The Student Room Group

University Chromebooks?

Are Chromebooks suitable for studying at university (as they are fairly cheap and lightweight), it would mainly be used for research, notes and typing on google docs or other
Reply 1
I'm starting university next week, so I can't really answer your question with personal experience. However, in preparation, I did buy the Acer Chromebook R13 to replace my old Windows laptop; it's pretty lightweight, ~£300-350, feels good quality, has touchscreen, and manages around 12 hour battery life on a single charge. I presume that a Chromebook would be perfect for university if you just use Google Suite/Drive and do note-taking and web-browsing. From what I found researching, just remember that you'll need half-decent wifi (better wifi means better performance) and that you may need to occasionally use the university's library computers for printing or using Microsoft Office when submitting work (these should be possible on Chromebooks but there may be some hassle).
Original post by luke.ah
I'm starting university next week, so I can't really answer your question with personal experience. However, in preparation, I did buy the Acer Chromebook R13 to replace my old Windows laptop; it's pretty lightweight, ~£300-350, feels good quality, has touchscreen, and manages around 12 hour battery life on a single charge. I presume that a Chromebook would be perfect for university if you just use Google Suite/Drive and do note-taking and web-browsing. From what I found researching, just remember that you'll need half-decent wifi (better wifi means better performance) and that you may need to occasionally use the university's library computers for printing or using Microsoft Office when submitting work (these should be possible on Chromebooks but there may be some hassle).

Do you know if Microsoft word or any apps similar can be downloaded, heard you can get google play but am not so sure. Also it was an acre chrome book that I was looking at, are they good quality from what you have used so far, also good luck with starting next week
Reply 3
Original post by withered.rose
Do you know if Microsoft word or any apps similar can be downloaded, heard you can get google play but am not so sure. Also it was an acre chrome book that I was looking at, are they good quality from what you have used so far, also good luck with starting next week

I haven't tried it yet but, from what I know (so not certain!), you can either use Word Online (through Chrome browser, like Google Docs) or you can download Word from the Google Play Store - however, I think at least the one from the Play Store might be the same as the watered-down version that you would get on the phone app (I presume it still works fine, but it may be lacking some features).

This is my first Acer product, as I've only really bought HP laptops before, which haven't tended to last too long. However, it feels really good quality and, though cheaper, much better than ones I've had before; both the body and casing seem sturdy but also lightweight, and the screen is pretty nice too. For most laptops, there's often plenty of reviews on YouTube that can help.

Good luck! :smile:
Original post by luke.ah
I haven't tried it yet but, from what I know (so not certain!), you can either use Word Online (through Chrome browser, like Google Docs) or you can download Word from the Google Play Store - however, I think at least the one from the Play Store might be the same as the watered-down version that you would get on the phone app (I presume it still works fine, but it may be lacking some features).

This is my first Acer product, as I've only really bought HP laptops before, which haven't tended to last too long. However, it feels really good quality and, though cheaper, much better than ones I've had before; both the body and casing seem sturdy but also lightweight, and the screen is pretty nice too. For most laptops, there's often plenty of reviews on YouTube that can help.

Good luck! :smile:

If you don’t mind could you send a link of the product, interested in buying an acre chromebook
Original post by luke.ah
I haven't tried it yet but, from what I know (so not certain!), you can either use Word Online (through Chrome browser, like Google Docs) or you can download Word from the Google Play Store - however, I think at least the one from the Play Store might be the same as the watered-down version that you would get on the phone app (I presume it still works fine, but it may be lacking some features).

This is my first Acer product, as I've only really bought HP laptops before, which haven't tended to last too long. However, it feels really good quality and, though cheaper, much better than ones I've had before; both the body and casing seem sturdy but also lightweight, and the screen is pretty nice too. For most laptops, there's often plenty of reviews on YouTube that can help.

Good luck! :smile:

luke.ah, yeah a lot of the HP consumer laptops are built like crap, relatively speaking.

The business ones are generally built like tanks. It's the old Compaq influence.

Also, a lot of people replace their laptop when they have a major software fault with them. I don't know if this applies to you?
And some people have bad luck when it comes to dropping their laptop etc.

For me, I can't see the point of buying a Chromebook when for £150 you can buy a used Lenovo business Windows 10 laptop, like the L450. Or for £300 you can buy the likes of still under warranty HP 430 G5's.

