4 ms·
It’s really hard to beat chrome OS for this use case. Options from $200-$1000+, with good options around $400 on sale. Issues? Power wash it. Really broken?
by mlac 5y ago
It’s really hard to beat chrome OS for this use case.
Options from $200-$1000+, with good options around $400 on sale.
Issues? Power wash it.
Really broken? Go buy another one.
Lost or stolen? Buy another one and log in.
Need office? Google’s products work well. Need more? O365 subscription.
Want more security? Two factor auth with a Yubikey.
I recognize that this relies on Google and Microsoft and is not FOSS and has privacy issues and everything else. But I do not have enough time to spend managing my extended family’s IT beyond giving them chromebooks that achieve 99% of what they need to do with very little input on my part. If they want to invest time in learning about Linux and get away from Google and MSFT, that’s fine, but they can do it on their own time with a test machine and keep Chrome OS as their daily driver until they are confident on their own.
- jmnicolas 5y agoI put my mom on Ubuntu 3 or 4 years ago. It has been absolutely uneventful since then. This wasn't the case when she was on Windows.
- petepete 5y agoSame for mine but with Fedora. I enabled auto updates and haven't needed to provide any tech support since.
- mlac 5y agoI had my in-laws on Ubuntu around 2011-2012 and they used it well enough, and I agree it was much less eventful than Windows. But that was a home build Frankenstein desktop that eventually had a part fail. By then, chromebooks were available for $200. I got one and they used it until the wheels fell off (screen issues, battery life <10 minutes, charger would only work in certain location) two years ago when I got a free chromebook through a promotion to replace it. I think we got one in 2012, 2015, 2019 (to replace the 2013), and 2021 (to replace the 2015). They are laptops and used daily.
- tuatoru 5y agoDid she stop using her PC? Worth checking.
- jmnicolas 5y agoNo she uses it about 1 hour daily.
- eitland 5y agoI was introduced to Ubuntu by a then 50 or so old electrician about 15 years ago. He had bought a second hand machine from a school or something and the sysadmin there refused pirate licenses and pre-installed Ubuntu for them. When the disk broke (or something, it wasn't software related IIRC) he asked me to get back the brown system because he liked it. And that my intro to Ubuntu. I had used Linux for a couple of years already but Gnome before Ubuntu wasn't something I used voluntarily so it was a reql surprise to me that someone had made Gnome great. Anyways, since then I have said that Linux is for people who don't know about computers - and for people who know what they are doing. The people it doesn't seem to work for is people who have used Windows or Mac before and have picked up a few tricks and refuse to learn anything new.
- pjmlp 5y agoThe only time I tried such stunt my parents eventually got a local IT shop to re-install Windows, because the issues they were facing sharing stuff with their friends. Naturally they didn't want to hurt my feelings and I only discovered their undo action several months later. For them Windows just works, and there are plenty of shops around that can go to in case it doesn't, which wasn't the case with anything Linux.
- Khaine 5y agoUntil Google stop you from doing what you want because they don't like your content: https://reclaimthenet.org/google-docs-policy-is-updated-hate-speech-misinformation/ https://reclaimthenet.org/google-docs-policy-is-updated-hate...
- CraigJPerry 5y agoThe chromebook i bought my mother in law announced back in September it’s getting no more updates. Other chromebooks with comparable hardware are still getting updates. There’s nothing wrong with the hardware. It’s still snappy to use. Battery life is still north of 4 hours. Just no more updates suddenly from Google.
- oidar 5y agoI just went through this. I decided to install GalliumOS. It works well, mostly. The only issue I have is the trackpad scrolling (two finger) is a little jumpy for both Firefox and Chrome. Otherwise, it works well.
- mey 5y agoChrome OS devices have a fixed "kill" date when they will stop getting updates. Google Chrome OS devices do not have an AUE date beyond 5-6 years. I will not recommend Chrome devices to friends until they change this wasteful practice. https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/9367166?hl=en https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/9367166?hl=en https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/6220366?#zippy=%2Cgoogle https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/6220366?#zippy=%2...
- mlac 5y agoYou do have to be careful on this and check the cost/year and look at the charts before you buy.
- johnvaluk 5y agoI agree it's wasteful and the trend is getting worse, but 5+ years of reduced tech support calls from family for such inexpensively performant devices is an incredible value. I'd wager more Windows machines were tossed into landfills simply because they were compromised within 3 years. Most Intel-based ChromeOS devices from before 2017 are still easily recyclable into capable machines if you can flash the firmware and install Linux. I use several for for DNS/DHCP/media/file servers and test machines. Some of them have batteries that outlast my newest laptops, so a UPS is unnecessary. It stinks that recycling unsupported devices is getting more difficult, but it's happening across the board regardless of platform. I'd still recommend a ChromeOS device to nontechnical users for a worry-free experience.