Chromebook? Windows 8? Need some advice

My Dell Latitude 500 is on its last legs. Probably really has been for a few years now. Unfortunately I'm not in a position to drop several hundred dollars (let alone anywhere near $1000+) on a new computer.

The Chromebooks appeal to me somewhat because I wouldn't mind dropping $200-300 on a decent computer that will last a couple years until hopefully I'll have more money to invest in a high end lap top. I'm already pretty Google integrated with my android phone, gmail, google calendar, and since I graduated college last year I only use Google docs for word processing anyway (and I don't type much these days anyway). Pretty much all I need a computer for now is casual browsing, streaming sports (can anyone tell me if firstrowsports.eu works well on a chromebook), and netflix? Also need to be able to hook it up to my TV but it has an HDMI port so that shouldn't be an issue.

But it also looks like some low end Windows 8 laptops aren't much more expensive. I've never used this OS, is it any good? Is it even worth the money to go with a low end lap top if the OS will be slow, or get slow? I like that the Chromebooks are highly streamlined and read they really don't slow down over time.

Any other options I don't know about for a lightweight computer user on a tight budget? What little I've used of Windows 7 I actually liked, would a used older Windows 7 laptop be worth investing in?

 

Get a tablet if all you want is browsing. The battery life is really good, and they're really portable.

Apple to announce new laptops next week?

 

I like having a keyboard, and perhaps this is a dumb question but do tablets have an HDMI output or something I can stream sports/netflix/etc. on my TV? Would they perform as well with streaming video? Seems like Chromebooks actualy have similar hardware to a lot of tablets...

Can't imagine they're releasing anything in my price range, nor do I think any subsequent drop in price for the current generation of hardware will drop to my price range.

 

Apple TV is $99 and you stream from tablet to it via wifi.

You can Bluetooth a keyboard with a tablet for when you need it.

 

So I ended up buying a Chromebook on Saturday. Absolutely loving it so far. I already covered that I'm a lightweight computer user but so far the Chromebook has performed well with all of the things I ask of it.

I went with the Acer C7 (16 GB SSD version) instead of the Samsung Series 3 primarily because RAM can be added and it has a better processor. The SSD version just came out and was only available at Best Buy and I really wanted the SSD instead of the HD because I value the speed and efficiency more than the extra storage space. Battery life is inferior to the Samsung but I almost never have a reason to take my computer out of my house- anything I do on the go can be done on a smartphone. The Acer also has an extra USB port (though no 3.0), VGA, and ethernet port, and the SD card slot holds the entire SD card within the computer while the Samsung has the SD card sticking out a little bit. Not deal breaking details but nice bonuses. I was really sold on the combination of ability to upgrade RAM, better processor, and has an SSD.

So far the thing runs like a champ. Its a joy to browse the web and it runs live sports streams and Netflix beautifully. Bought an HDMI cable yesterday and everything looks great on my TV. The fugger is ready to go right when I open it up or boot it. There is some stuttering when I run Pandora and have a bunch of other tabs open, though I've read this improves when more RAM is added (which I plan to do, though it runs pretty damn impressively for 2 GB of RAM). It feels like its got more juice than a tablet, with my only real point of reference on this being my sisters' mini Ipad.

My biggest complaint is the keyboard. Its not-quite-full size and the keys just aren't tremendously responsive. I've never used a chiclet style keyboard fulltime so maybe there's an adjustment period. Trackpad is great though and the screens pretty dope though sometimes you get some glare because its a gloss screen. Chrome OS is obviously lacking in a lot of functionality, but it suits me quite well. I can see a lot of people getting one as a secondary device for casual browsing or for their kids. Obviously its only been 3 days but the thing seems stable as hell and performs well for what it does at $200 (even factoring in a RAM upgrade you're talking less than $250).

 

I have very little hands on experience with any Windows OS after XP, but it seemed like they straightened out the Vista fiasco with Windows 7; why did they abort that OS so quickly? Seems like they only half decent OS they've produced in a decade and they dumped it to go full tablet/touchscreen mode, even when it makes no godamn sense for the hardware.

The Pixel is a beast, seems ridiculously powerful given the OS its running on but all the user reviews I read of it are very positive. Seems like most of the people who buy it are big time Linux users and/or programmers.