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[Video] Daily Driving a Chromebook – Is It Even Possible?

Video August 29, 2022 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

Choosing a computer for your personal home use or even work is tough decision. You can save yourself a hassle and get an Apple MacBook. You could also go for value and get a Windows PC. But there is another option, a third option. You can buy a Chromebook.

The Chrome OS is a unique ecosystem by Google themselves that sort of bridges the differences between a smartphone interface against the PC interface. The approach to the interface is rather simplistic as well, straightforward enough that it can be familiar to any users within a few minutes of use. The best part about the Chromebook is that it will be the least costly option among the the ecosystems you choose from.

Thing is, can you really live with a Chromebook? What are its limitations? What can we do with it? Is it worth the money? Most importantly, can it be your main daily driver? We also have a comprehensive editorial series on living with a Chromebook. Check it out here.

Business, Computers, Editorial, Lifestyle, Mobile

[Editorial] Daily Driving the Chromebook Part 4 – It Can Be Done, at a Cost

June 27, 2022 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

The past few weeks with the Acer Chromebook Spin 713 have been quite a journey. We got it at quite an opportune time as well. We got to be one of the first few people that managed to try Steam on Chrome OS. The experience, if you read our editorial last week, left quite a lot to be desired, to be fair. There was an inherent scaling issue, which would be quite expected since getting games to run on the Chromebook’s native resolution is problematic at the best of times.

This is the last part of the editorial series though, which we will sort of wrap-up the entire series. We will be summarizing our experience with the Chrome OS in the past four weeks with a video too, so do look out for that. But yes, all three parts of the editorial has been leading up to this – an answer to the question; “can the Chrome OS be a viable daily driver?”

There is no one simple answer to this question though. Choosing an operating system to work with is never a straightforward process. There is a lot to consider when you want to invest in a computing solution for your own personal use. You often must decide on a budget, you want to think about the main function of the device as well.

The More Budget Conscious Option

Sure, compared to a Mac, any PC option looks like a budget option. When it comes to the world of the Chromebook though, its starting price is usually much lower than what you can expect even compared to a regular Windows PC. That makes the Chromebook, by default, the most budget friendly computing solution option.

A Chrome OS may not look as versatile as a Windows PC or a Macbook. You cannot expect it to game given its specs. Beyond that, it browses the internet just like your regular PC does. It processes through all your documents and even play music like any Macbook does too. It is a as versatile in most use cases as a MacBook or a PC at a fraction of the cost.

The requirements of Chrome OS are low in most cases too. You do not need an ultra-powerful set-up to get Chrome OS running nicely and smoothly. You can work with the most basic of specifications and still have a nicely functioning Chromebook with no fuss. You can still sort of play mobile games on it too, if you so wish to. That is why a basic Chromebook can be made so cheaply and is highly popular for young learners in school.

Versatile Worker

You can work with Microsoft’s full 365 suite with Google Chrome browser. While some may see that as an inconvenience and downgrade, the web-based suite is closer in function and look to the full Windows/Mac version than what you get on the mobile version of the apps.

Microsoft’s 365 suite is not the only web app that works well for Chrome OS though. Tidal and Spotify works better on Chrome browser than their mobile app counterpart too in this case. The Chromebook is not meant to just run web-based apps though, it is also built so that the Android apps can also run on it.

In that sense, while there are plenty of Android apps that will not run on top of Chrome OS, many does as well. Adobe’s Lightroom for Mobile can work on the Chromebook, for example. Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and even Sony’s Headphones app can run on the Chrome OS. For apps like Sony’s Headphones app, you get a full suite of control on whatever Sony audio device that connects to the Chromebook just like you do on your smartphone.

You technically can even run mobile games on the Chromebook to a certain degree of success. Just remember that these games are designed with touch screen in mind, so you do want to use the touch screen functions that are in most Chromebooks for mobile gaming. Because the display is so expansive as well, you get to see everything down to their tiny details.

Because it is also effectively an Android tablet, many of the tablet applications can be scaled to the sizeable displays that Chromebooks usually come in. If you have a router that needs to be accessed with an app, for example, you can rely on a Chromebook and work on your router via the mobile app without going through too much of a hassle.

