Matt Philley
- التعليق
So on a whim a financially smarter individual would have ignored, I recently purchased the Dell Inspiron 14 2in1 Chromebook. This is my first personal computer in years (not counting a Windows 8 tablet a few years back). This is also my first time experiencing a Chromebook. I’ll be honest here: I had some reservations about buying a Chromebook over Windows or Apple. In the end after ready other reviews and watching youtube videos of various offerings I looked at two primary deciding factors: 1. Can I do what I want to do with a Chromebook? and 2. What is it I want to be able to do? I want to get back into writing...Chromebooks lets me use Google Docs. It isn’t Word, but that’s fine. And I wanted to be able to use internet. Chromebooks are primarily web based. And so far it is really responsive and faster than any of my previous computers or even the computers I use at work. Looking at my previous usage of computers I realized that even were I to get a Windows PC or a Macbook, the usage itself would not change drastically. I’d use it for writing and internet. I wanted a Chromebook that would have a good screen and build with a backlit keyboard that could function as both a laptop and an oversized tablet for drawing. The Dell Inspiron 14 chromebook fit the bill in regards to those features. So I zeroed in and did my research and bought one. Ease of Use Setting up this Chromebook was really easy. Finding my wifi password took longer than the overall setup of this computer. After powering it on, basically it just wanted my Google username and password and then it walked me through setting up my internet connection and gave me the option of viewing tutorials or a tour of features. The mouse is responsive and has many ease of use gesture options available. The keyboard feels great and I love that it is backlit so that I can work in darker settings. There is no sleep option though closing the lid seems to put it to sleep. And shutting down is quick as is starting it up; just takes a few seconds and using the Smart Lock feature I can unlock it with my phone. Design Not much for me to say here. It is solidly built, a little heavier than some of the other Chromebooks I looked at, but is very pleasant looking. It has a microSD slot, two USB-C ports, either one of which can be used for charging the laptop. It has one USB port and place to plug in headphones. The monitor can fold backwards to become a tablet; since it is a bit on the heavy side you will probably want to lay it down on your lap or use it in tent mode. The built in speakers are downward facing but audio is loud and clear. Beneath the computer’s base on the right side is a stylus that works wonderfully; I really liked discovering that my Samsung Note 8’s S-pen works on this screen and this computer’s stylus works on the Note 8. There aren’t function keys on the keyboard, at least not labeled though there are shortcuts to them and you can, I believe, change the behavior of the number keys to perform same as function keys. As a writer I was surprised at first to find that there is no caps lock key, but I soon learned that ALT + SEARCH key turns on caps and a simple SHIFT press turns it back off. Screen and Audio The screen is very vivid and bright, full HD. And as I said earlier, despite having the built in speakers under the base of the computer sound is clear and easy to hear. Conclusion All-in-all I am very pleased with this purchase. At $545 at time of purchase it definitely on the more expensive side of Chromebooks. However, this seems justified in excellent build quality; it feels premium to me. If you are looking for a great Chromebook and are not against having much of your work/usage take place online and saved in the cloud, I would definitely recommend this computer.