what is a Chromebook, Asus C523N

Hi welbeck.

First of all, how nice to have a friend who thinks so much of you as to give you such a lovely gift!

It seems that most of what you need to do is online stuff, on the internet. If you don't use Word, or Excel, or anything like that, the Chromebook will do you fine.

The Asus C523NA has a much bigger screen than an iPad, so that shouldn't be a problem. Your friend must have chosen to have all her emails on screen all the time, that doesn't have to be the case. So you can choose if you want to do that or not. You can also use a wireless mouse or an "old fashioned" mouse linked to the Chromebook by a wire, if that's what you want, so the touchpad doesn't have to be a problem either.

It sounds like the laptop you have is very old, since its still on Windows 7. Eventually, it will unfortunately grind to a halt, that's what old laptops do. So why not try your new Chromebook, and take your time until you understand it all? Use both of them for now until you feel comfortable with the Chromebook. You'll be able to put your favourite websites into your "Favourites", and access any other website you want.

Try to get some help to get you started. You probably don't need classes at the moment, just somebody to set you up so that you can do all the things you want to. Why not try the library or something similar to see if there are people who can help you out, on a voluntary basis?

Good luck!!

I'm typing this on an Acer Chromebook. It's very manageable and you will find lots of information on line about its use. It uses the Chrome operating system and this is regularly updated, so there's no need to transfer to new version as is necessary with Apple and Microsoft apps. My Chromebook shares apps and some data with my smartphone on which I have also installed the Chrome OS - it's an Android phone, not one of those much more expensive and ever-changing i-phones!
So don't be afraid to take on a Chromebook; you will come to love it!

Welbeckit’s only because your not used to it I have iPad and I wouldn’t be without it and iPhone but at work I have to use an android phone and small pad and find the silly little differences at first floored me ( with one I swipe across the other I swipe up and down and it’s these tiny things that caused me to panic at first; even switching it on was scary but now I m used to both I still much prefer my iPad but that’s maybe because I use it more
I haven’t use a laptop for years and have no need to
Windows 7 is years old so it will seem strange at first but bear with it You ll love it
At the moment panic is making you look for everything you ‘can’t do’ or ‘won’t like’
Take it out the box and see where you can get with it Try and find a friend or family member to get you started

Just a thought can the friend that gave it to you help you also I find when I m learning new thingd I jot down bullet points to refer to
Like
1 Start left hand button
2 Swipe up
3 etc

Further advice to welbeck

Forget about apps, Chrome OS, Android phones.

Just switch your Chromebook on and get going.

I'm on a Chromebook now. No problems. We do have a laptop but rarely use it.

We have a chrome book as well and really like it. It does everything we need . The little icons of the main things we use , Google, iplayer , email are all at the bottom of the screen so we just click on those. It's very user friendly.

As mentioned above welbeck, you have a thoughtful friend to give you such a useful gift. My first Chromebook was also a gift and being unfamiliar, I was initially put off so I understand how you feel. It sounds like you may already have a gmail account, if so, you're set. If not, you need to create one. I'm not good explaining technicalities but there are some brilliant you tube tutorials available to get you started. Try to keep in mind, the Chromebook is quite simple really.
The list of things you do online is similar to my own and I choose the Chromebook every time over our old standard Windows desktop and an iPad (though I do like the iPad for certain apps available, I don't like it for my main computer usage due to the small screen).
My husband was pulling out his old Windows laptop and putting up with it's sluggishness for a couple of years when I got him a Chromebook this past Christmas. He absolutely didn't want to change from what he'd done for years but the very first evening using it, he was singing it's praises.

I have a chrome book which I've had a few years. It's fine for emails and browsing. It has virtually no memory so you can't keep many files on it.
It came with built-in security so did not need a virus scanner but it now tells me that it will not receive any more updates after June - I don't think you can load a virus scanner on it either, so I'm assuming it will be unwise to do banking transactions etc on it after that. Apple do a similar thing with iPad - my hubby's iPad 2 became useless after they stopped supporting the operating system.
There are various things it won't run such as zoom. Newer ones might though.
It's fast.

thanks everyone for encouragement.
i did get a bit worried, but...
i have now opened it !
and even started using it, a little bit. but am typing this on good ole windows 7 laptop, because something went wrong when i tried to access GN on the new chromebook.
i have not yet been able to link it to my internet wi-fi, so was using guest mode.
when i tried to access GN it thought i was anew user, and somehow i must have made a mistake.
as chrome is linked to google, and i had entered my gmail to get started on chrome, it automatically entered that to GN.
but i am joined to GN on another email, not gmail.
now i am stuck. i hardly ever had to put login details on here, i just kept it open. also i had passwords saved to this machine.
yet now i cannot find those for GN in settings. other ones appear, but not GN. i wonder if i hve over-ridden it somehow.
this is the kind of thing that worries me.
also the keyboard is hard to see, tiny lower case letters on grey, whereas this has bold big capitals on black.
also i find watching videos on chromebook, i have to angle the screen almost shut, and look up under it to see people's faces properly. i guess you will laugh at these quibbles.
i would have preferred to keep this machine and have it updated, but i do appreciate the great gift.
the person who gave it to me did not know that the word chromebook related to computers, so when i was thanking her we were at cross purposes. so you see she could not help me with it.

Yayy!!! Well done welbeck .

i now seem to be logged in with different passwords on each machine.....
i leant on something while trying to find password re-set, which had been sent to old machine, and before i could change it, it took that as new password on chromebook.
as you can tell, i don't really know what i'm doing.

Send an email to [email protected] to ask if they will delete one or other (but make sure you know which !?! and get a written copy of the correct password first - maybe copy both until you are certain which one is still working)

That will remove one problem - very little helps.