Google Chromebooks virtual environment

[jmt356]

I have increasingly seen notebook PCs that are designed for an online virtual environment. As I understand, documents, emails and other files are designed to be stored online. Therefore, the laptops have limited hard drive space. I believe programs are not installed directly on the laptops but instead are hosted online as well.

Do these computers come with some kind of a Citrix subscription agreement, where users pay a monthly fee to host their applications and files online?

Is the online environment one that can be logged into from any computer?

What is monthly or annual pricing like?

[HansV]

As far as I can tell, apps are installed on the Chromebook, just as on your smartphone or tablet. The difference with a PC is that all those apps run within the Chrome browser.

Many Chromebooks come with a free one or two year subscription to Google Drive; after that you have to pay a few dollars a month to keep the storage over the free 15 GB that everyone gets. See Pricing Guide.

To go online, you'll need an internet connection - either a mobile connection or a WiFi connection, just like on your smartphone or tablet.

[jmt356]

I can't imagine how many apps can be installed on a laptop with a 16 GB hard drive. My Adobe Creative Suite installation files alone are 6 GB.

[HansV]

Chromebook versions of Creative Suite apps will be released later this year. They will probably be 'lighter' than their Windows counterparts.

[jmt356]

And I hope less expensive. Adobe CreateSuite costs nearly $2,000.

[HansV]

We'll have to wait and see. App versions of software are usually much cheaper than their Windows or Mac counterparts, but we don't know Adobe's plans yet.

[stuck]

And I hope less expensive. Adobe CreateSuite costs nearly $2,000.

Not any more, Adobe have moved all their CS products over to a subscription model, aka 'Creative Cloud' and as a result you can no longer applications things like Photoshop for a one off fee. See these links for starters:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Cre ... ntinuation
http://www.adobe.com/au/products/cs6.html

Ken

[jmt356]

When I bought Adobe CS, it cost nearly $2,000. I am glad I was able to buy it when I did. It was not cheap, but the one-off expense is more financially sound in the long run than spending hundreds of dollars per year (that's what I think it costs) with the subscription model.