Microsoft Boot Times - Fact Check False

Because I do what I do and I am always impatient when it comes to my computing resources, I decided to do a bit of measurement today. As one often does in these situations. Yes, it would take some time and require tedious recording of timings as well as the creation of a spreadsheet. However, this is me. It's what I do.

So, what was the timing that drove my impatience to experience the same behavior four times in a row to collect metrics? What did I measure?

Boot time.

Yes, that same old metric that has been driving people insane ever since the days of computers began. Having to wait from power up to ready to rumble is frustrating and the investigation proved out some of my theories.

I have an HP ProBook 440 G7 provided by my employer for doing my job that was manufactured in 2020. It's a decent laptop, though a bit weak for a software developer. It also has a persistent overheating problem they have not been able to track down. Still, it's passable.

It runs Windows 10 and while most of you would think to yourself "Of course it does because other than MacOS, what else is there?", well there is Linux. Or all the Linux distros, I should say. They are not all the same though they are of the same family. It's like having a bunch of kids with the same mother and father and raising each one differently.

I digress.

The point is, despite Microsoft's claims of rapid boot times, that is a bit misleading. You could say I just fact-checked their claims of booting in under a minute and gave it a big old FALSE flag.

In determining how long it took my laptop to boot, I carefully watched the performance as soon as I booted up. I found that the CPU remained quite busy for some time after the desktop was displayed. We all knew that was a thing. It was clear that Microsoft just presented the desktop sooner and was still booting in the background. However, what I did not know before was the amount of time it was requiring.

I decided to measure the boot time with a stopwatch app on my phone according to the following distinct boot events:

1. Start timer when power hits the peripherals and monitors.

2. Mark the time when the login screen is displayed.

3. Mark the time when the desktop is displayed.

4. Mark the time when the system monitor shows < 10% CPU usage for 3 seconds (this precedes a second bump in CPU utilization that easily goes to 99%).

5. Mark the second time when the system monitor shows < 10% CPU usage for 3 seconds.

In my estimation, the system is not booted until we reach the point where nothing behind the scenes is going to drive the CPU utilization back up. Hence, fully booted does not occur until event 5.

To not bore you further, here is the summary of doing the test 4 times and using averages over the 4 runs (I was consistent in entering the password quickly and consistently to avoid variations in time measurement):

• 40.27 seconds to display the login screen
• 104.83 seconds to display the desktop
• 162.07 seconds to "false done" before spike in CPU usage
• 190.53 seconds to fully booted.

As you can see, while it may look like the desktop is displayed in about a minute, it actually takes a little more than 3 minutes to be fully booted and ready to use.

I also want to point out that after booting and running no apps other than the performance monitor, the operating system and software environment consumes approximately 5.1 GB of the 16 GB of RAM, a full 32% of the RAM of the system is used just to start with.

For comparison, I ran the same tests on my aging Lenovo ThinkPad T440 that Runs Linux Mint for comparison. Note that this system is from 2013 and is already 9 years old. 

To keep the comparison as closely matched as possible, I ran the test 4 times and used averages over the 4 runs (again, I was consistent in entering the password quickly and consistently to avoid variations in time measurement):

• 10.64 seconds to display the login screen
• 21.64 seconds to display the desktop
• there is no "false done" before a spike in CPU usage
• 31.06 seconds to fully booted.

Should anyone suggest that the comparison is invalid because "Windows is fully graphical and does more), that is far, far, from the case. The Linux Mint system is a fully graphical user interface with many variations of the actual desktop look and feel available and can be swapped out. I use the Cinnamon desktop which is a traditional desktop that is quite similar to Windows 10 without all the baggage.

Furthermore, when the ThinkPad completed its boot sequence, it used a mere 0.95 GB of RAM, which is about 6% of 16 GB by comparison.

Another interesting point is that the ProBook has a 10th generation Core i5 while the ThinkPad has a 4th generation Core i5.

