I bought myself a present for Christmas this year. It is a Chromebook (Acer C720P).
Over the last half of this year I have been migrating my workflow and data to be much more “cloud” focused. As a result, I no longer really need a computer with an expensive graphics card or a lot of storage space.
I don’t really need to load a lot of big applications.
The Chromebook is quite handy. The one I have includes a touch screen (which satisfies most of the reasons I had for wanting a tablet). Best of all the price is a bit less than a cheap laptop.
Many of the Myths about ChromeOS are incorrect.
For example, although it is based on the principle that you will use an Internet connection you can work in an offline mode quite comfortably. You can download and manipulate files locally.
It has a 16GB SSD, which is sufficient (I know, that sounds very small by todays’ standards but, as I said, most of the data is stored elsewhere) and turns on instantly. Also, there is no “shutdown” process. When I am done, i just close the lid or press the power button. When I open it again, later, it picks up right where I left off.
The battery life is amazing.
Utilizing services like Evernote, Google Drive, Dropbox, Trello and a few others I am all set. I can work on my Chromebook and/or pick-up uninterrupted at any computer device on the planet by logging into my Google account.
I think of my computer now more as an ‘appliance’ that does a very specific job for me. At this price, if it fails or I lose it I can easily justify simply buying a new one!