Laptop or Chromebook

[Agrismith]

I need to buy a laptop as I am hopefully enrolled on am hnc course.
I haven't touched a computer for nearly 10years and knew little about them even then.
So I need something for writing assignments using Microsoft teams and zoom. I may one day learn how to use SketchUp but that's very much a maybe.

Would I get more for my money if I look at Chromebooks or am I better off sticking to windows.
I definitely don't want anything Apple.
But beyond that I don't know what to look for.
Would anyone be able to point me in the right direction of what to look for or suggest something that will last well.

 

[mike os]

Might depend on the course and what software you need to run

 

[Agrismith]

Might depend on the course and what software you need to run

It's civil engineering but shouldn't be needing to run any speacialist software just write assignments.

 

[gaz1]

I need to buy a laptop as I am hopefully enrolled on am hnc course.
So I need something for writing assignments using Microsoft teams and zoom. I may one day learn how to use SketchUp but that's very much a maybe.

Would I get more for my money if I look at Chromebooks or am I better off sticking to windows.
I definitely don't want anything Apple.
But beyond that I don't know what to look for.
Would anyone be able to point me in the right direction of what to look for or suggest something that will last well.

its either windows 10 or its a mac os system

Laptops vs Macbooks

If this isn't the right spot for this, please let me know (or can the mods move it?) I figured there'd be a good selection of oppinions and experience here, My laptop is getting a bit old and temperemental so I'm begining to look at replacement options. I've always been Windows as I figured it...

www.mig-welding.co.uk

im not a lover of windows 10-11

whichever laptop you choose a laptop only has 3 years then its obsolite compared to a pc that you can update

dont buy anything below 64gb hard drive, windows 10-11 wants that size for upgrades/updates

 

[mike os]

No cad requirement then a chromebook should be fine

 

[mr haynes]

Confirm what software needs to be used for presentations with your course provider.
Known of problems and incompatibility issues

Main consideration would be how comfortable you are typing on the different size keyboards

 

[qwakers]

I’d buy anything from Lenovo. Good reliable kit.

 

[Maker]

I would get whatever windows laptop fits your budget, ChromeOS doesn't support Microsoft Office, you've got to use Google's equivalent programmes which is fine until you share a file with an Office user and the formatting gets messed up.

 

[My Old Landy]

I would get whatever windows laptop fits your budget, ChromeOS doesn't support Microsoft Office, you've got to use Google's equivalent programmes which is fine until you share a file with an Office user and the formatting gets messed up.

I just looked (posting from my Chromebook) and it looks like it does

 

[Maker]

That's interesting. Maybe they're not the full desktop version or something? I had a quick search before I posted to confirm I wasn't just making it up and the Microsoft website seemed to agree with me.

 

[DanZac]

I just looked (posting from my Chromebook) and it looks like it does
View attachment 310174

Does it open the full version of word/excel or just the online, limited capability one?
It depends what your trying to do, but I find the online version of word really difficult to work with.
That might just be me being useless though.

 

[My Old Landy]

I apologise, I downloaded it and got this so yes it is just the online version!

 

[Barking Mat]

Daughters got a chromebook, bit of a nightmare, won't run some stuff.

 

[skotl]

Daughters got a chromebook, bit of a nightmare, won't run some stuff.

Yeah - if you literally just need the browser then it's fine but I'm not sure they are the bargain they once were now that you can get very capable laptops for much the same price.

John Lewis has an Asus laptop with Windows Home for £199 - View All Laptops & MacBooks | John Lewis & Partners

Edit: Actually, Asus also do chromebooks with effectively the same spec as that Windows laptop, for £40 cheaper. I'd spend the extra £40 and get the Windows version just in case I needed to install something locally - View All Laptops & MacBooks | John Lewis & Partners

 

[Domdom]

Right, let’s explain a few things about a Chromebook. We have them at work and I run the IT function So I did a very comprehensive test on this before we released them for general use.

They will run MS Office but the question is more of why? They are designed to run Google Workspace where all the applications run in Chrome.

Google Docs (Word) is lighter than MS Word but still very feature rich and very easy to use. Designed to use Google Drive for file storage which is cloud based. This has advantages in so far as file sharing is much easier. No emailing huge documents, just the link. Files can also be downloaded (save as) in full MS Word format if desired, or even xml.

Same thing for Google Sheets (Excel) which fully supports excel macros if needed. Not a lightweight app, I built a multi-million euro budget in this including using formulas such as REGEX to import and extrapolate data from multiple sources.

Google Slides (powerpoint) is good but importing from Powerpoint isn’t great with formatting. That said it works well enough for me to prefer it over Powerpoint even on a PC.

Now, where it really scores is with collaborative working. If you don’t need this then the value is questionable. In the shared world of corporate it makes Office look thin and wimpy. Multiple people editing the same document at the same time, being able to comment specific people in on questions etc which then Emails them with a link to exactly where you want them to look ( via GMail ). Every file has an absolute link within Drive which means even if you “move” a file none of your links or embedded content breaks (unlike Office).

Sharing files is a 2 click job and again, one place to share from unlike Microsoft world where it might be in Teams, Sharepoint, Onedrive, a shared drive etc. Also, the fact it’s all in Drive means you don’t need to back it up And it is accessible from anywhere you have an internet connection. There is also offline access if needed but it’s a cached copy of what’s in Drive.

