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Google Pixelbook Is Google’s New Chromebook

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Re: Google Pixelbook Is Google’s New Chromebook

#31

Post by shasheene »

I've been using the Samsung Chromebook Plus (ARM chip) laptop/tablet hybrid the past 4 months and it's one of the best devices I've ever owned. Very cheap and has high build quality (great screen and aluminium body). The 4 years prior I used the first ARM Samsung Series 3 Chromebook (much lower build quality, but it was great before it died).

I currently use tablet mode for 2-3 hour session for portrait reading (Wikipedia Android app, long-form articles) and from time-to-time light note-taking (Squid Android app) and PDFs. Haven't used crouton or done dev work on this Chromebook yet.

Here's a quick review of modern touch-screen Chromebooks used as tablets. While the hardware is exceptional, the software is terrible in tablet-mode. Here are the painful issues that I can currently remember:

1. Easy to accidentally close the entire browser by brushing the X button (I was thinking the browser was crashing the first 4-5 times it happened, very frustrating as can't CTRL-SHIFT-T in tablet mode)

2. Easy to accidentally close a single tab for the same reason. On an Android devices there's a little undo popup to reopen tabs, but that kind of obvious touchscreen user-interface polish isn't there on ChromeOS yet

3. Two finger touchpad scroll doesn't work on Android apps for scrolling -- painful as heck when Wikipedia links open in the Android app in laptop mode

Side note: I wish there was a good app to non-destructively markup PDF files with the stylus. I think it was at WWDC this year, Apple showed great work in this area, but sad not to have found software that appears as good for Chromebooks/Android yet.

I know Google engineers will come across this post, so hopefully these pain points can be fixed eventually. Chromebook hardware is so good (and cheap), but there's a few painful areas still.

Re: Google Pixelbook Is Google’s New Chromebook

#32

Post by vinceguidry »

FussyZeus wrote: post #18

Serious question for HNers: Does anyone actually buy these for ChromeOS? Every time I hear these discussed it seems to center around what you can do with them that involves a new OS, either Windows or Linux. So is it really the product in demand or just the demand for hardware not bound down with a bundled OS License?

I bought one and used it briefly before deciding it wouldn't serve my needs. I thought I could keep it in my car so I didn't have to haul a laptop everywhere I went. Bonus was the security of keeping my MacBook at home and only having a cheap-o Chromebook in the car.

ChromeOS wasn't a problem. I was able to get a development workflow going just fine, I planned on using Mosh to shell into a development machine and I was on my way to figuring out a fluid way to edit files through perhaps SSHFS.

The problem was the hardware itself, which, after years of getting spoiled by MacBooks, left a lot to be desired. The keyboard sucked, the screen sucked, but the real deal breaker was that the battery life was utter crap, and it drained while it was sitting in my car. This made it unusable and I eventually gave it away.

I could spend the money and get better hardware, but at that point it's competing with my MacBook.

Re: Google Pixelbook Is Google’s New Chromebook

#33

Post by sowbug »

FussyZeus wrote: post #18

Serious question for HNers: Does anyone actually buy these for ChromeOS? Every time I hear these discussed it seems to center around what you can do with them that involves a new OS, either Windows or Linux. So is it really the product in demand or just the demand for hardware not bound down with a bundled OS License?

Yes. My wife and I have three kids. We have at least four Chromebooks sitting around the house for anyone to pick up and use. We used to have a couple OS X machines, but other than occasional video editing that we now do in the Instagram app, they were never used for anything a Chromebook couldn't do. My kids' schools all use Chromebooks, too, so it's easy for them to resume work when they get home.

I am an engineering manager at Google. I carry around an Asus C302CA for meetings, and I'll occasionally use it to SSH into a corp machine. I do have a Linux workstation at work for coding.

I also use the nearest Chromebook to SSH into a personal VPS where I keep stuff I want online other than the usual cloud content. And I have a couple Raspberry Pis at home for misc hacking.

The main value of ChromeOS to me is that the machines never break, and other than making sure my family enables U2F on all their accounts, there aren't any best practices, fine-tuning, or maintenance for the fleet of machines that I maintain as a dad.

Favorite models including years past: Acer C720 (fast and cheap but screen wasn't great); Toshiba Chromebook 2 (IPS, full HD, love the keyboard); Google Pixel 2 (remains the perfect laptop of any kind, but it was hard to find in quantity); Asus C302CA (currently the best; great screen + touch, OK battery, hinged design is very nice for impromptu shared viewing sessions and presentations).

Re: Google Pixelbook Is Google’s New Chromebook

#34

Post by 0xFFC »

>Chromebook Pixel units in that it folds into a tablet

Folds? That is far inferior that the iPad Pro and Surface (two most serious competitor, particularly Surface). Surface has the opportunity to dominate the market.

God, if this was detachable, I would ditch surface for this in heartbeat. Running linux command line app. Running Chrome apps natively. Running android apps (in foreseeable future). It is like dream, if it was detachable.