Here are the nerd details for the HP ProBook 440 G7

HP ProBoook 440 G7

Intel Core i5-10210U

1.6 GHz - 2.11 GHz - 3.2 GHz

Manufactured 2020 - 2 yrs old

16 GB RAM

Windows 10 Pro v21H2

Win Feat Pack 120.2212.4180.0

OS Build 19044.1826

Here are the nerd details for the Lenovo ThinkPad T440:

Lenovo ThinkPad T440

Intel Core i5-4300U

1.9 GHz - 2.9 GHz - 2.9 GHz

Manufactured 2013 - 9 yrs old

8 GB RAM

Linux Mint 20.3

Cinnamon 5.2.7

Kernel 5.4.0-122 generic

I hope to update this post soon to add in a comparison for my lightning fast Chromebook boot.

In conclusion, Microsoft lies about their boot times and Linux boots faster on x86 laptops and desktops. Argue if you want, but I have done similar comparisons over the years and it has always been the same result.

Social Media Security - The Short Form

FIRST:

• Think before you click, post, share, or accept connection requests when using social media.

When you receive a link or download that you didn't expect...

NEVER:

• Trust unexpected messages, if it sounds too good to be true, it is.

• Click ANY unexpected links. Always go to the source and verify if it's real.

ALWAYS:

• Only install software and updates from verified sources.

• Go directly to the source for any links or updates sent to you in email.

When you want to share information on social media...

NEVER:

• Assume any application's default privacy setting will protect you from anything.

• Give away private or sensitive information.

• Share everything with the world.

ALWAYS:

• Review your security settings on apps and sites regularly (monthly or quarterly).

• Turn off geo-tagging on photos and videos.

• Only share with intended viewers.

When you receive unsolicited requests to connect EVEN FROM PEOPLE YOU *THINK* YOU KNOW...

NEVER:

• Blindly accept connection requests. You can't be sure who is sending it.

• Assume that the connection or profile is real. The profile could be FAKE!

• Use any social media to send sensitive or private information.

ALWAYS:

• Be cautious with connection requests. Assume they are suspicious.

• Verify the one attempting to connect by directly contacting them via trusted means. Contact them directly and make sure it's them. They may not even know they were hacked.

• Periodically review and remove unnecessary connections.

Reject Cultural Appropriation

In keeping with my February theme of rejection, I reject the idea of cultural appropriation as pitched and proffered by so many today in politics.

I don't know why the idea got started but it is a relatively recent phenomenon that people somehow think that if you so much as fix tacos for dinner, you are guilty of cultural appropriation. It's a nonsensical notion that not only is hypocritical to the idea of the globalists that are actually behind it but it runs completely counter to the idea of celebrating and sharing people's family and ancestral cultures.

And what really is completely stupid is the idea that one or two or a handful or even dozens of individuals from a particular culture could even dare claim they hold the rights to decide who gets to partake of the celebration and sharing of a particular culture. Was there a vote taken back in the "homeland" and they were elected the keepers of cultural sanctity? Are people going to treat their culture like the Scientologists and try to ban all publications and depictions on the Internet?

It's completely ridiculous. Little girls - of all colors - are told they can't wear a traditional outfit from some other culture even though their favorite Disney character may be wearing it because - God forbid - they would be accused of being little racist bigots trying to steal someone's culture. People are told they can't cook and sell ethnic food because - God forbid - someone may actually like it. We can't have that now, can we?

No, it's just stupid to pretend that anyone holds the trademarks, copyright, and intellectual property for another culture.

If anyone claims they do, then I have this to say: bluejeans are a white American male thing. If you are wearing bluejeans you are culturally appropriating my culture. See how stupid it sounds? That's because it is.

I reject the idea that people are not allowed to enjoy, partake of, and even copy other cultural distinctives.

No comments are necessary and may be summarily deleted at my discretion. This is a unidirectional broadcast message only. Those are my rules. 

Reject Globalism

In keeping with my February theme of rejection, I reject the idea of globalism as pitched and proffered by so many today in politics.

People have been vilifying the very idea of having pride in our nation. They have condemned the idea that we should protect our national sovereignty and instead yield control to a global community. I utterly reject the idea of that and the intent of that.

We are Americans and while we are not innocent of creating havoc in the world, no one can honestly doubt the good that America as the global superpower has done for the world. We have sent more food, more relief, and more aid to any other nation on Earth. We take in more legal immigrants every year than any other nation on the planet.

