You Can’t Judge A Book By Lookin’ At The Cover

 

Got a ChromeBook today.

I am, in fact, updating this blog from said ChromeBook today.

I’ve never used one of these things before, I always thought they were somewhat stupid, honestly. Well, now I’ve used one and my belief is bordering somewhere along maybe not super stupid, and possibly somewhat useful, depending on the task the task.

Chrome OS is now, apparently on version 78, so I assume there has been some pretty serious work done on it over the years. Mine had version 61 out of the box, and it took less than 10 minutes to update to the current version over the Starbucks WiFi.

This particular computer is an HP Chromebook 11-V010NR which is rated pretty decently for a super inexpensive PC. It has 4gb of RAM and 16gb of built in storage. It boasts an 11 inch display, 1 HDMI port, 2 USB (3.0?) ports, an audio output and a Micro-SD slot. Allegedly the battery will last something along the lines of 10 hours, and with virtually no moving parts, that is probably not a hard claim to actually adhere to.

At a guess, I would have to say that this thing will do a pretty good job of what it is made for…Surfing the web, light document creation and editing, playing a few lightweight games and scrolling mindlessly through Facebook/Instagram/Twitter.

I haven’t yet ventured into the world of photo editing or graphic design, which is primarily what I am using PCs for these days, but I don’t expect things to be all that great on that front, since, well, Chromebook.

So far as I can tell, Word and Excel are pretty solid and more or less fully functional, there will just be a learning curve associated with figuring out where everything lives now.

I don’t understand why Microsoft doesn’t port Publisher to other operating systems, because that would make this thing a lot more likely to come out of my bag rather than the laptop, but, alas.

I am having a much easier time adjusting to this than my iMac, partially because a lot of the shortcut key combinations still work, but I do miss the F keys, along with the fact that there are certain things I have to look up. For instance, screen shots, but either I will adjust or I will never use this thing again after today.

Amazon Music is streaming well and the sound is quite excellent via the headphone jack at least!

This thing doesn’t seem likely to be consigned to the “Never to be used again” pile of computer crap that I own though. I’ll probably use it for what it is designed for. Doing simple tasks quickly, watching videos and streaming music.

He's A Pinball Wizard

 Came across a Nintendo Switch Lite.

I’m enjoying it greatly so far! As it stands, it is the best way I’ve ever seen to play games I’ve owned for a long (in some cases, decades!) time.

I had been up in the air about getting a Switch since it basically first came out, and then when the Lite came out recently I spent some more time contemplating it.

With the original Switch, I was really liking the idea of TV/Portability, but the cost was a huge turnoff. Also the issues with the JoyCon drift and a few other things I was on the fence. I started evaluating the Lite version, and when I realized that I don’t really do any sort of gaming on an actual TV screen anymore, it became a more serious contender. After actually holding one, I really started liking the way the Lite feels in my hand. Seeing as the controllers aren’t detachable, it feels a lot more solid, which is part of the appeal.

Yes, the screen is smaller, but it looks great, and is a wonderful size!

As for the game library, the ones I have are all games I have owned for a long time:

I’ve owned the original Link’s Awakening since my father gave it to me as a birthday gift in something like 1996, and every now and again I pull it out and play it.

Final Fantasy X was the first game I bought with my refurbished PS2 in about 2002 or 2003, and I play that one every now and again.

Final Fantasy XII I bought new. Got it at Target right when it came out because they were giving away a gift card with the game purchase…Which I used to buy groceries since I had just spent my grocery money on a video game.

Breath Of The Wild is the newest game I own on this list. Got that one with the Wii U at the beginning of the year and I’ve enjoyed the heck out of that one.

As for the games, Link’s Awakening is a remake of the first portable Zelda game. This is an amazing game all around, a direct sequal to the brilliant “A Link To The Past,” and released about two years after. It took me something like two years to get through this game. Partly because that Gameboy consumed batteries like nobody’s business, partly because I just never wanted it to end. I picked up the port of the Deluxe edition that was released for Gameboy Color on my 3DS a few years back, but this one is absolutely the best remake.

The graphics are very much similar to those in A Link Between Worlds (also fantastic!), and I feel like Nintendo knocked this one out of the park.

As for Final Fantasy XII, I’m not sure why they added “The Zodiac Age” to the title, and I honestly haven’t bothered looking up the reason for it on the internet, yet. As for gameplay itself, the cutscenes are a lot prettier than I remember and the in game graphics are very nice too! It is an updated version of the original, while still keeping very true to it.

Final Fantasy X is one I haven’t started playing through again yet, and I’m a little bit into Breath Of The Wild, so I don’t have any sort of images or anything from those two yet. I’m tempted to grab a video capture device and record some playtime from the Wii U version. Although I might just see about getting some screenshots of both versions, just for comparison. Same thing with Link’s Awakeing, If I can find out how to grab a screenshot or 5 from the 3DS, I will update this post with some side by side shots.

Needless to say, I am enjoying it greatly.