For the average consumer that needs this for basic web browsing and maybe some "office" work. The price is unbeatable. This is something I would recommend for my mom or grandparents.
I could definitely see this as a way to get older generations into the digital age, especially grandparents etc. Being able to use this for e-mail, internet and video calls is just about everything I could imagine mine using this for, but it would be perfect, and I think the touchscreen helps with making it more intuitive. It'd be perfect if it came with 3/4G connectivity for people who don't want the hassle of getting an internet connection set up.
Dakota Hahn Probably not where I am in the UK (we don't really have 4G rolled out yet, they're still changing the bands over and distributing) but it'd still be cool if they were able to use 3G connectivity.
"For the average consumer that needs this for basic web browsing and maybe some "office" work. The price is unbeatable." uh.. a tablet...? I've seen several $150 - $200 tablets that are about as functional as a chromebook...
Your right! I am actually thinking of getting my grandma and uncle a 13" Chromebook. My uncle barely had hands on a PC and my grandma hasn't used any computer before! The great thing about the Chromebook is it is a no fuss computer. No drivers to worry about, no complications of Windows or Mac, pretty much no malware to worry about and IT JUST WORKS. Also note that my grandma still uses a fax machine and my uncle uses a typewriter. Not kidding.
yoman299mw2 Because it's super cheap, super light and portable, and does what I need on the go without needing my bulky laptop or full desktop. Everything I do online at Uni is in Chrome/GDrive, so it's perfect.
Hey i am thinking of getting an old Chromebook I need it to use for Microsoft office Can you explain how does office work on Chromebook and can it be installed off-line if we ever dont have access to the internet for web versions?
@@hamzaharoon1217 Hello; As for right now, you cannot install the full Microsoft office that you can install on Microsoft Windows. Though, there is Google docs. Google docs provides all the things you would use with MS word and can be accessed offline, there is also Slides which is like power point and sheets which is like Excel. If you're looking for a computer capable of running real Microsoft office, a ChromeBook is not what you're looking for, there are ways to install Linux operating systems and even Windows on a ChromeBook. But I don't think it would be worth your hassle, but if you're okay with using the Google office alternative ChromeBooks are pretty good netbooks. I hope was able to help you out! Cheers! --Scimitar
@@ScimitarRaccoon thank you so much for the prompt reply I am a student and use ms office for basic tasks like presentations and word documents glad to know that the google alternatives are also pretty good I also heard that the web versions of office are like Windows alternatives if you own office 365 Which i have Otherwise what you say is true i cant afford newer Chromebooks so will have to opt for previous versions Can you tell me if i buy a Chromebook which no longer recieves updates officially will i miss out on new features or is there a way to manually update a chromebook? Ty again for the prompt and detailed reply
The lovely background on the chromebook is Lake Wakatipu, New Zealand, looking south, from Queenstown Hill, with The Remarkables on the left and Cecil Peak on the right. Wave clouds behaving very nicely. :)
One of the absolute best features of ChromeOS is that it is a Linux kernel based OS and thus supports chroot environments. I can run Archlinux, Ubuntu, and many other Linux OSes alongside ChromeOS. It is a Linux optimized platform that supports (through dev mode and crouton) real, powerful operating systems. Productivity is not an issue for any programmer, database manager, or other type of developer--it may even be better than Windows. No more cygwin headaches for me :)
Nice review work! How refreshing. This is the first review of yours I've seen; but you are to the point, hit all the points and don't make me feel like I'm wasting my time at any point. Cheers.
Sorry you can’t chrome books block all downloads I guess you could if you install the one to on the hard drive but still chrome books don’t have a good hardware unless you have the $1000 pixel book so I would just get a budget of windows laptop
@@urbanduck9934 Some Chromebooks have/ had a write protection which made it so you can’t install stuff onto the internal storage. Some Chromebooks these days come with a replaceable NVME-Drive. Haven’t personally gotten my hands on one but that should definitely make it possible to install Windows. Question is how much sense that would make.
@@urbanduck9934 It really depends on the model tho. My boyfriend has the CP-713 which has eMMC storage. So installing anything else than ChromeOS would be hard. xD Although I recently saw a guide that goes quite in-depth on the installation-process.
This was great Linus. You should do more stuff like this once in a while. I enjoyed hearing your expert opinion on this device. I for one have not and would not buy a Chromebook yet but it is a platform that does make me curious. Seriously though. You should do more Chromebooks in the future if and when they make changes to the models.
Linus, I love your honest reviews. It's awesome that you don't sugar coat any reviews. And your videos are so simple and easy to understand! Please keep up the great videos. You have helped me a lot:)
A Chromebook isn't for everyone... Then again... nothing is for everyone. For students the speed of bootup, the long battery life, the light weight, the low price... and the knowledge that if it should be stolen almost everything is saved "on the cloud"... well... it's perfect. It can easily replace a much more expensive laptop when it comes to school work, and if you have "special" software you need to run for a class.... well, you can remotely access your PC at home... or just use your PC at home... or use a school computer on campus... but that is pretty rare. For that matter... even out of school... 90%+ of the time I am online surfing or just typing up a document. It's not a game machine... but it is a great platform for getting work done.
+Because I said so!!! to me, the chromebook is really annoying when my teachers tell us to use it, i much rather us be using a 2 in 1 that is slightly cheaper
It's not ideal for every situation, but I like how light it is... and how inexpensive it is. When needed... a can use my regular laptop with either Windows or Linux.
Those are for art students only. If you study any other degree, chances are, you'd probably over tax that thing with the amount of browser tabs you have opened
Thanks for this video. I never thought about getting a chromebook before now, but I've recently become more interested in them. This video helps a lot.
My school uses Chrombooks, and they're pretty bad. Then again, these are the bottom-of-the-barrel Samsung ones. Oftentimes, the wireless fails, or takes about 30 seconds for a basic webpage. I don't know, I bring my own Laptop to school anyway!
I don't know too much about it. Most people at my school think that the school's internet is slow, (takes a while for webpages to load [low ping?]), but overall speed is pretty good. I can upload a 10 min. 720p youtube video in about 5 minutes. They may have the chromebooks on a slightly different network, but there is a big difference between the chromebooks and the 4 year old crapples our school has.
It's probably your school's wifi. At least that's the case at my school. Wired I get 800Mb/s Dl and Ul with a 6ms ping (Not on a Chromebook). Wireless I get 0.07 Mb/s with a ~300ms ping.
I use mine as a note taker in lectures, I absolutely love it! Use One Drive and it automatically exports to my pc where I then do all my work! Definitely recommend as a laptop for light use!!
Mikat's RUclips I think you have misread the situation, I think Linus was merely joking about the fact that ikki "hates" using both hands on the trackpad. If you did get the situation I did not get your sarcasm.
Great review Linus. I work as a designer for a major electrical store in the UK, they should watch this video so they really understand what a Chromebook is!! Some still think it can run windows software!!!!
Had my Samsung 550 Chromebook for a year now and it's now my primary device. Faster start-up than my pc, easier to type than my tablet, and for the few programs I need, I have Ubuntu 14.04 installed on it too. Seems like people don't understand the purpose of a Chromebook, they're cheap, simple and fast devices. If you want them to be able to play offline games, then go spend twice the price on a laptop.
I use a Chromebook on a daily basis during the normal school year. I cannot live without it! It seemed weird at first, but it is very simple. No extras to fumble with. I think its one of those niche uses at least for now.
I think Chrome OS would be a lot more popular if it could run android apps as well. I mean its all owned by google. The only issue I could see is it then cutting into android tablet market share, but personally I don't think it would hurt it much. I would love it if I could install chrome OS on any machine and run basic desktop apps as well as android. Never gonna happen but hey, a man can dream.
Android apps wouldn't work in a chromebook because of the processor architecure. Emulation would not be a solution either because of the very low specs chromebooks have. BUT you can run Linux in them and it works really well!
oasishenry Well Asus had a laptop ready for release that ran windows and android seamlessly and smoothly, before microsoft/google got butthurt because the other OS has cooties and forced it to be canceled. So then being this is all google they could do it sans cootie danger. Also google translate fail haha.
