Be Excellent To Each Other

Hi folks,

D’s homework has started to be sent to complete via Google Classroom and about six other web apps. We’re looking at maybe getting him a Chromebook as all his has is a very old and slow iPad that will not do for much of it. Does anyone have a good source of where to buy one or info on which make/model to get that won’t be too spendy?

I can't really advise on the state of Chromebooks at the moment, but I will offer a word of caution.

They natively support Google Office, which does have compatibility with Microsoft Office, but it's not always straight forward.

A few years back, My wife did a degree course using a chrome book, and they provided files in Microsoft Word Format, and expected submissions in the same format.

I helped her do hundreds of file conversions between the two systems. Now, my wife doesn't really understand how the file management system works on a computer, so that was an extra barrier that you might not have. And there might be a way to make it a whole load more seamless that I didn't discover, but it's something you don't need to worry about if you use Microsoft Office on Windows.

I'm not trying to dissuade you, just giving you something to think about.

Thanks for the heads up. I don’t use windows myself, but rather the native Mac equivalent programs to the Office suite, and exporting into office formats is pretty simple if anything did have to be submitted in an office format. The laptops they use at school are Chromebooks, so I hope that means that things will be Chromebook compatible as they do the tasks on these web apps at school too.

All other things being equal, the price would probably be the barrier, though.

I’ve just re-checked and it looks like you can use the Microsoft Office 365 apps on the Chromebook anyway.

I was going to get one of these until I realised it wouldnt run an app I needed for work.

I liked the form factor of it, though wouldn't be great if he wanted to use it on his lap (unless in tablet mode)

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/3065310 ... lsrc=aw.ds

I used Word on my phone to edit a word document the other day, it was fine. I doubt MS have left the slightly different version of Android on Chromebooks too far behind.

I think the free Office apps only view, you need a Home/Pro sub to edit. But there's probably a cheap student edition if you don't already have one.

He’d be using it at his desk, I hope. Though I hope @mr Russell can look into extending the broadband reach because otherwise we’ll be scuppered before we start.

Yes, I assumed we’d buy him a home/individual/student 365 suite if needed, though from what I can tell we wouldn’t need it for his actual school work, only if he wanted to start typing his school assignments (though I think they’d mostly be handwritten as school handwriting and the use of cursive is still a *big thing*).

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/9513024 ... lsrc=aw.ds

We use this. It is fine.

Thanks. Will bear something like that in mind.

My granddaughter's now in Year 10 and has only ever needed a Chromebook for all her school work. It's mainly been for homework, much of which is web based and there's been no need for access to any Microsoft apps, so we've never tried the Chrome compatible versions. We bought her a mid-range model three or four years ago and it's been perfectly adequate, so I don't think there's any need to splash out on a top-of-the-range model.

One of the regulars on RLLMUK is selling a nearly new windows Laptop that would do the job I think.

Will take a look, thank you! Have signed up for an account there to try and access the trading forum

He’s been on there for years and sold other things so would be safe to deal with I think.

Russell bought a Lenovo Chromebook in the end. Partly because he couldn’t get approve for that forum and partly because he spoke to D’s teacher, who also happens to be the computing lead, and he said they’re the ones they use at the school (a jumble of Lenovo, Samsung, etc) and all of the work they do is done on the native apps and online apps to fill in, so he won’t need MS Office at all (though if he wanted it in the future we could get him the student 365 as he has an educational email).

I was actually going to suggest (in a genuine effort to be helpful this time) Office 365 online but I see that's already being considered, and possibly not required anyway.

FWIW I've only recently started using the online versions of things like Word and Powerpoint for work - they pushed out 365 to all the staff last year(ish) and they seem pretty good, much like the desktop versions we know and love (ahem) and even a bit better in some ways; having version history and being able to do collaborative stuff is neat. It does however seem like files are all over the place compared to nicely organised desktop folders, but that may well be due to how it's all been set up by our admin or - more likely - because I'm a bozo.

Russell uses the online services for work, too.

If we do need it for D going forwards then that’s what we’ll do. It does say there is free access for school students and teachers, and he does have a school issued email (.edu.uk, I think it is) but I’m not sure how that works. I’ll find out if we need to, but for now the computing lead says he won’t need anything that’s not on the Chromebook as standard.

Russell has extended the WiFi reach, too.