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Google Pixelbook Is Google’s New Chromebook

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Re: Google Pixelbook Is Google’s New Chromebook

#151

Post by karmajunkie »

IntelMiner wrote: post #129
nickjj wrote: post #73

I think I'll stick with my Toshiba Chromebook CB35. - It runs native Linux - Works awesome for every day web development - 1080p IPS display - $350 bucks total If anyone wants to see how to set that up (it requires installing GalliumOS which is a native Linux OS for Chromebooks) and read a full review it's over at https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/transform-a-toshiba-chromeboo... .

Just to add to this. If you want something a little more "beefy" The Dell Chromebook 13 also checks almost all those boxes - Runs Native Linux (GalliumOS or otherwise. Mainline kernel support was added for all hardware in 4.9) - Works awesome for every day use. Coding, browsing etc - 1080P IPS display (touch screen model also available, apparently?) - Intel Core i5 - 8GB memory - 8-10 hour battery depending on usage

How's the hibernate on it these days? That's and battery life are always the sticking points for me on making the jump.

Re: Google Pixelbook Is Google’s New Chromebook

#153

Post by nickjj »

Markoff wrote: post #147
nickjj wrote: post #73

I think I'll stick with my Toshiba Chromebook CB35. - It runs native Linux - Works awesome for every day web development - 1080p IPS display - $350 bucks total If anyone wants to see how to set that up (it requires installing GalliumOS which is a native Linux OS for Chromebooks) and read a full review it's over at https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/transform-a-toshiba-chromeboo... .

how is it compared to refurnished Thinkpad X1 for same price with 8GB RAM, SSD disk, etc.? I find hard to find justify prices of these chromebooks

I haven't tried that Thinkpad.

If you can mod it to run GalliumOS and swap in a bigger SSD I'd say go for it, but I have no complaints with the Toshiba.

Re: Google Pixelbook Is Google’s New Chromebook

#154

Post by blacksmith_tb »

Markoff wrote: post #144
t420mom wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+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 ca…

ah common, don't be so harsh on their hardware, it's not like Nexus 5X or Nexus 6P were not really good design...

True, I am using a 6P as I write, but wouldn't some (even most) of the credit for that belong to LG and Huawei respectively?

Re: Google Pixelbook Is Google’s New Chromebook

#155

Post by t420mom »

Markoff wrote: post #144
t420mom wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+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 ca…

ah common, don't be so harsh on their hardware, it's not like Nexus 5X or Nexus 6P were not really good design...

I don't have a problem with their hardware design, just how they handle support. I'm specifically avoiding their hardware in the future because of the customer experience I've had, not for any other reason.

Re: Google Pixelbook Is Google’s New Chromebook

#156

Post by IntelMiner »

karmajunkie wrote: post #151
IntelMiner wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just to add to this. If you want something a little more "beefy" The Dell Chromebook 13 also checks almost all those boxes - Runs Native Linux (GalliumOS or otherwise. Mainline kernel support was added for all hardware in 4.9) - Works awesome for every day use. Coding, browsing etc - 1080P IPS display (touch screen model also available, apparently?) - Intel Core i5 - 8GB memory - 8-10 hour battery depending on usage

How's the hibernate on it these days? That's and battery life are always the sticking points for me on making the jump.

Works flawlessly AFAICT

Re: Google Pixelbook Is Google’s New Chromebook

#157

Post by yrro »

hsod wrote: post #150
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…

Another "bad Google support on chromebooks" anecdote: I bought a Chromebook (forget which one) direct from Google. It was DOA, wouldn't even turn on. So I went through the whole return process and a few weeks later I got a replacement (which had some issues of it's own, but that's another story). After using it for a few days I realized I wasn't happy with it so I decided to return it. No problem, I thought, they hav…

Good grief, consumer protection laws in the US really are a joke.

