Google Chromebook

[jgillott]

Picked up a Samsung Chromebook tonight to replace my old PC laptop that finally died. Wal-Mart had these things on sale for $149. Knowing that I only wanted something to go on the internet with and to access Google Docs and my Google Drive (We've been using both lately at work) I decided to give it a shot.

Initial impressions are excellent. Pulled it out of the box and had it running in a matter of a minute. Nice keyboard, USB ports on the back, etc. Only 16G of internal storage but using the Google Drive, that is irrelevant to me. This dang thing is fast compared to what I was using before. I realize that I'm easily impressed with new technology since I don't keep up with the latest products, but I'm impressed so far.

It is a little scary that Google collects so much information from you though. I logged in to this Chromebook with my gmail account and it already had TDR in my search preferences......

 

[TJJEEPER]

Did you miss yesterday's (or was it Wednesday's?) news that Google turned on the microphone so they can listen to you ANYTIME THEY WANT? Supposedly it was to allow Chrome to use voice commands to do their search however they neglected to tell anyone. The programmers using the open source code to develop new apps discovered it.
http://arstechnica.com/security/201...voice-extension-pulled-after-spying-concerns/

 

[The patriot]

I want to know if this is true: (caution, camel jockey dont like jews....language)
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=875819415818372

 

[MichaelOverfield]

I got a chrome book for my son, they have many advantages for a college student.. the big thing is they really need WiFi to work well, but in colleges that won't be a problem these days..

The simplicity and speed is impressive as you've seen.. the Microsoft stuff just keep piling on updates/patches, etc, and bogs the machines down.. my laptop is getting so slow, and it is not a low end machine..

As far as monitoring, Google does it, but so do ALL of them. It is really got to the point that it is just what you have to deal with, but it is something we should always be aware of... big brother is watching.

We also know that laws and the words used within are not subject to mean what they say, so don't count on any privacy protection to be worth the ink and paper it is printed on.. we are officially a government where the powerful get their way, and no one is stopping them.. Last 2 big SCOTUS rulings have made this very clear.

 

[p-Bar]

You will like the Chromebook Leo Leporte who is on the radio on the weekends gives praise to these especially if all you are doing is email and surfing the net. Also you can do a reset very easy if it starts getting flaky it will put it back to factory standards . Michael Windows 10 is going to be the hot ticket a lot of great stuff under the hood they are trying to get this out to everybody even for free so they can get developers to start writing apps ect. STANDBY

P.S. We want stuff for free like email and of course Google looks for key words they aren't reading your email (machines are)

 

[jgillott]

It's a little thing, but I'm loving the fact that the calendar info from my phone is automatically on this thing. I used to have to take an extra step and forward appointments and scheduling to my PC.

Again, all of the potential negatives to Google aside, this thing is very easy to use and I am about as technologically incompetent as they come.

 

[Deleted member 995608]

Our only school a is small K-8 w/ an average of 137 students. A few private donors have been buying iPads w/ wireless keyboards with hopes that every single kid in class will have one to use.

The schools IT guy who happens to be the 5th grade teacher, bought a few Chromebook's out of his own pocket to make up difference in his class. Once the other teachers got to use em, they all want Chromebook's instead of iPads now.

As far as big brother goes, they all track and hold your information.

 

[jgillott]

I'd be interested to know how they hold up in the hands of the kids long term. We have a number of iPads in use with our students, certainly not 1 to 1 yet, but they have been well used.

We had technology training at work a few weeks ago on the Google Docs, Google Classroom, etc. I was completely unfamiliar with their capability until then. I didn't realize how capable they are . One of the things that I really like for the kids using Google Docs over Microsoft Word for example is that it is automatically saved in the cloud as they type. They don't have to worry about losing anything if they make a mistake. When they get home and log in to their home device, their data is already there and accessible to them. No longer do the kids have to worry about emailing their work to their home device as an attachment or dealing with compatibility issues.

 

[ed9824v]

I had the Samsung chromebook my kids got me nice, but the sound was low then it finally went out all together, sent back to Amazon and replaced with a Toshiba much better sound and still going strong. Hope you don't have any issues may have been just my unit.

 

[p-Bar]

There are cheap Chromebooks so you have to be careful what you buy . Don't blame the OS it's cheap hardware. I think Apple products are over priced for having to give to a bunch of kids Chromebooks are the way to go.