Chrome OS 38

[flibberdipper]

So I've been using Chrome OS for a while now, and I figure it's time to voice my opinion on it. We’ve had our ups and our downs, but in the end it all seemed to work out fine.

 

PERFORMANCE

Well, this is a bit difficult to do. The Chromebook I use is a complete turd, and it is terribly slow. But, with that out of the way, Chrome OS is fairly snappy. It boots up reasonably fast (about 15 seconds with 4 users and cache piled to the ceiling). It connects to wireless networks pretty fast (5-10 seconds, depending on connection strength and all that stuff). Google Drive integration is pretty seamless and nice, and everything syncs pretty happily. Some of the UI animations are kinda weird, but again, that could just be my Chromebook.

 

RAM USAGE

Well… It’s Chrome. It’s gonna hog up RAM. But I have gotten pretty close to running out of RAM (2GB is installed) a couple of times with a ton of stuff open that I had to use. So, there really isn’t that much to say. I have noticed that it likes to hang around 1GB to 1.5GB, though.

 

GAMING

Being that Chrome OS is basically just Chrome slapped onto a Linux kernel, there isn’t really much gaming to do, unless you like to play games in the store or Flash games.

 

USERS/MULTIPLE USERS (FINALLY!!!)

Well… Fairly straightforward. You need to have a Google account to use Chrome OS, and you can have Guest users, regular users, and supervised users (finally!). Supervised users are basically regular users, except they are very limited in what they can do (no file browser or calculator, but they can get apps and download stuff). They don’t need a Google account, either. The neat part about them is that you can assign sites that a specific restricted user can’t access, or set specific ones they fan (i.e. if you only let them access LTT, then that is the only site they can get to). You also can see all of their activity on the device, as well as a few other features I can’t think of. Anyway, you can FINALLY HAVE MULTIPLE USERS LOGGED IN AT THE SAME TIME!!! This was my biggest complaint until version 38 rolled out. It is kinda crippled, but hey, you can still do it. Below are a couple of videos for the user stuff.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNg0VEk7_4E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q42Votx_Nf8

 

RELIABILITY

Chrome OS is really reliable, thank god. There have been a few times that it has crashed for no reason whatsoever, but as more updates roll out, it seems that it crashes less and less.

 

TOUCHPAD/MOUSE DETECTION

Touchpad detection is damn near perfect. Sometimes it doesn’t seem to know I did anything (but that could be the device itself), but other than some small hiccups it works great. You can enable inverted scrolling, but for some reason it calls it “Australian scrolling.” Regular mice tell a different story. Laser mice have TERRIBLE acceleration (barely moving the mouse with the sensitivity all the way up barely moves the cursor). Optical mice are a touch better, and they don’t have quite as large of an acceleration difference.

 

APPS/NOTIFICATIONS

Well, apps work. Pretty much it. Notifications are pretty nice, and they give you the Google Now stuff (weather, stocks, etc.), which is pretty handy. You can choose which apps/services show notifications, and turn on Do Not Disturb (which is self explanatory). And the built in Settings app is pretty nice, and does everything you would need it to, and some nice goodies. The file browser app does what it needs to, and the calculator app leaves me kinda… unimpressed. It’s just a basic calculator, with no extra features like the scientific calculator in Windows. And the wireless settings is pretty nice as well. Not an actual app, but whatever. It fits best in this category. Videos are below.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onN07NTFG5M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qboNULlpFU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgtC1ITbqA4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FB1DCbL5yI

 

FUNCTIONALITY

It’s Chrome. It works. End of story.

 

OVERALL

Well, Chrome OS is still a mixed bag. In some areas it’s really nice. In others, it leaves some to be desired. However, I must say that it has come a long way since version 34 (which is when I started using it), thank god. Back then Chrome OS was a bit of a mess, IMO. For a student who basically just needs a Chrome web browser with no extra goodies, I have to say that some kind of Chromebook would be fine, since Chrome OS just works, and has Google Drive functionality pretty much seamlessly integrated.

[Darkman]

Love the videos that show us/demonstrate specific things you're doing instead of screenshots.

 

 

Edited October 22, 2014 by Darkman

[flibberdipper]

Love the videos that show us/demonstrate specific things you're doing instead of screenshots.

 

 

Something tells me Google Docs messed up the formatting.

 

EDIT: Fixed.

[Darkman]

Something tells me Google Docs messed up the formatting.

 

EDIT: Fixed.

Thanks!

[flibberdipper]

Thanks!

No problem. Forgot that there would be problems, so... Yeah.

[EpicAdom]

Great review. I've been interested in the idea of Chromebooks for a while. It's good to hear that they're improving.

[flibberdipper]

Great review. I've been interested in the idea of Chromebooks for a while. It's good to hear that they're improving.

Thanks. Dell makes a Chromebook that I would kill to have (there's one for sale in the Classifieds). But other things are more important.

[connorpiper]

I have been using Chrome OS also. I have a partition on my SSD just for it. I just like the way it looks and works.

 

I'm guessing you have the Samsung Chromebook with that crappy CPU. And yes, it is really slow. 

[flibberdipper]

I have been using Chrome OS also. I have a partition on my SSD just for it. I just like the way it looks and works.

 

I'm guessing you have the Samsung Chromebook with that crappy CPU. And yes, it is really slow. 

Yup. The plasticy one with a 1.7GHz dual core Exynos 3? CPU.

[ImBleu]

Great review. I've been interested in the idea of Chromebooks for a while. It's good to hear that they're improving.

 

I was looking at one for school but then somehow went for a Surface Pro 3

[EpicAdom]

I was looking at one for school but then somehow went for a Surface Pro 3

The price gap is real

[Darkman]

Thanks. Dell makes a Chromebook that I would kill to have (there's one for sale in the Classifieds). But other things are more important.

I wish my school didn't use these Samsung Chromebooks. I can bend it with just grabbing the screen and pushing my fingers on the back, same goes for the back and when it is closed.

[flibberdipper]

I wish my school didn't use these Samsung Chromebooks. I can bend it with just grabbing the screen and pushing my fingers on the back, same goes for the back and when it is closed.

Same here.

[Darkman]

Same here.

It is like you're bending a thin piece of cheap aluminum.. Oh wait. That is exactly it, I can't flex my history or Algebra book like one of them.

[Psykomantis00]

Have they released chrome OS so you can install it on whatever you want now? I might have to check it out. The chromebooks are not powerful enough for me right now. I really liked the original but it was rather weak and then the pixel came out and it was on par with a macbook for price. 

[flibberdipper]

Have they released chrome OS so you can install it on whatever you want now? I might have to check it out. The chromebooks are not powerful enough for me right now. I really liked the original but it was rather weak and then the pixel came out and it was on par with a macbook for price. 

As far as I know, it will stay exclusive to Chrome devices.

[WillFromGA]

I've been using it for about a month now and have not experienced any crashing. I don't have multiple users or anything like that so it may have something to do with that. The trackpad is on point! I don't have the touch screen model so I have to use the track pad and it works great. The speed is great as well. Booting is no problem as it is only 16gb of ssd so add the ssd and the fact that there is almost nothing stored on the drive (Because of the intergration with Googe Docs) and it's pretty damn fast

 

So far, no complants here. 

 

I also fold on it (Using the Chrome extention) and the CPU doesn't heat up too much. This is based on touch as the Chrome book has no way of meauring temps.

 

So far, Happy with the purchase.