However if someone absolutely must have a brand new laptop, and they don't mind the "must be online" working restrictions of the Chromebooks, then a Chromebok may well be an OK solution.
Original post by Dunnig Kruger
luke.ah, yeah a lot of the HP consumer laptops are built like crap, relatively speaking.

The business ones are generally built like tanks. It's the old Compaq influence.

Also, a lot of people replace their laptop when they have a major software fault with them. I don't know if this applies to you?
And some people have bad luck when it comes to dropping their laptop etc.

For me, I can't see the point of buying a Chromebook when for £150 you can buy a used Lenovo business Windows 10 laptop, like the L450. Or for £300 you can buy the likes of still under warranty HP 430 G5's.

However if someone absolutely must have a brand new laptop, and they don't mind the "must be online" working restrictions of the Chromebooks, then a Chromebok may well be an OK solution.

Well I never said it ‘must’ be brand new but was wondering what they were like as they are in budget of about £300 and I’m not willing to overspend on a laptop that will only be used for notes, internet, typing and other things so, in that case what kind of laptop would you recommend for about 350 max since you seem as though you have experience (and I haven’t had any laptops prior so don’t know the specs that are good or not), your help would be much appreciated. thanks
For browsing the web, word processing, I'd try and get a free laptop, as a discard from a large corporation that's getting rid of their old laptops.

If I weren't in a position to do that - eg no mates in corporate IT Depts, or couldn't be bothered to write begging letters, I'd buy a £150 Lenovo L450 off ebay.

For someone like yourself that might be less happy buying replacement batteries etc, something like the 2 laptops I mentioned in this thread would be fine:
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6148630

I agree 100% with your budget. It's crazy spending more than £350 on a laptop for web browsing and typing assignments up. The laptop is only a tool to do a job.
Original post by Dunnig Kruger
For browsing the web, word processing, I'd try and get a free laptop, as a discard from a large corporation that's getting rid of their old laptops.

If I weren't in a position to do that - eg no mates in corporate IT Depts, or couldn't be bothered to write begging letters, I'd buy a £150 Lenovo L450 off ebay.

For someone like yourself that might be less happy buying replacement batteries etc, something like the 2 laptops I mentioned in this thread would be fine:
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6148630

I agree 100% with your budget. It's crazy spending more than £350 on a laptop for web browsing and typing assignments up. The laptop is only a tool to do a job.

Don’t know what u mean by ‘free laptop’, I meant keeping it to a low budget not no money at all. But since you seem to know about laptops would you recommend he following in this link as I’m not really sure if it’s a good spec, even though I know HP is quite good but for the cheap price is it too good to be true??

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-stream-11-ak0501sa-11-6-intel-celeron-laptop-32-gb-emmc-blue-10189379-pdt.html
Original post by withered.rose
Don’t know what u mean by ‘free laptop’, I meant keeping it to a low budget not no money at all. But since you seem to know about laptops would you recommend he following in this link as I’m not really sure if it’s a good spec, even though I know HP is quite good but for the cheap price is it too good to be true??

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-stream-11-ak0501sa-11-6-intel-celeron-laptop-32-gb-emmc-blue-10189379-pdt.html

That laptop is junk. A Lenovo L450 from ebay for the same price would comfortably outperform it.

A Lenovo L450 is a proper business laptop.
That HP Stream is just a collection of the cheapest bits they can sling in a laptop to make it actually work.

The only advantage that the HP Stream would have is better portability and lighter weight.

Keyboard's worse than the Lenovo.
CPU is worse than the 4 year old Lenovo.
RAM is smaller.
Screen size is smaller.
Battery life is worse (with the 6 cell external battery option on the Lenovo)
Operating system is slightly worse (no bit locker built in hard drive encryption)
Hard drive size is miniscule compared an L450.

As I keep saying on this section of the forum: don't buy from Currys!

For free laptops skip to 1.04 on this video and go for the UK equivalent routes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SenH21fv8aQ
Or cut out the middle man (the foundations in this video) and write to a few IT depts yourself in large organisations, asking if they have any spare old laptops you can have, and how you you would use it to help your local scout group, orphanage, vicarage, mosque etc.
Original post by Dunnig Kruger
That laptop is junk. A Lenovo L450 from ebay for the same price would comfortably outperform it.

