Because Chrome OS isn’t all work and no play.
If you’re going on a camping or caravanning trip, or going away from home on business, you might want to use your notebook for entertainment in the evenings. And if you don’t want to risk an expensive Apple device, a Chromebook is perfect for the job.
Let’s get the obvious out of the way first. The Chromebook can handle streaming video services just as well as any other computer with a web browser. If you want to watch Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, YouTube, live TV and catchup services such as the BBC iPlayer, UKTV Play and ITV Hub and more, you’re OK using your Chromebook. Naturally you need an Internet connection, which is fine if you’re in a hotel or B&B with Wi-Fi, but for camping in the heart of the Scottish highlands, not so much. We’d advise you not to tether your Chromebook to your iPhone for video streaming; it will eat through your data way too quickly.
You can, of course, download apps for Netflix, iPlayer and other such services, but it’s best not to. Use the websites instead, and save storage space. If you want regular access to these sites you can create shortcut icons for them on the Shelf (the Chromebook’s answer to the Mac’s Dock or Windows’ Taskbar), and then use them in the same way you use apps. You can even arrange them into folders.
One problem we found when using our Chromebook as a viewing platform was the relatively poor viewing angles offered by its screen. It’s fine if there’s only one or two people watching, but if it’s the whole family, huddling together to make sure everyone can see it might not be too comfortable. This is, of course, to be expected with a cheap and cheerful Chromebook like the one we bought. You can spend more and get a better screen, of course, but this might defeat the object of the exercise; that is, getting a cheap Chromebook to use as an alternative to your Macs for when you don’t want to risk your expensive Apple notebook.
If you need better viewing angles than your Chromebook can provide and there’s a TV handy, you can connect your Chrome OS notebook to the television. Some (but not all – ours doesn’t), have built-in HDMI sockets, so you can make a direct cabled connection. Better still, if you have a Chromecast device, you can stream content wirelessly. Chromebooks have built-in support for Chromecast, so all you need to do is buy a device (they’re not expensive), plug it into the TV’s HDMI port and set it up. It’s a five-minute job. You then click the desktop clock on your Chromebook and choose the Cast option.