Not Really a Gaming Machine

Steam en Chrome OS — Source: Steam Addicts

Sadly, while there has been many rumours and hype surrounding Chromebook and gaming, there has not been any solid solutions for it. Steam is now on Alpha access for select Chromebook devices. That means that not everybody on Chrome OS gets access to Steam. We are lucky enough to have secured a unit that can support the Alpha version of Steam (Volteer).

The gaming experience, if you have read our previous editorial, is choppy at best. Sure, some games like Undertale should not take too much to run well. The scaling issue is something that is quite off-putting though.

The scaling issue does not just stop at Undertale too. It continues in titles like This War of Mine in our case. There is no denying that there is some potential to gaming on the Crhomebook, but for now it is just that, a potential.

The other option is to play mobile based games from Google’s Play Store. You can technically download games like Pokémon Unite and PUBG Mobile. We’ve only managed to play Pokémon Unite a few times with no issues. Most of the time the game failed to launch or just crashes halfway through matchmaking. PUBG Mobile should be quite an experience on the larger display. Unfortunately, the game will also assume that you are playing on an emulator and will only pair you with other players with emulators, so you technically will not get to play ever.

More like an Entertainment Powerhouse

The unit we have is a versatile worker with a display that is also the envy of PCs at its price range. While the display’s aspect ratio is a little odd, it is still a brilliant display. If not, you still get plenty of Chromebook devices with at least 1080p Full HD display which would be more than sufficient.

With at least 1080p Full HD resolution, you get to enjoy plenty of Netflix, YouTube, Disney+, and even Amazon Prime Video. The Chromebook is prove that you do not need a high-end PC or TV to be entertained really, you have access to all of those contents and even more via the Chrome browser itself. You are technically doing the same thing with your regular PCs and Macbooks in this situation.

While the speakers are usually not great, you can easily get yourself decent Bluetooth speakers for not a lot of money. If you prefer an uninterrupted personal audio experience, there is the option of going for wired headphones or even Bluetooth headphones at that.

It Does Everything – So Why Not?

So, back to the question we first posed in the first part of our editorial; can the Chromebook be a proper workhorse? Can it be used as a reliable work device for the professionals? Can you call upon the Chromebook to be your trusted corporate device?

We want to say yes to all the questions we posed but take it with a pinch of salt. You cannot expect it to become your entertainment rig to game with. You cannot expect it to also be a workhorse that edits your videos too. You cannot have most of the apps and programs that you can get on Windows PCs and Macs.

But you can expect it to be reliable. You can expect it to work through the night with a single charge. You can expect the Chromebook to still work well outside of your workplace as long as you keep it charged.

Computers, Editorial, Gaming, Lifestyle

[Editorial] Daily Driving the Chromebook Part 3: The Entertainment Powerhouse

May 27, 2022 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

The last round of this editorial series we explored the working capabilities of the Chromebook. We also compared it a little bit to Android tablets to find that the Chrome OS is plenty robust as a tablet as well. There are some workarounds that we must get to while working with the Chrome OS remotely and even at home. But all is good, we are happy with it so far and it looks like we can live with it at work.

There is an area where the Chrome OS lost out to both Apple’s MacOS and Microsoft’s Windows though. That area is gaming with the Chromebook. There is also a good reason we skipped entire weeks of the series. Steam has gone Alpha for Chrome OS. The bad news there is that not every Chromebook can support it. The good news is that the one we have, the Acer Chromebook Spin 713, can. So, we went on to try it out.

Android Games on Chrome OS

Before we get to Steam, we do want to explore the native gaming capabilities of Chrome OS. There is no better way to do it other than through the Google Play Store, obviously. To be fair, while we did want to try the likes of PUBG Mobile or Mobile Legends Bang Bang, we only managed to download and install Pokémon Unite.

At first it is a little odd, seeing a mobile game in a display that is many times the size of your smartphone. Playing it on a tablet is already a stretch, full screen on a laptop display is a whole other level. In this case we have a great 13.5-inch IPS display with a little over 2K resolutions on tap.

The game looks vibrant and beautiful on the display with so many colours on offer. You can see that the game is not really meant to be on such a large display though with some pixels popping up. Still, the game is rather pretty on the laptop.

