OTish; Laptops

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Open Office etc is free and is compatible with Word, etc.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

More bollox.

I'd say the majority of OEM versions of Windows included with laptops don't include Word.

[Bod]

[Bod]

Wordpad and Notepad are included with every Windows system. Wordpad is quite a powerful word processor for most uses, IMO. Most of the Windows Office Word program is for complex processing and I'd hazard a guess that most people don't use most of the bells and whistles on it anyway.

[The Natural Philosopher]

You misspelt that. Its 'CrimeBook' :-)

[The Natural Philosopher]

??? so waht? You get MSoffice as a package deal at low money and that's what people stick on for 'compatibility'

[The Natural Philosopher]

Actually if they did, they would realise that a proper DTP was what they needed, not Word.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

But not Word.

It's perfectly horrible.

Very true. But doesn't stop many offices etc using it for the most basic of tasks. And assuming everyone they send it to can read it. Even when not all versions of Word can read every Word file.

[Tim Watts]

That's not really the Chromebook's fault though - apples and oranges. This could happen with any laptop and you left your stuff a) on a work server; b) on your home server; c) in the cloud.

But I would prefer a device that has the option for lots of local storage and 100% sync of certain file trees.

I'm looking at one for the kids schoolwork as it's cheaper (less loss if it gets damaged) and less hassle for me to manage.

But I will be adding the SFTP client so they can access all the music and photos on our home server.

[Fredxxx]

Why not desktop? More rugged, and modular.

Coffee on keyboard ...................

And their schoolwork?

[Bod]

[Tim Watts]

Doesn't really travel to school too well...

[Bod]

[Davey]

That sounds as though it might be worth a try. If it operates more 'smoothly' than Libre Office, it should be worth keeping. I missed some of the details that Excel could do, but Libre Office can't. Now I'll have to remember them.......

[Dave Plowman (News)]

So they don't buy Windows to get Word compatibility? They pay extra for it at some point in the future? You do realise the latest version will cost you well over 100 quid?

[Bill]

In message , The Natural Philosopher writes

Not true for many of the people I know. The big argument for Windows is the flexibility and adaptability, especially when used for anything slightly outside the box. I don't know of anything else that has the availability of internal and external expansion devices with drivers that work, plus the fact that often someone, somewhere will have written a program that nearly does what you want.

My impression remains that Apple is good if you want reliable hardware and software for a limited range of applications, but it is expensive. Linux is fine for heavy duty stuff - servers, backups etc., but there are no drivers for many types of peripheral for the laptops.

Most people I know run a Windows desktop or laptop and an Android tablet or iPad. My Android phablets are great, with GPS, all the normal things like bluetooth, access to email and newsgroups, plus the ability to text if the phone is flat.

Do Chromebooks provide a decent newsreader?

[Tim Watts]

Primary and secondary school work is mostly:

Type some essays; Do some online work; Make a picture; Read the Internet.

The last one is actually a gain over my day when it meant "go to the library". Otherwise the rest could just as well be on paper. But the modern schools seem to like pupils having easy access to computers and optionally their own which they may take in.

It's also a danger of time wastage too as my library did not have 63 billion pictures of cats, rude jokes (except on the wall in the bogs) and a free-for-all video section.

[Bod]

[Tim Watts]

Er... You just described linux...

And my HP printer worked without installing 400GB of crap. Unlike windows :)

That is completely untrue.

All my laptops have worked fine and have no trouble talking to the peripherals I plug in. About the only issue I have is sometimes suspend goes doolally.

Good question. Well, thunderbird if you stick linux in Crouton. Apps? Does not seem to be...

[DJC]

+1

I prefer Gnumeric, just as quirky in its way, but the big advantage for me is that I can cut-paste text tabbed or csv files into a sheet and it will treat them as a table. Open/Libre Office tends to treat them as a doc regardless.