Several years back I hit a breaking point with Windows. I was working with a Dell Laptop that I had purchased and the Windows Vista experience was driving me insane. Between the quarks with the OS and the problems with the laptop in general – I was ready to call it quits and look for another computer.
A good friend of mine sent me an older Macbook to try out. It didn’t have the latest and greatest hardware specs, it was kind of small at 13″, and the operating system was foreign to me, but it was an impressive little machine.
As time went by I wound up switching over to Macbook Pros for my wife and I. We wound up paying a bit more than I was comfortable with but a student discount eased a little of the pain. Those computers are about six years old now and showing their age.
Don’t get me wrong, they still work quite well and we’ll probably get a couple more years out of them, but with the release of each new OS Update – things slow down just a little more.
These days though, I’m at a bit of a crossroads. I’ve been extremely pleased with our Macs but I need something smaller and lighter so that I can blog on the go. You see, there have been a lot of instances (much like right now) where I get the urge to sit down, have a cigar, and write up a quick blog post.
If the weather isn’t the best I like to run down to Sir Stogies and sit in the private lounge
while I work. If friends are at the shop I’m compelled to leave the laptop in my backpack and socialize. It feels like a waste to lug around my Macbook, charger, and wireless mouse only to have them sit unused.
Because of the hassle, I find myself leaving behind the computer more and more – despite it being the primary reason for visiting the shop. What if I had something small and light that I could just pick up and go?
A new Macbook Air is simply not in the budget with a new baby on the way. While I’ve had good experiences with Windows 7 and 10 on my office computer, I don’t know that a budget Windows laptop is what I want either.
What about a Chromebook? I read an article on Gizmodo recently that praised the little machines for what they are. I had to give it some serious thought but I think this type of computer might be exactly what I’m looking for.
I work on three different Websites that are powered by WordPress. All of the blog posts and the vast majority of site maintenance is done within the browser. With the exception of one of my email accounts, they are all in the Google Environment. Most of the the word processing and spreadsheets that I do are done in Google Drive.
All of these tasks can easily be handled by a Chromebook. I realize there are restrictions to the simplified OS but for what I plan on using it for, it seems like a cost effective way to set myself up with a portable blogging machine.
I went ahead and ordered an Acer R11 to mess around with. As far as price is concerned, it was on the higher end of the Chromebooks I looked at but I liked the idea of having a convertible (Combination of Laptop and Tablet).
I’ll give it a little time and see how it works for me. Worse case scenario, I wind up hating it and have to return it. At that point I’ll have to take a harder look at my options.
would you care to share your thoughts?
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