I'm visiting my mum at the moment, and that always means that I'm called in to have a "look" at her laptop... which I usually dread, as it is an older Windows laptop that hasn't been rebooted for years and years... and god knows what other hideous treatment it has been subjected to in the meantime that makes it run so slow and jankily (hoping not malware... but you never know...). Anyway, after waiting about half an hour for it to finally complete booting up and being usable... I came to the decision that it was time to move her on to a Chromebook. After all, she only uses the machine as a glorified web browser anyway...

... and I'm sick and tired of trying to do any in-person or over the phone tech support when you get answers like... "I never use the internet... but I just saw you use your email and banking and to watch YouTube!... no, that isn't the internet, that is the banking..."... "I never download anything... but I just watched you try to download that pdf statement... and about 15 times because you kept clicking on the button..."... amongst many other brain-melting other comments.

... anyway, no more... I still have trauma...

So, a quick decision to move her off the Windows laptop that is old enough anyway... and onto a decent-ish Chromebook. And I ended up settling on a C34 ASUS.... i5 Intel, 8 GB RAM, and 512 SSD Nvme drive. If I had more time, I would have sourced a better fit... but I decided on this slightly more expensive option as the ones that were a lot cheaper had bad resolution screens (my mum has bad eyesight, so that is a bit of a factor), were too small (see earlier...), had too little RAM for future proofing... or rubbish Emmc storage drives. I'd rather spend more now and not have to deal with weird slow downs due to inadequate hardware.

... and unpacking it... it is quite a beautiful white laptop. My older girl would go for it... I'm not so keen on white electronics. I will always love the sleekness of black casings.

Although this is a mid-range Chromebook, it still is going to be a bit lacking in ports compared to one of my laptops. Along one side, a single USB-C port for charging. Phew, that is another thing that is good about these Chromebooks... one less brick for my mum to lug around. Although, I am not sure that she quite understood that part...

Speed holes on the bottom... but this little machine runs pretty damn quiet.

And the bulk of the ports on the other side. Most of which won't be much use for my mum... she never has any need for the peripherals. But still handy... just in case.

A nice big trackpad... that mostly works quite well for tracking... but the click of the left mouse in the left bottom corner feels a little flimsy on this particular unit. The tap to click is responsive though... and the right mouse corner doesn't feel bad.

The keyboard is nice and responsive, and feels pretty good to type with... not mushy, which is a major gripe for bad laptop keyboards.

The screen is plenty bright enough and sharp enough for resolution on this 14 inch screen. I didn't try looking at videos or photos yet, as this was just a quick setup...

... and finally, the keyboard does have a backlight as well.

So, in wrapping up... this Chromebook is more than enough for my mother, and perhaps a touch of overkill... but I prefer that rather than having something that is on the slightly worse side of crappy.

And it has tempted me to thinking that a nice light and small Chromebook would be awesome for times when I don't need to have a full-fat gaming laptop with me! Something lighter and with more battery life... but then, I like to have the full power available if necessary. I wonder if I can travel with two laptops?

Handy Crypto Tools

Ledger Nano S/X: Keep your crypto safe and offline with the leading hardware wallet provider. Not your keys, not your crypto!
Coinbase Wallet: Multi chain wallet with lots of opportunities to Learn and Earn!
Binance: My first choice of centralised exchange, featuring a wide variety of crypto and savings products.
WooX: The centralised version of WooFi. Stake WOO for fee-free trades and free withdrawals! This link also gives you back 25% of the commission.
GMX.io: Decentralised perpetual futures trading on Arbitrum!
Coinbase: If you need a regulated and safe environment to trade, this is the first exchange for most newcomers!
Crypto.com: Mixed feelings, but they have the BEST looking VISA debit card in existence! Seriously, it is beautiful!
CoinList: Access to early investor and crowdsale of vetted and reserached projects.
Cointracking: Automated or manual tracking of crypto for accounting and taxation reports.
KuCoin: I still use this exchange to take part in the Spotlight and Burning Drop launches.
MEXC: Accepts HIVE, and trades in most poopcoins! Join the casino!
ByBit: Leverage and spot trading, next Binance?
OkX: Again, another Binance contender?