toronado455 wrote:
Does anyone know what GMail is like on a Chromebook? Is there a separate app/client for GMail, or does it just bring up the regular GMail website? Do Chromebooks have all the same Google ads in GMail and elsewhere that the Chrome web browser for PC has?
I've had my samsung chromebook for a few months now, and I have to say that I pretty much love it.
As far as apps go, its Chrome and the Chrome Web Store, you can largely duplicate the experience on any system that can run Chrome, What you can't duplicate is the combination of light weight, silent operation, long battery life, and snappy performance, and you can't come anywhere close at this price point.
I don't even carry my old laptop any more (HP DM1z) unless I have a specific need (virtual machines is what gets me).
With that said, here are the downsides:
. Many apps are only useful when you have an internet connection.
. Media playback is limited to a few formats (but h264 in an .avi is fine)
. Dealing with multiple email accounts is not great, you pretty much need to run a webmail tab for each one, which doesn't really work if you have more than one account on a server.
. A 720p webcam would have been nice
There are a few other Chromebook models out there, but they're just cheap x86 laptops with all of the faults of cheap x86 laptops. The ARM model is truly different.