Re: Google Pixelbook Is Google’s New Chromebook

#35

Post by pjmlp »

resoluti0n wrote: post #13
pjmlp wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also don't get it, for that price I can get a nice general purpose laptop, with most likely a much better CPU/GPU combo.

A traditional GNU/Linux distro can also be installed bare metal on it. It's a much better option for your privacy. This eliminate Google's data mining of the whole desktop experience and give you better customization options at the same time.

I can already do that on a 300 euro laptop, which was sold with Ubuntu installed on it.

Re: Google Pixelbook Is Google’s New Chromebook

#36

Post by disconnected »

coldtea wrote: post #8
miguelrochefort wrote: post #6

Who pays $1,199 for a Chromebook?

Those that value what the Chromebook offers over what a regular laptop with Linux does. For many also $1099 is spare change -- at least when considering what computer they can buy.

And what, exactly, does a Chromebook offer?

Take this $1K device.

Hardware-wise, for that kind of price you can get a nice laptop. Heck, for $200 extra, you can even get a MacBook pro if you wanted.

Software wise, the value proposition looks even worse. Apple can justify that price tag because you are buying into the Mac ecosystem. Windows laptops can justify the price tag because, well, Windows is what people expect.

Chromebooks, however, have a "mobile-OS-pretending-to-be-a-desktop-OS" OS, irrevocably tied to the cloud and Google's services that runs "apps" and web applications disguised as desktop applications. Barf.

It's so bad that most people that cheer for these devices say "just put Linux on it".

Yeah, you know where else I can stuff Linux onto? Nearly every other Laptop in existence. Last 3 laptops in which I stuffed Linux Mint "just worked". WiFi, Bluetooth, suspend, everything. I'm either a fantastically lucky bastard, or maybe things aren't shit anymore (hint: I suck at poker).

Chromebooks made sense in their niche, as the next iteration of a netbook. One step above tablet (has a keyboard), but several steps (and dollars) below a full blown laptop. Once you cross that threshold, the value proposition looks like crap, because you can generally get a much better device.

Re: Google Pixelbook Is Google’s New Chromebook

#37

Post by Filligree »

vinceguidry wrote: post #32
FussyZeus wrote: post #18

Serious question for HNers: Does anyone actually buy these for ChromeOS? Every time I hear these discussed it seems to center around what you can do with them that involves a new OS, either Windows or Linux. So is it really the product in demand or just the demand for hardware not bound down with a bundled OS License?

I bought one and used it briefly before deciding it wouldn't serve my needs. I thought I could keep it in my car so I didn't have to haul a laptop everywhere I went. Bonus was the security of keeping my MacBook at home and only having a cheap-o Chromebook in the car. ChromeOS wasn't a problem. I was able to get a development workflow going just fine, I planned on using Mosh to shell into a development machine and I w…

> I could spend the money and get better hardware, but at that point it's competing with my MacBook.

I spent the money, bought a high-end C302CA, and found it does indeed compete with my Macbook... resulting in rarely using the Macbook. Figures, really, but I have no objections to this outcome.

Re: Google Pixelbook Is Google’s New Chromebook

#38

Post by [deleted] »

sowbug wrote: post #33
FussyZeus wrote: post #18

Serious question for HNers: Does anyone actually buy these for ChromeOS? Every time I hear these discussed it seems to center around what you can do with them that involves a new OS, either Windows or Linux. So is it really the product in demand or just the demand for hardware not bound down with a bundled OS License?

Yes. My wife and I have three kids. We have at least four Chromebooks sitting around the house for anyone to pick up and use. We used to have a couple OS X machines, but other than occasional video editing that we now do in the Instagram app, they were never used for anything a Chromebook couldn't do. My kids' schools all use Chromebooks, too, so it's easy for them to resume work when they get home. I am an engineeri…

[deleted]

Re: Google Pixelbook Is Google’s New Chromebook

#39

Post by pjmlp »

coldtea wrote: post #8
miguelrochefort wrote: post #6

Who pays $1,199 for a Chromebook?

Those that value what the Chromebook offers over what a regular laptop with Linux does. For many also $1099 is spare change -- at least when considering what computer they can buy.

For me it certainly isn't spare change, and given that I was able to buy an Asus laptop with Ubuntu LTS pre-installed with about 300 euros, I don't really see the appeal.

Re: Google Pixelbook Is Google’s New Chromebook

#40

Post by j7ake »

Cool dev machine but for 1200 dollars I want to be able to run Microsoft office when people send me documents without asking them to reformat and also edit and modify images with standard software when necessary.

In a collaborative world it is not worth the pain to pay 1200 and not be able to work with people who do not code.

Chrome books are acceptable at the 200 dollar price point (I have one that dual boots archlinux) but they are not replaceable as a main work station unless you never interact with people who use popular software.

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