LinusTechTips oh in the vid you said you wish you had that hangouts style on your desktop which is why he offered downloading the hangouts extension... did this all of a sudden turn into a political ploy? :) i'm sure you use other browser extensions eh? nice vid- subscribed
For one of my classes, we had a REQUIREMENT to either have an OSX Apple Device (MacBook) , Windows OS device, or a Chromebook for my class. I chose to try all three for a week, and this is my experience as a student. Type C Macbook: Nice, thin, okay battery life, but slow as all good god awful hell for anything harder then typing a document Chromebook: Refer to this video.. Windows 10 Laptop: Everything is great.... but that battery life KILLED Me. In the end, I chose the Chromebook.
Use a Toshiba Chromebook for 3 years and my girlfriend used an Acer Chromebook for the same. We used them both for study and they were fantastic, especially the battery life, I usually only had to charge mine about once a week with 4 lectures a week. Would recommend them to anyone who wants to browse and take notes on the cheap. I've since moved onto a Dell XPS 13 and my girlfriend an Asus ux303 both also great machines.
I have a a Surface Pro 2. Best thing ever being a student (especially in engineering). I don't see any other tables that can run all office programs, pdf, and programs like matLAB at great as this can. And having it all with touch just makes it seamless. The little tweaks they added in Office 2014 really helps the whole touch thing.
I was looking for something to replace my old HP laptop that was faster, more portable, had better battery life for cheap. The C720 is an amazing find and fits my needs perfectly. Plus, if I need to do any real computing I just go to my desktop.
Pressing down with two fingers functions like the right button of a mouse. Place two fingers on the touchpad and move them up and down to scroll vertically, left and right to scroll horizontally. To drag and drop, click the item you want to move with one finger. With a second finger, move the item. Release both fingers to drop the item.
So would it be okay for a Senior in High School, for Note Taking, and using School Websites for dropping in assignments? That's.. Really all I need it for..
I think one of the greatest applications for a device like this is its implementation in schools. The school I attend relies heavily on google drive, and they've got about half a dozen of these for students to borrow if they don't have a laptop or tablet to use. It works great for just navigating google's many functions and making modifications to shared documents for group projects. It's also very convenient for turning things in and making something easily available for whomever you want. Bottom line, it's a great tool for impersonal environments where web navigation is the main priority.
Sorry Linus but I have both (c720 and surface 2) and aside from browser extensions there is nothing the chromebook does better. All the chrome 'apps' are webpages that work fine on RT, RT has Skype, office 2013, and actual offline apps like GTA/into the dead/hydro thunder etc. Also you must not have tried to print from that thing or you would have went on a massive Linus rant about how shitty that is on chromeos.
Zach Frank Tried that on mine, while it makes it much more capable, it breaks a lot of stuff also. Video out stops working, the trackpad becomes utter crap, sound sometimes dies for no reason, battery life takes a hit, and worse of all it runs slower than a Celeron should. My atom powered dell tablet plays minecraft better than the c720 running Linux, that makes no sense to me. Something is horribly wrong with the Linux drivers.
you probably didnt set it up correctly, chromeos is a fork of BSD so really it should run fine. If you tried unity as a de that would be your problem. I have full debian installed on a tf101 and it runs great (tegra 2)
For me, I love my chromebook, it's a pretty awesome media consumption device, since most media consumption I do is online. (yeah, I know a tablet is an option to, and I own one, but around the house, I like to use my chromebook more since I HATE virtual keyboards.) Also, great great GREAT GREAT G.R.E.A.T (did I mention it was great) computer for the tech illiterate. Asian moms, Asian grandmoms, tech confused parents ESPECIALLY. I remember buying my mom one of these, and I have to say, one of the best decisions I ever made. Since what she does are basically what a typical non-power users would do, such as check banking and facebook and movies. There's no fuss, and you really don't have to sit there for an hour, walking through with hem what to do and she gets all panicked when the metro interface pops up, or she accidentally clicked an unwanted program. Bottom-line (for me at least) = Chromebooks are shit for power users but wonderful for the non-power users
VisioningHail As even a die hard chrome OS fan, as what marques said.. Don't buy it. Its a halo product not really meant to sell... Not to mention, I know the limitations of chrome is itself..
I agree. Google is doing some cheap advertising by giving out chromebooks to schools, and mine was one of the recipients. I've used them around 4 times now, and I know that this one is HP so I can't really judge this one, but it lagged horribly on google docs. Yes, google docs. I held down the backspace button and it would only update every 2 seconds or so. Either way, I see how a better chromebook could be a good investment.
I think you're right that this product is really like a tablet and a netbook. It's something that I would be frustrated with and wouldn't really have a use for, but I can see it's appeal in the market.
all of mine work like they do on chrome on the desktop but i have windows 8.1 pro with some mods o it so i can run high end games and stuff like that on low end stuff
william endler Did you build your computer, or did you buy it from a store? There may have been some stability changes, but I've been using Ubuntu 14.04 as my main OS for a while now, so I don't know if they made it more stable or not.
i bought my desktop of a guy on ebay and my laptop came from walmart but i put windows 8.1 pro on it since it had windows 7 and that hard disk failed so i had to get a new one
william endler Weird. Are the computers AMD-based or Intel-based? I've just checked my metro mode on my AMD laptop, and it works fine. However, my friends' Intel laptop is buggy a hell with pop-ups everywhere and constant crashes. In windowed mode everything works fine.
I have a Samsung Chromebook, and I love it; this review is pretty spot on considering this guy didn't (as I did) enter into the device with the specific intention of ditching Apple/Windows. Since the review was made there have been some minor updates in the OS that/will fix a few of his (fair at the time) critiques, most specifically the Chrome videoplayer is now about to become standalone from the files folder.
But... why? They're designed for ChromeOS. The hardware is light and so is the OS. Windows will take it all, OSX will want to take it all and Linux will take it all and use it in all the wrong places.
ChromeOS can do some things well, but not everything. in many cases the hardware is pretty good, but the software doesn't unlock its full potential. That's where we come in.
i just picked up one yesterday from best guy, and I think you hit it on the head, this is best as a communication device. I keep mine by the bed, and its easy to do video chat w/ the wife, watch you tube videos, read news, and even read books. I'm enjoying mine so far.
Well, I have good news for you, you can dual boot Chrome OS alongside Linux. You only have 32gb in this model so you'll probably have to manage your storage with Ubuntu using most of the SSD space and Chrome using mostly Drive. Still, not too bad for a 300 dollar laptop.
***** I agree, but I would have no use for ChromeOS, would I be able to completely wipe ChromeOS and install Ubuntu? I have heard people say you can and others say you cannot do this.
I paid only 236 for my Acer C270P Chromebook at Walmart(Also included 3-year warranty) in the summer of 2014 & it has paid for itself time & again!(It definitely surpassed my expectations! (y)
There's a Skype app in Facebook that works on a Chromebook. Unfortunately, Audacity is out of the question. Audio editing wouldn't be great on a Chromebook anyway ( 16 GB of total storage, not to mention lack of processing power ) even if it could.
FreshBagelz Minecraft is actually more GPU-heavy than you think - you need something with good OpenGL support, and Intel iGPU's do NOT have good OpenGL support /AT ALL/. You'd need something along the lines of a GT 530m or better to be able to run Minecraft, and that's a little too much extra money for someone who's actually only buying it for chrome. Maybe in 3-6 years, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.
Linus all the Chromebooks work differently keyboard wise. I myself have the Samsung Chromebook and I love it. Storage is not ment to be kept on the device anyways. Flash drives and/or External Hard drives work very well along side Google Drive. I do wish I had the option of touchscreen but customizability might be limited to some. Also you can duel boot in Dev mode and run Linux.
One of your best reviews Linus, I love the in detail view of Chrome OS besides just the Acer review. I thought Chrome OS was stupid too so I never bothered to look into it, thats what makes this review so great because we all know that you know your stuff so when we hear your opinion on things like this it saves us from having to go out an do tons of research on the product. And the ending wasn't awkward, you don't always have to film an entire review in one take. Look at people like Phillip Defranco who edit their clips a million times and it works.
what else do you need? you can operate Linux on it so you can install other programs windows based. you can turn it to an android os using chrome's terminal. etc. etc.
actually, the SSD in a my chromebook (very similar to this one) is a massive boon to the chromebook. It makes boot time insane, and my cheap chromebook has been the most durable of any computer I have ever owned. I don't need to worry about damaging my hard disk when abusing the shit out of this thing.
Just buy the cheap hardware and put a real Linux distro on it to get the most out of it. The Haswell iGPU even is powerfull enough to run Skyrim in Wine.
