Toshiba Chromebook 2 CB30-B

Great Little Machine – I purchased my Toshiba Chromebook from The Good Guys on the 12/09/2015. Since then I haven't had a single issue with it. This model has around 10 hours of battery life, and also starts up in about 5 seconds. It's also as light as a feather. Sure, it's not a PC powerhouse, but who uses a top of the line Haswell processor just to surf the web? If all you're planning to do is surf the internet, then I would highly recommend you purchase a Toshiba Chromebook.

Excellent value computing for a person on-the-go – Chromebooks tends to divide people. Detractors claim they do not offer enough computing power and can only be used when connected. The first claim misses the point, and the second is just incorrect. First up, a Chromebook does not need a lot of computing power: it is designed to provide Google Apps (Email, video and voice collaboration, access to documents in Drive, Word Processing, Spreadsheets, Presentations, etc.). In short, all the stuff you do when travelling on business. None of these capabilities benefits from a powerful processor because all the power is in the cloud.

So, if you work for a company that uses Google Apps (or Office 365), then a Chromebooks is more than good enough. And here's the interesting part. But being a low power computing device, the Chromebook has a battery life that lasts all day... and then some!

I purchased my initial Toshiba Chromebook when my existing laptop died on the way to a meeting. I knew I would not have time to mess with a Windows setup: I just needed immediate access to my documents. So I walked into JB Hi-Fi and grabbed the cheapest Chromebook I could find: the CB30 model that was being replaced by a slightly newer model. I walked into the meeting, typed in my Google email, and my entire work environment was running. In seconds. No messing with configurations. No waiting for patches. Just getting on with getting work done.

What has blown me away with this cheap little unit is its suitability for a travelling executive. I travel frequently. The Toshiba is incredibly light, and I get at least a day of use - sometimes up to three days depending on how often I use it - without a recharge. Furthermore, it boosts in under a second. Lift the screen and it's on. You can walk into meetings and be taking notes immediately. The keyboard is a tad soft for my liking, but acceptable. The Bluetooth connector works perfectly with a mouse and headset. The standard HDMI port lets you connect to AV systems for presentations... and it works perfectly as a Netflix media centre for the hotel room too! Finally, the unit is rugged enough. I've dropped mine down some stairs (slight crack to the case, but nothing that stopped it from working.) It even got soaked in the rain, but after frizzling briefly on startup (yikes) it continued to work (not something I would recommend you try, BTW).

For $300-$400, the Toshiba Chromebook represents fantastic value. It does everything most travelling executives need, does it well and is gets you working faster than any device at my disposal (and I have LOTs of devices.) Even though the Toshiba is the cheapest, it's still the one I choose to take with me most trips.