Chromebook or Laptop?

[Amy]

Hi all! I haven't posted on this board for ages, but I do lurk and enjoy looking at your photos. We've been vacationing at places other than WDW the past few years, and an upcoming vacation is prompting this question.

2014 will be my and DH's 30th anniversary, so we're planning a "bucket list" trip (without the boys!) to the Tetons and Yellowstone, looks like 11 or 12 days. Based on the number of photos I usually take on vacations (4 days in DC this year yielded around 800 photos, and several places wouldn't allow photos), I know to start stocking up on SD cards now. (Best Buy has a great sale starting today - 32GB PNY SDHC cards for $27.99, regular $79.99) Knowing that SD cards occasionally fail and the necessity of backing up important photos (like this once-in-a-lifetime trip to Yellowstone), I'm starting to think about photo storage on the road.

DH usually brings his work laptop on trips. But he has so much crap on there, plus his work has all this security stuff loaded that DH spends a lot of time cussing at his laptop while it takes 20 min to boot up. At home, I have an HP desktop with 1TB of storage that I'm very happy with, have no need to replace it.

I was thinking of getting myself a small, inexpensive laptop to take on trips so that I can check email real quick and download my photos during the trip to the laptop, and then transfer the photos to my desktop when we get home for editing. (I guess I'd need to transfer first from a laptop to my external hard drive - good since I'd store the photos there as a backup anyway - and then to my desktop.) I'd also like internet access (so I can DIS from the couch while watching The Bachelorette ). Basically what I need is something small for travel, ability to check email and the internet, and most important, photo storage.

When I went to Best Buy to get those 32GB SC cards today, I looked at the laptops. I told the salesperson what I wanted a laptop for, and he told me maybe I should consider a Chromebook. I immediately noted the SMALL amount of storage and told him there was no way I could store photos on it. He then said that I could purchase an external hard drive (it's only a little bigger than my smartphone), connect it to the Chromebook and have all the storage I'd need. Pricewise, there's no comparison: the Chromebooks are $199 or $249, and a 500GB external drive is $64.99 (none of those are sale prices).

Do you think a Chromebook would work for me? Like I said, I just need a computer for travel - checking email, internet surfing, and for transferring my photos. (I plan to have enough SD cards and won't delete them once I transfer the photos - I just want an insurance policy of an extra copy of my photos.) My main computing is done on my desktop, so I won't need Word or Outlook or Photoshop (they don't work on a Chromebook anyway); those are all on my desktop. When the salesperson first suggested getting an external drive to use with the Chromebook, I thought "I don't want to lug something else around on a trip". But the external drive really wasn't much larger than my cellphone. And if I got a regular laptop, I'd have to transfer my photos to an external drive anyway before transferring them to my desktop at home; this way, one step is already done.

Does this sound like a good idea? I know the Chromebook uses a different operating system, but I assume I can just designate the external hard drive when I'm transferring photos from my SD card, right? That sleek, skinny Chromebook is tempting!

Thanks for your opinions!

 

[photo_chick]

The Chromebooks are like Android tablets on steroids. That's not a bad thing if that's what you need. But I'd personally go with a netbook or small laptop if I'm going to be doing anything with images.

 

[Amy]

The Chromebooks are like Android tablets on steroids. That's not a bad thing if that's what you need. But I'd personally go with a netbook or small laptop if I'm going to be doing anything with images.

May I ask why you'd prefer a laptop? I don't intend to edit my photos on the Chromebook - my main editing will be done on my desktop once we get home. If I have a photo that I can't wait to share, I might want to email it to someone, but that's about all I'd be "doing" with/to my images. Is there something about a Chromebook that I haven't heard about? Would it "degrade" my images or anything?

 

[wiigirl]

The Chromebooks are like Android tablets on steroids. That's not a bad thing if that's what you need. But I'd personally go with a netbook or small laptop if I'm going to be doing anything with images.

 

[photo_chick]

May I ask why you'd prefer a laptop? I don't intend to edit my photos on the Chromebook - my main editing will be done on my desktop once we get home. If I have a photo that I can't wait to share, I might want to email it to someone, but that's about all I'd be "doing" with/to my images. Is there something about a Chromebook that I haven't heard about? Would it "degrade" my images or anything?

If it's a straight file transfer (drag and drop, not an import) it shouldn't degrade your images. But that's certainly a process I'd investigate before buying one.

I shoot RAW pretty much exclusively. As a result I edit all of my images before I post them. That just doesn't mix well with a Chromebook. Not just with the lack of software but also the display quality. Now we have been looking at a Chromebook for my husband. Mainly because it's like a tablet with a keyboard and that's what he needs. He also is a big user of Google drive so it would be a natural fit for him. It all comes down to what you really need it to do.

 

[Amy]

If it's a straight file transfer (drag and drop, not an import) it shouldn't degrade your images. But that's certainly a process I'd investigate before buying one.

I shoot RAW pretty much exclusively. As a result I edit all of my images before I post them. That just doesn't mix well with a Chromebook. Not just with the lack of software but also the display quality. Now we have been looking at a Chromebook for my husband. Mainly because it's like a tablet with a keyboard and that's what he needs. He also is a big user of Google drive so it would be a natural fit for him. It all comes down to what you really need it to do.

See - that's why I posted here. I knew one of you would think of something I hadn't! Thank you! I WAS thinking it would be drag & drop, using the Chromebook as the "connection" between my SD card and the external drive. You just gave me an important question to ask before I buy one. (RAW isn't an issue - I understand the concept and why it's great, but I haven't taken that step to shoot in RAW.)

Thank you!

 

[Lisaren]

Chrome books were passed out to the high school students in our county last year. They had so many fail or get broken that they could not keep replacements. I understand these were kids, but my daughter had two chrome books fail because of software/hardware problems (the school did not tell us what failed, just that it was not her fault - otherwise the insurance I paid would have been used). They are also very sensitive if picked up accidentally by the screen - the screen is prone to cracking. I would go with a laptop, but many love their chrome book.

 

[photo_chick]

Chrome books were passed out to the high school students in our county last year. They had so many fail or get broken that they could not keep replacements. I understand these were kids, but my daughter had two chrome books fail because of software/hardware problems (the school did not tell us what failed, just that it was not her fault - otherwise the insurance I paid would have been used). They are also very sensitive if picked up accidentally by the screen - the screen is prone to cracking. I would go with a laptop, but many love their chrome book.

Do you know what brand they were using? Since the OS has been licensed out there's a few and like all things some will be better than others.

 

[Lisaren]

Do you know what brand they were using? Since the OS has been licensed out there's a few and like all things some will be better than others.

If I remember correctly they were using Samsung brand. We will be purchasing her a laptop to use this year because of the problems with the Chrome books last year.