Chromebook

[steviebee]

Hi my  HP Windows 11 laptop went pop last night just night of warranty, typical. Panicked a bit as going away next week so ordered a Chromebook to pick up this morning. Been reading that you cant control mounts from a Chromebook and Celestron software doesn't recognise it (l think thats what l read). Has or is anyone using a Chromebook to control their mount or is there software available? Going to get a refund on my card until l o a bit more research. Thanks in advance for any replies. 

 

 

Steve.

[Richard Wesson]

I think the problem may be that Chrome books don't run on Windows OS instead running a Linux based Chrome OS. 

[malc-c]

On 02/07/2022 at 09:30, steviebee said:

Hi my  HP Windows 11 laptop went pop last night just night of warranty, typical. Panicked a bit as going away next week so ordered a Chromebook to pick up this morning. Been reading that you cant control mounts from a Chromebook and Celestron software doesn't recognise it (l think thats what l read). Has or is anyone using a Chromebook to control their mount or is there software available? Going to get a refund on my card until l o a bit more research. Thanks in advance for any replies. 

 

 

Steve.

Steve, how far "out of warranty" was the windows laptop, and was it budget, mid-range or hi-end machine.  Under consumer law the normal 12 month warranty means nothing as you are entitled to expect an item to last a reasonable amount of time and be fit for purpose.  For arguments sake, you would expect a good few years of service from an expensive mid-range laptop compared to the cheapest laptop you can find as you would expect the internal components to be of higher quality.  If your laptop went pop, and it was of no fault of your own, and is not that old then I would suggest going back to the retailer.  Don't let them fob you off with it being the manufactures responsibility, that is totally incorrect, your contract is with the retailer, and it's the retailers choice or option to seek redress from the next person up in the supply chain.  Naturally you won't get a new replacement, and the offer will be to repair the device, and that is common practice.   Now if on the other hand the laptop was just a few hundred pounds when purchased five years ago then I doubt you would be able to seek any redress as that period of time would be acceptable as a decent length of life, if it's 13 months old, then you wouldn't be expected to replace the device after such a short period of time.

As far as chromebooks - they don't run windows OS so ASCOM and all the other software you have on the laptop won't work.  Chromebooks are aimed at having all your documents online with access through portal apps on the machine.  I think of them as glorified tablets  

[DaveL59]

Actually, since its an HP, did you register it for warranty with HP at all? Might be worth contacting them too as they may wish to be helpful since it is just out of warranty. No guarantee of course but ya don't get if ya don't try...  

[steviebee]

43 minutes ago, malc-c said:

Steve, how far "out of warranty" was the windows laptop, and was it budget, mid-range or hi-end machine.  Under consumer law the normal 12 month warranty means nothing as you are entitled to expect an item to last a reasonable amount of time and be fit for purpose.  For arguments sake, you would expect a good few years of service from an expensive mid-range laptop compared to the cheapest laptop you can find as you would expect the internal components to be of higher quality.  If your laptop went pop, and it was of no fault of your own, and is not that old then I would suggest going back to the retailer.  Don't let them fob you off with it being the manufactures responsibility, that is totally incorrect, your contract is with the retailer, and it's the retailers choice or option to seek redress from the next person up in the supply chain.  Naturally you won't get a new replacement, and the offer will be to repair the device, and that is common practice.   Now if on the other hand the laptop was just a few hundred pounds when purchased five years ago then I doubt you would be able to seek any redress as that period of time would be acceptable as a decent length of life, if it's 13 months old, then you wouldn't be expected to replace the device after such a short period of time.

As far as chromebooks - they don't run windows OS so ASCOM and all the other software you have on the laptop won't work.  Chromebooks are aimed at having all your documents online with access through portal apps on the machine.  I think of them as glorified tablets  

Hi Malcom it was a customer returned unit from a company on amazon with their own return to base warranty. l think l paid about £340 for it .When it first started to play up last summer l tried to contact them and they were no longer trading, or they had changed their name.  lt was repaired on Saturday by a friend of my sons. He said the hard drive was an old one not SSD and it only had half the amount of RAM in it. l'm not too clever on computers. Still all sorted now for £80 so well happy. lt's like a Ferrari now lol. 

[malc-c]

Glad to hear you have the laptop back up and running.   Yes replacing an old mechanical hard drive with an SSD will make a very noticeable difference.   £80 is a fair price for supplying and fitting a hard drive... well done