Newb here…which is going to be my easiest and cheapest to start out with to use my GF?
Thanks in advance!
Christine
Which do you already have?
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You could use a Phone even but not accomplish much with it. With an actual computer with two screens you will find it not too much overkill. Most of your designing will be on the computer, and that is worth the money and effort if you want to get good use of the money spent for the Glowforge.
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An old laptop. Just wondering if a chromebook is big enough.
Honestly, I’d stick with the laptop. It’s the cheapest option, and the larger the screen size, the easier it is to do graphic design work. The tablets and phones are great for starting a print, but if you plan to do a lot of your own designing, you’re best off sticking with what you know at first.
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Can’t get Wifi set up with phone
I have two tablets and a phone and a large screen laptop and they all get Wifi enough to push the go part of the Glowforge, but only the laptop works decently for designing. If your old laptop can download and run Inkscape and Gimp and the Chrome browser it will be better than other possibilities.
I’d avoid a Chromebook as most of the software for doing your own work is written for PC, MAC, and to a lesser degree, iOS.
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Free stuff like Inkscape and Gimp can run well on newer Chromebooks in Linux mode (beta). I use a Chromebook in my craft room, though I do have a PC for other software like Photoshop.
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Another vote for the laptop. I work in the IT industry and haven’t used a traditional “desktop computer” in probably 15 years.
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Good to know, not that I need another anything around here!
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Perhaps things have changed, but last time I looked, getting Gimp and/or Inkscape running on a Chromebook is not something I’d recommend for non-technical folks.
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It’s just different, not really harder, and it gets easier as they continue to polish ChromeOS.
There are some very nice reasons to use a Chromebook. Compared to my other machines (PC, mac) my Chromebook is hassle free.
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I bit the bullet and bought a new laptop yesterday. Turned on the old one and it was just too slow and a small chunk of the upper left corner has a screen problem. Thanks for everyone’s input.
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Welcome to the forum! As you can see our customers are very friendly and just as helpful. I think you will find that the forum is a great resource for most Glowforge related questions. Also, we are always here for you if you run into trouble, just send us an email at support@glowforge.com. I’m going to close this thread now. If you have any other questions feel free to start a new thread or send us an email!
Happy Printing!