Wife's laptop is broken. It's 6 years old and wasn't expensive, I think she's gotten her monies worth.

Looking at the Chromebook. Research is telling me the Chromebook might be a suitable replacement as her needs are really quite basic:

-internet research
-Google Docs
-email sometimes but she does that mostly on her phone

Chromebook can be had on sale for $200 these days. Decent laptop is $400+.

Feedback is appreciated.

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:

Chromebook can be had on sale for $200 these days. Decent laptop is $400+.

WOOT! frequently has Chromebooks for under $100.

What’s that saying? You pay for the Chromebook but you’re the product?

Chromebooks are great for all that. They have been my primary browsing system for many years as they're cheap, simple, and update invisibly. Google docs work well. Costco and other stores have them on sale now.

I've bought several CBs & Acer pcs from Acer Recertified. All have been like new and work as they should. I can't cut and paste on a cb w/out looking at directions but for surfing web, emails and streaming I like them. Free shipping and no sales tax to Indiana. Why no tax - I don't know but probably no storefronts in state?

https://acerrecertified.com/chromebooks/

The super low price CBs are "ad-supported." Usually just an advertisement when waking from sleep/unlocking screen. If you are the bold type, these can be disabled by rooting the device. Same with the Amazon Fire tablets which are even more discounted than CBs (but do not run all Android apps). Same basic hardware under the hood. Now that Apple has gone with ARM chips for their M1 and M2 processors, you might even see an iPadOS port to these platforms (not from Apple and thus somewhat sketchy, but interesting to us computer dweebs).

We tried a Chromebook a few years back.

Hated it.

Went back to a traditional laptop.

Go with a descent laptop then replace Windows with Linux and don't look back if you want any sort of privacy. There is a distribution of Linux that looks just like Windows. Will easily work for any basic computing task, web browsing and email, etc.

Buddy of mine buys his son a new Chromebook every year for school if it makes it through the year. Granted kids don't take care of jack, but they are not sturdy built machines.

If its just very light stuff she does, maybe the current generations of Kindles with their 10" screen? My MIL has one in a ruggedized case and uses it every day for email, browsing and the occasional movie.

Chromebooks can work, but a "true" laptop doesn't have to cost a whole lot and typically works for most people better. I'm now partial to Mac, and a refurbished 2015 (V. Good or Excellent) Macbook Pro or Macbook Air from a site like:

https://www.macofalltrades.com/apple-laptops/

can be had in the $200-$300 range. I have a 2015 13" MBP, 2.9 GHz i5, 16 GB RAM and it's great. Battery was not replaced with the $75 new option and still has > 85% of original capacity. The MBP Retina screen is astonishingly better than every Chromebook I've ever seen.

If you decide to go refurb regardless of mfg. check the AUE date which is the final date the mfg. will be sending updates for that piece.

For uses as listed in the OP I would get a refurb Dell direct from them, every time. They often run coupons for 30-50% off the website price. I’d just prioritize a SSD main drive as it speeds up the machine considerably. They can be had just as cheap, particularly if you aren’t in a hurry.

Edit: for instance, with the current 40% coupon this laptop is $101.

https://www.dellrefurbished.co...latitude-5480/1.html

This message has been edited. Last edited by: thumperfbc,

For your requirements, I think a Chromebook is fine. We went the Chromebook / Chromebox route for my mom and her husband, and we never looked back.

My "tech support" hours went from a couple of hours per month to a couple of hours per year.