Chromebooks and D&D?

I mentioned in a post on the main blog that I bought a Chromebook.  And yeah, before I go further I need to admit that it was a stupid purchase.  It cost me just under $400 for a device that I'll barely use.  In addition, I already have a folding phone that I paid $1800 for, that would serve a similar purpose with only minimal downsides.  But yeah, I bought a Chromebook.  Let's talk about it. 

Here's the setup for why I bought the Chromebook.  I've mentioned before that I've recently played Dungeons and Dragons with my brother, a friend of ours, and my nephews.  I'd also played for years and years and years (decades really) before that with my brothers and a small group of friends.  We'd started with regular Dungeons and Dragons, moved onto Advanced Dungeons and Dragons at some point, and finally went to the second edition when it came out (a quick google search pins that transition as 1989).  I remember that clearly as we'd go to the local bookstore regularly to see when they got the new books.  The monster manual, the monster folios... all the books.  

Anyway, the bulk of our play was at that point and afterward.  We started second edition by playing it "by the book" but slowly threw out rules we didn't like and added new rules that made our play smoother and smoother.  When the third edition rules came out in 2000 we were still playing, but our version was so far from the second edition that we didn't want to start over.  So we just kept playing that way.  Besides, we knew the rules so well that we rarely had to use any of the books besides the monster manual and the players handbook (for the spell lists).  The last campaign was between 2019 and 2021 when my nephews decided they were ready to stop playing.  D&D between three people isn't all that much fun (one DM and two players), so we just dropped it and haven't played it since.  

I know what you're thinking;  'What the hell does D&D have to do with a Chromebook?'  Just wait, I promise it has a lot to do with it.  

A couple weeks ago my brother texted me and our friend, asking if we'd like to give D&D another try.  I'd laugh at him for having that itch, but I was itching to play again myself.  Our friend, E, agreed and offered to DM a game using the 5th edition rules (5e).  I'd played a bit online with the 5e rules and didn't find them bad and figured it would be a nice change of pace.  E asked if we would be willing to let his son play and while I thought he might be a little young (and more importantly, a little immature), we agreed.  My brother even got the nephews interested again.  

E said he'd run a "one shot" to see how we felt about the 5e rules.  A "one shot" is just an adventure that's designed to run in a single session without backstory or even all that much role playing.  We're adventurers with a task, we get the task done, the night of playing is done.  That simple.  To be honest, this should be read as "how me and my brother felt about 5e" as the nephews were still new enough to not be married to our highly modified 2nd edition rules.  I knew I'd need the players handbook as the classes, races, and spells are all different.  I didn't want to just be sharing E's copy.  So, I bought it on Amazon and had it shipped in time for the one shot.  

The one shot was fun.  E's son was, as expected, not ready to play.  This was made worse as I had a migraine while playing which almost completely emptied my patience bucket, but it was still fun.  My brother enjoyed it and my nephews both loved it.  So at the end of the night we agreed... we'd set up a new campaign with the old group (E's son would not be playing), and E would be the DM.  We'd be playing with 5e for the first time.  

The little bit I'd played online had let me peek under the paywall of rules books.  In case you don't know about D&D, there are three major rules books for running a good campaign.  The Players Handbook (PH), the Dungeon Masters Guide (DMG), and the Monster Manual (MM).  In D&D 2nd edition there were expansions to the PH and DMG for each class and several new classes.  For example, the PH told you all about being a fighter.  But the Fighter's Handbook would cover varieties like Ranger, Cavalier, Knight, and others.  You had to buy them for each class you wanted.  I don't remember exactly how many there were, but I recall having Fighter, Priest, Wizard, Thief, Psionics, as well as two books for Wizard and Cleric spells.  I think 5e has done this better as there are two books that covers much the same ground as all those previous books.  There's Tasha's Cauldron of Everything (TCE) and Xanathar's Guide to Everything (XGE).  These both cover varieties of all the classes, add extra items, spells, monsters, and additional DM information.  There's also an additional book for extra playable races as well as more monsters called the Monsters of the Multiverse (MMv) (it's full name is actually Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse).  

Now, there are plenty (PLENTY!) of other D&D 5e source books you can get.  Basic Rules, Sage Advice Compendium, Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, Volo's Guide to Monsters, The Tortle Package, One Grung Above, Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron, Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica, Acquisitions Incorporated, Eberon: Rising from the Last War, Mordenkainen's Fiendish Folio Volume 1, Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, Mythic Odysseys of Theros, Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, Fizban's Treasury of Dragons, and others.  They cover places (Sword Coast, Eberron, Ravinica, Wildemount, Theros, Ravenloft...), creatures (Tortles, Grungs, Dragons, and other monsters), and even spells, NPCs (non playable characters), and more.  That's not even counting the4 34 Adventure books.  

