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Google Pixelbook Is Google’s New Chromebook

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Re: Google Pixelbook Is Google’s New Chromebook

#111

Post by toast0 »

donquichotte wrote: post #76
toast0 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you install a new bios? If you're only ever going to run Linux, it's probably better not to run the stock bios in legacy mode. Standard bios booting roms are here https://johnlewis.ie/custom-chromebook-firmware/rom-download... or if you want to futz with UEFI, https://mrchromebox.tech

This is great news, I didn't know there were BIOS updates available for the C720P! I'm not going to use UEFI if it's avoidable.

Just use the johnlewis coreboot roms then. Mr. Chromebox apparently used to include legacy mode (and the pages say its there), but it's not there anymore. You should be able to flash the bios from within your existing Linux install, and things should continue to work. For FreeBSD, I did have to hack the kernel a bit, because the Manufacturer name was different in his roms than other roms, and so the keyboard driver didn't attach.

Re: Google Pixelbook Is Google’s New Chromebook

#112

Post by danjoc »

Terrible design; $99 pen with no place to stow it.

Apple style price jacking for storage; $1199-128GB, $1399-256GB, $1749-512.

I don't see this hardware line going anywhere either. I won't be surprised if the pen requires charging like Crapple. Samsung has better offering with Plus/Pro at less than half the price.

Why did Google let the guy who rekt Moto run Pixel and Nexus into the ground? This is terrible.

Re: Google Pixelbook Is Google’s New Chromebook

#113

Post by toast0 »

camus2 wrote: post #44
neverminder wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the same like saying "I don't need S class Mercedes, VW Polo has 4 wheels too.". Compare the specs of that 300 euro laptop and Pixel 2015 LS - that's not even the same league. I have Ubuntu installed on mine and with core i7, 16 GB of RAM it blows most of the laptops out of the water.

Now compare the possibilities of any decent OS versus what basically amounts to a browser... any OS can run a browser, why buy a machine that makes you use a browser exclusively and ties you to Google services for everything?

For non power users, a computer that basically just works into a browser, which is where they do most of their computing, and is really hard to mess up is a nice thing. This is great for my young child and my mother in law. I no longer have to fix their computers, because they don't break.

For power users, The intel core processor based chromebooks can run a standard Linux install as well, FreeBSD mostly works, and Windows can work with some effort. So you're not really locked in. There's a decent community of people packaging updated coreboot builds that get better at booting other operating systems over time.

I don't know that that the pixel appeals to me, but the low spec chromebooks are nice because they're cheap and they usually have decently up to date cpus -- I don't want/need a super fast CPU but I want the latest architecture. Most Windows laptops in the prices range are really bulky and have slow spinning drives instead of an SSD (granted, the SSDs are usually tiny in the chromebooks). At the price point of the Chromebook Pixel series, you're getting a higher tier CPU, so you do need to shop around and see if you're getting a good value for the parts, and if you like the system design. Honestly, I don't see why I would pay $1000+ for a laptop that doesn't have the cluster of keys around page up/page down, but I'm a dinosaur and my taste isn't very well reflected in the marketplace. At the $200 price range where I've bought a few chromebooks, I can manage using a keyboard without important keys. :)

Re: Google Pixelbook Is Google’s New Chromebook

#114

Post by danjoc »

hypersoar wrote: post #99

From my experience with a 2013 Pixel I got from I/O, these machines come with a huge caveat: you can't get them repaired. At all . I cracked the glass over the screen on mine and called Google about getting it fixed, expecting them to tell me that it'd cost $X00 for an out-of-warranty repair. But they wouldn't take it at all. They suggested contacting 3rd-party repair shops, but some research into that nixed the idea…

>So if something goes wrong with machine 1 day after your warranty runs out, you're probably SoL.

https://9to5google.com/2016/12/09/google-pixel-screen-peelin...

You're pretty SoL when it's brand new too, evidently.

Re: Google Pixelbook Is Google’s New Chromebook

#115

Post by sethrin »

acangiano wrote: post #110
sethrin wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Crouton[0] is one option for that, but I would recommend GalliumOS[1] to anyone interested in a Chromebook. My current laptop is an Acer C720, purchased for $110 and running GalliumOS. It's not shiny or new, but it gets the job done, and it's practically cheap enough to be disposable. There are admittedly times when I wish I could justify the cost of a Pixel or an XPS 13, but I can't really get past the idea of being…

> but I would recommend GalliumOS[1] to anyone interested in a Chromebook Just make sure the spacebar is never pressed at boot. That's all it takes to screw up your nice dual boot setup.

Steps for installing GalliumOS would involve replacing the firmware and bootloader, so the behavior you describe would not be an issue. Overwriting the firmware is of course something to undertake with great care.

Re: Google Pixelbook Is Google’s New Chromebook

#116

Post by t420mom »

hypersoar wrote: post #99

From my experience with a 2013 Pixel I got from I/O, these machines come with a huge caveat: you can't get them repaired. At all . I cracked the glass over the screen on mine and called Google about getting it fixed, expecting them to tell me that it'd cost $X00 for an out-of-warranty repair. But they wouldn't take it at all. They suggested contacting 3rd-party repair shops, but some research into that nixed the idea…

+1. I'll never buy Google hardware again. 6 weeks ago, my Pixel C tablet bricked itself playing Minecraft: Pocket Edition (my guess is that the heat corrupted some of the flash memory). Google agreed to replace it under warranty, but they didn't manage to address the package correctly (they forgot to include some details, like the street, city, zipcode, and state (according to FedEx)).

What followed was 4 weeks of calls to Google support. Each time they promised they would reach out to the "shipping partner" and get it sorted. I was also receiving emails threatening to charge me the full cost of the replacement device because I hadn't sent in the broken tablet yet.

Eventually the package got delivered... back to the Google warehouse. Google wasn't aware of this until I called them up - their system assumed it had been delivered to my house. Another promise to fix the situation - and this time they managed to actually get a package to my house. Only it was a Pixel C Keyboard, not a tablet.

Another call, another promise. It's been over a week now and the latest package has not yet been shipped, it's stuck in the order confirmed state.

So, 6 weeks later, still no replacement. Luckily the tablet is mostly for entertainment, I personally plan to never rely on Google for anything important like making a living.

Re: Google Pixelbook Is Google’s New Chromebook

#117

Post by hsivonen »

shasheene wrote: post #31

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 (Wiki…

Does it run aarch64 Crouton yet? (So far, Samsung Chromebook 2 + Crouton is the best setup I’ve found for 32-bit ARM development. Unlike phones and RPi form factor computers, it run at a stable clock speed under load, so it’s actually useful for comparing the performance of alternative implementations of a function. I’m wondering if Pro could be the aarch64 analog.)

Re: Google Pixelbook Is Google’s New Chromebook

#118

Post by [deleted] »

mattmanser wrote: post #60
j7ake wrote: post #40

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 archli…

This new pricing strategy for the Pixel line seems a very odd strategy. It sounds like the Pixel phone has sold terribly, and I imagine this will too.

[deleted]

Re: Google Pixelbook Is Google’s New Chromebook

#119

Post by HlessClaudesman »

j7ake wrote: post #40

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 archli…

MS docs can all open as google docs in browser. When done export out of google docs as .doc or .docx. So no worries on colab.

One caveat: You might get some fuckery with complex excell, as google sheets is not quite as fully functioned.

Re: Google Pixelbook Is Google’s New Chromebook

#120

Post by diebir »

j7ake wrote: post #40

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 archli…

Wow, who uses Office these days? I thought everyone has migrated to the cloud docs. Have not seen a Office file in years now...
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