The game is also made optimised for touch screens though, which also means you are also going to be using the touch screen control like you would on smartphones or tablets. Except, this thing weighs quite a lot more than a tablet, which also makes it a little unwieldy to play handheld. We put it on a table and turned it to a sort of tent, and off we go.

Playing Android games on the Chrome OS is not perfect though. Most of the time, games developed for smartphones are optimised for a smartphone or tablet’s SoC. In this case, because the main hardware is a little different, the experience can be different. While Pokémon Unite works smoothly, and can be enjoyable for short periods of time, other games may not launch or might not even run properly. We ran into a problem trying to launch Pokémon Unite the first few times we tried running it. The issue resolved itself somehow and we got solid sessions out of it.

Steam on Chrome OS? Really?

Steam on Chrome OS is something that has been dreamt of for a while now. Ever since Chrome OS gotten mainstream, many have asked the question on whether Chrome OS can even be a proper gaming machine. Most of them packs good enough hardware to at least run non-triple AAA titles, so why not?

The problem was, Steam was never available on Chrome OS before. Steam can run on most Linux interfaces though, with some tweaks. Even the upcoming Steam Deck is running on a version of Linux operating system. So why not on Chrome OS?

The problem is more complex than it looks. You technically can port Steam to Chrome OS. You can also try running Windows games on the Chrome OS. But you are going to have to compromise on the experience.

Before Steam was officially on Chrome OS (as we said, it is now on Alpha), the only workaround we saw to proper gaming with Steam on Chrome OS is to work with Steam Link. In that sense, you can technically play your PlayStation games on the Chrome OS with PlayStation’s Remote Play too. If not, the other alternative is cloud gaming, which we did not bother with. We did not try the PlayStation Remote Play too.

We tried Steam Link with the Chrome OS though. We figured out how to hook up our PlayStation DualShock 4 controller to the Chromebook via Bluetooth. We installed Steam Link from Google Play Store and we started gaming.

First, Steam Link

As mentioned, Steam Link is like PlayStation Remote Play. You need to have a Steam account, a gaming PC with Steam running, the Steam Link app from Google Play Store, a good and stable internet connection, a game controller, and you are good to go. In the case of the Chromebook, you can even use your keyboard as the game input, if you so want.

If you have used Steam Link on your Android smartphone, the experience on the Chrome OS is pretty much similar, albeit with a larger display available. Technically as well, with the Acer Chromebook 713, you get more resolutions to work with. Of course, the sort of resolution you get really depends on your host PC as well. In our case we successfully tested Need for Speed at 1440p resolution.

There is a noticeable black bar, just because of the aspect ratio difference between the host PC and the Chromebook. It does not take away too much from the immersion or the gaming experience from the Chrome OS though. If you have a stable LAN connection on both devices, gaming on the Chromebook feels as natural as gaming on a proper gaming PC. In this case, you can easily pull up titles like GTA V, or Horizon Zero Dawn, use your Chromebook’s keyboard, attach a mouse device and play your games like they should be played.

Then, We Tried Steam

Steam is technically still in its Alpha build for Chrome OS. To install Steam on Chrome OS takes a little bit of tinkering on Chrome OS’s settings itself. It required us to turn set the firmware settings to Developer Mode, which also means while you are getting the latest build of Chrome OS, there is a chance that it may be a little unstable.

With a guide, the process is not too difficult as well, should be easy and quick enough to follow even for beginners. Still, you still want to be cautious to ensure you do not brick your device. As with anything that is experimental and in their Alpha builds, you want to take some caution.

Once you get into the installation window though, the installation process feels and looks pretty much like you get on a regular PC. Even the Steam interface is exactly what you get on a PC, so you should be quite familiar with it. Of course, the difference is that you must start thinking about how much games you can install in the smaller storage space that the Chromebook has. In this case as well, we did not bother installing games like GTA V, because while the Chromebook might be able to run the game with little issues, you might not get a very good experience out of it. We stuck to Two Point Hospital, Undertale, and This War of Mine.

Two Point Hospital launched, but it took a rather long time to do so. It also froze in the loading screen before it even gets to the main menu. After a while, it just crashed together with Steam.

