[SOLVED] Looking for ChromeBook experiences

Math Geek

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I am looking to get my stepmom a chromebook but have no experience with them at all. what i am interested in knowing is how they perform with the various cpu's and storage configs. i have seen them with ARM cpu's, pentiums/i3's and even i5's. any experience from our users out there with the various cpu's? i am sure she won't need an i5 but don't know if they ARM chips are good enough or if the pentium's are worth it. heck maybe even the i3 is worth it, i don't know :)

other thing is storage. i see a lot with only 32 gb built in. that seems low considering the bloat i'm sure is there. i know they can use sd but i'd like enough fast flash memory to do most of the heavy lifting. do i need to go with 64gb or more? or can 32 gb do the job?? mostly email and streaming video would be the uses but some web surfing and low end card games are also desired as well.

so basically looking for some experiences and advice on what is worth it and what ends up being a waste from those in the know
 
Solution
I am looking to get my stepmom a chromebook but have no experience with them at all. what i am interested in knowing is how they perform with the various cpu's and storage configs. i have seen them with ARM cpu's, pentiums/i3's and even i5's. any experience from our users out there with the various cpu's? i am sure she won't need an i5 but don't know if they ARM chips are good enough or if the pentium's are worth it. heck maybe even the i3 is worth it, i don't know :)

other thing is storage. i see a lot with only 32 gb built in. that seems low considering the bloat i'm sure is there. i know they can use sd but i'd like enough fast flash memory to do most of the heavy lifting. do i need to go with 64gb or more? or can 32 gb do the...
Think for ChromeBooks as a computer with Chrome Browser only. If all your mom is doing is watching videos / emails / messageing, she does not need any local storage. There is no (easy) way to access locally stored content, so 32gb storage is more than a plenty for everyday usafge.
 
I am looking to get my stepmom a chromebook but have no experience with them at all. what i am interested in knowing is how they perform with the various cpu's and storage configs. i have seen them with ARM cpu's, pentiums/i3's and even i5's. any experience from our users out there with the various cpu's? i am sure she won't need an i5 but don't know if they ARM chips are good enough or if the pentium's are worth it. heck maybe even the i3 is worth it, i don't know :)

other thing is storage. i see a lot with only 32 gb built in. that seems low considering the bloat i'm sure is there. i know they can use sd but i'd like enough fast flash memory to do most of the heavy lifting. do i need to go with 64gb or more? or can 32 gb do the job?? mostly email and streaming video would be the uses but some web surfing and low end card games are also desired as well.

so basically looking for some experiences and advice on what is worth it and what ends up being a waste from those in the know

I have used a few Chromebook systems, work had a Google Pixelbook that was great, ran fast, solid hardware, but of course expensive. My second favorite is the one I got my daughter which is the Samsung Plus, had almost the same solid build as the high end Pixel, slower and screen was a tad worse, but for almost 1/3rd the cost. The CPU and storage is fine for it, I would guess there won't be much need for storage on that thing past cloud storage in Google Drive or Photos. Overall, my daughter is very happy with it, she uses it for everything from homework to movie watching.

I would go with a convertible form for these so it can be setup like a tablet, the laptop chromebooks are cheaper but the screens in them are much worse and they are just not as flexible. Ability to flip the thing around and setup different viewing modes or drawing on them is nice.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J215RPT/ref=psdc_13896609011_t1_B071LB1GG4?th=1
 
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Math Geek

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thanks for the replies. i looked at if she would be able to navigate a browser based set-up and it looks like that is not gonna be possible for her. she's just not gonna be able to learn it. she's almost 80 and learning how to use a couple apps was enough of a chore.

she needs an app that does each thing so she can navigate it easier. i made shortcuts and all kinds of other things on an old laptop hoping she'd be able to work within the browser but she was horribly lost.

so i guess it's either a tablet again or more likely a smaller win laptop so she can get apps to use email, netflix and youtube and so on. seems she wants a laptop over a tablet so that's where i'm looking now.
 
thanks for the replies. i looked at if she would be able to navigate a browser based set-up and it looks like that is not gonna be possible for her. she's just not gonna be able to learn it. she's almost 80 and learning how to use a couple apps was enough of a chore.

she needs an app that does each thing so she can navigate it easier. i made shortcuts and all kinds of other things on an old laptop hoping she'd be able to work within the browser but she was horribly lost.

so i guess it's either a tablet again or more likely a smaller win laptop so she can get apps to use email, netflix and youtube and so on. seems she wants a laptop over a tablet so that's where i'm looking now.
Why not get one of the new iPads? It’s fairly cheap, easy to use and comes with a decent amount of accessibility features. If all else fails you can always teach her Siri to open things. £350 for the 32GB and 450 for 128. Also cloud storage is 79p a month for 50GB. Plus it works with the Apple keyboard attachment too.
 

Math Geek

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sadly ipad is not allowed. here grandkid's friend has one and she hates the kid, so in old people logic, that means, she hates ipads.

that was my first thought for her as well. they are so easy to use and prices are better than they used to be as you noted.