quagmire Loc: Greenwood,South Carolina

What is a chrome lap top good for? Going on cruise and want something small.

johneccles Loc: Leyland UK

Chrome Laptop need internet to operate properly

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

The correct term is Chromebook. You can do a Google search for many info articles. As johneccles suggests, it is designed primarily for online use. The Chromebook comes pre-installed with a Chrome browser.

The operating system is not compatible with Windows or Mac programs, so you use apps. Some Android apps work on it (the photo editor Snapseed is one, and can be used offline), and there are other apps specifically designed for Chromebooks.

The Google Play Store is one place to find compatible apps:
https://play.google.com/store?hl=en_US

Kindle has an app that can be used offline; I get e-books from my library, as well as buy an occasional kindle book from amazon. Otherwise, everything I do with my Chromebook is online: simple photo edits with befunky (usually in conjunction with discussion on UHH), my email, website browsing, Google docs.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

I forgot one of my favorite online uses: watching MLB games. I have an mlb.tv subscription (discounted for military veterans) and can watch any out of market game live, and I get to choose which team's announcers to listen to You can also watch games after they've finished, or pick up anywhere within the already-completed innings.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

And on a cruise, getting online could get pricey

NJphotodoc Loc: Now in the First State

As others have mentioned a Chromebook w/o Internet is a brick. And when you are on land, you'll still need internet to use it which can get real expensive even if you toggle the chromebook to your phone.
There are very affordable Windows based convertible notebooks (i.e you can use them as a laptop and/or a tablet) which might be a better choice. I have an HP x2 210 G2 that has 10" screen, 2 cameras (front and rear), audio, Win 10 Pro and 2gb of RAM. It cost me $279 through HP so in the same price range of a decent Chromebook, but if you are going to be somewhere where you must be able to work w/o the internet, something like this should be on your "look at this" list

hassighedgehog Loc: Corona, CA

I bought a Chromebook once. As soon as I found out that it could not use the programs (or apps) I was used to, I exchanged it for an Android tablet. There are many third party apps you can get for Android tablets. Not so for Chrome. Too limited for me.

quagmire Loc: Greenwood,South Carolina

$199 at Office Max but I'll pass. thanks

btbg

I know that there are a lot of naysayers about the Chromebook. It has two things going for it. One, it has virtually no risk of getting a virus and is not as vulnerable to hacking and malware as windows computers.


This makes it good for things like internet shopping and keeping your banking information.

It also is good because it takes such little space.

Others are correct that because of its lack of memory and the fact that it is internet based it has limited use without the internet. However, I like you, wanted something small to take on a cruise, so I purchased a chromebook because it was lighter and less expensive than the other choices I had. Counting the chromebook and the accessories that I purchased for it I have less than 150 dollars in it.

I also purchased a 5 terabyte hard drive. In order to use it with a chromebook it has to be reformatted. However, after doing that it worked well download photos to and store. It didn't give me a way to use photoshop for post processing, but it worked very well for saving photos and it will save me both weight and space when we go on the cruise.

Because we are flying on a small regional airline for the first leg of our trip my normal carry on has to be stored with the checked baggage and then I have to pick it up off a cart when we disembark. That means that baggage handlers will be tossing my camera bag and laptop around.

By getting an underseat carry on I can't take all of my camera gear in the bag, but I can get what won't fit in my underseat bag and the chromebook into my personal item. If I had a full sized laptop I would have to put it in the ala carte section and trust the baggage handlers. The Chromebook solves that problem.