Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

2015 Chromebook Pixel

google.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 657 posts

Re: 2015 Chromebook Pixel

#101

Post by moskie »

digi_owl wrote: post #87
moskie wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet many people use their MacBooks as a browser on steroids. Those people are the target audience of the Chromebook.

The whole ChromeOS project seems to have gotten underway because someone at Google observed how much of the computing time was spent inside the web browser. the problem with ChromeOS, imo, is how limited it becomes once you pull out the net connection. Never mind the whole lockdown unless you flip that "developer" switch.

But again, that doesn't really matter to people who are using their laptops as a browser on steroids. Whether you're using a Macbook or a Chromebook, you're SOL in either case if you mostly do your work in a browser.

Re: 2015 Chromebook Pixel

#102

Post by outworlder »

jonathantm wrote: post #86
state wrote: post #50

I really wish this didn't look like a bad imitation of an Apple product. Surely it's possible to build a nice looking laptop that doesn't look so similar to a MacBook. If you're going to do something different, just be different. I think these things are actually kind of sweet, but I can't stand the way they look.

#fanboy4life Show me a good looking laptop and I'll show you a laptop that somebody will say looks like something Apple made first. There are many ways this does not look like an Apple laptop. But you know what? It doesn't fucking matter. Buy it, don't buy it. Like it, don't like it. Whatever. Just - for the love of Ullr - please don't dirty this otherwise wonderful website with such fucking banal commentary. Say som…

> please don't dirty this otherwise wonderful website

Same goes for you.

Re: 2015 Chromebook Pixel

#103

Post by 27182818284 »

lsllc wrote: post #37
chatmasta wrote: post #15

Can you boot linux on it?

Would be very interested to see how well Ubuntu runs on this. As a once die-hard Apple fan I'm so sick of the mess that is Mac OS X Yosemite that I'm willing to abandon Apple and try a Linux laptop, but only if: 1) The wifi and sound work out of the box 2) Battery life is better than 2hrs 3) Suspend/resume works

I was Fedora, Ubuntu, and Arch before making the jump to OS X. I agree with you that they've gone downhill, but because of your numbers 1 and especially 2-3 I've always been negative on a laptop that isn't made by Apple. I've just had so many terrible experiences with PC laptops in those areas. They all work, but they have never worked as well.

Re: 2015 Chromebook Pixel

#104

Post by gh02t »

chadillac wrote: post #51
pjmlp wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least the MacBook is a real computer, not a browser on steroids.

Plot twist, even CR48s can run Arch and other light variants of Linux, with an i7 and 16GB of RAM, I have no doubt these will be capable as well. Now, about that price point...

I use the Asus Chromebox (small "desktop" ChromeOS machine) as an OpenELEC media center. It runs absolutely flawlessly, mostly because it's just a basic Intel Pentium system. From what I've heard, the ARM Chromebooks like the Samsung ones can be a bit trickier, but it can be done.

Re: 2015 Chromebook Pixel

#105

Post by digi_owl »

moskie wrote: post #101
digi_owl wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole ChromeOS project seems to have gotten underway because someone at Google observed how much of the computing time was spent inside the web browser. the problem with ChromeOS, imo, is how limited it becomes once you pull out the net connection. Never mind the whole lockdown unless you flip that "developer" switch.

But again, that doesn't really matter to people who are using their laptops as a browser on steroids. Whether you're using a Macbook or a Chromebook, you're SOL in either case if you mostly do your work in a browser.

True, but i was not thinking just about work. I keep seeing them pitched as simple devices for home "computing".

Re: 2015 Chromebook Pixel

#107

Post by tdkl »

VieElm wrote: post #93
pjmlp wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least the MacBook is a real computer, not a browser on steroids.

It's a real computer, it's just that people haven't written a lot of software for it. What kind of software can't you write for Chrome OS?

Photoshop.

Re: 2015 Chromebook Pixel

#108

Post by foodstances »

dman wrote: post #46
pjmlp wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least the MacBook is a real computer, not a browser on steroids.

You can install linux on it. I own the previous version of the Pixel and I run ubuntu on it and its close to perfect. Two things I would change are 1. Improve thermal cooling or move to a underpowered cpu. I have worked around it by rate limiting my CPU to not go over 800 MHz. With a few tweaks, it sips ~8.8W and gives me > 6 hrs of battery life. 2. Make the hinge a bit stiffer. My only other complaint is that it ref…

> My only other complaint is that it refuses to install FreeBSD.

Did you try installing SeaBIOS on it?

Re: 2015 Chromebook Pixel

#109

Post by Crito »

digi_owl wrote: post #87
moskie wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet many people use their MacBooks as a browser on steroids. Those people are the target audience of the Chromebook.

The whole ChromeOS project seems to have gotten underway because someone at Google observed how much of the computing time was spent inside the web browser. the problem with ChromeOS, imo, is how limited it becomes once you pull out the net connection. Never mind the whole lockdown unless you flip that "developer" switch.

> "Never mind the whole lockdown unless you flip that "developer" switch."

Speaking of which, it would be nice if that were a physical switch on Pixels. With the original Pixel at least, there is an issue that if your battery runs completely dead, the bit that tells the computer it should be in developer mode is unset. When that happens, if you have linux installed on it, you are hosed. Everything on the drive becomes inaccessible, and the only thing you can do is reflash ChromeOS.

If I am wrong about that, somebody please tell me. It is making me paranoid as hell about leaving it unplugged.

Post reply on HN