One of the biggest hurdles for me in giving Chrome OS a try was the realization that I have to adjust the way I work around the interface. I thought that maybe because Chrome OS was somewhat, tangentially related to Android — or, at least, because it came from Google — that I'd quickly catch on to its mechanisms. Well, based on my current experience, I can tell you that isn't the case.

I'm also facing a bit of a learning curve with the hardware of the Chromebook Flip, since I've spent most of my laptop life armed with something from the Apple Store. Despite some of the familiarity of the menu screens and services that hook directly into Chrome OS, it's a new beast I've yet to tame.

More: Chromebook Diaries Part 1: How I learned to live with Chrome OS

A new way of life

I know, I couldn't be more dramatic. But Chrome OS isn't Mac or Windows, which I've used thoroughly and through so many iterations. I'm familiar with their nuances. I can recall their commands by heart, or diagnose them if something goes awry. And even though this is a column about trying new things, the truth is that I fear change, especially when related to my tech life.

The Flip's slightly sluggish trackpad is noticeably slower compared to Apple's MacBook Pro.

My first order of business was to set up my Chromebook so that I could easily file a story here without being slowed down by the Flip's slightly sluggish trackpad, which is sort of disappointing considering how much I spent for the laptop. Even with the sensitivity setting set to the highest point, the actual tracking is choppy, especially compared to the smooth fluidity of the trackpad on the MacBook Pro. Say what you will about Apple, but the trackpad is what keeps me buying Cupertino's pricey hardware. Thankfully, there's a touchscreen display as backup when using the trackpad is absolutely maddening, but my work flow is primarily centered around using the mouse. I can't even use my Logitech MX Anywhere mouse because the Chromebook doesn't have USB. (To that end, anyone have a suggestion for an affordable Bluetooth mouse?)

The trick to Chrome OS (I think) is to equip yourself with the right apps from the get-go, so I went on an app hunt. I found a viable text editor called Text that I could use to open text files from my Dropbox, and I downloaded Microsoft Word for everything else. (I use Grammarly on the Chrome browser to help me along with grammar and spelling errors once I'm in the CMS. Writing is a multistep process!) Then, I grabbed Snapseed and Adobe Lightroom from the Play Store to help with images.

The Chromebook Flip's soft, almost velvet-y keyboard is a nice writing companion.

The writing part of my job — that's easy to do on a Chromebook. You have Google Docs, a variety of text editors, and Microsoft Word readily available. The Chromebook Flip's soft, almost velvet-y keyboard is also a nice writing companion, and I can honestly say this is the most comfortable hardware I've ever typed on. The hard part is editing photos.

I don't have any USB Type-C compatible USB plug-ins (ike these from Anker) readily available, so I grabbed an SD card adapter I had laying around with a 64GB microSD card on the inside. I used that to snap pictures with my DSLR, and then popped out the microSD card and placed it into the Chromebook's built-in card reader. The files were easily viewable with Chrome OS's built-in file explorer, but it was there that I stumbled a bit.