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Googlebook

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Re: Googlebook

#172
post #158

I attended Google I/O in 2013 and was given a Chromebook Pixel, their $1300 laptop. The hardware was very, very nice, and I quite enjoyed using it for a while. One day, I dropped it and damaged the screen well outside of its warranty period. "Oh no," I thought. "This is probably going to be pretty expensive to fix." So, bracing for the damage, I called up Google and told them what had happened. They replied that ther…

[flagged]

MacBooks aren't that unrepairable, you just have to go to someone who isn't Apple. Apple will tell you that you have to replace the entire logic board, and then you go to the independent repair shop and they can fix whatever it was for $100.

I've repaired my MacBooks multiple times before (although not one in the last seven years, so maybe they are totally unrepairable, but I doubt it).

The main issue is that Apple will want to replace everything to avoid you coming back and saying it didn't work, when it's actually a different issue.

Re: Googlebook

#173
lmao can’t render on safari, get “this page was reloaded because a problem repeatedly occurred.”

Maybe someone could invent a format for presenting text and images over the internet that didn’t each require each text presenter to write custom (buggy) shader code?

Re: Googlebook

#174

"Designed for Gemini Intelligence" is the primary marketing tag on the splash page. It's so underwhelming I'm not even going to bother to look into the details. Are people pleading for a laptop that is even more highly integrated with AI, above all else?

Google have been terrible at copywriting (at least in their hardware line) for as long as I can remember. Here's an example from 2020: https://x.com/TheOisinMoran/status/1312560706965983234

It's a shame because I love the Pixel series and they're doing it a disservice by not marketing it better. Apple's copy on the other hand is generally excellent.

Re: Googlebook

#175
post #29

So... they built a right-click-slop-generator and that's the default experience you get as the context menu? Gross. I thought the Windows 11 miscreation was bad enough. also, second question in re sideloading: do the Googlebooks get the 24 hour fuckoff window for enabling sideloading or can I just walk granny through loading an .apk direct on the laptop

You can say whatever, but I'll be calling this a 'slop-down menu' from now on.

Re: Googlebook

#176
post #121

I have a hard time seeing how any Chromebook above $ 349,- could still survive in an post-MacBook Neo age. Say what you want, a cheap Windows laptop at least has an edge on obscure software compatibility over MacOS and a notebook running any modern Linux distro gets the luxury of user control. ChromeOS meanwhile has neither. Paying more for worst in class software compatibility inferior build quality, design and rest…

> ChromeOS meanwhile has the worst compatibility off all four

ChromeOS can run desktop Linux software and Android software, so it definitely isnt worse than Mac. Its probably even better than Windows. Of course, if you need Mac/Windows software, Web/Android/Linux alternatives might not exist or might be worse. But the devices are hardly lacking software compatibility.

Re: Googlebook

#177

As someone with a closet full of dead Google devices, I just can’t get excited about new hardware from them. I think LLMs have the potential to make computers work how we’ve always envisioned them to (i.e. 60s sci-fi), but I’m also not convinced a dedicated laptop is the right form. With that said, a 128GB RAM MacBook Pro is getting tantalizingly close to running useful local LLMs. If the Googlebook was announced as…

I know people are kinda freaky on here with all the LLM love, but saying "tantalizing" here is a little on the nose, if not just plain weird. Get a room!

Re: Googlebook

#178
I’m waiting on these to be 70% off. Assuming an open boot loader or anyway to run Linux on it, looks like a clean computer.

I don’t know what normal person wants this though. The Neo is enough for most, and if I need more I’m probably going to want a real os. Not ChromeOS++

Re: Googlebook

#179
post #163

Impressive feat of confused branding that Google has marketed Chromebooks, Pixelbooks, and Googlebooks.

Upcoming launches: Mapsbook, Waymobook, Walletbook, Authenticatorbook, ...

Re: Googlebook

#180

I attended Google I/O in 2013 and was given a Chromebook Pixel, their $1300 laptop. The hardware was very, very nice, and I quite enjoyed using it for a while. One day, I dropped it and damaged the screen well outside of its warranty period. "Oh no," I thought. "This is probably going to be pretty expensive to fix." So, bracing for the damage, I called up Google and told them what had happened. They replied that ther…

Those original Chromebook Pixels were awesome machines. I wish they'd had open bootloaders, but I seem to recall you had to keep it in developer mode which required a nag screen, or something along those lines, if you wanted to run your own OS on it.

You can easily remove the nag screen by opening the device and unscrewing a screw and running coreboot with SeaBIOS. Pretty neat security approach (not too hard to do, not too easy for a layman to fall for instructions to self-compromise). I have two that work just fine today.
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