Monthly Archives: December 2012

With all apologies to Clement Clarke Moore…

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Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house
all my gadgets were whirling, including my mouse.
My hard drives were stuffed full of data with care
in hopes that my backup plan, if needed, would be there.

With iPad and iPhone nestled snug in their docks,
Glimmering with displays of Retina fresh from the box
my Wife with her 4S and I with my ‘5
Thankful that our data plan (unlimited) is alive

When on the Amazon site there arose such a clatter
Chromebooks for sale! Get one while they still matter!
Away to my keyboard and my browser (with flash),
Clicked on the bookmark and gave up my cash.

The FedEx truck arrived, the driver was grinning
He knew it’s for me the package he’s bringing
“Good Morning to you GERD”, he says with great pep
With a gleam in his eye and a spring to his step

“Now GERD it appears I have for your consideration
a package from Amazon; could it be another piece of automation?
Another iPad, the new nook reader?
The Fire, the Acer, I know it’s not a heater!

“A Chromebook!” I cry with overstated pride,
“to compute where I want, no matter what I ride!
On airplanes, on cars, on big boats and small
It weighs just 3 pounds; it’s really easy to haul!”

“I see” he says as he turns away to leave
“yet another laptop…doesn’t now that make three?”
“Perhaps” I replied in response to his mock,
“But these were going fast – there was only one left in stock”

Away to my office I rushed with such haste
To rip open the package with time not to waste
A press of the button the screen it alights
And takes me to Google, its app store to delight

My eyes are a’glitter, my mouse works with fury
As selected apps to my hard drive they hurry
On Google, on Gmail, on Pandora and Cloud Reader
On DropBox, on Sugar Sync, on Maps and RSS-Feeder

App after app I download, my hard drive was filling
My excitement was real, my credit card a ’billing
When finally I saw, my Chromebook was set
For that road trip next time I’ll be ready I bet

So value your Gadgets, to each one give a mention,
and always remember; to my blog, pay attention.
And hear me exclaim, although I’m out of sight,
“Merry Christmas to all, and to all a GERD-night!”

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Don’t tell anyone, but I like CHROMEBOOKS!

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As most of you know, the GERD works on and with computers, and has for more than a few years.  Some time ago, someone far smarter that I floated the idea of a web-based operating system for computers.  The benefits included low cost, faster operation, and easier maintenance.  The main drawback to this brilliant idea was relatively slow internet connections (most were still dial-up at this time), and very limited Wi-Fi.  So, your low cost computer couldn’t do much at home, and almost nothing on the road.  The idea kept germinating until Google developed two new “Chromebooks”, named for the operating system (Chrome) they run on.  Although not truly a web-based operating system, the Chromebook leverages the web for most of its applications.

I recently obtained the Acer C7 Chromebook and, much to my surprise, I’ve been cautiously impressed.  I had imagined a glorified doorstop, but once I played with one I noticed the peppy response; even video played smoothly without all the herky-jerkyness I’ve seen with most net-books.  It has a 320GB 5400 RPM hard drive, plenty of space for my “on the road again” movie collection (the Samsung Chromebook has only a 16GB solid state hard drive, better for speed and battery life, but really, really small!).

The Acer C7 Chromebook comes with 2GB RAM – I upped mine to 4GB, but be careful – doing so yourself voids the warranty, and while I did notice a performance bump after the upgrade, it is not essential .  As for applications, don’t get confused like I did – the Google Play web site features Android applications and they will not work on the Chromebook.  Go to the Chrome site (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/category/home?hl=en) – not all the apps in the world are available, but the list is pretty good (and growing) and a shocking number of these apps are free.  Yes, Pandora, Netflix, DropBox, You Tube and Angry Birds are available along with the usual Google suspects, Gmail, Google Drive, and all the Google Microsoft Office alternatives (Docs, Sheets, Slides, etc).

The good news is that the Chromebook is light (3 lbs), has a great screen (11.6″ 1366 x 768 HD), 3 USB ports, a 2-in-1 card reader, and that spacious hard drive (320GB).  The bad news is average battery life (3.5 hours), poor speakers and no Bluetooth, but for $199, what do you want?  Google throws in 12 free sessions of GoGo® Inflight Internet and 100GB of free Google Drive space (for two years), if you have DropBox or other cloud storage, this may not be needed. Go to the Google Play web site for more info (https://play.google.com/store/devices?feature=corpus_selector)

Remember, this is not a full laptop computer – you will not load Office apps, iTunes, or any other Windows-based apps here.  However, the Chrome App Store offers many alternatives that perform most of these tasks well, mostly free.  Besides, it’s fun to play with the thing!

So now I’m a Chromer, a Chrome-Head, a Chrome-ite, a Chrome-domer (OK, I’ll stop now).  My Acer C7 will definitely be in the GERD’s backpack on my next trip.  I’ve already loaded a ton of music and movies for those times I’m not connected, and have my Google Drive packed full of needed stuff when I am online.