Unboxing a $100 Chromebook • Hacker News Board

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#11

Post by Mandatum » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 2:18 AM UTC

saagarjha wrote: post #5

> It even has USB-C ports on BOTH sides of the device, which seems to be a Pro-level feature for Apple. Not trying to nitpick or anything but Apple used to offer USB ports on both sides of their non-Pro laptops, but in the new ones they offer Thunderbolt ports rather than USB C. My understanding is that they only offer ports on one side to let them only need to use one Thunderbolt controller. (The Pro machines with 3…

I’m pretty sure they did this for thermals. It’s a really common issue to resolve thermal throttling by changing your power cable from left to the right side so the power from energy draw doesn’t cause heat to dissipate internally.

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#12

Post by prvc » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 2:20 AM UTC

That's nice, but Chromebooks are designed to become e-waste after a period of only a few years (updates stop after the device gets to be a few years old).

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#13

Post by rwalle » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 2:32 AM UTC

prvc wrote: post #12

That's nice, but Chromebooks are designed to become e-waste after a period of only a few years (updates stop after the device gets to be a few years old).

Most laptops become e-waste after a few years. Want an example? Macbooks before 2017 which no longer get any more major system updates and run as slow as turtle compared to the latest ones.

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#14

Post by rwalle » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 2:34 AM UTC

Mandatum wrote: post #11

saagarjha wrote: post #5

> It even has USB-C ports on BOTH sides of the device, which seems to be a Pro-level feature for Apple. Not trying to nitpick or anything but Apple used to offer USB ports on both sides of their non-Pro laptops, but in the new ones they offer Thunderbolt ports rather than USB C. My understanding is that they only offer ports on one side to let them only need to use one Thunderbolt controller. (The Pro machines with 3…

I’m pretty sure they did this for thermals. It’s a really common issue to resolve thermal throttling by changing your power cable from left to the right side so the power from energy draw doesn’t cause heat to dissipate internally.

Source?

Everywhere I see people talk about this issue, it points to cost saving -- what saajatjha meant

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#15

Post by jasoneckert » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 2:39 AM UTC

While I have no use case for a Celeron-based Chromebook myself, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this tweet thread as it progresses beautifully while examining the cost-feature angle via multiple humorous analogies. In other words, it's a beautifully designed tweet thread that keeps the reader entertained.

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#16

Post by kstenerud » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 2:40 AM UTC

prvc wrote: post #12

That's nice, but Chromebooks are designed to become e-waste after a period of only a few years (updates stop after the device gets to be a few years old).

My C302 flip chromebook was released in 2017 and is currently downloading the 4th OS update this year (rebooting after I post this).

And unlike almost every other device I've owned, it's still as snappy as the day I bought it. Plus now it also runs Android and Linux apps to boot. I use it mainly for golang and python development in VS code.

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#17

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 2:41 AM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#18

Post by wishfish » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 2:44 AM UTC

shrubble wrote: post #4

https://www.microcenter.com/product/649971/evolve-iii-maestr... On sale $59.99 ; regular price $79.99. Smallish keyboard however...

I'm a little tempted by this one. One thing that makes it even more tempting is that the LTE card can be removed and replaced with an SSD. Was curious about Linux on it and found this very useful post on Reddit.

https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxhardware/comments/tk6hdp/evolv...

Looks pretty feasible other than the WiFi driver annoyances.

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#19

Post by rektide » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 2:44 AM UTC

it's like 800x what an ARM SBC gets you. fuck ARM, mass incompetency. (new Qualcomm Wear 5: a 10 year old Cortex A53... get out. how is an ancient design the "low power" go-to?)

i'm so glad x86 has a basic self respecting low-end that does ok. i have a Chuwi Lapbook 12.3 that- 5 years ago- was a similar-ish kit for there's just no one to keep a reasonable low end other than Intel. i love love love & wanted wanted wanted to get some AMD 1-liter mini-pcs, but they just never became available, and prices spiraled up and up and up. there's still no competition for a reasonable computer compared to what Intel offers us. this world is in huge denial.

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#20

Post by ericpauley » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 2:46 AM UTC

rwalle wrote: post #13

prvc wrote: post #12

That's nice, but Chromebooks are designed to become e-waste after a period of only a few years (updates stop after the device gets to be a few years old).

Most laptops become e-waste after a few years. Want an example? Macbooks before 2017 which no longer get any more major system updates and run as slow as turtle compared to the latest ones.

macOS Catalina is still receiving security updates and supports devices from 2012 and later. Not receiving new features after 5 years hardly makes a device e-waste.