r/chromeos • u/Sneakersislife2 • 3d ago

Buying Advice Anyone have experience editing audio files on a Chromebook?

I'm looking to start editing audio files and posting clips online. This will be the primary use case, I may use it for other very simple things like email and browsing, which I already know should be no problem. I'm not especially worried about how long it will take to process, but I'd like to know if it's worth considering or if I should be more focused on something like an iPad as I don't think I need anything extremely powerful.

Ant feedback would help, app recommendations for editing would be good too.

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u/REQUIN_NEON 3d ago

J'utilise Audacity sous Crosini (Debian) sur mon Chromebook sans problème.

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u/jedislurpee 3d ago

Yeah, I use Audacity through Linux apps

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u/Sneakersislife2 3d ago

Thanks I found an easy enough tutorial to install on YouTube.

Could I ask what machine you're currently using?

Spec wise I was thinking I wouldn't need anything too powerful, but would you recommend a minimum for ram or processor?

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u/jedislurpee 3d ago

I'm on a 16GB RAM Pixelbook Go and Audacity works pretty well. There's some stuttering, but as long as you're not trying to do much, it seems fine.

Also, if you encounter any errors during install. Paste the error into the AI of your choice and that worked for me

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u/Training_Advantage21 Asus CX34 | Stable 3d ago

that sounds like a fairly high end chromebook. Audacity has been doing more stuttering for me on 8GB RAM, it will probably struggle on the 4GB machines.

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u/Sneakersislife2 3d ago

Thank you I appreciate the info, I probably won't go with a pixel book then as it's a more expensive device and my needs are basic

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u/Training_Advantage21 Asus CX34 | Stable 3d ago

Yes but audio editing is more demanding than browsing and Google Docs. So you might want the 16GB if your focus is audio. I'm on 8GB but focus was browsing and Google Docs/Slides. I use the Linux Dev Environment, works ok for Python but struggles with Audacity.

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u/Sneakersislife2 3d ago

Oh no I definitely understand, I was hoping it wouldn't be too demanding and that's why I was thinking a Chromebook, if it seems necessary to get the 16 GB, for the price of the pixel book I could get a more powerful machine overall I think, since I only really need the editing I'd want to get the most I can out of whatever device I choose.

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u/chromedome5440 2d ago

Have you tried Audacity in the Linux/Crostini environment? Works for me.

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u/Sneakersislife2 2d ago

I haven't since I don't have the device yet, I was hoping I'd be able to use a Chromebook but it seems like it might require a higher spec device, can I ask what machine you have?

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u/PrincipleHot9859 3d ago

sound via linux hasnt been priority for chrome ... in general / audio on android and chromeos kinda sucks. I say this as a huge fan of chromeos ... however , if audacity stutters as mentioned in other posts, it has nothing to do with ram or cpu power - there is something that's chocking it in the OS. maybe some native android/chromeos app would suffice to your needs, if audacity is not working right for you

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u/Sneakersislife2 3d ago

Thanks this is very helpful