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Can someone give input about laptops please?

Lotus

I want to buy a new laptop and I've looked at what I can buy for under £300 and found two Chromebooks that look like they would provide what I need - an Asus and a HP - but I can't make up my mind which one to get. Here are links to them:

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/7627170?clickPR=plp:3:18

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/7166064

If anyone has knowledge about these laptops, I'd appreciate it if you could give your views about which is better. Thanks.

Parents

  • Hi Lotus,

    Not had any experience with Chromebooks myself. But just to make sure you're aware, these will be running ChromeOS rather than Windows as the operating system - so Windows applications won't work on them.

    Which won't be a problem if you're just wanting to use a Chrome browser / GMail / and Google Apps instead of Microsoft Office, etc. (though I would guess the online versions of Office apps would work).

    They're really designed to allow you to access online applications rather than run applications locally on the device - https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/3265094?hl=en provides a little more detail about ChromeOS if you're unfamiliar with it.

  • in reply to Fizzler

    Yes, I understand that they are running Chrome OS rather than Windows. I do use simple spreadsheets, but I understand that Google Sheets will do all that I want without the cost of Microsoft Office. Thanks for replying.

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  • in reply to Fizzler

    I don't have a Currys near me and don't have a car, but thanks for the info.

    I tried using Google sheets yesterday evening and it does all that I need.

    Storage will be more than enough - it's only for light use and I don't play games or watch videos on a laptop (I have an xbox). My last laptop was an HP one with Windows 8.1 which has lasted 10 years but is now woefully out of date!

  • in reply to Lotus

    I think all the cool kids use Google Apps these days, as that's what they learn to use at school - so yeah, likely will be fine if you don't have complicated spreadsheets already using Excel formulas - and you can always just try Sheets out on your existing machine if you wanted to make sure it covers you for what you need.

    Sorry I can't be more help on the hardware itself - probably the main thing I'd say is to be comfortable with the available storage on there / the screen and keyboard quality. If you're able, may be worth seeing if they're on display in your local Currys (if you have one nearby),

    Just looking at Currys Online, for another £20 they have what looks like an upgrade on the Asus you listed, with 4 x (and faster) storage , plus what looks like a decent processor upgrade, but allegedly slightly less battery life. This might be a bit more future proof, but if you don't think you'll need any of that then probably the £20 is more useful :)