I've been running businesses for over 10 years. And little over
five years ago, I decided to give up on macOS and Windows
completely, and switch everything over to Chrome OS.
Now in this video, I'm going to cover a little bit about my
story, and also how you can make a great choice between a
Chromebook and a Chromebox.
Chrome OS has got a pretty compelling pitch, Chrome can
dramatically reduce the costs and the it headaches of your IT
hardware inside your business. But it doesn't actually have
much overhead in terms of additional configuration
requirements, additional management requirements, you
know, any kind of specialist knowledge, it all just works
really brilliantly with the Google ecosystem. Now, it's less
friendly if you're running everything on Microsoft. But if
you're considering either a Chromebook or Chromebox, you're
probably not that wedded to the Microsoft ecosystem anyway. And
so for businesses, particularly those that are already in the
Google ecosystem, Chrome OS is a pretty compelling argument, and
just absolutely brilliant devices. What can I say? I
absolutely love them myself. Now, I've created a video
previously on Chrome OS for newbies. So if you're an
absolute newbie, and you don't even know what Chrome OS is,
we'll go and check out that video for some more detail. But
Chrome OS is Google's operating system. It's Google's answer to
either MacOS in the Apple ecosystem, or windows in the
Microsoft ecosystem. And this is designed to be a lightweight
ecosystem, particularly aimed at those who are doing work in
cloud applications. And typically working online, which
is most businesses and most software these days. Now
Chromebooks themselves have really changed a lot over
especially the last few years, where previously when
Chromebooks initially came out around 10 years ago, they were
aimed at the education market. And they were a little bit more
kind of similar to what we used to call netbooks, which are low
powered ultra low cost machines. And if we're talking in US
dollars, some of them were around the 200 to 300 US dollar
mark, really basic machines. Yes, Chromebooks have grown up a
lot since then, we now have business machines aimed at power
users, we've got machines with either either eight or even 16
gigabytes of RAM. Sometimes we've got heaps of storage and
some of the machines. And we've even got different form factors.
Some of them are tough books. Some of them come with screens
that flip over, many of them are touchscreens, or come with
styluses. And so Chromebooks have become a real serious
workhorse, rather than just being something for students in
educational institutions. There's also lots of
manufacturers that have entered the game. So HP, Asus, Acer, all
have pretty amazing flagship models, and Samsung has also
entered the race as well. So you've got quite a bit of choice
and a lot of competition now from different providers, as
well as Google also themselves still releasing their pixel book
machines from time to time. Now, Google haven't had heaps of
updates lately with theirs. But the pixel book go, which is
their latest iteration of the pixel book is an absolutely
fantastic machine. Now let's talk about the Chromebooks. The
chrome box has less of a market than the Chromebook. And many
people haven't even heard of what Chromebox is, I've got a
dedicated video on Chromeboxes and why there are the form
factor why they were even created. Now if you think about
a Chromebook, because you know, obviously, being a laptop, look,
Chromebox is the desktop PC equivalent, that would sit on
your desk, you plug in a monitor, you plug in a keyboard
or mouse and you go about your work, I happen to be recording
this video on my Asus Chromebox 3, which is my main workhorse
computer, and actually has a DSLR plugged into it. And I use
this to record all the videos on my channel. Now, these are not
just any machine stuck with doing online web work. These are
pretty serious powerhouse machines, they've got a decent
graphics card, they're able to handle heaps and heaps of tabs
open and work with multiple applications at the same time,
you can plug in all kinds of peripherals like USB cameras,
bluetooth devices, they work on Wifi, and you can even plug in
an Ethernet cable. And so these are serious machines that can be
used for both internal staff. And also they have a pretty
amazing kiosk mode as well, which allows you to use them for
displays or kiosk machines. Now one of the great things about a
Chromebox is you can add your own accessories. So meaning that
you get to choose the keyboard or mouse that you use, you get
to choose the monitor that you're using. And they also are
a little bit more powerful than most Chromebooks, meaning that
if you're going to use a computer at a desk each day, you
may want to choose to use a Chromebox rather than a
Chromebook. Chromebox is just going to give you that extra bit
of warmth for your workday computing.