16 GB is more than enough to install a Linux distro and have plenty of space. My whole linux installation with all applications I need (Chromium, Skye, Dropbox etc.) is 7 GB. If you want to store your MP3 collection on your chromebook you're going to run into trouble no matter if you use ChromeOS or a real Linxu distro.
You could pop in a 32 GB USB 3.0 stick and mount it has /home, but it would have to be inserted every time you boot. A 128 GB M.2 NGFF SSD as an upgrade only costs about 90 $ and that should be more than enough.
tjpld I don't think these Chromebooks come with a SATA interface. I think the storage is soldered directly to the motherboard. The USB stick idea is pretty cool though
Having used the device for a while now, I've found it to be great, if you regularly use Google's products for work. My school recently made practically everything digital through drive, and a Chromebook has been great for getting my work done.
I just got my very first ChromeOS Chromebook and I bought the Acer C720P so far I really like it both the OS and Acer C720, I'll keep it...I paid $299+Tax quality for what you get pay is way more than what I expected
my school is going to get a bunch of them, for the low price its a hell of an offering, they also seem pretty durable too with no moving parts aside from the fan.
I have Linux on my chromebook, and the media keys turn into the F-keys. I am not too sure about the capslock since I don't use the Linux side too much.
Akio Furukawa @ Akio: I use the F keys exactly for the same stuff as in Windows: triggering gestures in Second Life. @ mvc: sure it's all possible but I'm not interested in workarounds. Not for just getting a keyboard back to its original behaviour after Google's ahole system has mucked it up.
I have the acer c720 chromebook and I love it, my only gripe (and this is really scraping the bottom of the barrel) is that you can't use it as a chromebox. Every now and again I like connecting the chromebook to my HDTV in order to just have more work space and although it works fine in that regard, google have not released a wireless keyboard with the shortcuts that replace the "F1, 2, 3, 4, etc." keys. If they were to do that you could hook the thing up to a HDTV and sit back while still being productive with the same keyboard you have gotten used to on the chromebook itself (which I agree with the review, is very easy to use). Hopefully this comes in the future as the chrome market seems to be ever expanding these days.
ChromeOS, to me, sounds like the most pointless thing ever. Just get a cheap Windows laptop and use Chrome all you want. You at least keep all the versatility of Windows.
the point is not using chrome as much as it is sparing on the os and having a lighter and faster system at the expense of some functionality. it's not for everyone, but it would fit a lot of people I know.
***** yeah but in that case... uh, why? a if all you wanted was basic functionality such as music, video, web and thats pretty much it, then why just save like $100 or so and get a good tablet instead? other than a few features a laptop might have over a tablet (such as a bigger screen) a tablet already does all that and they're cheaper too...
vgamesx1 cheap tablets don't start in 7 seconds and they lack all the connectivity plus as you said the smaller display is a turnoff for a lot of people. also most people will agree that typing on a touchscreen sucks balls compared to a real keyboard.
Cicciter well big deal if they don't start in 7 seconds? it should be on most the time anyway.. connectivity such as? The nexus 7 for an example has Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooh, NFC and even lte/hspa+ if you want to buy the best model, what more do you want? as for the keyboard yes you have a point, but it depends on the person and how responsive and accurate the screen is, plus you can buy one those bluetooth keyboards if you must have one, then the small screen you can also fix with a mini/micro usb to HDMI adaptor with some tablets... my only point is that theres little reason to buy one when a tablet can perform most of its tasks, so yes that other stuff costs more but.. a chromebook would have costed about as much right?
Thank you! I just bought this and your video was very helpful. Half of my office work depends on google calendar and gmail so this laptop is very handy but I was disappointed when I found out I couldn't back up by iPhone on it since iTunes is not compatible. I should have done my homework first but just wanted a inexpensive laptop for responding to emails and the touchscreen is definitely a bonus! I'm happy but still need a desktop computer in my life. Thanks again I will look at your other reviews before buying next time!
Honestly, I hate Chrome OS for it should be always online to work. Being in a third world country (i.e. Philippines) Internet speeds and reliability is a big issue. As the rest of the world having Internet speed standards of >50 Mbps, from where I am we still dwell in 2 Mbps with cap rate of 15 GB of data a month for the same price >50 Mbps should be. As if we the people can do about it, we do not have almost any option at all. Chrome OS is bad. Windows 8 is better. Chrome OS tries to be something that the PC already did before. I prefer Google seamlessly working with Microsoft with Google staying as an online service provider as it was originally while Microsoft provides the stuff an OS needs. See the Apple's iOS just being Apple and not trying to be something else it can't be.
To add to that, Windows 7 is better than both. Windows 8 and 8.1 are wastes of time. I don't want a mobile platform on my desktop or my notebook, I want an OS meant for them.
I`ve had a Acer Chromebook C710 for 3 years. Loved it. But wanted something new. Bought a Lavono windows 10, 15 in. Touchscreen. HATED it!!!. Returned it. Bought my 2nd. Chromebook after watching your review. LOOOOOVE it! Love the touch screen, love the size, love the sound love the simplified keyboard. (kinda miss caploc but ...meh) just love these chromebooks. They`re fast, no need to buy malware, the touch pad is smooooooth, and the touch-screen responsive. I realize they`re not for everyone. I`m just connecting and chatting with friends, sharing dirty jokes and photo`s, gmail, and googling random stuff. But for what they are I recommend the C720P highly. Thanx for your great review as well!
+Some Weeb Yes, I`m sorry, I got a little dyslexic there, Lenovo, hated it. too big, too heavy, didn`t like the touch screen, didn`t want to use a mouse, and didn`t need 95% of what Windows offered. As I said, I`m not a student, not in business, my use is pretty simple stuff.......You convinced me to spend the extra $$$ for the C720P, I`m sooooo glad I did. I love the touch screen!
That Hangouts app is the _exact_ same app as the one that I use on my Linux Mint computer. I never realized that it was different for non-Linux-based operating systems. And by the way, Hangouts isn't actually "built-in", it's "pre-installed". Look in your plug-ins list. The multiple plug-ins named "Google Talk something..." (I don't remember the exact names) are what makes Hangouts tick (at least, on the native side). Because they are simply plug-ins, they aren't truly "built-in".
I'm pretty good at typing but if u ever had to use a pc with a broken backspace key u then realize how much u use it. This backspace key is right UNDER the damn power button. Huge design flaw imho. Imagine all the times u will accidentally power this thing down when u really meant to hit backspace in the middle of some important document lol. Btw I wonder if u could put/run emulators on this? I mostly do media things like youtube and watching movies n stuff. But imagine if u could also turn this thing into a s.nes/nes/gameboy/ps/etc, all the retro games at ur fingertips with a OS that saves battery like it's goin out of style XD.
I've owned the non touch edition of this laptop for almost a year now, and yes, you do hit the power button a lot, but on Chrome OS you have to hold down the power button for around 2-3 seconds for it to turn off. So when you accidentally press it your screen just starts to fade for the split second you hit it then goes back to normal. When I first saw it I thought it would be a huge issue but really isn't.
***** eh chromebooks are total pieces of crap for that price anyways. U could get a tablet and connect any kb to it with the otg cable. It'd be the same price and do a LOT more than chromebooks(those things are just too weak hardware-wise). If the chromebook was cheaper, like $50ish, then it'd be worth it for what it does, hells ya.
But then the keyboard will be smaller if its made for the tablet, and that adds to the price so it will probably end up being more expensive than my $200 Acer C720 I'm typing this on right now. And besides, I can already do everything I could do on a tablet on my phone already. Why would I buy an oversized version of my phone when I could get a light, thin, and long lasting laptop? (That I've put probably close to a hundred hours of use into at this point). I much prefer my chromebook for school then a tablet.
***** I don't own a chromebook but from what I've seen, ALL it can do is web and a few of google's apps that's it. I don't even think it has a media player(prolly does). But an android tablet would have all of that and then some. Just cuz the kb is small doesn't necessarily mean it's expensive. Besides, chromebooks are WAY overpriced considering what ur getting. U could get a cheap laptop with more functionality than that. The chromebook just has the "newer" look to it. All are $150+, if they were say under 100, then they'd be worth it imho.