Re: Google Pixelbook Is Google’s New Chromebook

#158

Post by awalton »

Markoff wrote: post #147
nickjj wrote: post #73

I think I'll stick with my Toshiba Chromebook CB35. - It runs native Linux - Works awesome for every day web development - 1080p IPS display - $350 bucks total If anyone wants to see how to set that up (it requires installing GalliumOS which is a native Linux OS for Chromebooks) and read a full review it's over at https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/transform-a-toshiba-chromeboo... .

how is it compared to refurnished Thinkpad X1 for same price with 8GB RAM, SSD disk, etc.? I find hard to find justify prices of these chromebooks

The new ones having much better local storage helps... it's honestly my second biggest complaint (behind the first, which is with my kernel version jack autosense has literally never worked correctly, so I have to manually toggle between headphones and the built-in speakers, which is maddening, but that's what you got when you wanted to run generic Linux and not ChromeOS or Linux-over-ChromeOS. I haven't had a chance to compile one of the kernel versions after the community upstreamed all of Google's drivers into Linus's tree).

Despite being called a "Chromebook", it's really more of an Ultrabook, albeit one with slightly less refinement than a MacBook. However, it's still a pretty sturdy machine and fills the role of a travel ultrabook pretty well. The screen's form factor and the random-shitty-key-free keyboard were honestly the two biggest selling factors for me, and I'm quite enjoying them both. It's much more convenient to code on than any other laptop of its size I've used, thanks to the screen's unusual aspect ratio and high DPI.

The biggest things I don't like about it are all about refinement; scrolling isn't as nice as two-finger scrolling on a Mac, you can accidentally hit the power button and suspend-to-disk the machine if you don't forget to configure your machine to disable to power button after boot, keyboard doens't have a "Fn" key, so you can't use the multimedia keys and the F-keys without some software jiggery-pokery... and just small bits like that. Most of these are complete non-issues if you intend on using ChromeOS... but I have absolutely no desire to turn my PCs into the same kind of walled gardens that we have in the mobile space.

Re: Google Pixelbook Is Google’s New Chromebook

#159

Post by 77ko »

sumitgt wrote: post #86
jordanthoms wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't usually plug on here but Kami ( web.kamihq.com ) lets you markup PDF documents on chromebooks, everything is kept as PDF annotations so they can be modified later. Stylus drawing on the Chromebook Plus works, though there's still some improvements I want to make to that - I have one as well and it's a great device, definitely my favorite out of the dozens of chromebooks we have at the office! (I'm a founder @…

I want to use Kami, but I am worried by the fact that it asks for permission to your entire Google Drive. Why doesn't Kami use the " https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.file permission" scope that gives only access to files created or opened with the app?

This. I wish Google Drive had a way to give apps permission to access only one folder. i.e I want Kami to be able to only access the "pdfs" folder in my drive.

Right now it seems apps can either access everything or they are restricted to their own private app folder which is hidden somewhere in drive.

Re: Google Pixelbook Is Google’s New Chromebook

#160

Post by jordanthoms »

sumitgt wrote: post #86
jordanthoms wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't usually plug on here but Kami ( web.kamihq.com ) lets you markup PDF documents on chromebooks, everything is kept as PDF annotations so they can be modified later. Stylus drawing on the Chromebook Plus works, though there's still some improvements I want to make to that - I have one as well and it's a great device, definitely my favorite out of the dozens of chromebooks we have at the office! (I'm a founder @…

I want to use Kami, but I am worried by the fact that it asks for permission to your entire Google Drive. Why doesn't Kami use the " https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.file permission" scope that gives only access to files created or opened with the app?

We used to use that, but unfortunately it's very buggy - we had many, many cases where a user would open a file with Kami, but the per-app permission would not be assigned by Google so it'd fail to open. For a while I had it so that we'd request the full drive access permission only if we hit that error, but in most cases it just meant we'd end up asking for permissions multiple times.

Probably the best option I can suggest if you don't want the permission is to use the open from local file button and choose a file from your synced drive folder or from the virtual drive folder on Chromebooks. You will lose the auto-saving to drive though.

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