Then we tried Undertale which launched quickly. We could not get the window to resize or get it to post full screen to take advantage of the vast display of the Chromebook 713. The miniscule window means that we might not be able to enjoy the game very much, so we quit.

This Was of Mine took a little longer to launch than Undertale. It works in the most part, but it did not offer very high FPS count. Graphics look good though, but because we tried to put the game to full screen, it got confused a little and the windowing messed up and we could not accurately click anything to play the game. It was bad, but there is potential to make the device enjoyable.

The Other Stuff

Apart from gaming, the display is good for other stuff too. You can easily enjoy a good movie from Netflix or Amazon Prime Video if you so want to. You have the resolution, might as well put it to good use somewhere. At the same time, because they use clear glass on the display, colours pop and look rather vibrant.

To be fair, it does not really matter what Chromebook you get, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and even Disney+ apps will easily work on them. If you prefer the web experience, just pop open Google Chrome and get to the said portals and you are good to go. The limitations are mostly on the hardware end, so it really depends on which Chromebook you got.

For the Acer Chromebook Spin 713, while the display is gorgeous, the speaker experience is not the best. The dual speakers sound very tiny and unimpressive at all. We had to connect our Bluetooth speakers to it just to get a decent sound performance. That, or we resorted to using headphones. Since it is so similar to Android, you can even connect your wireless headphones and work with the accompanying smartphone app with it. The Sony headphones app is a good example of that.

So, is Chrome OS a Valid Gaming Platform Now?

While Steam Link ran nicely on the Google Chromebook, Steam itself is still a little choppy. Certain games might not launch at your first try. Some games will refuse to launch at all until you restart your Chromebook. Some of them launches, but never got anywhere past the loading screen. Their FPS count was rather low too when they launch (except for Undertale). In short, there is still a lot to do for the Chrome OS to be a gaming contender.

More on Part 4

We have covered the working and gaming aspects of the Chrome OS. So far, while we question the gaming aspect of it, we are sold with using the Chrome OS as an entertainment platform, especially when it comes to streaming contents. 4K contents, while a little over the top, shines on the display of this Chromebook. Yes, the speakers are not great, but that is a simple fix.

We are quite sold with it being our primary remote working platform too. If you have read our part 2 of the editorial series, you would find that there are plenty of features on Chrome OS that could benefit a remote working environment. Phone Hub, while is not the most comprehensive phone companion app on a computing device, works well enough that it is currently, in our books anyway, the best Android companion app you can find today. The simplicity in its approach is also key to why we like it so much.

In the next part of the editorial, we are wrapping up our entire month of experience with the Chromebook and the Chrome OS. We will tell you if the Chrome OS is worth a daily drive or not, in our books anyway. We will also break down things we like about the Chrome OS and things we do not like so much with the platform.

In this case, stay tuned, maybe you might want to consider getting a Chromebook after this too. After all, it is the cheaper alternative compared to most Windows laptops packing the same hardware. In the meantime, let us know what you think about PC gaming on Chrome OS.

Computers, Editorial, Lifestyle

[Editorial] Daily Driving the Chromebook Part 2: Is Chrome OS Made for Laptop or Tablets?

April 29, 2022 Darwin Sucipto 2 Comments

In writing this second part of the editorial, we had a little bit of a setback. We forgot to take photos of the first set-up process. We had to completely reset the device to document the first set-up and boot experience. We suspect we will be experiencing more of that later in this Chromebook journey.

We are still using the same Chromebook that Acer has provided for our experiment, the Acer Chromebook Spin 713. We spoke about it too in our previous editorial in this series. It is a powerful notebook with Intel’s 11^th Generation Core i5 packed into the hardware. No dedicated discrete GPU anywhere within the Chromebook, you hardly need it anyway.

Reset – once you log in – everything restores

Resetting the Chromebook is a relatively simple process. You do not need to rummage around the settings to get to the ‘reset’ page. You just need to access settings and go to the bottom most tab on the left and you will find the reset button there. From there, it is just a matter of a few safety checks and you are good to go.

