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My favorite device is a Chromebook

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Re: My favorite device is a Chromebook

#31

Post by adrr »

apgwoz wrote: post #19
dankwizard wrote: post #6

if you re-arrange the letters in 'chromebook' you get 'e-waste'.

While both technically wrong and true of every computer, many Chromebooks can run non-Googled Linux distros and far outlive their support term… $50 might get you a very nice, lightweight, and portable “netbook” on the used market that you can use another 5 years for basic tasks. ChromeOS, outside of being Googled, is quite capable (crostini is really nice), well secured (minus Google privacy concerns), and generally…

You get 10 years of updates.

https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/6220366?hl=en

Re: My favorite device is a Chromebook

#32

Post by dheera »

lantry wrote: post #26
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #24

My favorite device used to be a Chromebook. I got a maxed out Pixelbook in 2018 and I loved it, especially as Crostini got better and better over the years. It was my primary dev laptop and I loved using it. I think we know where this is going... Like many other things Google over the past decade, it died on the vine - IIRC Google killed their Chromebook devices group a couple years ago. I would have loved a Pixelboo…

framework makes a chromebook that you can put 64gb ram in. I don't think you can upgrade the cpu though

Just get the normal Framework, install Ubuntu on it and delete all the icons except for Chrome

Re: My favorite device is a Chromebook

#33

Post by tinix »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #24

My favorite device used to be a Chromebook. I got a maxed out Pixelbook in 2018 and I loved it, especially as Crostini got better and better over the years. It was my primary dev laptop and I loved using it. I think we know where this is going... Like many other things Google over the past decade, it died on the vine - IIRC Google killed their Chromebook devices group a couple years ago. I would have loved a Pixelboo…

right there with you!

it's an i7 chromebook with 16GB RAM and 500GB ssd. that's still unheard of to this day...

runs linux apps natively

runs android apps natively

runs windows apps through linux/wine/steam layer

it's lightweight (2 lbs), very thin and fanless

has a high DPI touchscreen

3:2 aspect ratio

the battery lasts 10+ hours

it can be folded over into tablet mode and supports a wacom stylus

it's a chromebook so it's secure, and i don't have to fuss w/ drivers, or linux dependency hell... it just works, but lets you dive into the guts through containers if you want it.

this is a laptop from 2017, mind you... it's 2024 now, and there is still nothing else like it, 7 years later. it's kinda sad...

as usual, google pushes the boundary, and then kills the product. it was supposed to spur other manufacturers to do similar things but that hasn't happened.

there are various assortments and combinations of machines, chromebook or plain PCs that run windows/linux, but nothing actually hits all the marks: high dpi, powerful CPU, lots of memory, touchscreen, small and light, fanless, with a long-lasting battery.

there's nothing else like it.

you can find medium-DPI chromebooks with 4-8GB of RAM, and no touchscreen, and fans, with crappy batteries. you can find 16GB RAM chromebooks w/ FHD (low DPI, and no touchscreen). there are chromebooks w/ 8GB RAM, no touchscreen, high dpi, and fans... there are all sorts of combos in between, but nothing is the form factor of the pixelbook with the features it has. i don't want a plastic piece of crap that breaks.

the closest thing is a macbook air, perhaps, but apple will never make touchscreens on laptops because they want to sell people ipads and macbooks

Re: My favorite device is a Chromebook

#34

Post by apgwoz »

adrr wrote: post #31
apgwoz wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While both technically wrong and true of every computer, many Chromebooks can run non-Googled Linux distros and far outlive their support term… $50 might get you a very nice, lightweight, and portable “netbook” on the used market that you can use another 5 years for basic tasks. ChromeOS, outside of being Googled, is quite capable (crostini is really nice), well secured (minus Google privacy concerns), and generally…

You get 10 years of updates. https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/6220366?hl=en

I had no idea they extended this to 10 years! This makes the original comment that much more wrong.

Re: My favorite device is a Chromebook

#35

Post by fuzzylightbulb »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #24

My favorite device used to be a Chromebook. I got a maxed out Pixelbook in 2018 and I loved it, especially as Crostini got better and better over the years. It was my primary dev laptop and I loved using it. I think we know where this is going... Like many other things Google over the past decade, it died on the vine - IIRC Google killed their Chromebook devices group a couple years ago. I would have loved a Pixelboo…

Can I ask what made you move on? I'm still using mine for basic tasks from the couch and as a travel device. It's perfect for taking to a cafe and crushing some email for a few hours. And the screen is a beauty.

Re: My favorite device is a Chromebook

#36

Post by eterps »

VHRanger wrote: post #7

My favorite device is an android phone these days. With termux, I can get most of my work done right away. This is especially true since I switched from VS Code to yazi+helix in the command line as an IDE. The rest of what I need works in a proot ubuntu instance[1] Also, since Android 13, the overall OS is pretty good with floating windows. Some brands (Samsung, Honor, etc.) have full on desktop experiences now with…

What's the complete setup like? Keyboard etc.?

Re: My favorite device is a Chromebook

#37

Post by NotSammyHagar »

dheera wrote: post #32
lantry wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

framework makes a chromebook that you can put 64gb ram in. I don't think you can upgrade the cpu though

Just get the normal Framework, install Ubuntu on it and delete all the icons except for Chrome

People do all those other things in the message above you on chromebooks, they don't just use chrome. That's why people like them.

Re: My favorite device is a Chromebook

#38

Post by nox101 »

dheera wrote: post #32
lantry wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

framework makes a chromebook that you can put 64gb ram in. I don't think you can upgrade the cpu though

Just get the normal Framework, install Ubuntu on it and delete all the icons except for Chrome

And deal with manually updating

Re: My favorite device is a Chromebook

#39

Post by NotSammyHagar »

rationalfaith wrote: post #17

"And what I think makes ChromeOS really powerful is Crostini, a full Linux VM that you can run inside ChromeOS".... This is akin to the person that uses their left hand to touch their right ear.... Both MacOS and Windows offer that without all constraints and privacy negligent services from Google/Alphabet.

There might be something more to it. There are a world of software engineers who have access to all that, including me, who find chromeos an excellent env to work on. I have a mac, google isn't spying on your when you write code in crostini and compile it.

Re: My favorite device is a Chromebook

#40

Post by type0 »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #24

My favorite device used to be a Chromebook. I got a maxed out Pixelbook in 2018 and I loved it, especially as Crostini got better and better over the years. It was my primary dev laptop and I loved using it. I think we know where this is going... Like many other things Google over the past decade, it died on the vine - IIRC Google killed their Chromebook devices group a couple years ago. I would have loved a Pixelboo…

If you want powerful hardware there's ChromeOS Flex, combine it with a framework laptop and you should be fine
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