put that task or activity there. The Chrome browser works exactly as it does in Windows or Mac. Browsing is fluid and snappy. Google should also be commended for finding an excellent balance between screen real estate and readability. Open the same web page in Chromebook and on a similarly-sized netbook and you’ll see what I mean.
All apps (aside from the few built-in) open directly in the browser. For example, opening the browser, email, and Drive links from the taskbar opens all three in different tabs of the same Chrome window. This does simplify workflow a bit (everything you’re working on has a tab at the top of the screen), but this can be a little overwhelming when you’re working in multiple docs, on a course page, in Gmail, and various other web sites all at the same time. Being able to open different instances of the Chrome browser for each task, or opening programs like Drive or Gmail in separate, modified browser windows would be very helpful. The tab bar can get a little cluttered, but this is by no means inconvenient.
I teach at a community college, so things like ease of access, portability, and usability are important to me, and it is in these areas that the Chromebook truly shines. I can work on/modify a lecture on my office computer, shut it down, grab my Chromebook, walk to class, and find everything I need in its place and ready to go. No more printing, flash drives, etc. I can teach, manage my courses’ Moodle pages, etc. on the fly directly from my Chromebook. Of course, that can be done on any laptop, but Drive and Docs is an incredibly useful tool for both stationary and on-the-go document work.
Google Drive was the main reason I waited so long to try Chromebook. I previously used Box.com and had 50gb free storage with them, and so was naturally hesitant to give that up. In my previous, and admittedly brief, attempts at using Google Drive, I refused to change my documents to Google’s proprietary file formats. This meant that to make changes, I would have to download the file, open it in MS Office, make the changes, save, upload, and delete the old file. Tedious. But since forcing myself to change all my file formats to Google Docs format, my work life has become so much simpler. Changes are made directly in the browser and save automatically. The most convenient feature of Drive is the ability to “download as”. Since I run a paper-free classroom, I provide assignment descriptions etc. in digital file format through Moodle. Before Chromebook, I would download a file from Box.com, open it in Office, save as *.rtf (for worksheets) or *.pdf (for lectures, assignment descriptions, and anything else I didn’t want students to be able to modify), upload to Moodle, delete the file from the desktop, etc. Now, with Drive, I simply right-click, “download as” the needed file, and go on about my day. The conversion from Google format to Microsoft Office or PDF format has been faithful and accurate to the original. The only downside is that when first converting from Office to to Drive, you may have to modify your files somewhat, though this only needs to be done once.
Grading is now amazing simple as well. I just download essays from Moodle, upload to Drive, grade, download, resubmit to Moodle. The previous process was incredibly time-consuming. What’s more is that my grading is now portable. No more worrying about needing special software on whatever computer I’m using. Many advertisers claim electronics will simplify your life. Chromebook is the only computer I’ve ever used to actually do that.
You will get a lot from a Chromebook - much more than you’d expect - but you have to be willing to embrace both Drive and and Google Docs file formats. Outside of running any highly specialized software, the Chromebook can do more than everything you need from a general-use computer. Just make sure you have WiFi.
This product is... A touch pad that works great, A nice compact size, easy to set up, perfect for education, perfect for general use
About me... Budget Conscious, Basic web surfing & emails, Social media enthusiast, teacher
I would recommend this to a friend!
Verified Purchaser:Yes
My Best Buy number: 0746073870
My Best Buy number: 0746073870
+9points
9out of 9found this review helpful.
Share this review:
Brennanisgreat's Questions
Brennanisgreat has not submitted any questions.
Brennanisgreat's Answers
Samsung - 11.6" Chromebook - Exynos 5 - 2GB Memory - 16GB Flash (eMMc) Memory - Silver
Samsung XE303C12-A01US Chromebook: This ultrathin and ultralight HD laptop is super portable, making it easy to always stay connected and productive . Easily access your files at home or on the go with free 100GB cloud storage for 2 years, or even work offline.Learn more about Chromebooks ›
can i watch movies from hbogo and maxgo on the chromebook?
Yes! I just checked and it works well.
10 years, 10 months ago
by
Posted by:
Brennanisgreat
from
NC