Unlike Windows devices, Chrome OS resets pretty much nearly immediately. It is as if nothing had happened, and your Chromebook is already wiped clean. You do not even need to keep it plugged into a power source. You get pretty much the same boot display as you would when you restart your Chromebook or boot it up from its ‘off’ power state. It is unusual, and uncanny.

The set-up process is as simple as it is before. There is a small difference now though. Once you logged in with Google, Chrome OS remembers your previous setup before and downloads all the apps and plugins for Chrome you previously had. It saved us a lot of time and effort to get things going the second round.

It will only work if you had a Chrome OS registered with your Google account. With a steady internet connection, most of the apps and plugins from before were installed within the next 30 minutes, and I did not have to do anything else other than sign into my Google account in the first five minutes.

Like Android, But Not Like Android

The only way we can describe the experience of the Chrome OS at this point is that it is a hybrid between an Android tablet and a PC experience. You get the best and nuances of both worlds. It is touch optimised, more so than Windows. The Chrome OS is also optimised for the mouse and keyboard experience which most Android tablets struggle with.

You get to use most, if not all your Android apps on the Chromebook. A lot of them would give you PC like interfaces but optimised for touch experience. The web browser is as it is, a regular Chrome browser you get on any PC.

Turning the 13.5-inch display into a multi-window experience is much easier to compared to an Android smartphone or tablet. There is a small caveat, you can only have two windows side-by-side. You simply drag any window to the edge of the display, and it snaps into place nicely.

Your Android device can also be integrated with the Chromebook. There is something called Phone Hub on Chrome OS that is rather painless to set up. It serves as a notification hub and limited control panel for your smartphone. You do not get screen mirroring experience as per Your Phone app on Windows, but we think simplified controls are still the way to go.

With the Phone Hub, your Chromebook is a remote work powerhouse. Chrome OS automatically prompts you to turn on wireless hotspot when it does not have any WiFi networks to connect to. You do not even have to manually turn on hotspot on your smartphone to get it connected privately, it just does. you disconnect, your smartphone immediately turns off its hotspot automatically, which is clever.

There is an issue here, however. Chrome OS works only if it is connected. Yes, apps installed on the device will still work. But most apps and even Chrome browser requires constant internet connection to work.

Before we move on, we mentioned that the YouTube App was indeed a webpage version of it. After the most recent update to Chrome OS (100.xx), the YouTube App is a standalone app that launches into its own window. It still retains a lot of its webpage features on the window, but it does not sit within the browser.

Breezing Through Work

For most of our work, we rely on Microsoft’s 365 suite. We rely on OneDrive for all our cloud storage needs, we also work plenty of Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and Word. In fact, these editorials get typed out on Microsoft Word first before finally making it to the screen in front of you now. Of course, we also rely heavily on our emails to get the latest updates from brands you love.

Microsoft apps has been taken down from the Google Play Store for Chrome OS. While you can technically find a workaround in the form of apk format install files, we did not. We wanted to see if we could work with the browser version of Microsoft 365 apps on the Chrome OS. OneDrive is not taken down from the Play Store, but we ended up preferring the browser experience over the app.

For emails, we could technically rely on the Gmail apps that also offers a browser experience without the browser. It seems that Gmail only takes on Google accounts though, which also means that we had to access our emails through the browser. Accessing emails through the browser also eliminates the need for you to set-up POP3 or IMAP servers for your Chromebook. You can technically install other email client apps from Google Play Store, I was happy enough with accessing emails through the browser, so I did not bother with that.

Oddly enough, I did not miss Microsoft 365 apps all that much. So far, we have mostly been working with Microsoft Word on the Chromebook. While it would be nice to have an app to work with, we think that the mobile optimized app will not do any justice to the Chromebook’s display real estate.

The browser version of Microsoft Word feels very much like the full Windows and Apple version of the app that is fully optimized for mouse and keyboard input. In some ways we never really missed having the mobile-first app experience. The browser allows you to have multiple instances of Microsoft Word, or PowerPoint, or Excel, which is always a welcome for multitasking.

The only sort of complain we have in this case is the fact that you must launch the Microsoft 365 web app within the browser first before you get to access any of your files for Microsoft Word and such. It is quicker for you to access your files via OneDrive, so you might want to consider that.