Now personally, I'm not really a fan of working from a laptop
during the day when I'm traveling, and I travel often in
my camper truck. Some of our videos you would see are
actually produced on the road. And I do use a iPad for my
meetings and a pixel book for my laptop there when I'm working.
But personally I prefer having a big monitor and a big screen so
I can see what I'm doing. And I really like now having a 4k
monitor because that's means that I can actually fit more on
the screen as I'm doing my work. Now, for most Chromebooks, if I
were to plug in a 4k monitor, they can handle a couple of
tabs, but the machine will start slowing down after I've opened
more than about 10 tabs. And I tend to do that generally, as
I'm getting work done. Also, because I'm working with video
and multimedia, some of the Chromebooks tend to slow down
and even have little glitches, particularly working with 4k
content. And so for me, being able to have a machine that
works better, when I'm throwing heavy workloads out it is
something that is pretty important to me, as a power
user. Now, it's not necessarily to say that every single person
working in an office is a power user. But if you think about the
ergonomics of someone working at a desk, usually if they're on a
laptop, they're hunched over, and they're leaning forward. And
it's not always a great way to work. Now, I know this laptop
stands and those kinds of things. But typically, you've
only got a 15, or a 17 inch screen on that laptop. And you
know, they're actually pretty small. Even if you're plugging
in an external monitor, typically, you're going to have
a better experience doing away with the laptop. And having one
machine which is dedicated to your physical workspace, the
main advantage of using a Chromebox over something like an
iMac or a standard traditional Windows PC is that you don't
have the kind of bulk. A Chromebox is very small device,
and that device is able to be tucked away, but perhaps even
behind your monitor, or under the desk, seemingly out of sight
and out of mind as well. And I really like that about Chrome,
because coupled with the excellent operating system, you
also have a form factor that is really convenient. Now,
unfortunately, because of the limited market for Chromeboxes.
And because less businesses have adopted them, there's less range
to choose from. And so there's typically only a couple of
models. And sometimes supply can even be a challenge as well. But
for the use cases of your team members where they need to do
primarily online work, or you're finding that they're doing most
of their work just fine on a Chromebook if you've got someone
sitting at a dedicated desk, well, it might be time to
consider a Chromebox, you don't have the overhead of a laptop,
where you've got, you know, difficulties repairing, you have
to deal with things like batteries, so they're going to
last a lot longer. But also you're going to get more bang
for your buck with the power and performance because you don't
have the challenges of trying to cram everything in to a small
laptop, which attracts a premium when your manufacturers are
selling the device to you. So if you're trying to make up your
mind on if you should choose a Chromebook or a Chromebox, well,
here's some ideas to give you some prompts to think about, I
think about when you actually use your computer are you used
to a laptop, and you like the laptop experience? Do you like
having kind of all your work in one place, no matter where you
go. Now Google does a pretty good job of this across
synchronizing different devices, you know, when I open up my
laptop, inevitably, I've got all my bookmarks there, I've got all
my download saved into a folder in my Google Drive. So whatever
machine I've got open, I've got all the same stuff there because
I'm using Chrome OS on both machines that I'm working with.
