Category: Chrome OS

It has been a frantic week for Apple, Google and Microsoft as they have tried to deal with a serious CPU vulnerability in modern processors from Intel, ARM and AMD.  The security issue, which could allow for system memory to be read which could give access to passwords and other sensitive information.   The significance of this issue is that it requires an OS level update to fix.

For Google and Chrome OS, the fix is already out.  The Chrome 63 train for Chrome OS was released on December 15th and part of that update was fixing this issue.  The issue does not impact Chrome OS devices running ARM processors.  This is good news as it means a wide swatch of Chromebooks are already protected.

One of the most common questions that I get asked, both here on the site, as well as by friends and family has to do with the hardware and software I use every day.  It is a fair question and one that people ask out of both curiosity as well as doing a “stare and compare” with their own tech.

I’ve always said that you need to use the right technology that works for you.  That may be an Android Phone or an iPhone.  That may be a Windows PC or a MacBook Pro.  Whatever the technology, it has to get the job done for you and for me, this list of hardware and software, works for me.  I encourage readers to look into what I use to see if it fits their needs but at the end of the day, it is a personal use case as to whether it will or will not.

I’ve broken this article into two parts.  The first is the primary hardware that I use each day with the second focused on the apps that I use on them.  The apps could be on my phone, my tablet or my Chromebook and I’ll note that as I go along.  As for hardware, I’ll cover what I use every day as well as other devices I use from time-to-time.  You’ll note that very little of what I have is new and that’s on purpose.  I tend not to buy the latest and greatest because I, like most of you reading this, are looking for value in my purchases or I use things for a long time before replacing them.

Today’s Deal is on the new Samsung Chromebook Plus.  The 12.3″ convertible has been selling for $450 but is down to $409 right now on Amazon.  That will get you one of the latest Chromebooks available and it will run Android apps natively right out of the box.

The Chromebook Plus has a 12.3″ display rendering at 2400 x 1600.  It is also a touchscreen which makes using the included stylus or your finger for apps easier.  It has 4GB of RAM, 32GB of Storage and you can expand that storage thanks to the MicroSD slot.  It has dual-microphones, a 720p Webcam and, of course, Wi-Fi.  It only ways 2.4 lbs so it is designed for portability and with it being able to be be used as a laptop or a slate, you have a lot of flexibility in where and how you use this Chromebook.

With many of us spending hours a day looking at computer displays, eye strain is a real problem for many.  This is particularly true late at night or early in the morning when we tend to view these screens in low light situations.  If the screen is to bright or has too much blue, it can cause eye strain.  To combat this, developers have rolled out a feature named Night Light.

Night Light essentially filters out the blue light in a display, turning it a warm sepia color, which reduces eye strain.  While Google has introduced this in Android, up until recently it wasn’t even an option in Chrome OS.

The feature made its way into the beta builds of Chrome 60 back in September but it wasn’t until Chrome 62 that it made it to the Stable channel.  Now, in Chrome 63, you still have to enable it manually to make it an option that is available to you on your Chromebook.  In this How To, I’ll show you where to find it and how to enable Night Light on your Chromebook.  I’ll also show you how to configure it to where it automatically turns on at a particular time each day.

Today over at Amazon you can pick up a great deal on the Acer Chromebook 14.  Right now this all aluminum chassis Chromebook is available with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage for $268 when you pick it up in the aluminum finish.

This Acer Chromebook 14 is powered by a Intel Celeron N3160 processor running at 1.6GHz and the display renders at 1920 x 1080 full HD.  As mentioned already, it has 4GB of RAM which is really handy on a Chromebook and has 32GB of storage for those things (like Android apps) that you need to store locally.  It also has a built-in battery that is rated to give 12 hours of life between charges.  Overall it is a great package and one of the higher rated Chromebooks out there right now despite it being nearly a year old.

The Chromebook 14 also supports Android apps now in the Stable channel so you have that benefit with this Chromebook too.

Like any platform, Chrome OS from time-to-time gets corrupted.  It doesn’t happen often – I’ve never had it happen in the two-plus years I’ve been using the platform.  However, when it does, you’ll need to make sure you are prepared to get things back in order quickly so you can get back to being product (or YouTube cat video watching as the case may be).

Chrome OS has a great recovery tool that is built into Chromebooks that allows you to create a recover disk using a USB drive that allows you to quickly restore your computer.  Like a Powerwash, when you use the recovery drive to restore, you will wipe the data stored on it and it will return it back to a factory default.  But that’s okay.  Remember that Chrome OS leverage the cloud for storage and unless you have some local files like pictures or files you’ve not sync’d to your Google Drive, you shouldn’t loose any data.

In this How To, I’m going to walk you step-by-step through the process of creating a recovery disk for your Chromebook and then walk you through the actual recovery process.  Like many things Chrome OS, it is pretty straightforward.

Before getting into the process, make sure that you have an extra USB drive around that is at least 8GB in size.  I use a 16GB PNY USB Drive for my Acer Chromebook 14 and it works great (and it’s cheap).