You have seen many reviews here that pump up the underdog when considered against mainstream counterparts. It is no surprise that this column favors “the other guy”. By other guy, I mean that product that has an OS and subsequent apps that can do just as much as the industry standard. For more on this theory, take a peek at a review done here in 2009 on a book by former Microsoft Exec Keith Curtis. The book is called “ After the Software Wars .”
That being said, last week you saw the review of the new Samsung Google Chromebook 2 which got 5 stars. Now it is turn for the LG Chromebase all-in-one to get the same rating.
A couple years ago, the Chrome OS came out in just one Chromebook. Now there are several. LG has taken it one giant leap forward in its goal of joining the desktop market. It released the Chromebase. For starters, it incorporates a 21.5-inch 1080p IPS display. It comes standard with great features like built in Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, and an Ethernet port. There are also three USB 2.0 ports in the back, a USB 3.0 port on the side, and an HDMI-in for external devices. The machine is has the engine that includes a 1.4 GHz Intel Celeron 2955U processor with 2 GB of DDR3L memory. It also includes a 16 Gig SSD which when you include the Google Drive and other Cloud services, may be a moot point.
It’s price, starting at only $349.00, there appears to be only one other all in one offering that comes close to the price. It is by Dell and goes for $329. This Chromebase can easily give other all-in-one computers a run for the money.
The Chrome OS experience will look familiar to most users. It is a GUI with a taskbar. It unlike 1st generation Chrome OS devices also offers offline access to your files when synched with the new Google Drive.
In fact, everything is run entirely from the browser. There are plenty of apps available for both work and play. Plus, Google offers something that will make heavy internet users happy. That is the fact that all links, history, etc are shared on Chrome across all platform which include; Windows, OSx, iOS, Android and Linux. Google also offers 100GB of Google Drive storage for free for 2 years with the purchase of a Chromebase.
In general, the Chromebase was tested for the following;
Document writing Sound App availability Cloud Printing Connectivity “OK Google” feature
So in terms of document writing, its main test was to complete and publish THIS article. It was saved to the cloud easily and the interface for Google docs was extremely familiar and a breeze to use.
Sound was surprisingly good. There is a Sirius XM app for the Chrome OS (subscription required) and with the volume turned up, it was actually excellent. With a Bluetooth speaker attached it was like a true stereo.
As for apps, no, you won’t find the availability as good as the Windows or Mac App stores, but for most apps (mainstream) there is a Google app that can do the same thing. There may even be Google Chrome versions of what you are already using.
Since printers are not installable on the Chromebase, you need to print to the cloud and need a cloud compatible printer. See a full list here . For this article it was tested on HP Photosmart 7520 also reviewed on this column.
So as it said in the intro, it has full WiFi connectivity including a/b/g/n bands. It also has a Cat-5 port. It has not advertised any limits on external storage, so it was tested with a Lexar 64 gig flashdrive in a 2.0 port and WD mypassport 1TB on the side USB 3.0 port. They were recognized immediately and obviously bumped up the storage.
Lastly is something familiar to Android users. Once activated, you simply say “OK Google” and it searches via voice command.
So, can the LG Google Chromebase replace your current desktop? If you are brand loyal and a true conformist, then NO. If you are willing to learn something new and swear to non-conformity, then YES it can. It is capable of doing whatever you need it to do. Give it a try. I did and gave it 5 Stars. Learn more at LG's Website or trust the review and get it at Amazon.com
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