I use a 2015 Chromebook Pixel.
- Stand up an Amazon WorkSpace and RDP to it for Windows work - Use Android apps - Install Ubuntu using crouton
That's pretty much it. Use it all day every day.
Ask HN: Are Chromebooks ready for serious development?
71–80 of 190 posts
Re: Ask HN: Are Chromebooks ready for serious development?
#72I don't understand the authors choice to limit himself to Apple or Google. You've been able to do development on Linux notebooks (and Windows notebooks, of course) since decades. I can absolutely recommend Dell (and ThinkPad, though not from personal experience) notebooks with Ubuntu preinstalled/officially supported. Or is the question if a Chromebook is en vogue to use this season at Starbucks?
The only advantage that the chromebook is going to have is being optimized to run on arm. Otherwise switching to any standard flavor of Linux would be a much better bet for a dev.
Re: Ask HN: Are Chromebooks ready for serious development?
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Having everything already in the cloud in a production-like environment has enormous advantages. Could you talk about this a little more? I have never used C9. I use git and an IDE on multiple devices (Linux on home desktop, Windows on old ass laptop, macOS at work) so I can work in basically the same environment on any of those devices any time. Granted, I can’t just pull up a browser on any device, but that seems…
In reality those environments are not "the same". You have all sorts of libraries that are compiled and set up specifically for your system, and those differences add up. With Cloud 9 everything is on an EC2 instance with Linux, exactly the same platform as I will deploy in production.
But why not just use VMWare with Linux locally?
Re: Ask HN: Are Chromebooks ready for serious development?
#74I've been doing that for years: http://kmkeen.com/c100p-tweaks/ Development doesn't require any more CPU than word processing. You're type stuff up, and there is a pretty strict grammar check. I don't get why people why people want to run huge things on a laptop. It is way more economical to shell into a beefy server when you need big iron instead of carrying it with you.
> Development doesn't require any more CPU than word processing
Please tell that to my local k8s cluster.
Re: Ask HN: Are Chromebooks ready for serious development?
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
How has your experience been with battery and portability? I'm leaning towards buying a new laptop that I can carry around comfortably. I'm comfortable with remotely working on a more powerful PC if needed. Any models you'd recommend? I much rather would pick anything else over a MacBook.
I've got a Dell XPS 13", and I'm absoluting loving it; especially the keyboard works great for me as a touch typist/vi user, which I didn't expect since the keyboard is what ThinkPads are acclaimed for. That said, battery mileage is no match to Apple notebooks in my experience. I can get 3 to 4 hours max, though I'm occasionally doing CPU-intense stuff which will reduce this to 1-2 hours. If Apple actually would prod…
My XPS 13 (second gen) had much better battery life with (what sounds) similar usage.
- you have a recent kernel? Also, 4.17 should bring battery-related improvements
- did you install TLP[0]?
[0] http://linrunner.de/en/tlp/docs/tlp-linux-advanced-power-man...
Re: Ask HN: Are Chromebooks ready for serious development?
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm so deeply confused right now that I thought this thread was a joke but now I'm thinking its not. I'm in the state that shall not be named on the other side of the world from California but when I go to tech meet ups, 90% of the room is running Ubuntu/Linux Mint or some other variety with a sprinkling of Macbooks. Is it seriously that different? What do the Starbucks around that area look like? edit I should point…
Pretty much all MacBook Pros. Maybe 15-20:1 these days over devs on Linux machines from what I've seen. It's funny because growing up as an Apple user in the mid 90s it was reversed. And we didn't have a package manager like Homebrew on OS 9. It's so much easier to be a Mac dev today than historically.
My MBP runs linux, as does the MBP of every other developer at my office (there are also 2 dells running linux).
Re: Ask HN: Are Chromebooks ready for serious development?
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've got a Dell XPS 13", and I'm absoluting loving it; especially the keyboard works great for me as a touch typist/vi user, which I didn't expect since the keyboard is what ThinkPads are acclaimed for. That said, battery mileage is no match to Apple notebooks in my experience. I can get 3 to 4 hours max, though I'm occasionally doing CPU-intense stuff which will reduce this to 1-2 hours. If Apple actually would prod…
Does it have a replacable battery? I'd be less annoyed about 4 hours of battery if I could swap. (Also if anyone knows of a model that's got more of a focus on battery life for someone who is SSHing into external machines for most CPU intensive tasks I'd be all ears)
I have the Dell XPS 13 9350, bought used. When doing standard programming stuff (firefox + sublime + spotify, no CPU intensive tasks), I usually get around 8 hours of battery, so in practice it's never a problem.
Re: Ask HN: Are Chromebooks ready for serious development?
#78I'm doing all my development on a HP Chromebook 13 G1. While the CPU is low-powered, and I since ditched the ChromeOS for a custom Linux, it's a fairly capable machine, and very cheap for what it offers. My recent 1-year review is on https://llogiq.github.io/2018/03/02/chromebook.html
Any chance you've considered getting a Chromebook Pro or Pixelbook? I've been eyeballing one to give Chromebooks for dev another shot as an alternate machine. I'm currently trying to determine between the two if the Pixelbook is worth the ~2x price tag.
Re: Ask HN: Are Chromebooks ready for serious development?
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've got a Dell XPS 13", and I'm absoluting loving it; especially the keyboard works great for me as a touch typist/vi user, which I didn't expect since the keyboard is what ThinkPads are acclaimed for. That said, battery mileage is no match to Apple notebooks in my experience. I can get 3 to 4 hours max, though I'm occasionally doing CPU-intense stuff which will reduce this to 1-2 hours. If Apple actually would prod…
Does it have a replacable battery? I'd be less annoyed about 4 hours of battery if I could swap. (Also if anyone knows of a model that's got more of a focus on battery life for someone who is SSHing into external machines for most CPU intensive tasks I'd be all ears)
No, the XPSs don't have replaceable batteries either. The XPS 13 is a very tiny notebook/subnotebook, yet with full-size keyboard and all the performance of a larger notebook (it's very noticeably faster than my 2012 MacMini which also has an i7).
I guess battery mileage is mostly a function of the O/S and drivers, and your power settings and what you actually do on the notebook.
Re: Ask HN: Are Chromebooks ready for serious development?
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
XPS 13 user here, big fan
Counterpoint here, XPS 13 user, hate it. Worst coil whine I've heard on anything, fan sounds like it's catching, WiFi on Ubuntu very unreliable. Trackpad is atrocious. I think it varies a lot between models.
I can't help with the coil whine, but replacing the Wifi card is cheap and easy. I bought this on, albeit for the 9550: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0167N9R8E/ref=oh_aui_se... which is currently showing as $25.
Yeah, we can blame Dell a bit for this, but Wifi drivers are a problem for a lot of systems.
Replacing the fan may be worth a try, too. Google for the service manual for your system which will give you a step-by-step instruction guide with pictures, and the parts are easy to come by.
Still can't help with the coil whine or the trackpad, though. (Though generally I've heard people say it's the best trackpad outside of Apple. I can't speak to that, my standards for trackpads seem to be relatively low compared to a lot of people's, because I've been content with a lot of trackpads that the consensus says are bad.)