Laptop or chrome Book? No clue

[FeatherLoverGod]

Sisters dd is going into y7 in September and I want to buy her a laptop and a printer. They don’t have room to keep a pc out all the time. Sister is clueless as am I- what’s the difference between the two? It’s just so that she can look up her school work, use Word etc, my sis can do emails and a bit of browsing. Please please advise!

I have both and usually reach for the chrome book for the activities you have listed above. Chrome books are generally cheaper than laptops and are very easy to use.

www.argos.co.uk/product/7832965?clickSR=slp:term:cb314:1:1:1
This is the chrome book I have and my children prefer using this for school work over the laptop.

@ASChelp thanks for that. Just checking they can use Word etc on it if I purchase separately? X

Following too ... can I assume they can use google docs without purchasing MS Office?

If you do want MS Word, Excel etc ... can you download (pay for?)

We just use google docs but you can download some MS office apps from the google play store.

What is the difference between a laptop and a chrome book? The one pictured sort of looks like a laptop to me? I want to get something like that I think just for simple stuff - my DD’s school work, saving photos on that sort of thing .

Chrome books are great for battery life, browsing and some light admin type stuff. They don't have much/any on board memory so everything is on the cloud, and docs auto save which is great. They are cheaper, more simple to use and sounds ideal for what you need.

Laptops are more suited to doing actual work or dealing with big files etc. You also can't use some things such as Adobe on a chrome book but can on a laptop.

A chrome book is a small laptop, a bit like a netbook, with enough memory on it to do things like web browsing and homework. My dc use ours for that reason and we have 4 accounts on there: dc1, dc2, mine and dh google accounts (we obvs know the children's passwords and they use it under supervision). The chromebook came free with dh's phone upgrade last year.

I have a bigger, much more expensive Asus RoG laptop for my photo editing because photoshop is a massive programme that uses loads of memory. It's only used for that purpose.

My DD has a chromebook for her college work and she loves it. Very small and compact, battery is good easy to type on. Her one was only £180 as well.
www.google.com/amp/s/bgr.com/2019/05/05/the-best-selling-chromebook-on-amazon-is-rugged-spill-proof-and-only-219/amp/
Sorry, not sure how to do clicky links!

Chromebook!
Even my Microsoft wedded hubby now pinched my chromebook to use and leaves his laptop gathering dust in the corner.
Mine is quicker, lighter, quieter and due to updates being weekly much more up to date than his !!!!!

I'm not very ict savvy but bought dd a chrome book as was told some laptops you still have to. Buy the software or something

Just a word of warning that if your school has embraced Teams recently, and is likely to use it going forward, then access to the full MS office suite is v helpful. We’ve had a frustrating time with DD’s Chromebook in that everything needs to be downloaded / converted / uploaded again as it just doesn’t work as seamlessly. The MS 365 apps aren’t a patch on the desktop versions and you can’t get the latter on a Chromebook.

On the other hand, DS, whose school uses Google classroom and google docs by default, has had no issues with his Chromebook.

I'd ask the school what they recommend as our school have asked us to buy chrome books and they will use them in classrooms by using google classroom. Would be a shame to buy a laptop and then find they need chrome books! Or vice versa

Try and find out if the school
Use google classrooms - if they do a chrome book is perfect

Does chrome books have enough memory to store photos on - say 5000?

We have just bought an HP Stream 14" for DD2 - its operating system is Windows 10S but the upgrade to the Home version is now free. DD1 has a reconditioned HP Pavilion which is still going strong 4 years later but we couldn't find a decent one for what we wanted to pay.

Needing to access school networks remotely has proved problematic for some children with chromebooks. I've no idea why but it's fairly widespread. A neighbour's Y8 child is having massive issues with it, had the IT network person at the school spending hours doing all sorts of whizzy things over the phone to try to sort it and it's still a problem. If you're thinking about a chromebook, it might be worth asking locally to see if current students are finding them ok for accessing that particular school's network.

@GaraMedouar

Does chrome books have enough memory to store photos on - say 5000?

I'm rubbish with knowing how much memory is needed but I wouldn't think so. Chromebooks don't have much in the way of memory. As aforementioned, you store everything in a cloud

Thanks CherryValanc

Thanks for all the advice

For the love of god please don't buy a chrome book. Yes, they are useful for simple tasks but the thought of using one for anything other than browsing the internet or checking email makes my stomach churn.

A chrome book has Google's own operating system on it. You cannot install applications on it that you would on a Windows PC unless the developer created the app for the Google OS as well. Multi-tasking on a Chromebook is also pretty terrible. Either buy a Windows PC or a Mac - would recommend the former for cost reasons.

The vast majority of computers I've seen in past jobs that I've had have been Windows PCs. Children need to learn how to use Windows otherwise they really will be screwed if they ever get any sort of office job. Macs are also used heavily in music editing and graphics jobs, but they're definitely not used by any engineers that I know of.

Buying a Chromebook is cheap but that's because the features are limited and it's a short term decision. Buy a Windows computer or a Mac. I recommend a Windows computer.

A chrome book has Google's own operating system on it. You cannot install applications on it that you would on a Windows PC unless the developer created the app for the Google OS as well.

@BasicallyaGod this criticism is out of date. You can install any Google Play application on chromebooks released since 2018, including MS Office 365.
That swung the decision for us, as I'm not a fan of Google's office applications. DS has a Windows laptop at home but is starting sixth form and needed something smaller, lighter and cheaper to take to school every day. He'll be able to synchronise the O365 app with his OneDrive so he can access his MS Office docs on the go. I've told him to think of it as a large Android phone with a keyboard.

The DC's school started using Teams during lockdown. Can anyone recommend a particular laptop for dd13 going into year 9 and dd16 going into sixth form? Under £400 preferred

Chrome Books are Google rather than Microsoft so they have Google software such as Docs rather than Word. They are compatible though ie, you can open a Word doc on a Chrome Book and a Docs document in a laptop. The Chrome Book has to have wifi access to work and is basically a tool to accessing the internet and Google Suite such as Google Drive, Google Classroom etc. All documents are automatically saved to your Google Drive. As this is web based, you can then access your documents on any devise using Google, in other words, any devise that has the internet. This is really useful.