We're, as a group, not interested in the adventure books.  We're good about making up our own world and basing it loosely on the preset world.   The same goes for NPCs.  The extra monsters might be nice, but between the MM and the MMv, there are plenty for us to pick from.  So to get the full effect, we'd ideally have the six books.  PH, DMG, MM, TCE, XGE, and MMv.  These go for about $30 (full list price of $50) apiece, or $180 ($300).  Just like the old school days, these would all be physical paper books.  

The biggest problem it presents is sharing.  In our old days all we really needed to share was the spell list, but now we'd each need information on our races as well as our classes and we'd need to be hitting the books pretty hard during play not to mention during leveling up.  

I mentioned earlier that I'd played a bit of 5e online.  The reason that was possible was D&D Beyond.  D&D Beyond started in 2017 as an online version of D&D 5e.  It was completely separate from the official D&D Books by Wizards of the Coast (WotC is owned by Hasbro).  It was frustrating because you could buy the book for $30 and/or buy the digital book for $30.  Each has their advantage.  While playing, there's nothing quite like the experience of flipping through the paper of the book, let alone displaying the books in your home (yes... my books are on display, shut up!).  But the digital copy lets you search, copy, and paste digitally.  I can list all the spells from all the books I have.  Instead of flipping through the PH, TCE, and XGE to find all the paladin spells, I can just list all of them at once.  

There's other advantages to D&D Beyond.  You can create your character there (and yes, they even have digital dice), and keep track of spells known, spell slots, current conditions on your character, and even spell slots currently available.  It's a great companion for playing a campaign.  Having played once completely digitally, and all the history of playing completely paper based, I prefer paper.  But I'd be lying if I didn't say I found value in the digital.  

Both are valuable, but I wouldn't make the claim that it's twice as valuable.  I can do it all with the books, it's just not as convenient.  I can do it all digitally, it's just not as cool.  Then last year (2022) Hasbro bought D&D Beyond and combined it with WotC.  And starting late last year they started selling the books in physical/digital combinations for $60.  A good discount if you're getting the original list price... but as I said above most books go for $30 or less at Amazon.  

I kept hemming and hawing, back and forth, and finally decided that I wouldn't be happy if I didn't do this right.  I decided to get all of the six books in digital and physical forms.  I'd actually have been easier if I didn't already have the PH and MM (I'd bought the MM a few years back for the old 2nd edition campaign, even though the information was written in 5e format).  They sold a 'gift set' of the PH, DMG, and MM in a slip case that included a Dungeon Master's screen for $169.  This gift set also included the digital copies.  So again, going by list price this was a great deal.  With going rates, it was fine.  They had a similar package for the TCE, XGE, and MMv books for the same price (physical books, slip case, DM screen, and digital books).  I also saw alternate versions of the two collections (different covers, different slip cases, different DM screens) for various prices.  

I won't go through all the varieties I played with, but I finally settled on buying the digital copies on D&D Beyond for $30 apiece, the DM Guide on Amazon for a little less than $30, and the sweet alternate cover version of the TCE, XGE, and MMv set on Amazon for about $120.  I didn't get set for the first books as I already had the PH and the MM.  If I could have found the alternate set for them new, I'd have gotten it but it's been out of print for so long that it's only available used.  Ebay has several of them listed now, all with Buy It Now pricing of over $400.  

All told these four physical books and six digital books cost me $334.66.  

I'm sure you can see where the Chromebook comes in now.   While playing I could pull out my phone.  It's a Samsung Fold4, that when opened gives me a 7.6 inch display.  It's good.  Certainly better than a normal slab phone.  But it's not ideal.  I'd rather have a 10 to 15 inch screen.  That way I can open multiple tabs at once, letting me have my character's race, class, spells, and other things all available at the same time with a simple swipe of my fingers.  At that size, it'd be easy to read at a glance, instead of either picking up the phone or bending down toward it.  

While we'd likely be sharing all the books when we play, it was especially important to have a good digital experience that first night as the DMG, TCE, XGE, and MMv were only available digitally.  I already knew the DM would have his laptop and one of my nephews would have his Chromebook (used primarily for school).  Like looking at the books, I hemmed and hawed for a bit and finally decided that I wouldn't be satisfied without the full experience, and that it would be worth it to get something.  

Having a keyboard would be nice, but the screen size was the most important thing.  I figured either a tablet or a laptop/notebook/chromebook would work fine.  Power wasn't all that important as it would just be doing web browsing and maybe playing/streaming some music.  

