Chromebook as a school laptop?

[MalwareBlockerYT]

Hi all,

I am going into Sixth Form next year & need a good laptop for free study periods, etc. I would like to get a Chromebook but I just wondered what everyone else thought about them. This is the Chromebook which I am currently looking at purchasing:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-Chrom...id=1481827733&sr=8-4&keywords=Asus+chromebook

Please let me know if you think there are many better spec Chromebooks within £50 + or - of this one (which costs £199) - I haven't really found many & personally like Asus' products.

Thanks,
Malware Blocker

 

[Dani Santos]

Just get it and install linux mint on it. Chrome os isn't that good for your laptop needs, it may have android apps now but you are better with remix os(also has android apps), ubuntu/linux mint or Windows 10. And for £200 you can't ask much for it, I would recomend get a £300-400 with at least an intel i3 and 4gb of ram. Try looking at deals online.

 

[ttto]

Like @Dani Santos said, I recommend you to take a computer with Windows or Linux. You'll have more posibilities in terms of variety of software and customization in the future. If you want to do some stuff that requires more performance (games, graphical design..) I'll recommend, like is said above, to choose a PC with an intel i3 at least.
I only see Chromebooks to be fine on job environments (school, university...), but just for that. For a free time purposes computer, I would go for Windows.

 

[MalwareBlockerYT]

Like @Dani Santos said, I recommend you to take a computer with Windows or Linux. You'll have more posibilities in terms of variety of software and customization in the future. If you want to do some stuff that requires more performance (games, graphical design..) I'll recommend, like is said above, to choose a PC with an intel i3 at least.
I only see Chromebooks to be fine on job environments (school, university...), but just for that. For a free time purposes computer, I would go for Windows.

I will only be using my laptop for school & eventually University work since my desktop gaming PC is all I need at home

 

[Dani Santos]

I will only be using my laptop for school & eventually University work since my desktop gaming PC is all I need at home

If you are going for any engineering degree you need Windows 100% and I would recomennd intel i3 and 4gb minimum.

 

[kev216]

In my opinion you have two cases:

• If you are going to do a study that only requires simple computer tasks and you need only software like an office suite, a pdf reader, a browser etc, a chromebook is perfect.
• Like others already said if you are going to do a more computer related study, I wouldn't recommend it at all. I'm currently studying Computer Science engineering myself and I wouldn't make it with a chromebook. For example I need to install specialised software like the mathematical software Maple and that only runs on windows and mac. For programming exercices in different languagues, I need different IDE's that won't run on a Chromebook. Often I also need to switch to Linux for certain tasks, so I have VMware installed. So, for that kind of study I really recommend a windows laptop with at least an i3 and a good amount of RAM. Of course you can do that kind of work also at home on your desktop, but if you need to make exercices in class which use that kind of software, then you can't solve them with a chromebook (unless you have computers to use in class of course, which in my case isn't always like that, so I wouldn't count on that).

 

[SHvFl]

Depends what you actually will do on it. Check if you use specific programs and what are the requirements. If you don't have anything and you only use a browser and office then ok you can survive with it.

 

[ttto]

I will only be using my laptop for school & eventually University work since my desktop gaming PC is all I need at home

At university, it's probably that you need specific software used in the area that you'll study, like people said above, so I personally down't recommend you to buy a Chromebook for university. In addition, some of these specific softwares need some performance, so I'll go for a bit expensive Windows PC. In my case, if you want an example, studing chemistry we use some statistic and graphical software that is only avalible for Windows and mac.

 

[Svoll]

If you are going for any engineering degree you need Windows 100% and I would recomennd intel i3 and 4gb minimum.

Trust this man's word! While you are feeling that you are only gonna use it for notes and such in class, you will be exposed to a lot of different software and 100% of the software used during class at my Uni is Windows products. Once you get into Uni, the 2 most support OS are win and mac.... The engineering apps offer thru EDU is also mostly for windows.... List Of All Products | New Releases | Autodesk
You can join me and @RoboMan as Engineering Failures =D

 

[ttto]

For example I need to install specialised software like the mathematical software Maple and that only runs on windows and mac.

In my degree they used to learn Maple, but just the year I had to learn it, they changed for first time to Wolfram. Quite 2 fantastic pieces of software.

 

[kev216]

In my degree they used to learn Maple, but just the year I had to learn it, they changed for first time to Wolfram. Quite 2 fantastic pieces of software.

We are also moving away from Maple. They now use MATLAB, another similar software.

 

[MalwareBlockerYT]

I plan to do a Cyber Security or similar University Degree but would happily upgrade my laptop ready for University. Would a Chromebook do for Sixth Form? I would only use it for: PDFs, Documents, Browsing, Notes, etc.

 

[Dani Santos]

Trust this man's word! While you are feeling that you are only gonna use it for notes and such in class, you will be exposed to a lot of different software and 100% of the software used during class at my Uni is Windows products. Once you get into Uni, the 2 most support OS are win and mac.... The engineering apps offer thru EDU is also mostly for windows.... List Of All Products | New Releases | Autodesk
You can join me and @RoboMan as Engineering Failures =D

You Should try and use Win Cupl! Thats an engineering failure, the program is so buggy that it creates errors on code that wasn't written and sometimes it doesnt let you save the project because it says it is being used by itself xD

 

[Dani Santos]

I plan to do a Cyber Security or similar University Degree but would happily upgrade my laptop ready for University. Would a Chromebook do for Sixth Form? I would only use it for: PDFs, Documents, Browsing, Notes, etc.

In the short term yes, on the long term you will regret it

 

[MalwareBlockerYT]

In the short term yes, on the long term you will regret it

Ah but if I hack it I can make $100, 000 Sadly the chances are quite low

 

[kev216]

I plan to do a Cyber Security or similar University Degree but would happily upgrade my laptop ready for University. Would a Chromebook do for Sixth Form? I would only use it for: PDFs, Documents, Browsing, Notes, etc.

In that case of course, but wouldn't it be a waste of money for that one year only to buy a Chromebook? I would rather directly invest in a good decent laptop that you can use for years instead. Now you will spend double money.
Great choice for further study btw

 

[Svoll]

You Should try and use Win Cupl! Thats an engineering failure, the program is so buggy that it creates errors on code that wasn't written and sometimes it doesnt let you save the project because it says it is being used by itself xD

I remember my professor talking about that, LoL, and how glad he is that he only had to use it in class for 2 months before being replaced by Visual Studio.... He did mentioned about multiple errors and how he dreaded teaching PAL with that piece of software...

You know whats spooky? If my professor is on this site and if he is able to figure out my avatar and nick....

 

[Dani Santos]

I remember my professor talking about that, LoL, and how glad he is that he only had to use it in class for 2 months before being replaced by Visual Studio.... He did mentioned about multiple errors and how he dreaded teaching PAL with that piece of software...

You know whats spooky? If my professor is on this site and if he is able to figure out my avatar and nick....

I used it for 1 entire semestre. Worst software I ever used in my life!

 

[Dani Santos]

Ah but if I hack it I can make $100, 000 Sadly the chances are quite low

You can try and hack windows too, I bet microsoft also pays well

 

[MalwareBlockerYT]

I used it for 1 entire semestre. Worst software I ever used in my life!

We use Visual Studio in Computer Science.