Chromebook - good idea for a family laptop or not??

[darlingbudsofjuly]

Can someone techier than me advise? We want to get a laptop the kids can use, for (very controlled) internet use, Minecraft, Scratch, Nrich, Mathletics - educationalish stuff, in general.

Will a Chromebook work for this? Does it run flash/java?

No need for DVDs, printing.

They seem v cheap - what am I missing?!

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

Chromebooks basically just run chrome (internet browser). So if its something you can do in the browser on a normal computer it'll probably work on a Chromebook.

I'm pretty sure Minecraft won't work on a Chromebook out of the box (although there is plenty of info on the web about how to install Linux and run Minecraft that way)

[darlingbudsofjuly]

mmm. Ok, so no minecraft then - not a disaster from my perspective, but a shame from DS's!

Does anyone have one? It'd be good to know what is irksome about it! Reviews I've seen say they're fine, good workhorses, but don't rely on it as your only machine (we wouldn't).

Any personal experiences? At the moment I think it sounds like the best option for us.

[Hornydilemma]

Very small memory - designed to be used online a lot and to save things to the cloud rather than save stuff to the pc and run it offline.
Starts up and closes down in about 5 seconds which is brilliant - my last laptop used to run lots of updates and sometimes was 20 mins before I could shut it down properly.
Light to carry (no disk drive).
I do rely on it as my only machine but I'm the only one using it. I don't need to save stuff on it as I mostly use it to go online - Facebook, Pinterest, Mumsnet, email etc. I have a hard drive onto which I am going to transfer all my photos, so won't be putting them on the Chromebook.

[darlingbudsofjuly]

ok, so that sounds like a yes vote - I don't think it'd have any/many pictures on it. I'd like the children to be able to use Scratch, various phonics games, browse bits of the internet.
thanks!

Anyone got one and regretted it?