America has used its might for some questionable outcomes to be sure. However, we have used our might to enforce the security of weaker nations, protect other people from tyrants and their own corrupt leaders, and keep a much broader peace than the world has known in decades. Sure, we're not perfect but you know what? We're pretty good and pretty good is a lot better than most other powerful nations on the planet.

So when people, and especially our own citizens stand wag their fingers and tongues at the United States of America in mockery and talk about how embarrassed they are to be American, I say to them, leave. Unlike many other nations, there's nothing to stop you from leaving. If you don't like it, just go. We don't need you here bringing shame to our great nation with your self-righteous and pathetic pandering.

If we give in to the globalists, then what are we? We are nothing more than a fattened sheep to be slaughtered by the rest of the world that would feast on our carcass. The rest of the world only wants two things from America: our money and our subservience.

Globalism has its roots in envy and bitterness. Other nations are truly envious of our wealth. They see that as a problem. Perhaps if they were less socialist experiments and more capitalist, in other words just be freer, they could achieve similar success. But no. They don't want to succeed on their own. They want us to be torn down and deliver all our resources to them. If you can't see that is what is happening, you are delusional.

I have no desire to be a "citizen of the world." I have seen the world and it is ugly. I want to be a citizen of the United States of America and I want the US to remain a sovereign nation, having no strings pulled by globalist interests.

Therefore, I reject globalism and all political pandering to globalist interests and globalist promoters.

No comments are necessary and may be summarily deleted at my discretion. This is a unidirectional broadcast message only. Those are my rules. 

Rejection

Over the course of the next 28 days - or more - I am going to embark on a task to summarize my thoughts on a number of topics that in the current political environment could be considered divisive. To that end, these posts will turn some people off and ruffle some feathers. Why? Because I am going to state my rejection of a position on a current topic and summarize why I reject that position and what position I support.

I am not attempting to be offensive. I am not attempting to demean any one or imply that their value in the eyes of the God and Creator of the universe is any less than my own. I will point out immorality and sinfulness. I will point out what I see as serious issues and impediments to the successful united society. If at any time anyone feels offended I encourage them to examine themselves and determine why it is they cannot separate their own self-worth from a held position.

My purpose in all this is a very public withdrawal from an overindulgence of social media. It has been a time and energy drain - and has vastly slowed down my ability to complete my books - that has proven to provide only a tiny benefit with the majority of posts and ads and information being useless or worse, completely argumentative and divisive. The advantages of social media were completely overshadowed by the negative impacts. Therefore, I am withdrawing to a great extent. Much like an addict withdraws from a substance or behavior.

To that end, I am going to begin the posts with my first rejection: social media.

I reject the modern notion of social media. It has not, is not, and will not be a benign means of objective information sharing among friend groups. Instead, it has become a platform for social engineering and public shaming. It is used daily to self-promote one's own beliefs and seek validation. And because it is in a public forum and setting, those seeking self-validation - or condemnation of others - use language that attempts to emotionally compel people by guilt, shame, or fear of being "canceled", which is in effect, a rejection.

You can consider this post my own canceling of that use of social media. I simply don't care for those attempts of self-validation, particularly when a person deviates from the norms of society and norms of appropriate behavior. Note that one who deviates is a deviant. If someone doesn't like the label, they should reconsider being the deviant.

I reject the notion of big tech companies having such unfettered and enormous control over what is said and not said on their platforms. At the same time, I am a capitalist and I respect their right to control their own platforms per their own rules. What is missing is the appropriate parallel to services and products sold by brick and mortar stores. I'll just mention the situations that have occurred and were escalated to national news where bakers, florists, restaurants, etc. have been criminalized because they tried to assert control over their own business. That concept is well known by most intelligent readers.

If it is considered illegal for a public business to withhold business from anyone, it should be illegal for a public online social media platform or Internet hosting provider to withhold business from anyone. Period.

Therefore, I reject social media and big tech's stranglehold over it.

No comments are necessary and may be summarily deleted at my discretion. This is a unidirectional broadcast message only. Those are my rules.

Not A Rivalry At All

I was reading an article concerning a rivalry between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg and it struck me that there would even be a rivalry. Back in 2016, SpaceX had a launch failure and a Facebook satellite was destroyed. That didn't set well with Zuckerberg. He seemed to believe that spaceflight was not rocket science. Since then, the two billionaires have exchanged barbs from time to time.

