Chromebooks

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  • Chromebooks

    Always been interested in getting a Chromebook for myself... but also now interested for my kids for home learning in this crazy world.

    So just curious for those that have one -- did you like it? Brand you like? Just playing at Best Buy I'd enjoyed the feel of the HP Chromebooks, but so many choices. Many under $200 bucks.

  • #2
    Re: Chromebooks

    I've had an Acer Chromebook for a few years now. I bought one so I would have something simple, lightweight and inexpensive I could use to work on the site while traveling. It's been good for that. I can throw it in my carry-on-bag along with the charger and don't need a case. And not that I want to lose it or see it break, but if it happens then it's only $180 roughly and not my roughly $2,000 MacBook Pro. They are also kept well up-to-date and are simple but secure.

    But to me, and somewhat obviously so, they are really only good for working on the site, checking emails, looking at YouTube, reading a PDF and/or surfing the Net in general. Personally, I can't truly power work on them. And you really need internet connection pretty much all the time to work on things, though you can some offline writing as I recall.

    It's tough for me to say if a kid in this day and age would find it "fun enough" to use especially if they have ever played much with a tablet or smartphone. If they were literally just using it to look info up while they worked on a report or to watch video lessons, etc. might be just fine. I don't know how much "power" they need or if they need to install any special programs. Can't really do the latter at all.

    The best thing about buying it from BB is you can get, try it out for a few days, and then if you don't like it, power-wash it and return. Just save the receipt and be very careful, of course.
    Will
    Done Deal Pro
    www.donedealpro.com

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    • #3
      Re: Chromebooks

      Thanks for the info.

      For kids chromebook is what school system is using because the virtual learning is pretty much powered off Google Classroom so all you need is WiFi and Google Chrome and some extensions.

      We did it on iPad to finish the year, but to me it's better to have a full keyboard for them to type answers in (I know bluetooth keyboards) and mostly to separate the fun iPad which is their love vs school work (boring laptop).

      Personally I put a lot of my writing on Google Cloud and it's great to have it on any device. So even on my Macbook I use a lot of Chromebook only functions.

      Did you put screenwriting software on it?

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      • #4
        Re: Chromebooks

        I did not/have not. As I understand it, there are a handful of "apps" one can use, but if I ever felt I really needed to write while on the go, I'd just breakdown and take my MacBook since I have a couple of script writing programs on it.

        When I'm traveling, it's pretty much always for a holiday or "vacation," thus I don't plan on any writing at all, just taking care of the site or emails, and mostly visiting with family and friends. I treat my Chromebook as a non-creative tool for the most part.

        I'd be interested to at least hear if you or someone else tries writing a script on a Chromebook and how comfortable & useful you find it to be. Might be helpful for others to know.
        Will
        Done Deal Pro
        www.donedealpro.com

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        • #5
          Re: Chromebooks

          Originally posted by Bono View Post
          Did you put screenwriting software on it?
          In theory, you should be able to install Fade In Pro, WriterSolo, KIT Scenarist or any screenplay application supported by Linux. But you have to turn on the Linux Beta feature and the ChromeBook model has to support it (I think most do now).

          I say "in theory" because I don't own a Chromebook (nor am I in the market for one).

          https://www.aboutchromebooks.com/new...ur-chromebook/

          https://support.google.com/chromeboo.../9145439?hl=en

          https://sites.google.com/a/chromium....pporting-linux

          It looks like "Linux Beta" is Debian, so it should support any .deb package downloads.
          STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I'm a wannabe, take whatever I write with a huge grain of salt.

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          • #6
            Re: Chromebooks

            I had a cheap Acer Chromebook for several years. When its battery died, I replaced it with an even cheaper Samsung Chromebook 3. I also have 3 Windows laptops, 2 Fire tablets, and an iPad. I use all of them, though rarely at the same time. :-)

            I tend to write shorts on the Chromebook, using Fountain in the Caret text editor. I've written first drafts for a couple features this way as well, but I find large the Fountain files to be a bit unwieldy. My solution is to treat the script as four individual stories, creating discrete files for acts I, IIa, IIb, and III. I like this method so much, that I now use it for early drafts of all features, regardless of platform. Eventually, I import the text files into Fade In on Windows, where I do almost all of my rewrites. Eventually, I stitch the acts together.

            ps - Most modern Chromebooks will let you access the Play Store, giving you access to Android apps, such as Fade In Mobile. I tried it, and it works. But I'll stick with Fountain/Caret for the time being.

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            • #7
              Re: Chromebooks

              Thanks everyone. I mean for my kids sounds like perfect device.

              Honestly, for what I do with my macbook, might as well be a chomebook. Only thing I use it doesn't use is final draft and apple pages, but can use google documents.

              It's funny how little I use my Apple Computers to their full potential.

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