Question completely confused and frustrated ... can someone straighten me out ... want android or chromebook but lost

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xtal_01

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Quick background .... I am 60 ... I don't like listening to the radio much. My wife is disabled (paralyzed from from the shoulders down as the result of a diving accident when she was 12). I work out of the house so I can care for her and earn a living. I am building a large new workshop 50 ft from the house (4500 sq ft large with 16 ft walls ... doing all the work myself). I love YouTube. I watch "how to" ,history, ... a bit of everything.

I was given an old cracked smart phone about two years ago (iphone). I downloaded the youtube app ... fed it into an old karaoke machine (still had dual tape decks in it, got it free) and I had all the entertainment I wanted.

Then the phone died.

I had an old laptop I was given ... till had XP on it ... dead battery ... that would have been fine but when I tried to put it on the internet, browsers would not work ... got opera to work finally and it was soooooo slow it would not play YouTube videos!

OK ... new phones are not cheap ... If I am going to pay $100 or more for one then I thought why not a cheap tablet.

WOW ... did I go down a rabbit hole! What processor ... memory ... version of Android, .....

Read review after review ...watched video after video ... I could not believe how many would fail even at a simple thing like watching YouTube ... heck, I am not gaming or doing 3D graphics.

This is the one I "thought" I was going to get: Margch 10" tablet at Amazon

At $135, not bad it if it works for a few years.

Then I got an e-mail saying not to get a tablet ... get a Chromebook.

I thought it was a specific unit till I started researching and found saying Chromebook is like saying laptop or tablet.

Again down the rabbit hole!

I watched ... I read .... processors ... video ...... memory .... will it play YouTube .....

And then price .... just under $200 to ????????

So I am lost again!

I just want a something simple that will stream YouTube and do a few simple apps (I was given a "wildlife camera" that uses an app ... I have a car ODB reader that uses an app ... just simple things like that.

Probably the most I will do is cast some of these things onto TV when I get the workshop done (I am old enough ten years ago before I moved, I had an old workshop and played DVD's all the time in the background).

I did find this unit ... no memory slot (hmmm) ... older 2020 (that worries me as I started reading about AUE) ... $230 Lenovo Duet on Amazon

Can anyone please straighten me out or give me some direction.

I was hoping to stay in the $100 - $200 range ... but can go a bit higher if I need to.

I live in rural VT (OK, all VT is rural, the largest city in the state is 42,000) ... I can't just run to a store and look at one. I can't find any "experts" in my area.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated !!!!!!!!

Mike

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Aeacus

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Essentially, every tablet/chromebook/laptop/smart phone can play Youtube videos. So, the performance metric you have and which is confusing to you, is, like you said, when you use the said device fully and need e.g more RAM and/or SD card slot.

Now, i don't know the local situation you have, but cheapest would be going down to thrift store or flea market and look what they have available. 2nd hand market, to say so. But if you want brand new, Android tablet or iPad would do just fine.
Since you had iPhone before, Apple's iPad would give you the most similar feel on how the device works (e.g navigating in the OS).

xtal_01 said:
I was given an old cracked smart phone about two years ago (iphone). I downloaded the youtube app ... fed it into an old karaoke machine (still had dual tape decks in it, got it free) and I had all the entertainment I wanted.
Click to expand...

This reminds me a "hack" i did myself, years ago, when i wanted portable CD player.

So, i took 5.25" internal CD drive, that had play/pause button and 3.5mm headphone jack, ATX PSU and 3.5mm speakers. Hooked all up, powered the PSU on, and what i had, was portable CD player, that played audio CDs without needing the rest of the PC. :ROFLMAO:

Looked around the net and my setup looked very close to this:

FM2NCJJFH6V307Z.jpg
 
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xtal_01

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Aeacus said:
Essentially, every tablet/chromebook/laptop/smart phone can play Youtube videos. So, the performance metric you have and which is confusing to you, is, like you said, when you use the said device fully and need e.g more RAM and/or SD card slot.

Now, i don't know the local situation you have, but cheapest would be going down to thrift store or flea market and look what they have available. 2nd hand market, to say so. But if you want brand new, Android tablet or iPad would do just fine.
Since you had iPhone before, Apple's iPad would give you the most similar feel on how the device works (e.g navigating in the OS).



This reminds me a "hack" i did myself, years ago, when i wanted portable CD player.

So, i took 5.25" internal CD drive, that had play/pause button and 3.5mm headphone jack, ATX PSU and 3.5mm speakers. Hooked all up, powered the PSU on, and what i had, was portable CD player, that played audio CDs without needing the rest of the PC. :ROFLMAO:

Looked around the net and my setup looked very close to this:

FM2NCJJFH6V307Z.jpg
Click to expand...
Now that looks exactly like something I would do !!!

I know I sound cheap ... well I prefer to use the word economical ... but I really don't mind spending money as long as I get something that will work for my purpose. I would just hate to spend $200 and find I could not watch YouTube.

I wish we had second hand stores ..... when I lived in SC there were lots ... and lots of flea markets.

VT is very rural ..... not even a mall near by. Cows to the side ... horses across the street ... a ski mountain in back.

I do see cheap tables and used phones on ebay ... again just worried I am buying junk rather than something that will work for me.

Thanks !

Mike
 
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Aeacus

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xtal_01 said:
on ebay
Click to expand...

Never in my life i have bought anything off from Ebay. I have too much distrust in that. (Aka, i've seen more than enough videos where people got scammed on Ebay or Craigslist).

