www.tdnewsflash.co.uk
n First Look n •
An ideal base for Chrome on the desktop
The LG Chromebase is simple and effective – and the perfect choice for schools and other organisations looking to take the Google route
G
oogle Chrome is now seen as a viable choice for any operation that needs to keep its budgets tight. While not everyone is ready to put everything into the cloud,
for many organisations in education, local government and some commercial sectors, it’s already the platform of choice.
Chromebooks tend to have had a higher profile up to now but desktops are also appearing and one of the most impressive yet to emerge is the LG Chromebase. It is very easy to see the natural appeal of this simple, accessible and affordable device will undoubtedly have to public sector and commercial organisations that want to go down the Chrome route.
It’s particularly easy to see how schools and other public access services, such as libraries will love the Chromebase. Retailers will also see the potential instantly. What you have here is a desktop device Internet access terminal that comes with none of the headaches of managing fully-functioning laptops and pretty much none of the costs. No installed software to update, no need to manage security, no hard disk to be protected physically and no data residing within the machine that could be subsequently accessed if the device is stolen or lost – left in a bar or on a train.
Broad appeal
When you start to put it like that, you can see the broader appeal of Chrome as a platform. It also boots up in seconds and there are no moving parts in these devices, so maintenance is easy and failure rates as good as zero. Of course, what it does mean is that all the apps, data, storage – everything – are in the cloud.
But let’s get back to the specifics of the LG Chromebase. For starters, it looks fantastic and much more expensive than it really is; it looks as good as any all-in-one you’ll find on the market. It has all the power it needs inside – and if the spec’ looks light at first reading, remember all it has to do is access the web and load and run apps.
Te display is obviously going to be really important on such a device and the Chromebase’s crisp, 21.5-inch 1080p display does not disappoint. Te keyboard and mouse are simple and elegantly designed and well suited to use with Chrome. Good connectivity is vital too and again there is no issue here. Te unit has Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 and an Ethernet port. One spare USB 2.0 port and a USB 3.0 port on the side, plus an HDMI-in for external devices complete the connectivity. Tere is a built-in webcam and rear-facing speakers.
Boot-up in seconds
At the heart of all this is a 1.4 GHz Intel Celeron processor and 2GB of DDR3L memory, backed up by 16GB of SSD. You don’t need a whole lot of RAM as the operating system does not need much space in which to run. Tis set-up should enable users to have eight or nine content- heavy sites open simultaneously before there is any impact on performance. Out in the cloud, there is no shortage of space; each Chromebase comes with 100GB of Google Drive storage, for two years, free – which makes it even better value of course.
Like any Chrome device, it boots up in moments, which makes it really great for schools or public use. Tat said, no- one likes waiting for the system to boot up when they are in a hurry to get online or to their data. Tis is the big advantage of having such a simple architecture and low memory overhead.
Te LG Chromebase is not a difficult system to review. It’s really simple and does exactly what it’s supposed to. For schools and any organisation looking to use Chrome and Google Docs and don’t want the devices to be portable for whatever reason, it’s just perfect. It is well worth drawing to the attention of any customer that’s considering the Chrome option.
Email
google@techdata.co.uk to contact the team specialists or visit InTouch 40
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56