However, if you’re mostly flying solo you won’t reap the benefits of all the collaboration stuff it has. These are really Corporate benefits, or in an Educational environment for schoolwork.

So, Chromebook or PC? Well I still have a PC, despite preferring Google Workspace as my Office productivity suite. The Chromebook has a limited number of installable applications, including AutoCad quite recently but the PC is more versatile. What a Chromebook won’t do for me are:
MS Visio. Google has some drawing stuff but it’s not good.
Full Adobe creator suite. Google has a pdf reader and a writer but not much more if you use advanced features of Adobe.
MS Teams app. It works in Chrome but not the full app. Google’s version is Meet but you can’t join a Teams meeting with Meet. Same thing with Zoom.

One large benefit I get in Corporate world is not needing so much desktop support. If a Chromebook breaks we just give the person a new one, they log in, 2 minutes later they are working again, no data loss, no drama and happy staff. Desktop Support has become an inventory controller now.

Long winded, sorry. But hope this helps a bit. Happy to answer further questions if needed.

 

[Agrismith]

Right, let’s explain a few things about a Chromebook. We have them at work and I run the IT function So I did a very comprehensive test on this before we released them for general use.

They will run MS Office but the question is more of why? They are designed to run Google Workspace where all the applications run in Chrome.

Google Docs (Word) is lighter than MS Word but still very feature rich and very easy to use. Designed to use Google Drive for file storage which is cloud based. This has advantages in so far as file sharing is much easier. No emailing huge documents, just the link. Files can also be downloaded (save as) in full MS Word format if desired, or even xml.

Same thing for Google Sheets (Excel) which fully supports excel macros if needed. Not a lightweight app, I built a multi-million euro budget in this including using formulas such as REGEX to import and extrapolate data from multiple sources.

Google Slides (powerpoint) is good but importing from Powerpoint isn’t great with formatting. That said it works well enough for me to prefer it over Powerpoint even on a PC.

Now, where it really scores is with collaborative working. If you don’t need this then the value is questionable. In the shared world of corporate it makes Office look thin and wimpy. Multiple people editing the same document at the same time, being able to comment specific people in on questions etc which then Emails them with a link to exactly where you want them to look ( via GMail ). Every file has an absolute link within Drive which means even if you “move” a file none of your links or embedded content breaks (unlike Office).

Sharing files is a 2 click job and again, one place to share from unlike Microsoft world where it might be in Teams, Sharepoint, Onedrive, a shared drive etc. Also, the fact it’s all in Drive means you don’t need to back it up And it is accessible from anywhere you have an internet connection. There is also offline access if needed but it’s a cached copy of what’s in Drive.

However, if you’re mostly flying solo you won’t reap the benefits of all the collaboration stuff it has. These are really Corporate benefits, or in an Educational environment for schoolwork.

So, Chromebook or PC? Well I still have a PC, despite preferring Google Workspace as my Office productivity suite. The Chromebook has a limited number of installable applications, including AutoCad quite recently but the PC is more versatile. What a Chromebook won’t do for me are:
MS Visio. Google has some drawing stuff but it’s not good.
Full Adobe creator suite. Google has a pdf reader and a writer but not much more if you use advanced features of Adobe.
MS Teams app. It works in Chrome but not the full app. Google’s version is Meet but you can’t join a Teams meeting with Meet. Same thing with Zoom.

One large benefit I get in Corporate world is not needing so much desktop support. If a Chromebook breaks we just give the person a new one, they log in, 2 minutes later they are working again, no data loss, no drama and happy staff. Desktop Support has become an inventory controller now.

Long winded, sorry. But hope this helps a bit. Happy to answer further questions if needed.

Thanks that's a really good guide and what's more I can understand most of it.


And thanks for all the other replies. I will wait for the rest of the course material to come through before purchasing anything, but I believe it is entirely written assignments so should hopefully should be easy enough to find something that will work well.

 

[gaz1]

while your waiting just go look at laptops and there prices beaware of old stock to new stock

so use google to find out the release date of that laptop

theres also laptops direct there is also a student reduction as well so worth a look

 

[Edward Teach]

Laptop or Chrome, do not waste your money,
You can get a very adequate second hand PC for what you want to be doing for £120 - 150,
SSF desktop PC, Intel i5-6500 CPU @ 3.2GHz, 256 Gb SSD M2, 8GB ram, Window 10 Pro 64bit
You can connect it to any tv with a HDMI cable etc.
Wireless Logitech key board and mouse for £21

 

[Kayos]

Laptop or Chrome, do not waste your money,
You can get a very adequate second hand PC for what you want to be doing for £120 - 150,
SSF desktop PC, Intel i5-6500 CPU @ 3.2GHz, 256 Gb SSD M2, 8GB ram, Window 10 Pro 64bit
You can connect it to any tv with a HDMI cable etc.
Wireless Logitech key board and mouse for £21

Not really the point, I have a high end desktop with eye watering specs. For typing a document or studying I pull out the laptop

 

[Munkul]

Anything college wise I'd want Windows 10 and the office suite, anything else is just faffing around.