Teach Yourself VISUALLY Chromebook

CHAPTER 1

Getting Started with Your Chromebook

In this chapter, you get started using your Chromebook. After a quick exploration of the Chromebook concept and the different types of Chromebooks available, you set up your Chromebook and sign in to your Google Account. You then learn to use the touchpad and the keyboard, connect to Wi-Fi networks, give commands, and work with windows. You also learn to lock your Chromebook, put it to sleep, sign out and in again, and shut it down.

Understanding the Chromebook Concept

Explore Different Types of Chromebooks

Set Up Your Chromebook

Start Your Chromebook and Sign In

Explore the Chrome OS Desktop

Point, Click, and Scroll with the Touchpad

Using the Touchscreen

Using the Keyboard

Using Keyboard Shortcuts

Connect to a Wi-Fi Network

Give Commands

Open, Close, and Manage Windows

Work with Notifications

Lock and Unlock Your Chromebook's Screen

Put Your Chromebook to Sleep and Wake It Up

Sign Out and Sign Back In

Shut Down Your Chromebook

Understanding the Chromebook Concept

A Chromebook is a laptop computer that runs Google's Chrome OS, a lightweight operating system designed to work well on low-end hardware. Chromebooks and Chrome OS are designed for ease of use, portability, and easy administration and management. Chromebooks are suitable for home use, but they are also widely used in schools and colleges, organizations, and companies. Each Chromebook receives operating-system updates for a fixed period.

This section explains the key features of the Chromebook concept. The next section illustrates the various types of Chromebooks available as of this writing.

Choose Chromebook Hardware

Like other laptop computers, a Chromebook is a self-contained unit that includes a built-in screen, keyboard, touchpad, speakers, microphone, and webcam as well as the system board, processor, memory, and storage.

Chromebook models are available in a wide range of prices and capabilities, from inexpensive and modestly equipped models built to survive usage by children up to $1,000-plus models with powerful hardware and high-resolution screens designed for professional use.

When choosing a Chromebook, you will normally want to get a model suitable for the type of usage it is likely to receive. Here are three examples:

• For elementary or junior high school use, you might choose a heavily armored Chromebook with a small screen, and perhaps a reduced-size keyboard; a modest processor; minimal memory, such as 4GB; and a small amount of storage, such as 32GB.
• For college use, you might choose a Chromebook model with a good-size screen, such as 14" or 15", so that the student can view more data at once; a moderately powerful processor and enough memory to run more demanding apps, such as 8GB; and enough storage - perhaps 64GB or 128GB - for however much data the student needs to store.
• For a power user, you might choose a tricked-out Chromebook model with 16GB of memory, 256GB of storage, and a 4K high-resolution screen.

Identify the Strengths and Weaknesses of Chromebooks

Compared to other laptops, such as Windows PCs and Apple's MacBook models, Chromebooks have various strengths and weaknesses.

Chromebooks' key strengths include the following:

• Online storage. Chrome OS is designed to store data online, normally in your Google Account's storage. Storing data online gives you automatic backups and the ability to access the data from anywhere. Other operating systems, including Windows and macOS, also provide online storage, but not to the same extent as Chrome OS.
• Easy updates, recovery and replacement, and administration. Chrome OS automatically receives updates to keep the operating system secure and to add new features. Because the Chromebook stores your data and settings online, you can easily recover from hardware or software problems, or even move seamlessly to a replacement Chromebook. And for administrators, Google provides powerful administration tools, such as the Google Admin console.
• Low exposure to viruses and malware. Chrome OS includes built-in protection against viruses and malware.
• Cost. In general, Chromebooks cost less than Windows laptops and Apple MacBook models.

The key weaknesses of Chromebooks are as follows:

• Dependence on an Internet connection. Because a Chromebook is designed to store most of its data online, it requires an Internet connection to perform its full range of actions. However, some apps do enable you to work offline.
• Limited choice of software. The Chrome Web Store provides a wide range of software, and all recent and current Chromebooks can run many Android apps as well. But widely used apps such as Microsoft Office are not available on Chromebooks.
• Not suitable for all purposes. Generally speaking, Chromebooks are not good for gaming or for applications such as video editing.

Understanding and Determining a Chromebook's Auto Update Expiration Date

Google provides a set period of support and updates for each Chromebook model, starting from the model's release date and running until its Auto Update Expiration date, or AUE date. As of Fall 2020, each Chromebook receives six-and-a-half years of upgrades; but from 2020 onward, most new Chromebook models will receive up to eight years of updates. The update period for any Chromebook ends in June of the relevant year, so - for example - a Chromebook first released in December 2020 would receive updates until June 2028, giving a total of seven-and-a-half years.

You can look up the Auto Update Expiration Date for a Chromebook on Google's Support website; try https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/6220366?hl=en, or go to https://support.google.com and search for Chromebook auto expiration date.

For a Chromebook with the Chrome Education Upgrade or the Chrome Enterprise Upgrade, an administrator can also find the Auto Update Expiration date in the Google Admin console: From the Home page, click Devices, click Chrome management, click Devices, and then look at the Auto Update Expiration column.

For a Chromebook managed through G Suite, an administrator can find the Auto Update Expiration date in the autoUpdateExpiration field in G Suite Admin SDK.

Explore Different Types of Chromebooks

Two main types of Chromebooks are available. The first type is a Chromebook with a typical laptop-style design and a built-in screen that is not a touchscreen. The second type is a convertible Chromebook with a touchscreen. A convertible Chromebook has a 360-degree hinge that enables you to position the lower part as a support for the Chromebook, or fold the lower part underneath the screen, and use the touchscreen for input.

Apart from these two types of Chromebooks, you can also find other Chrome OS devices for specialized purposes. This section briefly covers such Chrome OS devices.

Laptop-Style Chromebooks Without Touchscreens

The standard type of Chromebook has a laptop-style design with a built-in screen that is not a touchscreen. The illustration in the previous section shows such a Chromebook.

You use this type of Chromebook just like a laptop, using the touchpad to move the cursor around the screen and to click, and pressing the keys on the keyboard to enter text or to invoke keyboard shortcuts.

Convertible Chromebooks with Touchscreens

Convertible Chromebook models with touchscreens tend to be more expensive than laptop-style Chromebooks, but they give you greater flexibility for computing or for consuming digital media.

Like other Chromebooks, convertible models come in various sizes. For example, screens may be as small as 10 inches or as large as 15 inches. The example Chromebook shown here has a 15-inch screen, which means the lower part has space for a numeric keypad on the right of the keyboard. The touchpad is centered below the main part of the keyboard, so it appears offset to the left relative to the keyboard as a whole.

The 360-degree hinge on a convertible Chromebook enables you to rotate the lower part of the Chromebook either partway around, using the lower part as a support or stand for the screen, or all the way around, giving a tablet-like configuration with the keyboard and touchpad pointing downward. For example, a tent-like configuration, such as that shown here, can be useful when you are using the Chromebook as a display device.

Rotating the lower part of the Chromebook to a position in which you cannot sensibly use the keyboard and touchpad causes Chrome OS to disconnect the keyboard and touchpad, so any keypresses, touches, or clicks do not register. This means the touchscreen is the sole means of input.

You can also fold the lower part of the Chromebook under the screen, as shown here, and use the Chromebook like a thick tablet. Holding the Chromebook in this configuration, with your fingers resting on the keys on the underside, can feel strange at first, but most people get used to it fairly...