But if you're the kind of person who wants to waltz in and out of
an office and just have one device, then you might choose to
bring a laptop with you plug it into a monitor, as you're
sitting down at your work computer. Myself personally, I
like being able to have a dedicated workspace with a
Chromebox. Because what that means is I don't have to lug my
laptop around anywhere. I see many people who have have, you
know, when they're commuting into the office, or they're
doing work on the road, they'll take a laptop with them, just to
go into the office and plug that laptop in. Whereas if they were
able to leave their laptop at home, they could probably get
most of their work done from their mobile phone during their
commute, and then just sit down at a Chromebox in their standard
workspace area. And so for me, that's a smarter way of doing
things. So I'm not lugging a Chromebook around all the time
and worrying about charging, does it have enough battery and
keeping things up to date on that second machine. Now, if
you're the kind of person who likes to have your own chosen
monitor your own special keyboard, your own special
mouse? Well, I'd recommend you consider getting a Chromebox
there as well, if you've got a laptop, but you're plugging in a
bunch of different dongles, it just seems a little bit
redundant. So it probably makes sense to go there. But really,
the biggest choice that you're going to come down to here is
your power and performance trade off a Chromebox is just going to
get you way more bang for the buck when you're actually
working in a static place. Because it's going to breathe
better. It's got bigger fans, and it's got the ability to keep
itself cooler than a Chromebook does. And so any laptop device
is really going to be limited by how warm it is. And for most
laptops, they even have lower powered processes, which mean
that it is just really less energy for you to be able to get
your work done on that device. Now, I think it's important to
say whether you choose a Chromebook or a Chromebox,
that's a great choice over sticking with a Windows or a Mac
ecosystem, and particularly not just for you, but for your team
members and staff as well. We found that businesses that
switch to using the Chrome Operating System save tremendous
amounts on IT support and hardware upkeep. That's because
for the most part these systems are automatically updating
completely autonomous and just connected to your Google account
for all of your administration. You don't need to run servers or
you know, online management tools or anything like that,
when each one of your Chrome devices in your organization is
connected to your Google workspace account, and can
receive policies over the year to each one of your devices.
Now, if you're interested in some help setting up some
policies for your devices, or even managing a fleet of
Chromebooks or Chromeboxes, that's the kind of thing that it
genius can help with. But if you're interested in starting
with the basics, well, there's plenty of guides that we have in
our Administrators Guide inside our Google Classroom. I'll share
a bit more about that later. For me personally, as an
entrepreneur, and as the leader of my business, I want a basic
and minimalist experience. So I can just focus on getting my
work done. The thing I love about working with Chrome OS for
myself, personally, is that it auto updates in the background.
And it just doesn't bother with bother me with the kind of
notifications and pop ups and you know, application challenges
that I would usually have on a Windows or a Mac machine. And
don't worry, I still own them. And I use them from time to
time. But I find myself each time I open, you know, open one
of those machines and it and it dings and things and pops up
with, you know, update alerts, and backup alerts and all those
kinds of things, that it's just an experience of more friction,
trying to get my work done. Whereas anytime I sit down on my
Chrome device, it's logical, it's repeatable, it's ready for
me to go. And it's very much dependable. If you're interested
in making a switch to Chrome OS.
Well make sure you check out some of our other videos on our
channel, all about the Chrome ecosystem, and Chrome hardware
devices. We've even got some guides on how to make the switch
if you're interested in switching from Windows or a Mac
over to the Chrome ecosystem. Now, if you're an organization,
and you qualify, we even have a Chromebook challenge where we
will ship you a Chromebook. And let you try it out for you and
your executive team for a couple of weeks, and then ship it back
to us if you don't like it. But if you do like it, you have the
opportunity to purchase it from us. If you're interested in some
help with hardware models or a recommendation, you can click on
the link below, booking a consultation with our team, and
they'll be there to help you out. Now, if you're already a
user of Google workspace, and you are running a business,
whether you're a solo operator are a large organization with
hundreds or even 1000s of employees. Well, it genius is
here to help. We have an offer available for you to transfer
your licenses over to us. It doesn't cost you any extra. But
you get access to some pretty amazing advantages. Not only do
you get a free health check, and some basic support from our
professional support team, no matter where you are in the
world, you get access to our Google training library. Now
this is inside of Google Classroom. And it's a free
training library for you and your team to upskill and learn
more about how to get the most out of your investment in Google
workspace. If you're interested in that, click the link below to
the transferring offer. Or if you'd like some help from our
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other videos, check out our growth roadmap on a channel and
we've got a dedicated video to that to show you at each stage
of your business where your technology strategies should be
focusing. And if you like this content, give me a thumbs up.
Let me know what you think about what I've shared about
Chromebooks and Chromeboxes in the comments below, and I'll do
my best to answer. Cheers.