But, I have to ask, why is this even a thing? On the one hand you have a tech billionaire who is a genius and on the other you have a meme-inducing billionaire that eerily resembles a robot. The genius built a technology company through sheer force of will, grand ideas, and hard work. The robot co-opted some software and came along at the right time and the right place.

I have great respect for Elon Musk. I think he's personally a jerk from all accounts but he is to be respected. Musk created a technology company that does exactly what people compare hard things to: rocket science. He has vision and drive and yes, he is a bit of a sadist as an employer for driving his people so hard. But that is actually more common in tech than you think. Ask any Facebook employees about working conditions on the coding floor.

Anyway, these two men - both jerks - are being touted as equals in that the media calls it a rivalry. I don't see it as a rivalry so much as it is a public exchange of criticism. These men are not equals, they do not innovate in the same industry, and all other ways, they are not to be compared save for their billions of dollars. To that end, I will not be calling it a rivalry.

And why would you call it a rivalry? Zuckerberg came along at the right time and place where people wanted something different in social media. Do not pretend, or allow him to pretend, that anyone predicted the phenomenal growth of social media. Do not pretend that Facebook is anything other than a monopoly needing controlled. In short, Zuckerberg's accomplishments pale in comparison to the successes and even failures of Elon Musk. The spectacular fireball of SN8 as it failed to nail it's vertical landing in December of 2020 was still far beyond the accomplishments of a social engineering platform like Facebook.

Consider what Musk has done. He has created an entirely new car company in the process he innovated a number of other technologies to support it. Namely charging stations, batteries, and advanced artificial intelligence for controlling the hardware systems. The AI efforts of Zuckerberg have resulted in new and aggressive ways of censoring ideas he doesn't approve of on his social engineering platform.

Not only did Musk create a car company and a new subset of the car industry out of nothing, he created the world's first commercial spaceflight company that has launched humans into space. The technical, economic, and political hurdles Musk has successfully navigated make the robot's water-sipping performance in front of Congress look like a casual break from making money.

Yes, I respect Elon Musk as an entrepreneur. He has created technology, industry, jobs, and increases in the economy. Furthermore, he has a vision that exceeds the selfish and personal vision of CEOs like Zuckerberg.

No, I do not respect Mark Zuckerberg. He hasn't created anything but a monopoly platform for social engineering. He has increased his personal economy at the expense of others. He brings about division, bias, and prejudiced censorship. Furthermore, his vision is simply more control and to make more money.

While the Zucks of the world are plotting how to keep your eyeballs busy while they take your money and hand over control to elitists, the Musks of the world are creating lofty visions of mankind's future. While Zuck is focused on himself here on planet Earth, Musk speaks of walking on Mars. And there is no reason to believe that he won't accomplish most of what he has set out to do. He is that kind of CEO and has that kind of drive.

Do I think I'd like to personally work for Elon Musk or hang out with him? Probably not. I don't think we'd get along. Musk is probably too demanding and too high strung for me. I would like to meet him though. It would be nice to have a few hours over lunch and listen to his predictions and thoughts. I could learn a lot. It would probably be tiring.

Do I think I'd like to personally work for Mark Zuckerberg or hang out with him? Definitely not. I know we'd not get along. Zuckerberg is too much of a control freak and selfish tyrant for me. I definitely would not want to hang out with Zuckerberg. It would be the epitome of aggravation to have any time with anyone like him. I would learn nothing. It would be entirely too frustrating.

So, why did I write this particular rant? Because I have another thing to say but that will come in a separate statement. This was the motivation that pushed me over the edge to go forward with a significant decision.

Just A Day

Morning Excitement

This morning started not unlike other mornings. Except that I forgot it was Wednesday and I got my youngest up 45 minutes earlier than needed. I was on autopilot and had in mind, "get the child up and ready for school". But, it's Wednesday. That means it's chorus practice day. That means she needs to be at school an hour early. On normal days, I get her up even earlier to take her to the place where she stays before and after school. On Wednesdays, I get her up later and take her directly to the school for practice an hour before school starts.

