Chromebox vs mini-PC?
Discussion
My father's windows laptop continues to creak and shuffle almost to a halt (can't recall how old it is but it barely copes with Win 10 after I upgraded it to it about 4 or 5 years ago).
He also uses a Chromebook but still likes to "sit at a proper desk" to use the windows laptop for some reason so while the Chromebook on the kitchen table is fine, I need to replace the windows laptop with something deskbound, and it does not need to be portable.
He still doesn't understand the difference between Chrome and Windows, despite me trying to explain it multiple times, and this does have issues in that he has to try and use two different systems even if all he does is internet shopping, surfing the net, and youtube - not a problem for me, but tech is not his strong point.
I like the idea of a mini-PC in terms of being able to fit onto a small desk, but getting a Chromebox would reduce confusion between using two different operating systems. I don't think there is anything he does on Windows that he couldn't do on Chrome - old word and XL docs I guess can be opened up on MS apps on Chrome or converted to googledocs easily enough. Saved pictures, PDF's, videos etc he should still be able to access if I stick in the cloud and on a plug in portable drive I assume. Email he uses webmail rather than Outlook now.
What does surprise me is the cost difference between mini-PCs and chromeboxes - for some reason Chromeboxes seem to be 2 or 3 times the price of a mini-PC which I don't really get.
Has anyone moved from PC to Chromebox or any other thoughts on pros and cons re the above?
He also uses a Chromebook but still likes to "sit at a proper desk" to use the windows laptop for some reason so while the Chromebook on the kitchen table is fine, I need to replace the windows laptop with something deskbound, and it does not need to be portable.
He still doesn't understand the difference between Chrome and Windows, despite me trying to explain it multiple times, and this does have issues in that he has to try and use two different systems even if all he does is internet shopping, surfing the net, and youtube - not a problem for me, but tech is not his strong point.
I like the idea of a mini-PC in terms of being able to fit onto a small desk, but getting a Chromebox would reduce confusion between using two different operating systems. I don't think there is anything he does on Windows that he couldn't do on Chrome - old word and XL docs I guess can be opened up on MS apps on Chrome or converted to googledocs easily enough. Saved pictures, PDF's, videos etc he should still be able to access if I stick in the cloud and on a plug in portable drive I assume. Email he uses webmail rather than Outlook now.
What does surprise me is the cost difference between mini-PCs and chromeboxes - for some reason Chromeboxes seem to be 2 or 3 times the price of a mini-PC which I don't really get.
Has anyone moved from PC to Chromebox or any other thoughts on pros and cons re the above?
I use all manner of systems in my work. A chromebox is identical to a chromebook in operation terms. if he needs nothing other than what the book does for him already, i'd stick with the chromebox idea. He can use the same sign in account and have bookmarks and stuff shared.
Not to mention Chrome, being linuxy, runs a lot better on smaller hardware than Windows
Not to mention Chrome, being linuxy, runs a lot better on smaller hardware than Windows
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