More on Part 3

There is still much to explore on Chrome OS. While we have touched on Phone Hub, we felt that there is a little more that we can discover. Yes, Chrome OS needs to be connected all the time to. It is the same requirement as most smartphones today though.

While we did explore the gaming aspects of the Chromebook, we are not ready to make a conclusion on it just yet. Steam will also be making itself available for Chrome OS sometime soon, though we do not know when. In this case, gaming could be something worth looking into with Chrome OS thanks to many cloud gaming solutions you might find today. If you have a gaming PC at home, you can even game remotely in the house.

Working with the Chromebook is a pleasure though. Beyond the hardware, Chrome OS seems to be able to keep up with everything we need it to do. Sure, we have not put it through its paces with photo editing work on the go and such. Everything else, including converting or compressing our photos for publication is simple enough to do with a steady internet connection. If you have a smartphone data plan, it is good enough for you to set up your Chromebook into a remote workstation and get things done.

So far, so good. While we are a little peeved that we must constantly ensure that we are connected to the internet one way or another, we have not missed working with Windows laptops so far. Everything we need in a thin-and-light is in the Chromebook. We can appreciate its long battery life too; you tend to get a lot more battery life from the Chromebook than you do on Windows laptops. We will talk about its battery life in the coming weeks too, of course.

Computers, Editorial, Lifestyle

[Editorial] Daily Driving the Chromebook Part 1: Introducing the Acer Chromebook Spin 713. Wait, Why Chrome OS?

April 22, 2022 Darwin Sucipto 1 Comment

When you go out to buy a laptop, there is usually two options for you to pick from. You can either go with Windows laptops, which will open yourself up to a world of options. You can also go for the Mac option, which would simplify your options but at a higher cost. There is a third option though – Chrome OS.

At this point, we see many question marks on many people’s heads. “Why a Chrome OS?” you may ask. It is an odd choice in the sea of choices in the market, an unpopular one. But at the same time, we think it could be a sound and sensible one.

While the Chrome OS is regarded as the simplest of operating systems (OS), it is still a valid operating system you can choose when you buy a laptop for work. The education sector loves Chromebooks because they are rather cost effective and simplistic in nature. It is fuss free to work with, a perfect introduction into the world of computing.

Chrome OS is and can be so much more than just a laptop made for the school. It can be a rather simple way for organizations to manage their work devices. It is an inexpensive solution for enterprises looking to equip their employees for their digital transformation. They can be premium machines that fulfill all sorts of needs too, except for gaming.

So, we wondered; what is it like to live with a Chromebook? Is the Chromebook worthy to be a daily driver? Is the Chrome OS even the right platform to begin with when it comes to corporate use?

The Hardware

We are very lucky to get our hands on the Acer Chromebook Spin 713. Thanks to the support of Acer, we did not have to fuss over choosing the right Chromebook to work with. It is also the most premium Chromebook you can find in their line-up of Chromebooks.

The Acer Chromebook Spin 713 is nothing like a budget Chromebook made for the school. It still can take scrapes and bumps with MIL-STD810G certification. It is an MYR 3,799 convertible. It is also a rather powerful Chromebook.

It packs Intel’s 11^th Generation Core i5-1135G7 processor, something you generally find on thin-and-light Windows notebooks. It has 8GB of RAM and 256GB in storage. Acer advised us against opening the guts of the notebook to replace or upgrade anything within the Chromebook in fear of bricking the unit, so we will comply with their requests for now.

It is a convertible, so it also comes with a glass protected touch display that measures in at 13.5-inch with 2,256 by 1,504 pixels on tap from the IPS panel. Yes, it is a 3:2 aspect ratio display, quite odd. The dual speakers leave a little more to be desired, but you can plug your headphones in with the AUX jack, or connect your Bluetooth enabled gear to the Chromebook.

Aside from the AUX jack, you have two USB Type-C ports, both Thunderbolt ports thanks to Intel. The Chromebook charges via USB Type-C too. There is another USB port beside a MicroSD card reader, a Type-A for convenience. There is also a full-sized HDMI port for extra versatility.