But, not today. Today I got her up early so we had time to burn. She asked if we could eat breakfast together. I said yes and we went to my favorite fast food place, Chick-fil-A.

Note: I will not argue politics about Chick-fil-A because it is one of the best places to eat and the people are amazingly friendly and courteous and I love it so just back off.

Anyway, it was a normal-ish morning and I did not expect my morning at Chick-fil-A to be so out of the ordinary. My youngest and I sat at my usual spot in the back booth by the restrooms. A couple of the staff chatted with me briefly. Most of them know me there. I'm there a lot. And all of the staff at my local Chick-fil-A are wonderful and amazing people. Most are young and they are definitely a cut above their peers.

One of the young ladies that I know there was sitting in a booth - like they often do during breaks - and she looked like she didn't feel well. She got up and headed toward the restroom when suddenly her arm slackened and she dropped her phone. She then crumpled to the floor literally right in front of me. She just folded down onto the floor and smacked her head on the tiles.

I immediately went into full-on "dad-mode" and jumped out of my seat to see what I could do. She was out cold and some blood pooled from her nose. I tried speaking to her to get a response. After a dozen seconds, she opened her eyes and blinked. I could see the confusion on her face, she was still not aware of what was happening.

I yelled at a guy across the room to get a manager and one of the other employees came. About 45 seconds after the fall, the young lady blinked her eyes again and you could see she was back.

"What happened?" she asked.

"You fell, sweetie. Just stay right here while we get someone to help," I said. And I said sweetie because I was in dad-mode at the moment and this twenty-something woman was to me just as precious as one of my own daughters. Not sorry if that offends anyone.

She looked around and asked again, "What happened?"

The other employee and I both told her she fell and that help was on the way. We kept her from getting up because, at this point, we had no idea what was going on. I jumped into the men's room a moment to grab some paper towels to wipe the blood from her nose and cheek.

A police officer was in the parking lot and someone went to get him. He came and took over the situation because police offers are just like that: permanent dad-mode. An ambulance was called and we got the young lady to a seat. She was lucid and from all appearances, she had merely fainted.

Also from all appearances, she cut her nose and possibly had broken it when she hit the floor. She also had a large swelling on her brow ridge.

The EMTs arrived and took her out in a gurney to check her out in the ambulance. She was up and walking a few minutes later and eating a chicken sandwich which was a really good sign that she was going to be okay. The coworker was going to drive her home and she definitely needed to follow up with what happened.

Throughout all this, my 11-year-old daughter sat in the booth and said nothing. She also didn't react as if scared or upset. She told me, "There wasn't anything I could do to help so I just sat here."

I looked at my wonderful loving daughter and said, "Sweetie, you did help. You didn't get upset or scared. You didn't get excited and you remained calm. That was exactly what we all needed at that point. Calm. You did great."

As the police officer was leaving, I said, "Officer, thank you for all you do."

He looked at me earnestly and said, "It's only what we all should do. We all need to take care of each other and help when needed. Thank you."

I know that my youngest is going to have some stories to tell today in school and that's cool. She told me she was going to tell her teacher about the girl that fell and how her daddy helped her afterward. You know, I think my little girl is my biggest fan and if she were my only fan, that's enough for me.

I hope that all who read any of this don't think I'm bragging or propping myself up. I'm not. I want to illustrate to everyone that there are millions of dads out there more than ready to come to the aid of those that need help. We men aren't so bad when you think about it. We can tell bad jokes and be over the top, but when you need help, you want a real man in dad-mode.

As a father of 6 - and 5 of them are daughters - it was definitely an exciting morning. Lord, I ask that you bless that young lady and heal her nose and forehead. I especially ask that you fix whatever it was that happened to her to cause this. Thank you, God, that she wasn't behind the wheel of a car when it happened.

To all the folks at the Chick-fil-A in Wake Forest, NC, I love you guys and I'd do the same for any of you that needed help.

Have a blessed day.

Thank You, Hallmark Channel!

Yes, thank you, Hallmark Channel for your Christmas movies that are as expected as Advent at church, shorter days before Solstice, and candy everywhere you look before the new year. You bring us the welcomed and expected respite from the humdrum days of toiling at jobs and just making it to the next day. The simple love stories wrapped in Christmas magic are truly a blessing to many this time of year.