Theres only one windows laptop priced at $200 that I'm aware of: The HP Stream 14. That didn't exist when I got this chromebook. But Chrome OS does have a media player, I plug in my TB harddrive into my chromebook and watch movies on the go plug it into a TV via HDMI. Personally it works great for me. I have a nice windows desktop at home, so I'm covered at home for programs such as 3D modeling, Steam, etc. I do sometimes do remote desktop through my chromebook which allows me to 3D model and stuff on my chromebook. Again, its just personal preference. Some people would rather have a tablet for the apps and stuff. I just value the form factor and stuff like USB ports and an HDMI port.
I think that the optimal place for a chrome book would be for me in school taking notes, because of the price and the "no bs" operating system. also not to mention that the battery life would be ok and it's light weight.
My aunt got my grandma a chromebook so she has a simple, fast window to the internet without the complexity or risks or investment of a full blown Windows laptop. ^^ So that's another really good niche for the chromebook.
Well, they're not as terrible as the Windows RT tablets, were the only apps and programs you can install are from their app store... yeah... they have a long way to go with the whole windows RT idea...
Oh really? I have my Acer C720 (non-touchscreen model) and it took over a bunch of my workflow. Now I use my main desktop computer only for gaming, everything else I can do on my chromebook. And anything I can't do on ChromeOS, I can switch into Ubuntu really quick using crouton, which is the best hack I've ever seen.
Fiddles Withnipples Did you not read? I have quite a beastly gaming computer, yet I barely use it for anything aside from gaming after getting my chromebook.
I just bought a HP Stream 13-c020na (The touchscreen model) and I love it. It's pretty much a Chromebook that runs Windows 8.1. I love the fact that it doesn't have a cooling fan or a mechanical hard drive so it's silent and doesn't get smothered if you have it on your lap, as most budget laptops do with the fan intake underneath right where your lap is. I also really like the touchscreen, and find myself using it more and more as I get used to Windows 8 vs Windows 7 which I had installed on my old laptop and on my PC - it also works really well for Metro even though I dislike it, as Metro was clearly designed for touchscreen use.
Adam Hansen I've recommended a hp stream to my friend as well. It's one of the best deals you can get with a windows netbook. But i must admit that chromebooks are (almost always) cheaper for what you'll get with a windows netbook, even the hp stream series. And if you're buying a low-end laptop it's better off running chromeOS since the percentage of the resources the OS will use will be less than on a windows netbook. And since it's a low-end laptop you're not likely to run games and video editing stuff on it anyway. And regarding the stream, which one did you buy?
***** I bought the 13" Touchscreen model. It works fine for what I need it for - Skype and web browsing - but it struggles if you ask it to run 720p60 videos on RUclips.Then again, Chrome can be a bit of a resource hog. It seems pretty robust too; I just fell asleep with it on my bed last night and it fell off, and there isn't even a scratch on it.
Adam Hansen OMG I feel your pain with mine falling off the bed constantly! The other fact that I love is that I can stay up all night watching youtube and in the morning it's only like 46%! 😂
Really fare and good review! I use a Samsung Chromebook while I still have a fully fleshed desktop pc. And I use the chromebook mostly for my casual Internet browsing. Chrome OS has kinda big limitations, most of which can be ironed out if they want to, but for the price I think its a very good device. A light operatingsystem on a low-powered notebook.
To me a Chromebook is still a NetBook in the true sense of the word, its a notebook that is intended to be used on the internet. The lack of offline usability as compared to my MacBook is why I definitely can't see myself switching, but thats just me and my wants/needs. To me, the things most Chromebook users will use it for are things I'd be more inclined to just use my iPhone for.
I enjoy my hp chromebook 11. Really good for me at school. My notes automatically get uploaded to drive when I walk in the door and go to my desktop. Really cheap and easy if your a student
2019: WHAT THE HELL IS THAT INTRO
ikr
For the average consumer that needs this for basic web browsing and maybe some "office" work. The price is unbeatable. This is something I would recommend for my mom or grandparents.
I could definitely see this as a way to get older generations into the digital age, especially grandparents etc. Being able to use this for e-mail, internet and video calls is just about everything I could imagine mine using this for, but it would be perfect, and I think the touchscreen helps with making it more intuitive. It'd be perfect if it came with 3/4G connectivity for people who don't want the hassle of getting an internet connection set up.
Daley well HP sells a chromebook now for $350 that comes with 5GB of 4G T-Mobile data a month.
Dakota Hahn Probably not where I am in the UK (we don't really have 4G rolled out yet, they're still changing the bands over and distributing) but it'd still be cool if they were able to use 3G connectivity.
"For the average consumer that needs this for basic web browsing and maybe some "office" work. The price is unbeatable."
uh.. a tablet...? I've seen several $150 - $200 tablets that are about as functional as a chromebook...
Your right! I am actually thinking of getting my grandma and uncle a 13" Chromebook. My uncle barely had hands on a PC and my grandma hasn't used any computer before! The great thing about the Chromebook is it is a no fuss computer. No drivers to worry about, no complications of Windows or Mac, pretty much no malware to worry about and IT JUST WORKS.
Also note that my grandma still uses a fax machine and my uncle uses a typewriter. Not kidding.
My chromebook has a right click.......
Well he's reviewing the Acer C720P, not your chromebook, soooo
why do u even have a chromebook lol
Except he specifically said the main focus is on ChromeOS and really put the "lack of a hardware right-click" as an issue with ChromeOS when it's not.
yoman299mw2 You can put ubuntu Linux on some of those, so you'll have a very cheap fully functional laptop. No idea about ChromeOS though.
yoman299mw2 Because it's super cheap, super light and portable, and does what I need on the go without needing my bulky laptop or full desktop. Everything I do online at Uni is in Chrome/GDrive, so it's perfect.
I've been using this same Chromebook model since 2014, I love this thing!
Hey i am thinking of getting an old Chromebook
I need it to use for Microsoft office
Can you explain how does office work on Chromebook and can it be installed off-line if we ever dont have access to the internet for web versions?
@@hamzaharoon1217 Hello;
As for right now, you cannot install the full Microsoft office that you can install on Microsoft Windows. Though, there is Google docs. Google docs provides all the things you would use with MS word and can be accessed offline, there is also Slides which is like power point and sheets which is like Excel. If you're looking for a computer capable of running real Microsoft office, a ChromeBook is not what you're looking for, there are ways to install Linux operating systems and even Windows on a ChromeBook. But I don't think it would be worth your hassle, but if you're okay with using the Google office alternative ChromeBooks are pretty good netbooks.
I hope was able to help you out! Cheers!
--Scimitar
@@ScimitarRaccoon thank you so much for the prompt reply
I am a student and use ms office for basic tasks like presentations and word documents glad to know that the google alternatives are also pretty good
I also heard that the web versions of office are like Windows alternatives if you own office 365
Which i have
Otherwise what you say is true i cant afford newer Chromebooks so will have to opt for previous versions
Can you tell me if i buy a Chromebook which no longer recieves updates officially will i miss out on new features or is there a way to manually update a chromebook?
Ty again for the prompt and detailed reply
The lovely background on the chromebook is Lake Wakatipu, New Zealand, looking south, from Queenstown Hill, with The Remarkables on the left and Cecil Peak on the right. Wave clouds behaving very nicely. :)
Its really great to see that you still review low budget gedgets,pc..etc.Not just pricy stuff..
One of the absolute best features of ChromeOS is that it is a Linux kernel based OS and thus supports chroot environments. I can run Archlinux, Ubuntu, and many other Linux OSes alongside ChromeOS. It is a Linux optimized platform that supports (through dev mode and crouton) real, powerful operating systems. Productivity is not an issue for any programmer, database manager, or other type of developer--it may even be better than Windows. No more cygwin headaches for me :)
kinda good reasons, this is why people like mrchromebox exist, for their bootloader for otheroses on chromeos.
Nice review work! How refreshing. This is the first review of yours I've seen; but you are to the point, hit all the points and don't make me feel like I'm wasting my time at any point. Cheers.
RUclips algorithm has bought me back
Thank you for being fast and detailed without being fingernails on a blackboard. Great review!
Going to get one, put a 120GB ssd inside and run Ubuntu on it.. great little laptop
Sorry
you can’t chrome books block all downloads I guess you could if you install the one to on the hard drive but still chrome books don’t have a good hardware unless you have the $1000 pixel book so I would just get a budget of windows laptop
@@Mason048 no they dont wdym
@@urbanduck9934 Some Chromebooks have/ had a write protection which made it so you can’t install stuff onto the internal storage. Some Chromebooks these days come with a replaceable NVME-Drive. Haven’t personally gotten my hands on one but that should definitely make it possible to install Windows. Question is how much sense that would make.
