Scott Merryfield
Senior HTF Member
I have never owned a laptop for personal use, although I had a Microsoft Surface when I was still working (plus access to various Windows laptops if I needed one). Since we are traveling more since I retired, I thought having something simple would be nice instead of trying to do everything on either my smartphone or iPad tablet. I didn't want to spend much, but Best Buy had a Samsung Chromebook on sale as part of an early Black Friday deal for about $120 after upgrading the memory and storage (price was reduced by $100). It arrived yesterday, and I have been playing with it some.
Chrome OS is a web-centric operating system, and there is the option to install some Android apps, as well. Since most of what I do is web-based, the device seems to give me just about all the capabilities I will need when we are away from home -- as long as I have WiFi Internet access. The only things I do on my home PC that I will not be able to do on the device is editing my photos and running Quicken for financial management (but I am setup to pay any bills via Chase online banking, so this isn't a big deal).
I have never liked using a track pad instead of a mouse, so I ordered a bluetooth mouse for the device. I am getting used to the track pad, though, as I am using the device actually in my lap sitting in my recliner right now, so a mouse will not always be an option.
Chrome OS is a web-centric operating system, and there is the option to install some Android apps, as well. Since most of what I do is web-based, the device seems to give me just about all the capabilities I will need when we are away from home -- as long as I have WiFi Internet access. The only things I do on my home PC that I will not be able to do on the device is editing my photos and running Quicken for financial management (but I am setup to pay any bills via Chase online banking, so this isn't a big deal).
I have never liked using a track pad instead of a mouse, so I ordered a bluetooth mouse for the device. I am getting used to the track pad, though, as I am using the device actually in my lap sitting in my recliner right now, so a mouse will not always be an option.