Finally got a Chromebook. Initial thoughts.

I've been thinking about a Chromebook for a while now. I wanted something that was lighter, quicker, and the price is right on them.

First the problems:

• I work primarily on a Windows Desktop to do web design and support services. I also have a windows laptop, but increasingly I need to do stuff in Linux. My Windows Desktop doesn't do well with certain versions of Linux because there's no support for my graphics card, and for a lot of work I'll need to be mobile.
• I have a windows laptop that dual boots Linux, but when I'm mobile I have to go back and forth between Windows and Linux because all my business emails were running through Outlook. It's also not the thinnest or the lightest. So a new laptop was in order.
• Been using MS office for years, but I always thought it was more complicated than it had to be and I only use Outlook and Word.
• I have android phones for both personal and my work lines. MS Office apps are better, but other things like Contacts and Google calendar work better than MS options. Outlook's mobile app is still cumbersome to me and a bitch to set up a lot of emails addresses one at a time.
• To sum it up, I was split between two worlds of Google and Microsoft software and devices and neither provided a full solution for the different kinds of work I needed to do and for business and personal separation.

So a while back I started using G-Suite, and I like it. Easy to separate business and work. Everything syncs with my phones, and Google docs are good enough.

A few of my concerns were answered:

• If I could dual boot or boot from a USB stick since it makes no sense to buy another laptop that I couldn't also run Linux on. I was contemplating buying a new laptop and just running Linux on it, but that doesn't make sense since I don't run my business on Linux. Plus thin and light windows machines are $800+. Turns out on the Chromebook I can run both Linux and Chrome OS on it.
• I do use a couple of things on my Windows machines that I can't do without. Adobe Acrobat, GIMP, and my VPN's. Turns out there are Chrome extensions for all of them.

• Specs on many affordable Chromebooks are Celeron processor, 2G-4G RAM, 11-13" screens. Reviewers say that's enough for web based applications, but I couldn't deal with that. I wanted something that could last a couple of years. But I didn't want to pay $900+ for one of the nicer Google or Samsung models with better specs. Found this https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/conten...ebook14forwork, and got an open box special on the i5, 8G RAM version. Nice machine. Very happy with the quality of it.

Just booted it up for the first time today and the first thing to mention is none of that lengthy MS new computer "We're putting a few things together for you.." stuff. You just sign into your Google account and that's it. Ready to start returning emails and editing docs. You could literally take a Chromebook out of the box, turn it on, sign in and start working immediately. Very nice.

Is it for everyone? Absolutely not. If you ARE already using Google products, especially Google for work, it may be something to look at.

Will update as I use it more. So far so good.