@@jackkaiser1471 mine has a write protect I took it out and it has a replaceable m.2. I'm running arch on it but its trash
@@urbanduck9934 It really depends on the model tho. My boyfriend has the CP-713 which has eMMC storage. So installing anything else than ChromeOS would be hard. xD Although I recently saw a guide that goes quite in-depth on the installation-process.
Neat video. Nice to see an actual review of a chromebok rather than someone talking about it from just one perspective
"Not everything is a download!" made my day.
This was great Linus. You should do more stuff like this once in a while. I enjoyed hearing your expert opinion on this device. I for one have not and would not buy a Chromebook yet but it is a platform that does make me curious. Seriously though. You should do more Chromebooks in the future if and when they make changes to the models.
"for the rare times right, ok I guess I never leave the house.." - laughed so hard at this :P couldn't agree more!
+Alex Fishburn for me, that is true...
or the rare time mother nature(I mean wind) takes away my wifi
In 2021, it’s not as true anymore because of android and linux apps.
Linus, I love your honest reviews. It's awesome that you don't sugar coat any reviews. And your videos are so simple and easy to understand! Please keep up the great videos. You have helped me a lot:)
A Chromebook isn't for everyone... Then again... nothing is for everyone. For students the speed of bootup, the long battery life, the light weight, the low price... and the knowledge that if it should be stolen almost everything is saved "on the cloud"... well... it's perfect. It can easily replace a much more expensive laptop when it comes to school work, and if you have "special" software you need to run for a class.... well, you can remotely access your PC at home... or just use your PC at home... or use a school computer on campus... but that is pretty rare. For that matter... even out of school... 90%+ of the time I am online surfing or just typing up a document. It's not a game machine... but it is a great platform for getting work done.
+Because I said so!!! to me, the chromebook is really annoying when my teachers tell us to use it, i much rather us be using a 2 in 1 that is slightly cheaper
It's not ideal for every situation, but I like how light it is... and how inexpensive it is. When needed... a can use my regular laptop with either Windows or Linux.
i would much rather be using a windows tablet
mainly because they are faster and better
Those are for art students only.
If you study any other degree, chances are, you'd probably over tax that thing with the amount of browser tabs you have opened
Thanks for this video. I never thought about getting a chromebook before now, but I've recently become more interested in them. This video helps a lot.
My school uses Chrombooks, and they're pretty bad. Then again, these are the bottom-of-the-barrel Samsung ones. Oftentimes, the wireless fails, or takes about 30 seconds for a basic webpage. I don't know, I bring my own Laptop to school anyway!
Wow, and i thought our school had terrible 14'' Dell latitude laptops.
The wifi issues are probably caused by your schools wifi.
I don't know too much about it. Most people at my school think that the school's internet is slow, (takes a while for webpages to load [low ping?]), but overall speed is pretty good. I can upload a 10 min. 720p youtube video in about 5 minutes. They may have the chromebooks on a slightly different network, but there is a big difference between the chromebooks and the 4 year old crapples our school has.
chr0m389 Or because there are 500 shitty chromebooks that are trying to use it
It's probably your school's wifi. At least that's the case at my school. Wired I get 800Mb/s Dl and Ul with a 6ms ping (Not on a Chromebook). Wireless I get 0.07 Mb/s with a ~300ms ping.
I use mine as a note taker in lectures, I absolutely love it! Use One Drive and it automatically exports to my pc where I then do all my work! Definitely recommend as a laptop for light use!!
i hate using both hands on the trackpad.
LinusTechTips
lol
LinusTechTips its not bad to give your opinion on something, he's not saying: STFU LINUS GO GET A LIFE or FUCK THIS VIDEO or I HATE U
Mikat's RUclips He said he hates something, so I said he's a hater. img.photobucket.com/albums/v647/neary/chill_pill.gif
Mikat's RUclips I think you have misread the situation, I think Linus was merely joking about the fact that ikki "hates" using both hands on the trackpad. If you did get the situation I did not get your sarcasm.
LinusTechTips i got used to the touch pad on my macbook so i don't like using touch pads that have buttons.
Great review Linus. I work as a designer for a major electrical store in the UK, they should watch this video so they really understand what a Chromebook is!! Some still think it can run windows software!!!!
Had my Samsung 550 Chromebook for a year now and it's now my primary device. Faster start-up than my pc, easier to type than my tablet, and for the few programs I need, I have Ubuntu 14.04 installed on it too.
Seems like people don't understand the purpose of a Chromebook, they're cheap, simple and fast devices. If you want them to be able to play offline games, then go spend twice the price on a laptop.
I use a Chromebook on a daily basis during the normal school year. I cannot live without it! It seemed weird at first, but it is very simple. No extras to fumble with. I think its one of those niche uses at least for now.
I think Chrome OS would be a lot more popular if it could run android apps as well. I mean its all owned by google. The only issue I could see is it then cutting into android tablet market share, but personally I don't think it would hurt it much.
I would love it if I could install chrome OS on any machine and run basic desktop apps as well as android. Never gonna happen but hey, a man can dream.
Android apps wouldn't work in a chromebook because of the processor architecure.
Emulation would not be a solution either because of the very low specs chromebooks have.
BUT you can run Linux in them and it works really well!
Sry. Didn't dead the Ende oft your comment...
oasishenry Well Asus had a laptop ready for release that ran windows and android seamlessly and smoothly, before microsoft/google got butthurt because the other OS has cooties and forced it to be canceled. So then being this is all google they could do it sans cootie danger. Also google translate fail haha.
EliteRanger_ Im actually british but I use a german nexus 7.
EliteRanger_ And "in" is also a german word.
The microphone in that thing is amazing. I was very surprised to hear that kind of quality at that price point in a laptop.
LinusTechTips Download the Hangouts extension made by google. it will give you the chromebook style hangouts
I don't use Chrome on my desktop anymore... I want a proper desktop app that doesn't rely on a browser... :(
I agree a native desktop app would be awesome. What browser do you use now also?
LinusTechTips oh in the vid you said you wish you had that hangouts style on your desktop which is why he offered downloading the hangouts extension... did this all of a sudden turn into a political ploy? :) i'm sure you use other browser extensions eh? nice vid- subscribed
+LinusTechTips chrome is too much of a ram hog
+EvilTurkeySlices not true anymore
I love how you wave it around, must be a testament to how light weight it is.
For one of my classes, we had a REQUIREMENT to either have an OSX Apple Device (MacBook) , Windows OS device, or a Chromebook for my class. I chose to try all three for a week, and this is my experience as a student.
Type C Macbook: Nice, thin, okay battery life, but slow as all good god awful hell for anything harder then typing a document
Chromebook: Refer to this video..
Windows 10 Laptop: Everything is great.... but that battery life KILLED Me.
In the end, I chose the Chromebook.
How did you try all three ? just kept returning them
Use a Toshiba Chromebook for 3 years and my girlfriend used an Acer Chromebook for the same. We used them both for study and they were fantastic, especially the battery life, I usually only had to charge mine about once a week with 4 lectures a week. Would recommend them to anyone who wants to browse and take notes on the cheap.
I've since moved onto a Dell XPS 13 and my girlfriend an Asus ux303 both also great machines.
I also use a Toshiba Chromebook, had it for about 2 years. It is actually faster than my 2015 macbook air!
I use outlook and onedrive. And I'm sure other people do aswell! I'd just install install windows 8.1. And Linus Windows 8.1 is a great touch OS!
I have a a Surface Pro 2. Best thing ever being a student (especially in engineering). I don't see any other tables that can run all office programs, pdf, and programs like matLAB at great as this can. And having it all with touch just makes it seamless. The little tweaks they added in Office 2014 really helps the whole touch thing.
I was looking for something to replace my old HP laptop that was faster, more portable, had better battery life for cheap. The C720 is an amazing find and fits my needs perfectly. Plus, if I need to do any real computing I just go to my desktop.
two thumbs up.
two thumbs up.
I just received my C720! It's awesome.
Why am I watching this in 2021
Pressing down with two fingers functions like the right button of a mouse. Place two fingers on the touchpad and move them up and down to scroll vertically, left and right to scroll horizontally. To drag and drop, click the item you want to move with one finger. With a second finger, move the item. Release both fingers to drop the item.
