this may be blogger suicide, but i ditched my mac for a google chromebook and i will never go back. i am not a apple hater, in fact, i LOVE how they market their products! i think they have done a beautiful job of convincing us that we need their products and have created a design that keeps people coming back! it is a great product and i never had anything bad to say about my macbook or my iphone. BUT there are other great products out there and when i found the same quality in a more affordable package i was sold. now i have the google Nexus 4 and the white google chromebook – i guess you can say i am a google gal.
computers break, phones crack, software gets out of date and sometimes we need to get new technology. i am not telling you that you need to sell your mac to get a chromebook or anything dramatic like that, i am just sharing with you why i love my Chromebook because it is one of the most asked questions on Oak + Oats:
TOP FIVE REASONS I LOVE MY CHROMEBOOK
(and somethings that you should know about the Chromebook)
1. IT FITS MY QUALIFICATIONS: i (i mean my husband…) did TONS of research and this fit what i needed best. when my mac died and i started the search for a computer, my husband told me to make a list and i found that this one met them all.
– low cost (it is less than 300 bucks!!!!)
– high performance
– light weight
– easy to transport to coffee shops (super important 😉 )
– perfect for blogging and shopping online
– can upload my pictures from my camera & has a way to edit them
– it looks pretty
2. IT IS INTERNET BASED: i love that everything that i do on my computer is in google docs or on google chrome. that way i can access my documents, pictures, and projects from any computer just by logging into my google email. it is true that you need to be connected to the internet to work on it but that is not a big deal to me. i cannot even imagine needing to use my computer with out the internet – i use the internet for everything blog related. but you can get ones that come with 3G (like cellphones) OR you can tether your phone’s 3G/ 4G if you are out in a place with no internet access.
3. IT HAS A SOLID STATE DRIVE: which means that it starts up right away when you open it, does not make loud fan noises, and is super light but it cannot hold tons of information (i only know a bit about this because i have a mechanical engineer as a husband!). it has a different configuration than a typical hard drive which spins really fast to transmit the data (these guys hold more information typically) . i have everything saved on google docs including all the pictures on my computer that i upload from my camera. i honestly love that i have to do this because i can access all my projects and pictures from anywhere (as mentioned above). you also can easily plug in an extra hard drive if you need to transfer pictures.
4. IT IS PRACTICAL: it has two USB ports and sound port. it doesn’t have a CD drive but i personally do not need one (if you ever needed to upload a CD, you can just plug a drive into the USB port). it has a super long battery life (like i usually get 5-6 working hours) without plugging it in. and because it is so small AND light AND thin, i can cart it around with me anywhere without hurting my back or carrying multiple bags.
5. GOOGLE DRIVE: i have talked about this in like every point but i love google drive. the computer comes with the whole package of google documents (which is word, excel, powerpoint, etc) which is great because you do not need to buy and install Windows. there are also plenty of free photo editing apps that you can use for editing pictures including one pretty similar to photoshop. be mindful that you cannot download any programs to the computer (like word, photoshop, video games..) but i have not found this a hindrance at all.
so there you have it. my chromebook experience. it really does everything i need it too and more. the $300 price tag was such a bonus because it allowed me to save when i was getting a new computer. it is not necessarily for everyone but it is PERFECT for me!
do you have any other questions? what do you love about your computer?
My sis has a chromebook. She loves it! And I totes want one because the price is great!! But what kills me is that you can't download photoshop! I LOOOVE photoshop! But I've also had my heart set on a MAC book air (the mini one) for a while but it's 3x the price of the chrome book! OUCH! My dad (is an engineer too) and liiives for info like this. He's been trying to get me to get one for a while, but eek! No actual photoshop?!
I was going to ask about loading other photo editing programs like Lightroom but that seems to be answered down below. That's kind of a bummer. My Macbook is currently dying a slow death… but with my photography I'm not sure I can part with my Macs!
Hmmm….something to definitely look into as my current laptop starts to go kaput on me. Do you have another, regular computer in addition to your chromebook?
girl! i totally get that! i never really got in photoshop because you have to pay for it but you can do any of the online ones! all the ones I use are online – like this one https://pixlr.com/editor/ (which i hear is similar to photoshop) and http://fotoflexer.com/app/index.php?integration=upload and
http://www.fotor.com/features/collage.html
my husband has a desktop and i use a desktop at work but my chromebook is my always computer!
but yeah, that was the biggest thing that held me back. I found these sites and figured they would be good enough for me and my current photography skills! lol
I never use photoshop so it wasn't the biggest deal to me – i use this one: https://pixlr.com/editor/ and a lot of other online photo editing apps! it works great for me but i am not saying it is perfect for everyone!!
I love cloud storage too, I use it for everything!
We're windows people around here (kinda happens by default because of my husband's job). I use a surface RT for most of my computer needs, and I LOVE it! It's super light weight, and I love how I can use it as a tablet, but it's also powerful enough to be a full laptop too. If I ever want to use photoshop, I just hop on my husband's desktop (although the pro version can run photoshop)!
This is so timely! After our comment conversation awhile back I started to really look into Chromebooks. I'm like 90% sold on ditching my dying-a-slow-death Mac (well, keeping it for a few uses but moving to a new Chromebook). I'm glad to know which one you use. Also, weird Q, but since you've written a bunch on this and been super helpful, do you have an Amazon affiliate link or anything? I would totally buy through that if I do go for it, since you gave such great advice!
Sounds awesome. I moved away from laptops because I've always had so many issues with them slowing down. My last laptop was a Sony it only performed well for about 2 years. after that it went kaput and I only used it for web surfing and light editing. I've used my desk top for everything else and recently upgraded to a 27in iMac. I love it, its a photographers dream. For blogging on the go I used my iPad mini and keyboard. I don't think i'll ever get another laptop but if I did the chrome book sounds awesome. i may need to get one for my mom.