Chromecast, not your typical device

Have you always wanted to extend the functions of your regular TV? Are you looking for a small and sleek media streaming device that is easy to setup and use? Then the Chromecast might just be the device for you. The Chromecast provides a simple and easy solution to wireless streaming of digital content onto your TV. And this without having to pay big bucks; the Chromecast currently sells for just $35.

So what exactly does the Chromecast do?

Chromecast connects to the HDMI port of your TV, and streams all your digital media from your smartphone, tablet or laptop. This is done through your wireless internet connection. Sharing a YouTube video or some pictures on your smartphone with your friends or family can now be done with just a push of a button.  It’s easy and the Chromecast supports most Android as well as iOS smartphones & tablets. In addition, you can stream media from your Chromebook running ChromeOS, or any other laptop or desktop running Mac or Windows. Chromecast is currently also compatible with the popular video streaming apps (like NetFlix and HBO), so now your favorite movies and series can also be watched on the ‘big screen’.

That’s nice, but where can I find more information about this product?

For more information, you can visit Google’s Chromecast product page or Wikipedia.

So where can I buy it?

You can buy the Chromecast from Amazon for about $35 (including shipment to the US)

HP announces new Chromebook series

HP recently announced their revision plans for both of their existing Chromebook models, where delivery is expected this autumn. Their updated Chromebook 11 will be upgraded with an Intel Celeron N2830 processor instead of the slower ARM-based Samsung Exynos 5250 processor which was running on their previous model.  The laptop will come with a 16 GB SSD and 100 GB of online cloud storage on Google Drive. Depending on your geographic location, the models will contain either 2 or 4 GB of RAM.

The new Chromebook 14 is promoted with the new Nvidia Tegra K1 Quad-core processor, which is already running on Acer’s new Chromebook 13. Even though this processor is ARM-based, it is clocked at 2.3 GHz and promises better battery-life combined with higher GPU performances due to Nvidia’s 192-core Kepler GPU. In addition, the ARM-soc allows the fan, which many previous HP Chromebook 14 users complained about, to be removed; therefore the laptop is expected to be extremely silent as it also does not contain any optical hard-drive.  As the Chromebook 11, the Chromebook 14 will be available in either 2 GB or 4 GB RAM versions. The screen of the Chromebook 14 can be upgraded to Full HD (1980 x 1080 resolution) and a touch-enabled variant is also expected to be available as one of the possible upgrade options for this particular model. In addition, the Chromebook 14 offers the possibility to be bundled with a larger SSD of 32 GB instead of 16 GB.

Expected battery-life for both models are up to 8-9 hours and both models can be optionally upgraded with 3G/4G broadband modules (subject to geographic location)

The Chromebook 11 is expected to be released on the 5th of October in the US for $279,99 as their starting retail price. The Chromebook 14 is expected to be released a few weeks later on the 22nd of October; kicking in on a slightly higher retail price of $299,99.  In the EU only the Chromebook 14 is expected to be released at the end of October, with an expected retail price starting at €329,-

For more information, visit HP’s newly launched Chromebook product page.

Chromebooks vs. Laptops

Chromebooks are often mistaken for everyday, common laptops, and in many ways, the Chromebook is just an ordinary laptop. However, there are some features which distinguish a Chromebook from the typical laptop, the most remarkable of these are:

• It runs ChromeOS

This is a Linux-based operating system, which almost completely revolves around the Google Chrome web-browser.  You might initially think that this will drastically limit the potential capabilities of a modern-day sophisticated laptop. However, you will be quite amazed to see the countless amount of your every-day tasks the Chrome web-browser can simply take over. ChromeOS has been created and developed to show the people the amount of day-to-day tasks that are able to be performed online nowadays. The Google development team has constantly been adding new features and support to their web-browser ever since it was first released, to enable them to create an operating system such as ChromeOS. Due to their advanced HTML5 compatibility, video streaming works without a problem, and documents & spreadsheets can be easily read and edited by their free online Google Docs platform.

• It is lightweight, in almost every way

ChromeOS allows the laptop to be lightweight in every single way; the operating system does not take up a lot of drive space and also does not require a lot of processing power to function properly. Therefore Chromebooks usually are equipped with lightweight ARM or Intel Celeron processors and still have the similar browsing experience of a high-end Windows laptops or a Macbook. Due to this, Chromebooks are often equipped with smaller sized screens to make the laptop lighter and more portable. So in short, everything from the OS to the design of the Chromebook is lightweight.

• It stimulates online use and the use of Google products

Google has a wide range of different famous online products which are free to use; (such as Google Maps, Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar etc. ) Google Chrome is especially optimized to be able to work seamlessly with these particular Google services. Just like for Android smartphones, it is recommended to synchronize your laptop with your Google account as this will improve your general browsing experience, however this is not required; ChromeOS also allows you to login as a guest and browse normally. A Chromebook usually comes with only a small amount of local storage (usually 16-32 GB), this is due to the fact that Google wants to stimulate you to have most of your files stored in online cloud storage. Chromebooks usually come with 100 GB of free cloud storage for 2 years. The main advantage and reason to promote cloud storage is the fact that you can access your files from anyplace at anytime without having to access a particular PC everytime.

• It does not boot up like your usual Windows laptop

You turn it on and…. wait what? Has it already started? You click on the Chrome icon, Google Chrome loads instantaneously… the boot-time of your Chromebook is usually just a few seconds. Why? Because most Chromebooks are equipped with a SSD (Solid State Drive), which has a much higher reading (and writing) speed than the regular optical hard drives in most Windows laptops. If you are used to the regular windows boot-times you will be amazed the first time you get your hands on a Chromebook. If you happen to have a Macbook however, you will be used to these boot-times and will not see this as anything particularly special.