A Lenovo L450 is a proper business laptop.
That HP Stream is just a collection of the cheapest bits they can sling in a laptop to make it actually work.

The only advantage that the HP Stream would have is better portability and lighter weight.

Keyboard's worse than the Lenovo.
CPU is worse than the 4 year old Lenovo.
RAM is smaller.
Screen size is smaller.
Battery life is worse (with the 6 cell external battery option on the Lenovo)
Operating system is slightly worse (no bit locker built in hard drive encryption)
Hard drive size is miniscule compared an L450.

As I keep saying on this section of the forum: don't buy from Currys!

For free laptops skip to 1.04 on this video and go for the UK equivalent routes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SenH21fv8aQ
Or cut out the middle man (the foundations in this video) and write to a few IT depts yourself in large organisations, asking if they have any spare old laptops you can have, and how you you would use it to help your local scout group, orphanage, vicarage, mosque etc.

Well I googled the L450, and thinkpads came up and I’ve previously used them in school and really disliked them. So heavy and kept on cutting off google or word when typing, so just isn’t for me.

Well I haven’t seen you post in other laptop forums, I’ll maybe have a look at more, was simply looking at this one as I had heard HP was good and it seemed fairly cheap, also curry’s is my local shop so it would be most convenient. And no, I’m fine paying money for a laptop for my course at university, I said cheaper (not ridiculous prices like £500+ as I am only a student) and never said I needed to get a free laptop. Wouldn’t be doing that anyway as I just don’t agree with it
Original post by withered.rose
Don’t know what u mean by ‘free laptop’, I meant keeping it to a low budget not no money at all. But since you seem to know about laptops would you recommend he following in this link as I’m not really sure if it’s a good spec, even though I know HP is quite good but for the cheap price is it too good to be true??

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-stream-11-ak0501sa-11-6-intel-celeron-laptop-32-gb-emmc-blue-10189379-pdt.html

Don't get that laptop! I'll first of all mention the major flaw: 32GB eMMC non replaceable storage.
With Windows 10, after updates and the essential software, you'll have zero left.
Plus it has an awful CPU which will struggle with anything other than running Windows and Office.

You can get a used HP Pavilion with a core i5 CPU and 8GB RAM for about £200 on eBay. That would be a much better choice.

Or, on @Dunnig Kruger's other thread, the HP with an i5-8250U/8GB RAM/256GB SSD for just over £300.
Original post by withered.rose
Well I googled the L450, and thinkpads came up and I’ve previously used them in school and really disliked them. So heavy and kept on cutting off google or word when typing, so just isn’t for me.

Well I haven’t seen you post in other laptop forums, I’ll maybe have a look at more, was simply looking at this one as I had heard HP was good and it seemed fairly cheap, also curry’s is my local shop so it would be most convenient. And no, I’m fine paying money for a laptop for my course at university, I said cheaper (not ridiculous prices like £500+ as I am only a student) and never said I needed to get a free laptop. Wouldn’t be doing that anyway as I just don’t agree with it

If any laptop was cutting off Google or Word when typing, then that was down to a fault, probably a software fault with that particular laptop. IE, the IT Support at your school needed to be called out to fix it.

But yeah, the Lenovo L450 laptops with the 9 cell battery option are quite heavy and chunky. It's the price to pay for great battery life. Having two thirds of the laptop being a battery.

Curry's are convenient, but the prices are too high.
Ebay is even more convenient. A few clicks at home and you've bought your item, which will get delivered to your door.
Pay via Paypal and buy from sellers with good feedback.

I think you'd be delighted with a 13.3" recent model business laptop.
EG this 830 G5 that you might be able to bag for under £450, depending on whether anyone else jumps in with a bid:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-Elitebook-830-G5-14-Intel-i7-8650U-1-90GHz-8GB-256GB-SSD-1920x1080/362752647533?hash=item5475be216d:g:lQsAAOSwJgtdemeW
1 year and 10 months warranty left, which is 10 months more than you'll get on most laptops at Currys.
The Swedish keyboard layout is a very minor inconvenience, with the <>~@:\ keys being shuffled around, whilst all the English alphabet keys are the same as an English English keyboard.

