7 ms·

> Chrome books are the best college laptops for the vast majority of students. If they're not the best laptop for everybody outside of college, then they're no

> Chrome books are the best college laptops for the vast majority of students. If they're not the best laptop for everybody outside of college, then they're not the best laptop for college students IMO. I wouldn't want my kids learning on something that next to nobody uses. - How are graphics arts students supposed to learn how to use Photoshop, Illustrator and other programs that professionals actually use in the real world? - How are CS students supposed to learn how to use the plethora of tools that don't run in ChromeOS? - How are business students supposed to learn how to use the full Office suite, which most of the rest of the world is using on Windows or even OS X? The "ton" of apps is kind of a moot point since Windows and Mac both also have a ton of apps. I don't get your other point - you want to avoid issues with Word by using the "Microsoft suite on an App" (which presumably includes Word)? > THE ONE ISSUE is Printing. There is way more than just that one issue I think, if we're going to be completely objective here.

ghaff 10y ago
I find Chromebooks are increasingly good for a lot of things but, no, I doubt they're ideal for a lot of college students. (Pre-college is a somewhat different matter, especially if there's a family computer they can use for those applications that aren't accessible through a Chromebook.) With things like Google Docs, Chromebooks are pretty powerful. I often travel with one rather than a laptop these days. But many college students are likely to run into situations where they need apps that aren't available for a Chromebook and, especially so long as Chromebooks aren't the norm, that's likely to be a problem.
- jitl 10y ago
  I used a Chromebook as my only laptop for my last 2 years at UC Berkeley. I did all my note-taking in Google's Docs stuff. For my CS course work, I used the excellent Chrome SSH app [1] to remote into department machines. Chrome SSH is so good that I now use it on all my Windows machines instead of PuTTY! The only thing I couldn't use my Chromebook for was for design-related activities -- running Illustrator or Photoshop to make posters or t-shirts and the like. I ended up setting up Guacamole [2] on my home network, so I could remote to my desktop windows box to use Illustrator on-the-go. [1] https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/secure-shell/pnhechapfaindjhompbnflcldabbghjo?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/secure-shell/pnhec... [2] http://guac-dev.org/ http://guac-dev.org/
zxcvcxz 10y ago
>How are graphics arts students supposed to learn how to use Photoshop, Illustrator and other programs that professionals actually use in the real world? Are people really PAYING to learn photoshop? Waste of money. >How are CS students supposed to learn how to use the plethora of tools that don't run in ChromeOS? The same way they learn to use the tools that don't run on Windows or OS X. In my experience if you go to a good college Windows is discouraged for CS in favor of Unix and professors are knowledgeable of Unix and it's limitations when it comes to running Microsoft only software. In fact for every class that I took that required some windows tool (very few) we were encouraged to use the windows machines in the computer lab. I never used anything on my laptop but Linux the whole time I was getting my degree. I don't use chrome OS so I don't know how unixy it is though >How are business students supposed to learn how to use the full Office suite If you need to take a college course to learn word processing you're probably not going to be very good at running a business. Word processors and photoshop do not require college classes to learn. They should just be a part of local community colleges that allow people to earn certificates for using office software.
- spriggan3 10y ago
  > if you go to a good college Windows is discouraged for CS in favor of Unix You realize students in architecture or graphic design don't care about your petty OS war right? and you're statement is completely false. I went to a good college and I learned both server administration on Unix and Windows. > Are people really PAYING to learn photoshop? Waste of money. People are paying for an education that will get them a job, if the industry mandates the use of Photoshop for a specific professional task it's in the interest of a student to learn it. And obviously you don't know Photoshop, like at all or you wouldn't say the things you're say. > Word processors and photoshop do not require college classes to learn. They should just be a part of local community colleges that allow people to earn certificates for using office software. You realize there is a world between learning a word processor and Photoshop for a pro usage ? no you don't. Otherwise you wouldn't say such ignorant thing. The problem is that you are a programmer and you think every discipline works like computer science where everything is in the cloud ... it doesn't.
  - 10y ago
duaneb 10y ago
If students leave college without learning any apps, I almost consider that a Good Thing. These are means, not ends.
- hola_hola 10y ago
  Why? Learning how to use apps like photoshop is a good skill to have. Plus the knowledge easily translates well to other apps/mediums. Is like learning how to use an IDE and then switching to another one. At lot of the basic concepts stay the same.
  - duaneb 10y ago
    Sure, lots of skills are good to have. Not at hundreds of dollars a class, though, and certainly not worth associating with a bachelor's degree. Otherwise my peers would all have degrees in Eclipse and be unemployed right now.
    - hola_hola 10y ago
      If you are in engineering, computer graphics and are working on school projects I would expect people to use these tools to make their life easier. I'm not really sure what you are objecting to.
      - deleted 10y ago
        [deleted]
    - spriggan3 10y ago
      What a strange statement. Do you understand that for a student in graphic design or industrial design, knowing the theory is as important as knowning InDesign or AutoCAD right ? Do you understand that while you can get away with coding in a cloud IDE if you are a student in CS, some disciplines rely also on learning specific softwares which will not run on your ChromeOS computer? Or your goal is just to defend ChromeOS at all cost even with ridiculous arguments? No ChromeOS isn't the best computer for students in all disciplines.
ntlve 10y ago
I imagine something like crouton[1] would come in handy for the CS students. 1. https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton

