Lafay - Chromebook for dummies, [2015]

Chromebook For Dummies

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com

Copyright 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Media and software compilation copyright 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Trademarks: Wiley, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and may not be used without written permission. Chromebook is a trademark of Google Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2014941052

ISBN 978-1-118-95126-2 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-95127-9 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-95128-6 (ebk)

Manufactured in the United States of America

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About the Author

Mark LaFay has entrepreneurialism running through his veins. Since grade school, LaFay has created and run small businesses that have taken him and his products around the world. LaFay built businesses in the music industry, producing hundreds of events in central Indiana and developing numerous musical acts into internationally touring and recognized groups. LaFay is co-founder of DCODIA ( www.dcodia.com ), a startup that helps people living with dyslexia; a minority owner and board member of SocialNetWatcher.com , a tech company helping schools and parents combat bullying; and a founding member and the product engineer of Conversion In A Box ( https://conversioninabox.com ), a marketing automation software startup. LaFay is an adjunct professor in the school of informatics at IUPUI (Indiana UniversityPurdue University Indianapolis). Currently, LaFay is applying his business acumen and love for all things entrepreneurial to the development of Roust, a social network for people interested in discussing real issues.

Dedication

To my wife. Your love and support fuels my desire for greatness.

Authors Acknowledgments

Thanks to my wife for putting up with my late nights in front of the computer. Many thanks to Katie Mohr at Wiley for fielding an absurd number of questions and long-winded emails about my garden. Thank you Jeff Hertzler for being a great dude and a fantastic technical editor. Thank you Jeff Krajewski reminding me that the road less traveled is the only road to be on. Countless thanks to all of my family and friends.

Publishers Acknowledgments

Acquisitions Editor: Katie Mohr

Senior Project Editor: Christopher Morris

Copy Editor: Laura K. Miller

Technical Editor: Jeff Hertzler

Editorial Assistant: Claire Johnson

Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case

Project Coordinator: Patrick Redmond

Cover Image: Courtesy of Mark LaFay (author), Mark LaFay

Chapter 1

Choosing and Setting Up Your Chromebook

In This Chapter

Understanding what makes a Chromebook tick

Selecting your very own Chromebook

Using your Chromebook for the first time

Transitioning to Chromebook from Windows or Mac

If youve been keeping up with the technology news lately, youve probably heard about how Google is making yet another splash in the hardware market with their Chromebook. In 2013, they captured one percent of the laptop market in the U.S., which equates to roughly 2.5 million units sold, a number expected to grow.

In this chapter, I go over what makes the Chromebook unique when compared to other personal computers on the market. I also take an in-depth look at how to set up your Chromebook and prepare you to transition to Chromebook from Windows or the Mac.

Checking Under the Hood of the Chromebook

But what is a Chromebook? In short, a Chromebook is a laptop computer running Googles proprietary operating system, Chrome OS.

The operating system (OS) is the software that manages and schedules the basic tasks and functions of your computer. You might have a little experience with other popular operating systems like Microsoft Windows or Apples Mac OS X.

Chrome OS is a new operating system developed by Google to work primarily with web-based software. Your experience using your Chromebook will be very similar to previous experiences you might have had surfing the web with the Chrome web browser. The Chrome web browser shares many similarities with other web browsers on the market like Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari. (See Figure .)