How have they impacted my life personally? Glad you asked.

For starters, I appreciate the reminder that everyone - and I mean everyone - has a larger house than me with high ceilings and open floor plans. They have pristine interiors without all the clutter and mismatched furniture and haphazard decorating. It's nice to know that people have the time to meticulously decorate for Christmas. Thank you for reminding me of my deficiencies.

And who doesn't appreciate knowing that anyone can succeed at love if only they let the spirit of the season guide a complete stranger to them and they get swept up in the magic of Christmas and fall madly in love? Of course, this takes several days and there will be a few moments of mistaken circumstances, bad decisions, and miscommunication before everything wraps up nicely on Christmas eve. Maybe Christmas day. Thank you for letting me know that it is as simple as that.

And let's not forget that all a man needs to succeed at love and romance this Christmas season is some facial hair - well-groomed of course - and a flannel shirt. That's pretty much it. Oh yeah, someone needs a cute kid. That also helps. Thank you for letting me know the ingredients list.

No Hallmark Christmas movie season would be complete without having our emotions jerked back and forth either. Let's not leave that part out. I mean they all come out, even the bad ones. It is not just an emotional roller coaster, it's the epitome of emotional roller coaster. And this happens because we all relate the movies back to our own lives and we feel wrapped up in their stories while having a complete lack of our own stories. For some reason, it's like those kinds of stories and especially the story endings simply don't happen for us normal folk. Or maybe it's just me. Whichever, thanks for that!

So, yes, thank you Hallmark Channel! Thank you for everything. Now I have a simple question. Given that I have the flannel shirt, well-groomed facial hair, and the cute kid - heck I even have a dog to go along with the whole package - where is she? Where is that cute woman that randomly shows up, we talk, we get to know each other, and we end up in a kiss under the mistletoe? Really. Where is she?

Perhaps I need to watch more Hallmark movies to figure that one out. Perhaps maybe life isn't like those movies. In fact, it's not. Quite possibly I am way overthinking this.

Well, lest anyone overthink this themselves, this was written tongue in cheek and shouldn't be taken too seriously. However, I do have several flannel shirts and I'm open to meeting someone. So ladies, look me up when you come rolling in from the city to my sleepy little town. I'll even buy you a hot chocolate.

Using A Chromebook To Self-Publish

I've been primarily using the Linux operating system on my home systems for over seventeen years. I've not regularly run Microsoft Windows for more than a decade at home except for one gaming machine. I simply have no need for it.

When I decided that I was going to write a novel in 2010, I began where I was comfortable: Linux and OpenOffice. Sometime that year LibreOffice was forked off from the OpenOffice base and I switched to LibreOffice.

Never once did I consider using Microsoft Word. I've never owned it, barely use it for work, and absolutely detest it. Especially the "ribbon" - don't get me started. I hate it.

Anyway, I had a Chromebook and I was regularly using it. Also, I had been a Google Docs user since early 2007. After a month or so using LibreOffice I switched over to Google Docs and began using my Chromebook.

I admit, those early Chromebooks were underpowered. I could only open three to five documents at one time and forget about streaming music when doing that. But, I persisted in using it. I liked being able to jump onto my Google Drive, open a doc, and work on it from anywhere at any time. And that includes my Android smartphone.

I tell you all that to tell you this. I've been writing all the drafts of all my books on Google Docs, and primarily on a Chromebook since January in 2011. For me, the transition wasn't so much a transition as it was a natural move to the most portable and capable environment for productive draft writing. Using Google Docs on a Chromebook meant that I could go off to a fast food restaurant, jump on their WiFi, and write for three to four hours straight. When I would leave, I'd still have about six hours of battery time left. That's how efficient the Chromebooks are with power.

