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The Chromebook Pixel

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Re: The Chromebook Pixel

#261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean the iPad? I remember the iPhone having a very positive reaction. As a general rule, most of the time when people say "this is going to be a failure" they are right. The iPad is the exception, not the rule. And Apple has market-making ability that Google can only dream of.

Well, I mean, given that most new product launches and most new business ventures fail, of course the naysayers will be right more often. That doesn't mean they actually have insight into why products fail. So, that having been said and because this is the internet, I'll rush in with my probably foolish and ill-advised explanation for with this won't be a game changer: In this case, I think the price vs. capabilities…

> That doesn't mean they actually have insight into why products fail.

I think it's gut reaction: I wouldn't use this product or recommend it to my friends. I think most of the time, that gut reaction is on point. Sometimes it's wrong, like the iPad, because you don't see the use for it until you try it, but that's the exception.

Re: The Chromebook Pixel

#262
post #230
post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. ChromeOS is not for such powerful machines, because the OS itself is not powerful. So ChromeOS with a $1000 machine is far from a perfect match (at least it isn't yet, maybe 5-10 years from now). But right now ChromeOS is and should be for light web machines. And I've said it many times before. There's absolutely no reason for Chromebooks to use x86 chips. I've said Google will almost surely mess up the pric…

There's absolutely no reason for Chromebooks to use x86 chips. What about people that prefer trading some battery life for some performance?

It's an i5 processor, 2 cores at 1.8ghz. New generation arm processors, for example the tegra 4, is quad core at 1.9ghz.

Wouldn't it be both more powerful and have more battery life, if it had waited for the tegra 4? Or am I missing something?

Re: The Chromebook Pixel

#263
post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So I have to buy another machine to develop and test my stuff on? What's the point of a powerful laptop if it's just a dumb terminal to connect to my actual development machine? Why not just buy a $300 super cheap laptop and do the exact same thing? Sure I'll have less resolution on the machine, but seeing as the developing is happening on another machine all together, it seems like the performance would be similar.

Well, if you're a developer, presumably this isn't the first computer you have owned. I'm using a 5 year old cheapy HP laptop as my dev server and it works wonderfully. There are other alternatives, of course, Cloud9 premium account gives you full shell access, Action.IO gives you full shell access as well.

Regarding the idea of using an old laptop as a dev server, have you run into any issues as a result of having the laptop on all the time (such as overheating)?

Also, how would you set it up so that you can log in to your laptop from outside your LAN? I have a few old machines lying around and it would be great if I could put them to use as servers.

Re: The Chromebook Pixel

#264
post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By "specs like this," I'm assuming you just mean the high resolution display. I disagree that a hi-res display is only useful or "meaningful" for development, design, or gaming. It's great for web browsing, which is my main usage for the iPad, and I happily upgraded from iPad 2 to the 3rd generation iPad just for the retina display.

I imagine "specs like this" is referring to the Core i5 rather than the display.

The i5 is hardly a gratuitous CPU. It's a fairly mid-range CPU. The phrasing of the first comment sounds like it's talking about some completely over the top system, like a 12 core Mac Pro.

Re: The Chromebook Pixel

#267
post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If buying a product makes the buyer happy, you can hardly call the purchase "irrational."

A product making a buyer happy is not a condition for whether a purchase is rational or not. If you have a family, then suddenly you decide to buy a ticket to Amsterdam and burn your kids college money on hookers and blow, being 'happy' doesn't suddenly make all of that rational.

Yes, it does. It's selfish, and socially unacceptable, but it's rational.
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