1:38 Shots fired! :D
But who uses Hangouts? Seriously.
btw sorry for necropost
Holy bawls! That mic quality though!!!
So would it be okay for a Senior in High School, for Note Taking, and using School Websites for dropping in assignments? That's.. Really all I need it for..
Yes, that's what it's designed for
Only for websites and note taking. Don't expect to run Photoshop (unless you use Wine or whatever it's called) or Microsoft Word, or actual PC games.
ROBLOXnXbox You can't download Wine, it's a program..can't download programs with Chrome OS. It's baed off the browser.
Aidan Sweeney *based
ROBLOXnXbox There's Office Live.
I think one of the greatest applications for a device like this is its implementation in schools. The school I attend relies heavily on google drive, and they've got about half a dozen of these for students to borrow if they don't have a laptop or tablet to use. It works great for just navigating google's many functions and making modifications to shared documents for group projects. It's also very convenient for turning things in and making something easily available for whomever you want. Bottom line, it's a great tool for impersonal environments where web navigation is the main priority.
You can install windows on it now
Using one of these for college whilst in conjucntion with a beastly PC desktop at home works flawlessly for me.
Do you look up to Steve Jobs? :D
It's a sarcastic photo.
Salpeteroxid lol ok, Sarcasm's hard to detect on the internet...
Thumbs up specifically for that ending. That was the best ending.
Sorry Linus but I have both (c720 and surface 2) and aside from browser extensions there is nothing the chromebook does better. All the chrome 'apps' are webpages that work fine on RT, RT has Skype, office 2013, and actual offline apps like GTA/into the dead/hydro thunder etc. Also you must not have tried to print from that thing or you would have went on a massive Linus rant about how shitty that is on chromeos.
chroot the chromebook ... then it will be better because if you only have $300 a linux notebook will win any time
***** Linus choose to compare it to winRT, implying it's more productive than surface is why I brought it up.
Zach Frank Tried that on mine, while it makes it much more capable, it breaks a lot of stuff also. Video out stops working, the trackpad becomes utter crap, sound sometimes dies for no reason, battery life takes a hit, and worse of all it runs slower than a Celeron should. My atom powered dell tablet plays minecraft better than the c720 running Linux, that makes no sense to me. Something is horribly wrong with the Linux drivers.
you probably didnt set it up correctly, chromeos is a fork of BSD so really it should run fine. If you tried unity as a de that would be your problem. I have full debian installed on a tf101 and it runs great (tegra 2)
Zach Frank I was using unity so maybe that's it, I'll try it again.
holy shit, voice and camera quality are awesome! :O
For me, I love my chromebook, it's a pretty awesome media consumption device, since most media consumption I do is online. (yeah, I know a tablet is an option to, and I own one, but around the house, I like to use my chromebook more since I HATE virtual keyboards.)
Also, great great GREAT GREAT G.R.E.A.T (did I mention it was great) computer for the tech illiterate. Asian moms, Asian grandmoms, tech confused parents ESPECIALLY.
I remember buying my mom one of these, and I have to say, one of the best decisions I ever made. Since what she does are basically what a typical non-power users would do, such as check banking and facebook and movies. There's no fuss, and you really don't have to sit there for an hour, walking through with hem what to do and she gets all panicked when the metro interface pops up, or she accidentally clicked an unwanted program.
Bottom-line (for me at least) = Chromebooks are shit for power users but wonderful for the non-power users
Google will pay you in 3...
2...
1...
Oliver Magat aaaaaaany minute now.... Any minute now
Andre Cruz (late reply lol) You needed to advertise the Chromebook Pixel
VisioningHail
As even a die hard chrome OS fan, as what marques said.. Don't buy it. Its a halo product not really meant to sell... Not to mention, I know the limitations of chrome is itself..
I agree. Google is doing some cheap advertising by giving out chromebooks to schools, and mine was one of the recipients. I've used them around 4 times now, and I know that this one is HP so I can't really judge this one, but it lagged horribly on google docs. Yes, google docs. I held down the backspace button and it would only update every 2 seconds or so. Either way, I see how a better chromebook could be a good investment.
I like how the annotations are already on the screen before the outro came up.
"Balls to the walls" lol
Fun fact. Iirc, balls to the walls has nothing to do with male anatomy and is actually related to steam locomotives
Rofl amazing video because of his hangout sample.
The hangout video and sound was great.
i think it should be chrome plated to be called a chrome book
I think you're right that this product is really like a tablet and a netbook. It's something that I would be frustrated with and wouldn't really have a use for, but I can see it's appeal in the market.
um the chrome metro app on windows 8.1 pro is the chrome os kinda
just saying
I've tried that, but certain extensions and apps will be extremely buggy in that mode-and some will cease to work.
all of mine work like they do on chrome on the desktop
but i have windows 8.1 pro with some mods o it so i can run high end games and stuff like that on low end stuff
william endler Did you build your computer, or did you buy it from a store? There may have been some stability changes, but I've been using Ubuntu 14.04 as my main OS for a while now, so I don't know if they made it more stable or not.
i bought my desktop of a guy on ebay
and my laptop came from walmart but i put windows 8.1 pro on it since it had windows 7 and that hard disk failed so i had to get a new one
william endler Weird. Are the computers AMD-based or Intel-based? I've just checked my metro mode on my AMD laptop, and it works fine. However, my friends' Intel laptop is buggy a hell with pop-ups everywhere and constant crashes. In windowed mode everything works fine.
I have a Samsung Chromebook, and I love it; this review is pretty spot on considering this guy didn't (as I did) enter into the device with the specific intention of ditching Apple/Windows. Since the review was made there have been some minor updates in the OS that/will fix a few of his (fair at the time) critiques, most specifically the Chrome videoplayer is now about to become standalone from the files folder.
Screw ChromeOS on these things, you can install full-blown Linux on there! You can even install Windows and OSX on there with custom firmware!
But... why? They're designed for ChromeOS. The hardware is light and so is the OS. Windows will take it all, OSX will want to take it all and Linux will take it all and use it in all the wrong places.
Maybe they don't like chrome os
That would explain it- they're insane!
ChromeOS can do some things well, but not everything. in many cases the hardware is pretty good, but the software doesn't unlock its full potential. That's where we come in.
I doubt you can squeeze much more out of it already. ChromeOS is tiny. I'd be interested to see something smaller to be honest.
i just picked up one yesterday from best guy, and I think you hit it on the head, this is best as a communication device. I keep mine by the bed, and its easy to do video chat w/ the wife, watch you tube videos, read news, and even read books. I'm enjoying mine so far.
It's a shame that ChromeOS is so pointless, I would prefer it they made Ubuntu laptops with slight more power, i.e. i3 ULV, 4GB RAM etc...
I am sure you could put Ubuntu on it pretty easily.
search 'linux on chromebooks using crouton' you can download linux without a flash drive
MrOloh Can you completely wipe the SSD and gain access to the Chromebook BIOS or are you just running Linux on ChromeOS?
Well, I have good news for you, you can dual boot Chrome OS alongside Linux. You only have 32gb in this model so you'll probably have to manage your storage with Ubuntu using most of the SSD space and Chrome using mostly Drive. Still, not too bad for a 300 dollar laptop.
***** I agree, but I would have no use for ChromeOS, would I be able to completely wipe ChromeOS and install Ubuntu? I have heard people say you can and others say you cannot do this.
I paid only 236 for my Acer C270P Chromebook at Walmart(Also included 3-year warranty) in the summer of 2014 & it has paid for itself time & again!(It definitely surpassed my expectations! (y)
I'm not getting a chromebook until you can at least run skype and audacity, a few simple games like minecraft would be nice too.
There's a Skype app in Facebook that works on a Chromebook. Unfortunately, Audacity is out of the question. Audio editing wouldn't be great on a Chromebook anyway ( 16 GB of total storage, not to mention lack of processing power ) even if it could.
***** At that point, it's not really a Chromebook is it.
FreshBagelz Minecraft is actually more GPU-heavy than you think - you need something with good OpenGL support, and Intel iGPU's do NOT have good OpenGL support /AT ALL/. You'd need something along the lines of a GT 530m or better to be able to run Minecraft, and that's a little too much extra money for someone who's actually only buying it for chrome. Maybe in 3-6 years, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.