There were several advantages that Google Docs offered overdoing anything on a regular laptop. They are (in no particular order):

• Extreme portability both in the physical location and file formats.
• Infinite storage for docs created with Google Docs.
• Infinite file history with the ability to go back in time to specific points.
• Online collaboration with others - like editors and beta readers. It's extremely easy and works very well.
• You never have to press a save key, your file is always being saved.
• You have to try hard and do some odd things to actually lose work in Google Docs. You simply don't lose your files.
• Yes, folks, it is very secure. No one is getting to your files unless they hack your password. Always use two-factor authentication. It's the smart thing to do.
• You never have to worry about your hard drive failing and losing your book. There is nothing stored locally.. There is offline mode, but it is automatically synced to the cloud. Again, you don't lose data.

That was all well and good, but what about the Chromebooks? I'll tell you about the Chromebooks. I've had several over the years and I prefer the really portable ones with small screens and good keyboards. I don't need a huge screen or a huge keyboard. I've had a number of brands but I think I prefer the Asus Chromebooks at the present time. I am currently writing this post on a rather beefy (for Chromebooks) Acer touch screen Chromebook. To be specific:

ASUS C302CA-DHM4 Chromebook Flip 12.5-inch Touchscreen Convertible Chromebook, Intel Core m3, 4GB RAM, 64GB Flash Storage, All-Metal Body, USB Type C, Corning Gorilla Glass, Chrome OS

See link:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N5G5PG2

At nearly $500, this is not a toy. This is a serious laptop. It has been absolutely amazing and I love it. I spend more time on this laptop at home than any other computer. Its keyboard is backlit and nicer to use than most high-end machines. And for battery life, I literally got the full 10 hours of battery life out of it when editing multiple documents, doing research, and wasting time on Facebook. Granted, if you start streaming music or video, you may get as low as seven to eight hours on a full charge.

I must also admit that as an author, Google Docs is not sufficient for me to complete a book in its entirety. I still do my final assembly of chapter files from Google Docs into a full book using LibreOffice on my Linux laptop. That's also where I do my graphics work for covers. Still, that represents about three or four days of use out of a typical nine-month effort. It takes me a long time because writing is a hobby, not a day job.

With my experience and obvious bias, I was naturally interested in an article that popped up in my news feed. The author titled it "Here's how I turned a Chromebook into a powerful full-time work laptop". I thought to myself, "I've already done that." Still, I was intrigued. From that perspective, I am including the link to that article here as he has some very specific recommendations and other information that I have opted to not include myself. 

https://www.androidcentral.com/how-i-work-chromebook?amp

If you are in need of a seriously good, reliable, fast, economical, doesn't crash, runs for hours on a single charge, boots completely in seven seconds laptop, consider a Chromebook. In fact, if the majority of your time on a laptop is in a browser window or Word, don't even consider anything else. You will not regret it.

To be sure, there are limitations. If you absolutely need to run some Windows program, you need to get something else. Still, I would hesitate to drop down $300 or more for a buggy, bloated, crash-happy Windows laptop simply to run one program. For the same or less money, you could have a machine that you simply use and don't have to be a part-time system administrator to keep it running.

So, to sum up. What are the benefits of a Chromebook? I'm glad you asked.

• Fast boot. Chromebooks typically boot in seven seconds. All the way. Not like Windows fake booting to the login screen while still booting in the background. 
• 8+ hour battery life.
• Economical. You can get a very capable new Chromebook for less than $250 and be happy. Not feel like you settled.
• Self-maintaining. Updates are practically invisible. Every now and then you see a notice that you should restart to complete the update. If you want. It's not like Windows.
• Very easy to use. It's a browser. That's what it is. A browser. Everyone knows how to use a browser.
• Fanless, diskless, and super quiet. There are no moving parts to wear out other than the keyboard. I've changed one of those out of five Chromebooks used by the family.
• You get work done while others are staring at their Windows laptop waiting for updates or trying to figure out why it locked up again.

There it is. My reasons for owning a Chromebook. I use mine every day. My writing process would be so inefficient if I were to be stuck on a traditional laptop with traditional software. I couldn't imagine being so chained down to specific equipment and locations.

I hope you found this post informative and intriguing. I truly believe that anyone that gets a Chromebook, even as a second machine, will not be disappointed provided they understand what they are getting. Come to think of it, I think Mac lovers would be disappointed anyway. It doesn't operate like a Mac and that typically irritates Mac lovers.

Full disclosure, I used a Mac at work for three years. It was a great machine. It was not as nice as my current Chromebook.