Is A Laptop PC or Mac Necessary in Vietnam?

OceanBeach,

Another option I would consider is a Chromebook.  Chrome OS is very fast and since it is all browser-based, you won't have to worry about any viruses attacking your system.  Chromebooks are also cheaper than laptop and tablets.

https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/chromebooks/

Samsung is a good choice.

Gook luck!

Well, personally I've found Windows 10 to be a huge pain in the butt at times !!!  With it's 'light weight' apps and other incomplete. compared to the original programmed software.

Update:

I still have the HP Envy 17" w/Windows 8.1 (now in Hội An) and I'm using it all the time, connected to my TV via HDMI, mostly for YouTube Premium & Amazon Prime USA settings.

While I was living in Vũng Tàu (Fall/Winter 2020/2021) and An Bàng Beach, Hội An (Spring 2021) I begin using the laptop almost exclusively dedicated to streaming video via ethernet hardwire connection

After returning to the USA in June, 2021 and being in Mexico from August 2021 until Spring, 2022, I always used the laptop for that purpose and have become pretty much dependent upon it.

I did go ahead and get a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (T-Mobile USA) and that worked well as a Wi-Fi hotspot in a few places when I was traveling.

Now Aidan has reminded me of that in this post (link), so I just tested my Viettel data sim (both as sim 2 in the S21 and via OPPO Reno 8T 5G) and I'm able to continue streaming to the TV, even without the hardwired ethernet, though I've reduced Amazon Prime video quality from "best" to "good" and set YouTube to "auto" quality to eliminate hiccups in continuity.

Most android phones now have an app that will share the screen with most Smart TVs here, so it's arguable that my laptop is now unnecessary for that purpose.

However, for the highest quality results, the ethernet hardware still seems to be the best option.

But as Fred mentioned in a previous post, there are USB C to Ethernet adapters now, so a person could get pretty good results using their 5G sim as a hotspot, keeping in mind that outside of the major cities in Vietnam, 4G data is usually all that's available.

I'd like to covert my laptop to Chrome OS, keeping my hardware choices without "upgrading" to Windows 10 or later, but my laptop model doesn't appear on the list of cleared devices on the Chrome info site, and even those laptops that do are sometimes listed as only being effective for 1 year after the switch.

But now that I'm married and nesting in the same spot on a 1 year lease, this setup is working well for me, continuing to give me PC access to certain websites that still don't work well via Android phone.

if I were just moving to Vietnam and trying to consider my options, I'd probably bring a dual SIM T-Mobile 5G phone, get a data sim here and do almost everything through that.

A cheap tablet could probably give me the access I want to the few websites where I need something other than phone access.

@OceanBeach92107 another choice could be running Linux on the laptop. You can boot a live linux instance from the CD ROM drive, check things out like display, networking, etc without damaging the windows install. Back in another lifetime we produced a little bootable CD called the LNX-BBC which did this. You can find these systems that you burn to CD, boot the laptop and choose to boot the live CD. Some Linux distributions offer a lot. Way back when we did Linux like this quite a bit for install fests around San Francisco to make new users comfortable with using the system before installing it on the hardware. I used to work for a few Linux and open source startups in the Silicon Valley around early 2000s and forward.

We used to promote the idea of installing Linux on older server hardware and we took over many older Sun Microsystem servers as well as others. Also used to take old desktop PCs and turn them into servers for non profits by inserting a second network card and installing Debian Linux as a web, VPN, file server. All for free.

Another option I would consider is a Chromebook. Chrome OS is very fast and since it is all browser-based, you won't have to worry about any viruses attacking your system. Chromebooks are also cheaper than laptop and tablets.

https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/chromebooks/

Samsung is a good choice.

Gook luck!
-@yamcha

The reason ChromeOS seems fast is that it is not having to read/write to a hard drive. This is also why the battery charge seems to last a long time. The downside is that if you do not have a wi-fi connection it is simply a "brick." That may be OK in HCM or Hanoi but what about in the countryside or even small cities?  And remember Google is holding all your data and documents on Google Drive.  Are you really OK with that?

...remember Google is holding all your data and documents on Google Drive. Are you really OK with that?
-@THIGV

Sure.

I was an early convert to Google Drive and it has served me really well over the years.

The only problem I've ever had is with aggressive competitors and business associates who are unwilling to use anything but their particular choice.

That's only because in the music business there is more and more large file sharing necessary, and many of the studios and musicians I work with in the USA have put all their faith in other services such as Microsoft OneDrive (and many others).

Even when I provide them a direct link to download a file from me without needing to have a Google account, they often insist that I share with them through their preferred storage and sharing service.

Google Drive also is the best seamless fit for the custom suite I use, including Gmail, Google Docs, YouTube Studio (content creator), Google Photos, Google Keep (notes) and others, as well as being my primary android phone data & individual app backup.

if you're going to be at all connected on the internet for business purposes, you've got to trust someone.

I really don't know why people get uptight at google drive with daft privacy issues. Google do scan documents for keywords (A few won't be aware of that), but Microsoft upload pretty much everything from your PC regardless of what you like.

Chrome OS is stunningly fast and works great, but can have issues if you don't have internet.

For travel and day to day use I stick with my Android tablets (Samsung S5e, now an S8 - They work an absolute treat and are very portable.

At the moment I'm using my Samsung Note 20 plugged into a monitor on DeX mode. It has a bluetook KB and I'm using the phone's screen in touchpad mode instead of a mouse.

It's far from perfect, but it does work very well for most basic tasks.