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Chromebooks

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spidermonkey09:
I need a new laptop and am tempted by a Chromebook due to their simplicity, stripped back nature and the fact that saving stuff to the cloud seems to be the future. I also use an Android phone which makes things easier. The laptop will almost exclusively be used for word processing, browsing and reading pdfs, so my only concern is their cross compatibility with Office, particularly Word. I know you can get the Android app and online versions of Word and suspect this will probably be enough as I wouldn't be a 'power user' by any stretch. Any experience of this and finding anything you couldn't do?

Anyone own a Chromebook or had experience of them for work use, particularly academic work? I'm starting a PhD in te autumn so this will be its primary use. Recommendations also welcome; I'm leaning towards the Pixelbook Go as my tolerance for large amounts of internet research into the differences between each laptop is low and they allow you to pay for it monthly over 2 years with 0% interest! https://store.google.com/gb/product/pixelbook_go?hl=en-GB

remus:
Sounds like it'd be a good fit for your use. If you're worried about excel, word etc. you could upload a few test docs and check you can do everything you need to https://www.office.com/

You can edit microsoft office files on google docs these days too. As above you could upload a few test things to google drive and open them up to play around and see how it'd work.

Oldmanmatt:
All four kids use Chromebooks for just about everything imaginable. Though only up to A level school work so far, but Google Docs seems to be fully functional as for word processing. Mrs OMM also has a Chromebook now for work (Estate/Lettings agent) and similarly has abandoned Word/Excel in favour of Google Docs.
We’re hybrid Apple/Chrome and it works fine, just using Google Drive to transfer between the two.
We have PC’s gathering dust, but not one has been turned on for five years or more.
This combo is how we run the business, home life, kids studies and all my higher ed/professional courses and work. Though, for work I’ve been using nothing but iPad/iPad Pro for years now (even for Engineering drawing, or, at least, editing of such. The Apple pencil really kicked that up a notch over my old Bamboo pen).
Very occasionally I’ve had to use one of the Chromebooks, because the iPad won’t cut it (last month I had to do the enhanced Official Secrets Act online vetting and their portal just doesn’t function on Apple devices or Android tablets. Chromebooks work fine though).
Not actually found a downside yet.

dunnyg:
Dont know what the PhD is in, but worth looking into compatability with uni systems. If you are likely to be running models, then being able to ssh into the uni network is useful. E.g. if you need a specific client to connect to uni linux servers, it would be worth checking that a version exists for chrome OS (if you are likely to need them).

Also, might be worth getting uni to pay for it and get a uni laptop instead of a desktop if this is an option?

Supervisor should be able to answer those questions if you cant.

RobK:
A couple of things:
1. I would be slightly wary of a Chromebook for academic use. When I was at Leeds, everything is so (increasingly) intertwined with Microsoft/365 that my non-Windows machine (Linux) was a nightmare for some things and I had to often make use of a virtual desktop which was a pain. I have no experience of using a Chromebook so not sure if this would be an issue or not, just something to be aware of (I have vague memories of a colleague having a Chromebook and finding it very unhelpful at times, I could be making this up though!).  Lots of specialist software requires Windows too, but doesn't sound like this will be what you're using it for.
2. In terms of paying for it, you should check with your supervisor about an equipment budget. I didn't have to pay for my PC out of my own pocket. Obviously you don't then get to keep it after the PhD!

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