Coming this fall... Chrome OS to run Android apps natively... no user hijinks required...

 

http://www.theverge....hromebook-video

Chromebooks pass Mac's...

 

http://www.pcworld.c...first-time.html

1st gen Google Pixel for $359...

 

If anybody is interested in getting one, this is one helluva deal...

 

http://www.expansys-...gb-32gb-290369/

I have a daughter and her laptop took the ole deep six on her. She was using it for online classes for the most part. She wasn't running any installed programs, so...

 

I was looking at 13" Chromebooks, but am not familiar with Chromebooks in general. She needs MS Word and Powerpoint capabilities and connect to her Cannon Pixma MG3620 printer.

 

I was looking at the following off of Amazon.

 

https://www.amazon.c...ments=p_89:Asus

 

Would I also need Office 365 University for the MS capability?

 

 

I have a daughter and her laptop took the ole deep six on her. She was using it for online classes for the most part. She wasn't running any installed programs, so...

I was looking at 13" Chromebooks, but am not familiar with Chromebooks in general. She needs MS Word and Powerpoint capabilities and connect to her Cannon Pixma MG3620 printer.

I was looking at the following off of Amazon.

https://www.amazon.c...ments=p_89:Asus

Would I also need Office 365 University for the MS capability?

You're right to be looking at 13" versions, as that's where the greatest range of choices are...

You're also right to be looking at one that has 4GB of RAM... steer clear of those with just 2GB of RAM...

* 32GB of SSD is the MIN you want, and it's OK... newer ones can be had with 64GB, but that's not at all crucial since you're really storing stuff on the 100GB of google-drive you get free for a couple years... I'd not get one with just 16GB or SSD...

The display for this one is meh... I think it's only 1024*768... and it's not a great screen even among those at that res... if it was me, I'd avoid this one for that reason, as the main thing you're doing with it is looking at it... I'd be looking to get one that's 1920*1080 and is IPS technology... not all 1920*1080 IPS screens are great, but there are great screens among them..

Other issues:

* Do you care about a backlit keyboard? Will it be used in dim circumstances?

* Do you care about it being what feels like a quality device vs one that feels plastic-y?

* The newest ones are capable of running Android apps on them; most models are not equipped to do this... this is a big dividing line between those that will be viewed as obsolete (among Chromebook fans) vs those that won't be. (This is about general use, it won't affect its suitability for school.) There are tons of useful Android apps, they far outnumber the apps that work on most Chromebooks...

 

Article about best Chromebooks 2017:
http://www.laptopmag...est-chromebooks


As for MS-Office... you certainly can buy 365 University... but first check to make sure her school doesn't offer it for free... the product page lets you check... however, it doesn't list Chromebooks as one of the systems its designed for... they have versions for Windows and Mac... they have a version for Android, but not the Chromebooks' OS (ChromeOS)

There is a free app that let's you do MS Office stuff online... but with limited features...

However, it's not at all clear that you really need MS Office... Chromebooks use Google Docs which can read things and write things in the correct format for MS Office... so, for example, if assignments are distributed and collected in MS-Word format, you can do that with Google Docs... lots of enterprises are changing to Chromebooks, so you can expect usability on Chromebooks to only get better....

 

 

To print from a Chromebook you need to use Google Cloud Print... which means the printer itself needs to be either (a) designed with this in mind, which many/most new printers are, or (b) connected to a network via a PC that's has a Chrome browser installed... it's the one-and-only thing about Chromebooks that's ridiculous...

 

In general, Chromebooks are great... once you get used to one, you can't believe how much BS you put up with using Windows...

I have a daughter and her laptop took the ole deep six on her. She was using it for online classes for the most part. She wasn't running any installed programs, so...

 

I was looking at 13" Chromebooks, but am not familiar with Chromebooks in general. She needs MS Word and Powerpoint capabilities and connect to her Cannon Pixma MG3620 printer.

 

I was looking at the following off of Amazon.

 

https://www.amazon.c...ments=p_89:Asus

 

Would I also need Office 365 University for the MS capability?

 

I personally own the Acer Chromebook R13, which does run Android apps.  I don't know if the one you linked does.  Either way, she'd be relegated to the android version of office at best, and if she needs it that badly you're better off going for a Windows one.

I personally own the Acer Chromebook R13, which does run Android apps. I don't know if the one you linked does. Either way, she'd be relegated to the android version of office at best, and if she needs it that badly you're better off going for a Windows one.

I agree about the Android version of Office... what we don't know is what she really needs... I'm guessing it's Word... with maybe a little Excel, depending on the discipline...

I've not tried Google Docs for that very much, but when I have Word docs worked fine...

I have converted Excel files to Google Doc Sheets, manipulated them, and saved them back as Excel sheets and that worked fine too but I wasn't doing complicated things with them...

All in all, I would guess that Google Docs would do the job, as what they're mainly after is just standard file formats ... I expect they won't be using it for precise type-setting or other advanced features that almost nobody uses anyway...

But we're all guessing here...

She needs Word and PowerPoint.

She needs Word and PowerPoint.

 

If she needs to READ Powerpoint (frequently used for lecture notes), she can look at them using the online app...

 

If she needs to CREATE Powerpoint slides that show up *exactly* right in MS Powerpoint, that used to be kinda iffy... I know it's better than it used to be, but I don't really know how good it's gotten... I know there's been lotsa pressure for them to get that part right, but I just haven't kept up enough to know the current status...