Unboxing a $100 Chromebook • Hacker News Board

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#21

Post by yjftsjthsd-h » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 2:46 AM UTC

> Like, real Linux, not some weird virtualized or translated environment.

Ah, no. It is very much specifically in a container inside a VM. Now, full credit where it's due: You're unlikely to notice. Performance is good, they've done work integrating it (filesystem integration, forwarding windows to the host display servers through Sommelier). But native it is not.

(Details: https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/docs/+/HEAD/con...)

EDIT: I guess I should mention; this does come up occasionally in ways that can actually matter. IIRC I got bit by the (default?) container setup not allowing you to ptrace, you can't mount filesystems or loop devices (https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/docs/+/HEAD/con...), and you can't touch the kernel or hardware (https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/docs/+/HEAD/con... and https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/docs/+/HEAD/con... ).

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#22

Post by least » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 2:47 AM UTC

This reads like an advertisement and the constant comparisons with Apple products is weird. I can only assume the comparisons are being made because he or the people around him use very expensive Macbooks, but It doesn't help that this thread was written by the submitter and that he happens to be an engineer at Google talking about how great this cheap Chromebook is.

Looking past that, It's good for developers to have some low end hardware to test their software on and I think that every web developer should be required to test their applications on hardware comparable to this, if not even less powerful.

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#23

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 2:47 AM UTC

rektide wrote: post #19

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 wan…

[deleted]

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#24

Post by pella » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 2:47 AM UTC

in the EU

159EUR ... 250EUR ...

https://geizhals.de/?fs=Chromebook++Celeron+N4020&hloc=at&hl...

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#25

Post by WrtCdEvrydy » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 2:49 AM UTC

So what's really funny is that I've done a lot of stuff with older hardware like this. I use caprover on a cloud provider and then add extra nodes at home with cheap laptops that I've collected over the years.

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#26

Post by jollybean » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 2:49 AM UTC

'For Less Than a Tank of Gas'.

That's something to think about right there.

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#27

Post by bribroder » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 2:49 AM UTC

rwalle wrote: post #14

Mandatum wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

This is the side-specific overheating issue mentioned--not sure it really speaks to the reasoning for thunderbolt vs usb-c on one or both sides but the side-specific charging issue was a real thing:

https://www.cultofmac.com/705319/macbook-pro-overheats-charg...

https://www.zdnet.com/article/can-a-simple-charging-mistake-...

https://www.ibtimes.com/why-your-macbook-pro-might-be-overhe...

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/363337/how-to-find...

https://www.extremetech.com/computing/309802-charging-a-macb...

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#28

Post by webwanderings » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 2:50 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).

I've had two over relatively few years. Both became paperweights. Cheap chromebooks are not worth wasting money.

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#29

Post by Wowfunhappy » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 2:50 AM UTC

How are the keyboard and trackpad?

IMO, bad trackpads are the biggest pitfall of cheap (and not-so-cheap) laptops, by far. At least with a bad screen you can still generally read the interface without too much trouble, but a bad trackpad can make a computer really frustrating to use!

Re: Unboxing a $100 Chromebook

#30

Post by MonkeyClub » Sat, Jul 23, 2022, 2:50 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.

Not really. I’m still using 2013 MBAs daily, and they’re pretty snappy. I do keep them on a cool, old Yosemite, though.