You can skype on the Office 365 site, for audacity there should be alternatives in the Chrome web store
***** Doesn't matter, the card is still too crud at OpenGL to do it, regardless of the OS.
Linus all the Chromebooks work differently keyboard wise. I myself have the Samsung Chromebook and I love it. Storage is not ment to be kept on the device anyways. Flash drives and/or External Hard drives work very well along side Google Drive. I do wish I had the option of touchscreen but customizability might be limited to some. Also you can duel boot in Dev mode and run Linux.
Why was this in my recommendations for 2019?
Laughs in 2020
Laugh even more in 2021
Just bought the C720 and I love it
this youtuber is so handsome and sweet. adorable.
Nape Lazam i agree, i wonder if theres someone to ship him with
Luke-Antra Yes. His wife
i hate straigt people
Storm van der Voort but i want to ship him with a guy
+Luke-Antra Shipping even tech channels?It looks like you can never run away from shippers lmao.
One of your best reviews Linus, I love the in detail view of Chrome OS besides just the Acer review. I thought Chrome OS was stupid too so I never bothered to look into it, thats what makes this review so great because we all know that you know your stuff so when we hear your opinion on things like this it saves us from having to go out an do tons of research on the product.
And the ending wasn't awkward, you don't always have to film an entire review in one take. Look at people like Phillip Defranco who edit their clips a million times and it works.
at least it's got a start MENU...
(yes I'm looking at you microsoft)
I'd say it's definitely a good option for someone who just wants a laptop for casual use (browsing the internet, hangouts etc...).
what else do you need? you can operate Linux on it so you can install other programs windows based. you can turn it to an android os using chrome's terminal. etc. etc.
Dat thumbnail.
Been watching a lot of reviews. I think I'm getting the C720P thanks!
Scumbag Chromebook - Has SSD, can't even use it.
It's a tiny ssd and that's what the download folder is for
actually, the SSD in a my chromebook (very similar to this one) is a massive boon to the chromebook. It makes boot time insane, and my cheap chromebook has been the most durable of any computer I have ever owned. I don't need to worry about damaging my hard disk when abusing the shit out of this thing.
AlfaSierra937 LOL I wouldn't recommend abusing your chromebook xD
Great review, you kept me watching the whole way!
Just buy the cheap hardware and put a real Linux distro on it to get the most out of it. The Haswell iGPU even is powerfull enough to run Skyrim in Wine.
But that would shrink the storage of the chromebook to like 4GB
16 GB is more than enough to install a Linux distro and have plenty of space. My whole linux installation with all applications I need (Chromium, Skye, Dropbox etc.) is 7 GB. If you want to store your MP3 collection on your chromebook you're going to run into trouble no matter if you use ChromeOS or a real Linxu distro.
tjpld That's not that big either but surely enough for most users who only do some office and internet work. But Skyrim wouldn't fit, would it? :)
You could pop in a 32 GB USB 3.0 stick and mount it has /home, but it would have to be inserted every time you boot. A 128 GB M.2 NGFF SSD as an upgrade only costs about 90 $ and that should be more than enough.
tjpld I don't think these Chromebooks come with a SATA interface. I think the storage is soldered directly to the motherboard. The USB stick idea is pretty cool though
Having used the device for a while now, I've found it to be great, if you regularly use Google's products for work. My school recently made practically everything digital through drive, and a Chromebook has been great for getting my work done.
no longer SkyDrive lool #OneDrive
***** They had legal issues with Sky so they were forced to change the name.
Frontality But the cloud is in the sky.
Jake Surname Rain clouds are. Not virtual ones.
Sky as in the company not as in the actual "sky"
I just got my very first ChromeOS Chromebook and I bought the Acer C720P so far I really like it both the OS and Acer C720, I'll keep it...I paid $299+Tax quality for what you get pay is way more than what I expected
the Asus transformer book T100 is a much better value for only 50$ more
my school is going to get a bunch of them, for the low price its a hell of an offering, they also seem pretty durable too with no moving parts aside from the fan.
Without F-keys and capslock it doesn't even make a good cheap platform to install my beloved Linux on. Sorry, no deal.
Excuse my ignorance but what are the F keys used for on linux? And can't the keyboard be remapped on linux, surely theres something out there right?
I have Linux on my chromebook, and the media keys turn into the F-keys. I am not too sure about the capslock since I don't use the Linux side too much.
Akio Furukawa
@ Akio: I use the F keys exactly for the same stuff as in Windows: triggering gestures in Second Life.
@ mvc: sure it's all possible but I'm not interested in workarounds. Not for just getting a keyboard back to its original behaviour after Google's ahole system has mucked it up.
I have the acer c720 chromebook and I love it, my only gripe (and this is really scraping the bottom of the barrel) is that you can't use it as a chromebox. Every now and again I like connecting the chromebook to my HDTV in order to just have more work space and although it works fine in that regard, google have not released a wireless keyboard with the shortcuts that replace the "F1, 2, 3, 4, etc." keys. If they were to do that you could hook the thing up to a HDTV and sit back while still being productive with the same keyboard you have gotten used to on the chromebook itself (which I agree with the review, is very easy to use). Hopefully this comes in the future as the chrome market seems to be ever expanding these days.
ChromeOS, to me, sounds like the most pointless thing ever. Just get a cheap Windows laptop and use Chrome all you want. You at least keep all the versatility of Windows.
there is no better windows laptop for the price of a chromebook
the point is not using chrome as much as it is sparing on the os and having a lighter and faster system at the expense of some functionality. it's not for everyone, but it would fit a lot of people I know.
***** yeah but in that case... uh, why? a if all you wanted was basic functionality such as music, video, web and thats pretty much it, then why just save like $100 or so and get a good tablet instead? other than a few features a laptop might have over a tablet (such as a bigger screen) a tablet already does all that and they're cheaper too...
vgamesx1 cheap tablets don't start in 7 seconds and they lack all the connectivity plus as you said the smaller display is a turnoff for a lot of people. also most people will agree that typing on a touchscreen sucks balls compared to a real keyboard.
Cicciter well big deal if they don't start in 7 seconds? it should be on most the time anyway.. connectivity such as? The nexus 7 for an example has Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooh, NFC and even lte/hspa+ if you want to buy the best model, what more do you want? as for the keyboard yes you have a point, but it depends on the person and how responsive and accurate the screen is, plus you can buy one those bluetooth keyboards if you must have one, then the small screen you can also fix with a mini/micro usb to HDMI adaptor with some tablets... my only point is that theres little reason to buy one when a tablet can perform most of its tasks, so yes that other stuff costs more but.. a chromebook would have costed about as much right?
Thank you! I just bought this and your video was very helpful. Half of my office work depends on google calendar and gmail so this laptop is very handy but I was disappointed when I found out I couldn't back up by iPhone on it since iTunes is not compatible. I should have done my homework first but just wanted a inexpensive laptop for responding to emails and the touchscreen is definitely a bonus! I'm happy but still need a desktop computer in my life. Thanks again I will look at your other reviews before buying next time!
OMG, YES I NEED CAPS LOCK!
THAT'S WHY I ALSO DISABLED IT IN THE WINDOWS REGISTRY ON MY PC
i like this intro better than the other one
Honestly, I hate Chrome OS for it should be always online to work. Being in a third world country (i.e. Philippines) Internet speeds and reliability is a big issue. As the rest of the world having Internet speed standards of >50 Mbps, from where I am we still dwell in 2 Mbps with cap rate of 15 GB of data a month for the same price >50 Mbps should be. As if we the people can do about it, we do not have almost any option at all. Chrome OS is bad. Windows 8 is better. Chrome OS tries to be something that the PC already did before. I prefer Google seamlessly working with Microsoft with Google staying as an online service provider as it was originally while Microsoft provides the stuff an OS needs. See the Apple's iOS just being Apple and not trying to be something else it can't be.
To add to that, Windows 7 is better than both. Windows 8 and 8.1 are wastes of time. I don't want a mobile platform on my desktop or my notebook, I want an OS meant for them.
I`ve had a Acer Chromebook C710 for 3 years. Loved it. But wanted something new. Bought a Lavono windows 10, 15 in. Touchscreen. HATED it!!!. Returned it. Bought my 2nd. Chromebook after watching your review. LOOOOOVE it! Love the touch screen, love the size, love the sound love the simplified keyboard. (kinda miss caploc but ...meh) just love these chromebooks. They`re fast, no need to buy malware, the touch pad is smooooooth, and the touch-screen responsive. I realize they`re not for everyone. I`m just connecting and chatting with friends, sharing dirty jokes and photo`s, gmail, and googling random stuff. But for what they are I recommend the C720P highly. Thanx for your great review as well!
