Can someone explain to me whether or not Chrome OS devices work in China? I’ve searched through this subreddit and read the posts but still don’t have a good idea of what to expect. I realize that Google services are blocked in China but would you still be able to use a Chromebook for basic web browsing?
Another issue i’ve read about is actually staying logged in. It’s my understanding that while the login information/password is stored locally, Chrome OS needs to reconnect with google servers every once in a while, which would mean that the device would be useless in China, can someone confirm this?
I’d really love to get my mother a Samsung Chromebook Plus, I believe it to be the perfect combination of price, style, and portability for travel and I haven’t managed to find a windows laptop quite like it.
Yes you would be able to login, but I haven’t stayed long enough to find out what happens when it needs re-auth. The thing is, as you said chromebooks are useless beyond that point anyway.
However pretty much every place with foreigners working have proxy setup at router level so with those wifi it should be fine.
Definitely not for anyone permanently lives there, unfortunately.
Google-based products just do not work well in China, especially Chromebook, Chromebox, etc., unless you get a hardware VPN. Even then, the sophisticated deep neural network based machine learning Great Firewall can detect VPN traffic fairly quickly and eventually block you as well.
I work in technology and travel to Asia, including China, very regularly and Chromebook experience is terrible in China. Chromebook regularly pings the server for behind the scene housekeeping stuff and it’s constantly being blocked by the Great Firewall.
Of the many hotels, coffee shops, friends’ home and airports I tried to use my Chromebook, it’s always very problematic. For example, when you connect to WiFi, like free hotspots, the WiFi connection client will ping a Google server to check the for “actual” connection to the internet, but it’s usually blocked by the Great Firewall, so the WiFi client would think there is no internet and throws an error, but when in fact it’s actually connected. This alone leads to a lot of weird behaviors. If you are lucky enough to get “connected” according to the WiFi client, you will surely then face authorization issues or inability to connect to Google cloud server to save or retrieve data. As a very technical person, this even frustrates me enough to NOT ever bring a Chrome-based device with me when I travel to China. I can’t imagine how older generations have the technical knowledge to handle these issues.
In addition, things like Google Map and others are highly inaccurate for China due to lack of high quality local data, and downright dangerous if you plan to rely on it to get around.
While I am a Google fan, you are better served by a Microsoft product because none of them are blocked and retain full functionality in China. You can get an Acer Cloudbook, which is the same laptop as Chromebook but runs Windows 10 for the same amount of money. If you must, you can always install Chrome on it, if it serves you better than Edge.
Yeah I’ve tried contacting chrome support in regards to the re-auth frequency but to no avail. Not sure my dear old mother would be technically proficient enough to seek out wifi proxies. Appreciate the input.