These thoughts were going through my head the day of us playing, so my only shopping option was the local Best Buy and what it had in stock.  I looked at the tablets and they ranged from a 10 inch Amazon Fire tablet for $150 to the 13 inch ipad pro for $1300.  I'd recently got my Mom an android tablet and figure it's fine, but I'd like to avoid the Amazon tablets as they're just too locked down to the Amazon ecosystem.  While I shop at Amazon a LOT and use their Prime Video service often, I don't partake of their ecosystem all that much.  I'm far more into the Goggle system.  

So, looking at the tablets that would work I found a Samsung 10.5 inch tablet for $250.  Figure it would be around $300 as I'd need a kickstand case of some sort.  I could have looked at the iPad, but I've had an iPad before and didn't find it worth the "apple tax".  I.e. they're just far to expensive for what they offer.  So, as didn't see any reason to get some high end tablet with bells and whistles I wouldn't use, the Samsung for $300 would be fine.  

I should mention that I had a bunch of built up gift certificates that would give me about $70 off, but since it applies to all of these purchases, I didn't let it sway me and I won't mention them further here (until the end).  And obviously, I'll have to pay taxes but again I won't mention it as it's even across the board.  

Laptops.  I immediately broke this up into Windows, Macs, and Chromebooks as they're all the same form factor but radically different in usability, functionality, and price.  Before I even looked, I tossed the idea of a Mac.  I'd had a Macbook pro recently and like the iPad, it's just not worth the apple tax.  When I got the Macbook pro, that was different as I needed a computer replacement and wanted to fully explore the Mac ecosystem (I had an iPhone, apple watch, and iPad at the time), but now as just a glorified web browser, they didn't make any sense.  So Windows and ChromeOS.  

Windows laptops.  I took out the idea of anything listed as a 'gaming' laptop.  Most of those have discrete video cards and it's a big ticket item that adds cost.  Cost I don't need.  The first thing that caught my eye was an HP laptop for $220.  But then I looked at the stats and knew I needed to think bigger.  Sadly, Chrome is a HUGE memory hog, so 4 GB just won't do.  8 GB was the minimum with 16 preferred.  Being windows, storage should realistically be 128 Gigs at minimum and 512 preferred.  Resolution of HD (1080) would be fine.  The processor should be an Intel Core i3 or an AMD Ryzen 3 or better.  None of those Celeron, Pentium, m3, or lower AMD processors.  Again, just basic tasks on Windows utilize that level of processor.  

When I finally narrowed them down there were several listed in the $350 to $400 price range, but they were all the next town over.  An hour round trip.  To stay local I had to bump up to the $650 price.  That got me a 15.6 inch HP with a Core i7 processor, 16 Gigs of RAM, 512 Gigs of storage, and an HD touch screen.  I know the specs sound high, but these were all lower end laptop parts.  The processor would be nowhere near as fast as my desktop processor.  Neither would the ram or SSD.  And the graphics was the on chip Intel graphics, meaning even 1080 gaming would be sad.  It'd work for what I want, and likely do it well, but felt like a waste of a laptop.  The Mac Powerbook I'd had showed me how limiting the on chip graphics was.  

So, $300 tablet or $650 laptop.  Next up is Chromebooks. 

I had to look up Chromebooks.  I've never had a Chromebook before and have only barely read anything about them.  From what I understood, they were very low powered basic "laptops".  The OS was basically Chrome with android apps.  I quickly read up and found that like Windows, Chrome is a memory hog.  A LOT of Chromebooks come with 4 Gigs of memory but getting 8 Gigs is worth the price increase.  The processor is debated more, but I figured since I hadn't played around with them before it was probably worth staying with the 'main' line of processors.  Intel Core i3 or better.  

Looking at what was available in store there were only two available.  A $399 HP Chromebook with a Core i3, 8 Gigs, 128 Gig SSD, and a 14 inch HD touch screen or a $649 Samsung Chromebook with a Core i5, 8 Gigs, 256 Gig SSD, and a 13.3 inch 4K touch screen.  They were both listed as "premium" Chromebooks for whatever that's worth.  I saw them both as having the minimum processor, minimum ram, good storage, and the right sized screen.  And while I loved the Samsung in it's "Fiesta Red" color, I didn't believe it was worth $250 to go from HD to 4K.  It's not like I'd be watching movies and on a screen that small, I couldn't utilize the extra resolution to display more.  

So, I had three pieces of tech to consider, all of which should meet my requirements:

• $300 for a 10" Samsung Android tablet (no keyboard)
• $400 for a 14" HP chromebook
• $650 for a 15.6" HP Windows laptop

I hemmed and hawed, trying to figure out the best option.  The laptop would have the most utility, but was at the low end of it's spectrum, would constantly compare to my high end desktop (meaning I wouldn't enjoy it), and was on the high end of the prices being considered.  The tablet had the least utility as it didn't have a keyboard and required other pieces to make it stand up.  Like the laptop it would also be compared to my current android device and again it's a middling tablet vs a high end phone.  And the chromebook?  It was the mystery as I hadn't ever used one before and....

That's when my thoughts stopped and the decision was made.  In the past I've bought an iPad so I could play with iOS (it was before iPadOS).  I bought an iPhone just so I could play having an iOS phone and dive into the apple eco system.  I bought an Apple Watch so I could play with that vs the Wear OS watches I had before.  I bought a Macbook so I could play with MacOS.  Long ago I bought an Android tablet so I could play with android on that form factor.  I've played with Windows, Android, MacOS, iOS, iPadOS, WearOS, WatchOS, and even play around with the Nest system using Fuchsia operating system.  Through all of that I haven't used a single Chromebook, let alone own one.  

That right there made the decision.  I drove down to Best Buy where they had all of their Chromebooks sitting below the displays, but the HP one wasn't there.  Their website said they had several in stock but they weren't there.  They had plenty of the similar HPs with a Celeron processor and 4 Gigs of memory, but none of the one I wanted.  And they only had one of the Samsungs that I was looking at.  With very few sales people around and a LOT of customers, I picked up the Samsung and checked the time.  I gave them 10 minutes to come help.  If no one could be bothered to help, I'd walk up to the checkout and buy the Samsung.  If I liked it enough to keep it, I'd return the Samsung and buy the HP at a later date when I had more time.  At 9 minutes and 55 seconds I heard behind me "Finding everything you're looking for?"

I told the sales associate what I wanted and he tried to give me one of the lesser HPs.  I explained the difference, so he looked at all the boxes below the Chromebook display.  He couldn't find it and pulled out his tablet/phone/thingie that let him look it up and evidently see that it was in stock.  He then, instead of going to get it, asked what I was going to use it for.  I politely explained that I was looking for something to browse the web on and wanted a Chromebook because I hadn't ever used one before.  That I wanted this particular one because of the extra RAM.  

He said he'd get it for me and returned just a few seconds later saying he had a Windows laptop for $350 that was better in every way if I was interested.  I sometimes hate that I'm thorough as I knew exactly what he was looking at.  It was a Celeron processor, 4 Gigs of RAM, 64 Gigs of MMC storage, with a 15 inch HD non-touch screen.  Besides it running Windows (probably running it badly!), it wasn't better than the Chromebook in any way.  I thanked him and told him I'd be happier with the Chromebook, mentally turning off the polite switch should he try to balk at anything else.  

Thankfully he went in back and got me the Chromebook.  

With tax and my gift certificates it cost me just under $350.  It took all of 3 minutes to set up as I already have a Google account, and it worked brilliantly for the session.  When I got home, I played around with it a bit to see what it could and couldn't do.  The first thing I found was two problematic limitations.  First, it can't run MS Office applications.  When you search for them it directs you to the web versions of MS Office or the web based Google Docs.  Second, it can't run my password manager.  It too directs you to the web version.  That one is particularly annoying as I've been slowly transitioning my passwords to a VERY secure setup.  20 characters using cap and non cap letters, numbers, and special characters.  To log into the password manager on my Windows computer, Android phone, or iPad tablet (when I had it) I could use their biometrics (finger print on Windows and Android and Face ID on the iPad).  I actually have to use the password for the Chromebook, even though it has a finger print sensor.  

I knew it wouldn't run Photoshop and that's not an issue at all.  Photoshop is for when I'm sitting in front of my computer with my powerful computer, my huge 4K display, and my awesome keyboard and mouse.  No laptop form factor computer is going to compare.  

Beyond those limitations though, it looks like it will be fine.  It's "Kind Of Android" ish.  I can use Chrome to go to gmail.com and check my email, or I can use the Gmail app.  It linked to my phone automatically during the setup process and now automatically displays my calls and messages.  I think I can use it to send messages too, but I didn't try it out.  It has a webcam, so I can join teams through the web interface which is fine as I'd only be doing that rarely for interviews.  I don't have iTunes, but it does have the Apple Music app just like my phone.  

And it's "premium" status is there too.  It's an aluminum top with a backlit keyboard.  It feels nice in the hand and the screen is colorful and viewable from a wide viewing angle.  I compared it to my friends laptop and my nephews Chromebook and honestly it was better than either.  It even flips all the way round so that it becomes a tablet, although I've always hated that form factor as that means the keyboard is now the back of the tablet.  I'm happy to have it and will be happy to use it whenever I....

And there's the rub.  I won't use it regularly outside of our D&D sessions.  I'll take it when I travel, but much like my iPad and laptops before, I'll barely use it.  When in front of the TV or at the dining room table I'll use my phone, when in my room I'll use my big mama jama computer.  I'm literally going to store it away with my D&D books.  Maybe I should get some D&D stickers?