Google Chromebook questions

gino_76ph

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Hi there. i'm from the UK and recently discovered this new Google Chromebook laptop range by Samsung. went to a PCworld store and was very impressed by it. but still left me with many questions:

1. can you install or assign a desktop wallpaper to the CB? ('cause i noticed there is no desktop or main homescreen unlike my Windows 7 laptop)

2. i noticed there is no bluetooth. would you know why? do you think a lack of bluetooth makes the laptop "incomplete"? (like when connecting a bt-enabled speaker/headphones/etc.)

3. can you save a photo taken from a microSD card on the laptop to any part of the hard drive? and can you partition the hard drive?

4. is there a function of "face to unlock" like Android 4.0?

5. can i still install 3rd-party softwares like those equivalent to MS office, anti-viruses, etc. (like Open Office, AVG, Media Monkey, Skype, yahoo messenger, etc.)

6. reading the specs the CB doesn't seem to have DLNA. its not a deal breaker but sometimes being DLNA-enabled would be very helpful especially when streaming files to a compatible device (e.g. internet tv or PS3)


and why do i need a Chromebook than a typical notebook?



Thanks.
 
I found a little 2 min video answering some of your questions.
Introducing the Chromebook - YouTube

By the looks of it, its "cloud storage" which means uploading everything to a server on the internet. I dont think the chromebook holds any data at all. If you load pics onto it, they get uploaded onto the "cloud" there is no hard drive to partition.
There is no desktop for wallpaper to go onto.
By the specs i saw the chromebooks dont have bluetooth. But that may change on later models.

Chromebooks have an "app" store though its probably called something else thats not an infringment of the apple empire, that will have applications for the chromebook, though antivirus is something you wont need.

Dnla is probably not added to these devices because all your data is online which could be streamed by the tv or other device from a server.
 
I usually have documents, photos, videos and music files on my HP laptop.

1. is it considered safe to upload everything on the cloud? can i organise my files on the cloud same as what i'm doing to my laptop?

2. would cloud mean "unlimited" files you can upload or save?

how about the issue of updating. do i need to manually update the CB or will it update itself?
 
Samsung says its only 25GB apparently which is a very disappointing number considering you store files in the "cloud".
 
I think security on the cloud storage is pretty good. And they have backups in place incase of hardware failure etc.
With a chromebook you are pretty much tied to google and all its affiliates, gmail, google search engine, google docs etc etc
There are good and bad points with chromebook, if you use google for most of your things, and have an android phone it will probably all click into place. It said in the video about using a usb stick or usb hard drive if you want to store videos and pictures in your house, but uploading pics to the cloud does have advantages of you not having to carry a hard drive about.
If you want to use it outside of your home/office, you will be on a 3g network which means paying a mobile company money every month for the data transmission. Which could be an amount of money you dont want to spend.
Watching video in any sort of enjoyable quality on a 3g network will be rare i think.

25gb may not sound alot, but for pictures and email and text docs its an alright amount, most space is taken up by video, and knowing google they will be continually adding space onto that like they have been doing with gmail, which is at 7gb for emails at the moment.

My own opinion is that these chromebooks are sort of a gimmick at the moment. They have a good idea behind them, but wireless transmission when your away from home is either too slow, too expensive or both. The battery life is good, but i have a laptop that gets about 5 hours when im browsing the web watching youtube etc but along with that i have a 500gb hard drive and if my internet fails for whatever reason i will always have access to my files without paying 02/orange or the 3g phone people money for that right.
 
I'm with T-Mobile & Orange (which was still a separate company when i first got their phones) and i have an "unlimited" (i.e. with this so-called fair usage policy tied to it) internet so that's fine. i won't be using my Chromebook whilst travelling anyway. i might bring my HTC Flyer tablet instead. if its a long holiday for more than a week then maybe yes.

some of my main worries have been answered. anti-virus - no need,. updates - it updates itself. very fast startup - ticked. 2xUSB ports - ticked. memory card reader - ticked.

my thing is files. where to store them, how to store them. we all know the CB is all about cloud services and stuff. i can live with 25GB for documents (via Google Docs, MS office, Open office or the like) but with photos and the odd videos i could (just) squeeze into the 25GB mark.

so, what do you guys suggest? save my photos and videos on a portable hard drive?

will my documents be safe on the CB? will those documents be saved on the cloud?

also, i'm an audiophile. i use Media Monkey in organising my music (and uploading them on to my phone) can i download MM to the CB? what alternative can you recommend?

can i download a torrent software/app on the CB? and what alternative can i use?

need answers please.....:)

Mod Edit: post edited to conform to forum rules
 
Last edited by a moderator:
If you want to save photos or other files and need alot of space for them, you have 2 options. Buy a external hard drive or large capacity memory card or usb stick and save them onto that. or, use up all the online storage they give you, and either pay them for more, which i think can work out about £5 a year for 10-20gb or find some free data storage webstes and dump all your files onto that.

for music and torrent apps i would have a look in the chrome store and see if there is a few to try.
 

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