ghaff 10y ago

I find Chromebooks are increasingly good for a lot of things but, no, I doubt they're ideal for a lot of college students. (Pre-college is a somewhat different matter, especially if there's a family computer they can use for those applications that aren't accessible through a Chromebook.) With things like Google Docs, Chromebooks are pretty powerful. I often travel with one rather than a laptop these days. But many college students are likely to run into situations where they need apps that aren't available for a Chromebook and, especially so long as Chromebooks aren't the norm, that's likely to be a problem.

jitl 10y ago
I used a Chromebook as my only laptop for my last 2 years at UC Berkeley. I did all my note-taking in Google's Docs stuff. For my CS course work, I used the excellent Chrome SSH app [1] to remote into department machines. Chrome SSH is so good that I now use it on all my Windows machines instead of PuTTY! The only thing I couldn't use my Chromebook for was for design-related activities -- running Illustrator or Photoshop to make posters or t-shirts and the like. I ended up setting up Guacamole [2] on my home network, so I could remote to my desktop windows box to use Illustrator on-the-go. [1] https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/secure-shell/pnhechapfaindjhompbnflcldabbghjo?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/secure-shell/pnhec... [2] http://guac-dev.org/ http://guac-dev.org/

zxcvcxz 10y ago

>How are graphics arts students supposed to learn how to use Photoshop, Illustrator and other programs that professionals actually use in the real world? Are people really PAYING to learn photoshop? Waste of money. >How are CS students supposed to learn how to use the plethora of tools that don't run in ChromeOS? The same way they learn to use the tools that don't run on Windows or OS X. In my experience if you go to a good college Windows is discouraged for CS in favor of Unix and professors are knowledgeable of Unix and it's limitations when it comes to running Microsoft only software. In fact for every class that I took that required some windows tool (very few) we were encouraged to use the windows machines in the computer lab. I never used anything on my laptop but Linux the whole time I was getting my degree. I don't use chrome OS so I don't know how unixy it is though >How are business students supposed to learn how to use the full Office suite If you need to take a college course to learn word processing you're probably not going to be very good at running a business. Word processors and photoshop do not require college classes to learn. They should just be a part of local community colleges that allow people to earn certificates for using office software.

spriggan3 10y ago
> if you go to a good college Windows is discouraged for CS in favor of Unix You realize students in architecture or graphic design don't care about your petty OS war right? and you're statement is completely false. I went to a good college and I learned both server administration on Unix and Windows. > Are people really PAYING to learn photoshop? Waste of money. People are paying for an education that will get them a job, if the industry mandates the use of Photoshop for a specific professional task it's in the interest of a student to learn it. And obviously you don't know Photoshop, like at all or you wouldn't say the things you're say. > Word processors and photoshop do not require college classes to learn. They should just be a part of local community colleges that allow people to earn certificates for using office software. You realize there is a world between learning a word processor and Photoshop for a pro usage ? no you don't. Otherwise you wouldn't say such ignorant thing. The problem is that you are a programmer and you think every discipline works like computer science where everything is in the cloud ... it doesn't.
- 10y ago

duaneb 10y ago

If students leave college without learning any apps, I almost consider that a Good Thing. These are means, not ends.

hola_hola 10y ago
Why? Learning how to use apps like photoshop is a good skill to have. Plus the knowledge easily translates well to other apps/mediums. Is like learning how to use an IDE and then switching to another one. At lot of the basic concepts stay the same.
- duaneb 10y ago
  Sure, lots of skills are good to have. Not at hundreds of dollars a class, though, and certainly not worth associating with a bachelor's degree. Otherwise my peers would all have degrees in Eclipse and be unemployed right now.
  - hola_hola 10y ago
    If you are in engineering, computer graphics and are working on school projects I would expect people to use these tools to make their life easier. I'm not really sure what you are objecting to.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
  - spriggan3 10y ago
    What a strange statement. Do you understand that for a student in graphic design or industrial design, knowing the theory is as important as knowning InDesign or AutoCAD right ? Do you understand that while you can get away with coding in a cloud IDE if you are a student in CS, some disciplines rely also on learning specific softwares which will not run on your ChromeOS computer? Or your goal is just to defend ChromeOS at all cost even with ridiculous arguments? No ChromeOS isn't the best computer for students in all disciplines.

ntlve 10y ago

I imagine something like crouton[1] would come in handy for the CS students. 1. https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton