LewieP wrote:
Regarding internet connection, the only work I'll be doing is running SavyGamer, so I'll need an internet connection no matter what. From what I can tell, most places have some kind of WiFi availability or 3g coverage, I won't need high speeds.
Fair enough, I was thinking of things like writing docs offline and stuff but if it's only for tasks for which you would need to be online anyway then yeah, it makes no odds as you say.
Personally I'd still be a iffy about this because not being able to do something trivial like create a new doc and start typing into it just because I didn't have a net connection is bullshit to my mind (and it's even worse if you're far from home) but if you're sure that's not an issue for you then fair enough.
LewieP wrote:
You're right about the availability of cheaper laptops, but they're generally not very nice, and if I was going for windows, I'd want something that would be decent for gaming at least, which would put the price up. I have a fairly rubbish old netbook which would do the job, but it is slow and heavy.
As soon as you start talking about gaming laptops you're comparing apples with oranges though which doesn't make any sense. Your Chromebook isn't going to be any cop for gaming either so why does the Windows laptop at the same price lose points for being equally (i.e. not very) good at the same task?
Also, I've got one of the 11 inch HP laptops I was talking about and it's not a netbook; it's a proper small laptop. Obviously it won't win any speed records but it's got an HD screen, 4GB RAM, dual core CPU, proper nice chiclet keyboard, etc. As a rough guide things like Limbo and the original Portal were perfectly playable on it. I could probably even stick an SSD in there if I cared to drop the weight and up the speed. I mean I like my new Nexus tablet for my main home use case (reading comics) but there's no denying that the laptop is more useful for general
stuff and if I was going travelling I don't think I'd leave it behind. It is heavier no doubt so tablets win on that front, but it's a tiny wee thing so we're not talking about a lot of weight even at that. Also the weight differential would be less with a chromebook because it's got a keyboard that my tablet doesn't.