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Can an acer chromebook used function properly in Nigeria without a constant internet connection?
I want to buy a very cheap laptop for my younger brother who is in secondary school just for typing assignments and reading PDF textbooks. A vendor in Ikeja offered me an acer chromebook used for a fantastic price. I know Chromebooks rely heavily on Google cloud services. Will this acer chromebook used be completely useless if there is no active Wi-Fi connection in the house? Can he install offline versions of Microsoft Word and Excel or is he forced to use Google Docs only when connected to the internet? I need clarity on its offline capabilities.
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3 days agoBuying an acer chromebook used for a secondary school student is a brilliant budget decision but you must understand how Chrome OS operates. It is a huge misconception that Chromebooks are completely useless without the internet. When there is no active Wi-Fi connection the Chromebook still functions perfectly as an offline machine. The Google Docs Sheets and Slides applications have full offline capabilities. Your brother can open a blank document type his entire assignment edit it and save it locally to the Chromebook internal storage. The moment he takes the laptop to school or connects to a phone hotspot the document will automatically sync and back up to his Google Drive in the cloud.
josh
3 days agoHowever to address your question about Microsoft Word on an acer chromebook used: You CANNOT install the traditional desktop versions of Microsoft Word or Excel (the .exe files) on a Chromebook because it does not run Windows. You have two options. You can use the free Google Docs which opens and saves files in the exact same format as Microsoft Word making it perfectly compatible with his teachers computers. Alternatively if his school mandates Microsoft he can use the web browser version of Office 365 or download the Microsoft Office Android app from the Google Play Store (since modern Chromebooks run Android apps seamlessly). For typing assignments reading PDFs and extreme battery life (often lasting 10 hours) a used Chromebook is vastly superior to a cheap laggy Windows laptop.
josh
3 days agoI bought an Acer Chromebook 11 for my sister in SS2. She loves it. It boots up in exactly 5 seconds and never gets computer viruses because Chrome OS is highly secure. Best 50k I ever spent.
josh
3 days agoMake sure you enable "Offline Access" in the Google Drive settings while you are connected to the internet first. Once that is turned on he can work anywhere without needing a hotspot.
josh
3 days agoCheck the internal storage before buying. Most used Chromebooks only have 16GB or 32GB of internal memory because they are designed for cloud storage. Buy a cheap 64GB SD card to expand the storage for his offline PDF textbooks.