Or this HP 430 G6:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-ProBook-430-G6-i5-8265U-13-3-FHD-8GB-DDR4-256GB-SSD-Win10-PRO/392437522831?epid=21029917811&hash=item5b5f19618f:g:-78AAOSwLX5dhe92

Offer £400 for this. If they accept, great!. If not see if you can settle on £425
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-ProBook-430-G6-i5-8265U-13-3-FHD-8GB-DDR4-256GB-SSD-Win10-RRP-883-20/153650351221?epid=21029917811&hash=item23c6464c75:g:FYgAAOSwqtpdc~VT
Original post by spotify95
Don't get that laptop! I'll first of all mention the major flaw: 32GB eMMC non replaceable storage.
With Windows 10, after updates and the essential software, you'll have zero left.
Plus it has an awful CPU which will struggle with anything other than running Windows and Office.

You can get a used HP Pavilion with a core i5 CPU and 8GB RAM for about £200 on eBay. That would be a much better choice.

Or, on @Dunnig Kruger's other thread, the HP with an i5-8250U/8GB RAM/256GB SSD for just over £300.

Thanks, am not sure about laptops and quality or whatever but wanted an opinion because of its cheap price
Original post by Dunnig Kruger
If any laptop was cutting off Google or Word when typing, then that was down to a fault, probably a software fault with that particular laptop. IE, the IT Support at your school needed to be called out to fix it.

But yeah, the Lenovo L450 laptops with the 9 cell battery option are quite heavy and chunky. It's the price to pay for great battery life. Having two thirds of the laptop being a battery.

Curry's are convenient, but the prices are too high.
Ebay is even more convenient. A few clicks at home and you've bought your item, which will get delivered to your door.
Pay via Paypal and buy from sellers with good feedback.

I think you'd be delighted with a 13.3" recent model business laptop.
EG this 830 G5 that you might be able to bag for under £450, depending on whether anyone else jumps in with a bid:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-Elitebook-830-G5-14-Intel-i7-8650U-1-90GHz-8GB-256GB-SSD-1920x1080/362752647533?hash=item5475be216d:g:lQsAAOSwJgtdemeW
1 year and 10 months warranty left, which is 10 months more than you'll get on most laptops at Currys.
The Swedish keyboard layout is a very minor inconvenience, with the <>~@:\ keys being shuffled around, whilst all the English alphabet keys are the same as an English English keyboard.

Or this HP 430 G6:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-ProBook-430-G6-i5-8265U-13-3-FHD-8GB-DDR4-256GB-SSD-Win10-PRO/392437522831?epid=21029917811&hash=item5b5f19618f:g:-78AAOSwLX5dhe92

Offer £400 for this. If they accept, great!. If not see if you can settle on £425
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-ProBook-430-G6-i5-8265U-13-3-FHD-8GB-DDR4-256GB-SSD-Win10-RRP-883-20/153650351221?epid=21029917811&hash=item23c6464c75:g:FYgAAOSwqtpdc~VT

Thanks, you have been very helpful, I’ll keep these in mind but it will be near the start of next year that I’ll buy one for starting university in September but really want to get a good idea of which are good and not.

Also think it might have been me personally causing the problem with the laptop as it was very big and I think it may have been by clicking certain keys by accident when typing, or so the school had said. Couldn’t tell which ones though, but really hated that laptop though
(edited 4 years ago)
Would chrome books be suitable for university? Has anyone had experience of it.

Could anyone recommend any if so.

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-14-db0500sa-14-amd-a4-chromebook-32-gb-emmc-blue-10189651-pdt.html
^ what suitability would this have, I don’t really know about which would be best as you can probably tell but the price seems not too bad. Though was looking for one that had touch screen as well

Or how about this one, similar to one I have previously used in school, used it for research, google applications etc. Higher price so may be better quality
https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/acer-spin-311-11-6-amd-a4-2-in-1-chromebook-32-gb-emmc-black-10194522-pdt.html

Though this one has a pen included, may be better value for money. And it seems to do what’s needed, though is again more expensive.
https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/acer-spin-11-11-6-intel-celeron-2-in-1-chromebook-32-gb-emmc-silver-10184914-pdt.html

Please tell me thoughts if you have a better idea than I do or experiences with anything like this
(edited 4 years ago)

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