Setting up Chrome OS

Our focus isn’t too much on the Acer Chromebook Spin 713 though. This four-part editorial will focus on the Chrome OS. We will be working exclusively on the Chromebook for four continuous weeks. We still go back to our main Windows rigs for video editing. Everything else will be done on the Chromebook and Chrome OS though. In fact, this article is mostly typed and edited on the Chromebook itself.

While we are aware of Google Chrome OS, we are rather new to the interface. We expected some learning curve; there are some, though not as steep as we expected it to be. There are a few major differences in the interface that we will talk about in the coming weeks. Before we get into any of that, we must set up the Chrome OS first.

Its first boot leads us to a very familiar set-up screen. Obviously, you do not get a Windows style or Mac style set-up. It is even simpler than what we expected, to be fair. If you already have a Google Account in the first place, that is really all you need to get going. Within five minutes, we are ready to work with the Chromebook.

First Impressions – Picking Up the Clues

We see a familiar desktop home screen, a welcome at least coming from the Windows ecosystem. Except, we were a little disappointed when we found out that we cannot put anything on the home screen. You can only change the wallpaper of your home screen. We sort of expected a more Android like experience, especially with widgets. Sadly, it is what it is.

The icon on the interface is digitally enlarged to fit eh 13.5-inch display by default. The resizing is clearly a nod to optimising the touch interface for users. We changed the icon sizing to smallest the system allows us to, just because.

Touch Optimised, Simple, Clean

While it is a touch sensitive display, Android gesture controls do not work with Chrome OS, at least not when you are in laptop mode anyway. I must remind myself that I am not using an Android tablet here, just plain ol’ Chrome OS with no overlays. At the same time, you are going to get the same Chrome OS from any Chromebooks you pick up off the shelf. You get different specifications, sure, but they are essentially still the same interface with no extra bloatware.

Apps Matters

We were excited to look through Google Play Store for app downloads and were not too disappointed with it. Most apps made for the smartphone and tablet works. Some of them even allows you to pick between a smartphone or tablet interface, and even change the window size on the fly. The Chrome OS allows you to fully multitask in differently sized windows with the help of a mouse and keyboard.

Like Android, But Unlike Android

Very much like Android tablets, not all the apps that is made for the smartphone works or is available to download. Not all the Android apps that is available for the Chrome OS works flawlessly too, sadly.

The Chrome OS is naturally always on standby. That also means that, by default at least, you only need to unfold your Chromebook and Chrome OS is ready for you instantly.

While there is no special arrangement for the keyboard, there are a few subtle differences between the keyboard on a Chromebook and a Windows laptop. For one, there is no Caps Lock key on the Chrome OS. In its place is a large ‘start’ button to launch the ‘shelf’. There are no function row keys (F1-F12) to be found on the Chromebook either, you hardly ever need them anyway.

Chrome on Chrome OS

Plenty of the apps you may not find on the Google Play Store on the Chromebook can be used on the browser. Obviously, the apps need to have the browser variants of their apps to work. Some of the ‘apps’ on your Chromebook will still lead you to the webpage. Apps like YouTube, for example, can only be used on the web. We will talk about working with Microsoft 365 a bit more in the coming weeks.

This effectively means that two sorts of app store are at your disposal. You have the Google Play Store, which we have already talked about. Then there is the Google Chrome Web Store for you to install plugins on Chrome itself.

More On Part 2

We are also still exploring Chrome OS and still getting to know the system. In the coming parts we will also be talking about updating your Chrome OS and its development support in the future. A lot of things we have covered today are rather on the surface and introductory.

There are still plenty to explore on the Chrome OS. Phone Hub for example, has more to be explored. We have not even started on the stylus experience on the Chromebook.

Getting it up and running was not just simple, it was quick. We did not install everything we wanted nor did a deep search of what we wanted to install on the device, but there is plenty on offer with the device. We think that the plugins on Chrome browser could be a lot of help in making the Chromebook feels like a regular working PC. Gaming is one thing we look forward to talk about in the coming weeks.

Do comment below if there is anything specific that you want to find out about the Chromebook. Of course, comment if there is anything you would like us to do or try on the Chromebook. We will do our best to accommodate and try out everything you recommend and suggest to us.

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