I have always wanted to try all kind of tech stuff available on the market. I have brought/returned the Surface Pro, I have brought the almost all generations of iPads, I have had few Android tablet (Like the Nexus 7 and Asus Transformer 3). One thing that I haven’t tried and always wanted to try is the Chromebook.
Over the last weekend, I saw the Lenovo N23 Yoga Convertible Chromebook, I purchased that for the first time. After few days of trying it, I returned it.
Here is my experience with the Chromebook:
1. This 429 Canadian dollar Chromebook has MediaTek processor paired with 4GB of RAM. The screen is your traditional low quality 1366x768 panel found on most lower or even medium tire PC laptops.
2. ChromeOS itself runs very snappy. There aren’t any noticeable lags or significant slow down with the ChromeOS. All Google applications like Google Docs (which I use frequently), Google Play services runs very good no that machine. If anyone thinking ChromeOS runs slowly, I can definitely say it is not.
3. This Chromebook comes with serveral I/O ports that I find really good. I still can plug my USB devices/SD card to the Chromebook for file transfers and it worked great.
4. This Chromebook is capable running Android apps. The ability of running Android apps greatly improved the usability for Chromebook and it is competitive with iPad with iOS apps. At least, you can run some of your frequent Android application on that machine. However, I would say, Android app still runs quite poorly with ChromeOS. Sometimes, some Android apps will just not respond and sometimes apps will just crash. Running Android apps on Chrome OS isn’t the same experience you would have on your Android phone.
This Chromebook costs around 429 dollars in Canada. The 32GB 9.7inch iPad cost around 449. And I would say confidently that 449 iPad works lot better than Chromebook.
1. Chrome OS is still largely web based OS. Even though it can work in offline mode, you are severely limited on what you can do with Chrome OS. With iOS on iPad, offline mode is not as dramatic as Chrome OS. You can still use lots of apps that do not require internet connection.
2. Chromebook is more versatile than iPad in terms of I/O support. On iPad, you only find the lightning pourt and you need buy lots of adaptor for various devices. For external devices, Chromebook is hand down better than iPad.
3. Android apps on Chromebook is just not optimized. Most Android apps are not designed to work on a computer form factors. All iPad apps are designed to work on iPad and optimized for the best performance.
I would say, for most people, iPad is still better choice than Chromebook. You get almost all Google experience on iOS anyway. And you can do much more on iPad than you can do on Chromebook.
This particular Chromebook is on the higher price point for Chromebook. You can find some really cheap Chromebook that runs on low end ARM chip or Intel Atom/Celeron chip. While some Chromebook are really cheap, like Asus Chromebook Flip for less than 200 dollars. However, when iPad 9.7 inch is about 329USD or 449CAD, you get lot better experience with iPad.
In the end, Chromebook is something that works great for people who just need a machine to do web browsing and nothing else. I can’t recommend anyone who is looking to do anything beyond web experience go with Chromebook.
This is just my take on Chromebook. In the end of day, iPad is still better laptop replacement than Chromebook.
Over the last weekend, I saw the Lenovo N23 Yoga Convertible Chromebook, I purchased that for the first time. After few days of trying it, I returned it.
Here is my experience with the Chromebook:
1. This 429 Canadian dollar Chromebook has MediaTek processor paired with 4GB of RAM. The screen is your traditional low quality 1366x768 panel found on most lower or even medium tire PC laptops.
2. ChromeOS itself runs very snappy. There aren’t any noticeable lags or significant slow down with the ChromeOS. All Google applications like Google Docs (which I use frequently), Google Play services runs very good no that machine. If anyone thinking ChromeOS runs slowly, I can definitely say it is not.
3. This Chromebook comes with serveral I/O ports that I find really good. I still can plug my USB devices/SD card to the Chromebook for file transfers and it worked great.
4. This Chromebook is capable running Android apps. The ability of running Android apps greatly improved the usability for Chromebook and it is competitive with iPad with iOS apps. At least, you can run some of your frequent Android application on that machine. However, I would say, Android app still runs quite poorly with ChromeOS. Sometimes, some Android apps will just not respond and sometimes apps will just crash. Running Android apps on Chrome OS isn’t the same experience you would have on your Android phone.
This Chromebook costs around 429 dollars in Canada. The 32GB 9.7inch iPad cost around 449. And I would say confidently that 449 iPad works lot better than Chromebook.
1. Chrome OS is still largely web based OS. Even though it can work in offline mode, you are severely limited on what you can do with Chrome OS. With iOS on iPad, offline mode is not as dramatic as Chrome OS. You can still use lots of apps that do not require internet connection.
2. Chromebook is more versatile than iPad in terms of I/O support. On iPad, you only find the lightning pourt and you need buy lots of adaptor for various devices. For external devices, Chromebook is hand down better than iPad.
3. Android apps on Chromebook is just not optimized. Most Android apps are not designed to work on a computer form factors. All iPad apps are designed to work on iPad and optimized for the best performance.
I would say, for most people, iPad is still better choice than Chromebook. You get almost all Google experience on iOS anyway. And you can do much more on iPad than you can do on Chromebook.
This particular Chromebook is on the higher price point for Chromebook. You can find some really cheap Chromebook that runs on low end ARM chip or Intel Atom/Celeron chip. While some Chromebook are really cheap, like Asus Chromebook Flip for less than 200 dollars. However, when iPad 9.7 inch is about 329USD or 449CAD, you get lot better experience with iPad.
In the end, Chromebook is something that works great for people who just need a machine to do web browsing and nothing else. I can’t recommend anyone who is looking to do anything beyond web experience go with Chromebook.
This is just my take on Chromebook. In the end of day, iPad is still better laptop replacement than Chromebook.