With Ebay, you need to look out reputable sellers, with good rating by at least 100+ people. Now, i know that there are legit sellers on Ebay (e.g i saw a reality TV series where pawn shop also had Ebay listing, to widen the area they were selling to). So, issue is finding the reputable seller.

With 2nd hand hardware, and since it being used, i, personally, like to see it in person and make sure it works. Rather than buying one dead unit for spare parts.

Also, keep in mind that when the price is too good to be true, it usually is either scam or dead hardware.

Oh, Amazon usually have good items to sell, especially when item is sold by Amazon itself, and not by 3rd party seller. So, look what the biggest warehouse on the planet is offering. :)

xtal_01 said:
I wish we had second hand stores ..... when I lived in SC there were lots ... and lots of flea markets.

VT is very rural ..... not even a mall near by. Cows to the side ... horses across the street ... a ski mountain in back.
Click to expand...

I guess you're in USA, based on the SC and VT letters you use for location. Now, i can't figure out what those mean, since i live across the pond (Atlantic Ocean), in Europe. But I guess you have big acquaintance/family circle (based on your age). Perhaps you can ask around and someone knows a guy, who knows a guy, who can sell you needed hardware for cheap? :)
 
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xtal_01

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Aeacus said:
Never in my life i have bought anything off from Ebay. I have too much distrust in that. (Aka, i've seen more than enough videos where people got scammed on Ebay or Craigslist).

With Ebay, you need to look out reputable sellers, with good rating by at least 100+ people. Now, i know that there are legit sellers on Ebay (e.g i saw a reality TV series where pawn shop also had Ebay listing, to widen the area they were selling to). So, issue is finding the reputable seller.

With 2nd hand hardware, and since it being used, i, personally, like to see it in person and make sure it works. Rather than buying one dead unit for spare parts.

Also, keep in mind that when the price is too good to be true, it usually is either scam or dead hardware.

Oh, Amazon usually have good items to sell, especially when item is sold by Amazon itself, and not by 3rd party seller. So, look what the biggest warehouse on the planet is offering. :)



I guess you're in USA, based on the SC and VT letters you use for location. Now, i can't figure out what those mean, since i live across the pond (Atlantic Ocean), in Europe. But I guess you have big acquaintance/family circle (based on your age). Perhaps you can ask around and someone knows a guy, who knows a guy, who can sell you needed hardware for cheap? :)
Click to expand...
I actually have many friends "across the pond" ...

I was born in Canada (near Niagara Falls) ... moved to the USA in the early 90's (South Carolina) ... met a woman about 15 years ago from Vermont. Unlike most of the world, we don't have socialized healthcare. As she is disabled it is very hard to get a job and healthcare . Vermont has many more programs than most states ... for example if you have a job, they will pay for the modifications to it (you still need to buy the car ...in our case a van .. but they put in the lift and such). So I quite my job, sold everything and moved back "up north". I am just an hour from the Canadian boarder ... a very rural area.

Thanks!
 
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xtal_01

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USAFRet said:
Unless you really really know what you're doing, don't.

Go to Newegg/Amazon/BestBuy.
Filter for laptops under $250

There are many many many.
Click to expand...
So if I up my budget to say $250 to $300, what would you recommend?

Thanks ...

PS ... I agree with your first statement ... I am a machinist by trade and most of my work is repairing things that started off with small problems and people tried to fix them.
 
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USAFRet

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xtal_01 said:
So if I up my budget to say $250 to $300, what would you recommend?

Thanks ...

PS ... I agree with your first statement ... I am a machinist by trade and most of my work is repairing things that started off with small problems and people tried to fix them.
Click to expand...
For instance, at Newegg.

Filter for:
$250
Intel i3/5/7
Ryzen 3/5

A few dozen appear.
Dell, Lenovo, Apple.
 
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Aeacus

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xtal_01 said:
I actually have many friends "across the pond" ...

I was born in Canada (near Niagara Falls) ... moved to the USA in the early 90's (South Carolina) ... met a woman about 15 years ago from Vermont. Unlike most of the world, we don't have socialized healthcare. As she is disabled it is very hard to get a job and healthcare . Vermont has many more programs than most states ... for example if you have a job, they will pay for the modifications to it (you still need to buy the car ...in our case a van .. but they put in the lift and such). So I quite my job, sold everything and moved back "up north". I am just an hour from the Canadian boarder ... a very rural area.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Yeah, i know about the health care system in America. The most expensive, least efficient and least effective system out of all developed worlds. Sadly, this happens when health care system isn't for keeping the population healthy, but instead to profit on population.

Okay, i'm getting way off-topic with this and i'll stop here.

xtal_01 said:
So if I up my budget to say $250 to $300, what would you recommend?
Click to expand...

CPU wise, Core i3 or Ryzen 3 laptop would do just fine. Since what you need it for, is only for web browsing (listening Youtube).
 
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xtal_01

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Aeacus said:
Yeah, i know about the health care system in America. The most expensive, least efficient and least effective system out of all developed worlds. Sadly, this happens when health care system isn't for keeping the population healthy, but instead to profit on population.

Okay, i'm getting way off-topic with this and i'll stop here.



CPU wise, Core i3 or Ryzen 3 laptop would do just fine. Since what you need it for, is only for web browsing (listening Youtube).
Click to expand...
Thanks ...

Thanks! I will take a good look tonight. Rain finally stopped .. running outside to use the last hour or so of daylight to get another roof truss up!
 
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