+Shelley Collins you mean lenovo?
also, you hated it because windows 10
+Some Weeb Yes, I`m sorry, I got a little dyslexic there, Lenovo, hated it. too big, too heavy, didn`t like the touch screen, didn`t want to use a mouse, and didn`t need 95% of what Windows offered. As I said, I`m not a student, not in business, my use is pretty simple stuff.......You convinced me to spend the extra $$$ for the C720P, I`m sooooo glad I did. I love the touch screen!
Shelley Collins lenovo's arent for on the go sort of stuff, they're for (mabye) setting them up somewhere else, and working there, or at your house
+Some Weeb Your right. I realized my mistake in that choice. I`m sure it was a fine computer....it just wasn`t for me.
Shelley Collins yeah, i would recommend acer or something
linus is never not amazing.
I just bought a laptop. After watching this review I guess I'm gonna get a chrome book as well. Great review.
you do not always need the best hardware to get things done.....
Linus's channels largely have gamer subscribers, and a lot of people forget that there are other uses for computers.
Patrik Manni Truth!
Peter Anfindsen -no intel xeon -I get nothing done
Patrik Manni probably because there aren't.
That Hangouts app is the _exact_ same app as the one that I use on my Linux Mint computer. I never realized that it was different for non-Linux-based operating systems.
And by the way, Hangouts isn't actually "built-in", it's "pre-installed". Look in your plug-ins list. The multiple plug-ins named "Google Talk something..." (I don't remember the exact names) are what makes Hangouts tick (at least, on the native side). Because they are simply plug-ins, they aren't truly "built-in".
I'm pretty good at typing but if u ever had to use a pc with a broken backspace key u then realize how much u use it. This backspace key is right UNDER the damn power button. Huge design flaw imho. Imagine all the times u will accidentally power this thing down when u really meant to hit backspace in the middle of some important document lol.
Btw I wonder if u could put/run emulators on this? I mostly do media things like youtube and watching movies n stuff. But imagine if u could also turn this thing into a s.nes/nes/gameboy/ps/etc, all the retro games at ur fingertips with a OS that saves battery like it's goin out of style XD.
I've owned the non touch edition of this laptop for almost a year now, and yes, you do hit the power button a lot, but on Chrome OS you have to hold down the power button for around 2-3 seconds for it to turn off. So when you accidentally press it your screen just starts to fade for the split second you hit it then goes back to normal. When I first saw it I thought it would be a huge issue but really isn't.
***** eh chromebooks are total pieces of crap for that price anyways. U could get a tablet and connect any kb to it with the otg cable. It'd be the same price and do a LOT more than chromebooks(those things are just too weak hardware-wise). If the chromebook was cheaper, like $50ish, then it'd be worth it for what it does, hells ya.
But then the keyboard will be smaller if its made for the tablet, and that adds to the price so it will probably end up being more expensive than my $200 Acer C720 I'm typing this on right now. And besides, I can already do everything I could do on a tablet on my phone already. Why would I buy an oversized version of my phone when I could get a light, thin, and long lasting laptop? (That I've put probably close to a hundred hours of use into at this point). I much prefer my chromebook for school then a tablet.
***** I don't own a chromebook but from what I've seen, ALL it can do is web and a few of google's apps that's it. I don't even think it has a media player(prolly does). But an android tablet would have all of that and then some. Just cuz the kb is small doesn't necessarily mean it's expensive. Besides, chromebooks are WAY overpriced considering what ur getting. U could get a cheap laptop with more functionality than that. The chromebook just has the "newer" look to it. All are $150+, if they were say under 100, then they'd be worth it imho.
Theres only one windows laptop priced at $200 that I'm aware of: The HP Stream 14. That didn't exist when I got this chromebook. But Chrome OS does have a media player, I plug in my TB harddrive into my chromebook and watch movies on the go plug it into a TV via HDMI. Personally it works great for me. I have a nice windows desktop at home, so I'm covered at home for programs such as 3D modeling, Steam, etc. I do sometimes do remote desktop through my chromebook which allows me to 3D model and stuff on my chromebook. Again, its just personal preference. Some people would rather have a tablet for the apps and stuff. I just value the form factor and stuff like USB ports and an HDMI port.
A surprisingly positive review. Strongly tempted if I could root a Linux onto it - my current laptop's still unusably pre-Vista.
Am I the only one that uses caps lock instead of shift?
Yes.
No, my grandma does that too...mostly because she doesn't know about shift though..
Conor Carney no
#ShiftMasterRace
***** I for some reason use caps lock istead of shift I don't want to use caps lock, but it's in my head so much I have problem to change
I think that the optimal place for a chrome book would be for me in school taking notes, because of the price and the "no bs" operating system. also not to mention that the battery life would be ok and it's light weight.
terrible
Oh hey that's surprising to see you on a video like this RucaMad. I like your Gmod videos, see some people driving your cars around too.
Let me know if you want to know how to make your own Vegetables, its really easy and quick. All you need is a Hammer.
My aunt got my grandma a chromebook so she has a simple, fast window to the internet without the complexity or risks or investment of a full blown Windows laptop. ^^ So that's another really good niche for the chromebook.
Chromebooks are garbage. Not worth it
Well, they're not as terrible as the Windows RT tablets, were the only apps and programs you can install are from their app store... yeah... they have a long way to go with the whole windows RT idea...
Oh really? I have my Acer C720 (non-touchscreen model) and it took over a bunch of my workflow. Now I use my main desktop computer only for gaming, everything else I can do on my chromebook. And anything I can't do on ChromeOS, I can switch into Ubuntu really quick using crouton, which is the best hack I've ever seen.
Or just use a Windows 7 desktop and do it all 5 times better instead of being a neckbeard tier keyboard warrior.
Fiddles Withnipples Did you not read? I have quite a beastly gaming computer, yet I barely use it for anything aside from gaming after getting my chromebook.
Soooo use your PC for everything, dipshit. No point in having an amazing computer but using a DIFFERENT one for other things
I just bought a HP Stream 13-c020na (The touchscreen model) and I love it. It's pretty much a Chromebook that runs Windows 8.1.
I love the fact that it doesn't have a cooling fan or a mechanical hard drive so it's silent and doesn't get smothered if you have it on your lap, as most budget laptops do with the fan intake underneath right where your lap is. I also really like the touchscreen, and find myself using it more and more as I get used to Windows 8 vs Windows 7 which I had installed on my old laptop and on my PC - it also works really well for Metro even though I dislike it, as Metro was clearly designed for touchscreen use.
Adam Hansen I've recommended a hp stream to my friend as well. It's one of the best deals you can get with a windows netbook. But i must admit that chromebooks are (almost always) cheaper for what you'll get with a windows netbook, even the hp stream series. And if you're buying a low-end laptop it's better off running chromeOS since the percentage of the resources the OS will use will be less than on a windows netbook. And since it's a low-end laptop you're not likely to run games and video editing stuff on it anyway.
And regarding the stream, which one did you buy?
***** I bought the 13" Touchscreen model. It works fine for what I need it for - Skype and web browsing - but it struggles if you ask it to run 720p60 videos on RUclips.Then again, Chrome can be a bit of a resource hog.
It seems pretty robust too; I just fell asleep with it on my bed last night and it fell off, and there isn't even a scratch on it.
Adam Hansen OMG I feel your pain with mine falling off the bed constantly! The other fact that I love is that I can stay up all night watching youtube and in the morning it's only like 46%! 😂
Really fare and good review! I use a Samsung Chromebook while I still have a fully fleshed desktop pc. And I use the chromebook mostly for my casual Internet browsing. Chrome OS has kinda big limitations, most of which can be ironed out if they want to, but for the price I think its a very good device. A light operatingsystem on a low-powered notebook.
excellent review, very accurate comments and observations. I am totally subscribing and follow!
To me a Chromebook is still a NetBook in the true sense of the word, its a notebook that is intended to be used on the internet. The lack of offline usability as compared to my MacBook is why I definitely can't see myself switching, but thats just me and my wants/needs. To me, the things most Chromebook users will use it for are things I'd be more inclined to just use my iPhone for.
I enjoy my hp chromebook 11. Really good for me at school. My notes automatically get uploaded to drive when I walk in the door and go to my desktop. Really cheap and easy if your a student