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2015 Chromebook Pixel

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Re: 2015 Chromebook Pixel

#411

Post by evilduck »

jusben1369 wrote: post #334
benihana wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At this point, I find this whole thing funny. Again. How many times has Apple done this in modern times? Remember the outrage when Apple removed floppy disk drives? Optical drives? Ethernet ports? Remember how mad everyone got when Apple replaced their old, thick connector on the iPhone 5? Nobody complains about how thin their phone is now that the old 30pin connector is no longer the limiting factor on size. Nobody…

I understand your general point and think it holds true. However, I would say in my mind that the way Apple can decide to change their connector and suddenly make redundant a full range of downstream devices (house and car chargers, general chargers, audio equipment) is a real negative and one of the 3 or 4 things that keeps me from moving back over from Android.

Android OEMs recently stabilized onto Mini-B but I've seen Android phones with Micro-B on them in the past and Samsung even had their own Apple 40-pin knock off for a while. Now all signs are pointing towards Android OEMs adopting the Type C port soon too, so you're getting a fourth port option for Android in the last 5 years.

Re: 2015 Chromebook Pixel

#412

Post by pgeorgi »

Crito wrote: post #109
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.

> "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 become…

The issue is fixed on Pixel 2: "And yes the issue with dev/legacy enable state being lost when the battery drains has been fixed as the state is now saved in the TPM instead of CMOS" (comment to https://plus.google.com/+OlofJohansson/posts/1yopVMjEhjK)

Re: 2015 Chromebook Pixel

#413

Post by badloginagain »

Google develops a laptop that I have high interest in, but no use for.

If they want to win the App Ecosystem war, they need to ensure that the developers have the tools to build in their ecosystem. Apple dominates because hackers love macbooks, and provide slick tools that only work in Apple's walled garden. This propagates down to the consumer level, as developers build products consumers love- with Apple taking in the profit all the way down.

Google doesn't have that. They don't have a toolset available to developers to optimize for Android/ChromeOS/etc. They need to fix the fragmentation problem at the App Developer level before they can compete at the consumer level.

Re: 2015 Chromebook Pixel

#414

Post by fragmede »

gknoy wrote: post #310
fragmede wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's really not though. There's crouton which makes it trivial to setup a chroot - https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton which is good enough for most users. If you'd rather blow away ChromeOS and install Ubuntu, it's just a few commands on the command line to boot from USB and install Ubuntu.

My biggest worry is the ease with which one can accidentally wipe out everything and reset it to factory settings every time you boot up. I might be super careful, but all I need is for my four or seven year old to turn it on wrong, and suddenly I fear I'd have a several hour fix-it session. If it came with a setting that would let me make changes more permanent (e.g., a BIOS setting), I'd want one in a heartbeat.

That 'setting' exists in the form of opening it up, unscrewing a screw to enable flashing, and then flashing the BIOS.

Re: 2015 Chromebook Pixel

#415

Post by Sodman »

jrochkind1 wrote: post #351
Sodman wrote: post #320

Owner of a 2013 Chromebook Pixel here - This new model definitely excites me. I've switched between running Debian natively on boot and running Ubuntu in crouton. As a Java/Web developer, my main gripes with the original Pixel are: -4GB RAM is uncomfortable. Usable, but you need to manage what's running -Battery life isn't great... I was seeing ~3-3.5 hrs during my 'real use'. -Overheating - Gets very hot when doing…

As an actual owner of a Chromebook Pixel... what would make you buy the new model instead of a similarly priced MacBook Air (much better battery life, more realistically sized SSD, better designed with no loose hinges etc, can still boot into Linux if you want)? Just prefer ChromeOS to OSX? Or the touchscreen? Something else?

I was tempted to get a MacBook Pro instead of the original pixel, but at that price point at the time the only one available was the 13" non-retina model (possibly even with a HDD, can't remember). The trade-up to SSD/High-res and the curiosity of the 'new shiny laptop from Google' sold me.

In terms of upgrading to one in 2015, Google are claiming 12 hour battery life and The Verge said it got 14 hours in their testing - which is more than enough for me. I personally just don't like OSX, although I'd be happy installing linux on a MBP. ChromeOS is fine for a few quick browser tasks (Amazon, Booking Flights, etc), but it's not worth keeping around really. So at that point it just boils down to personal preference on the hardware, and price. The build-quality of the keyboard and touchpad on the pixel are on-par with the high quality of the MBP, and they've made the hinge more solid this time around, so with an i7 processor and 16GBs of RAM at $1300 I'm pretty happy! The 64GB SSD is definitely a major buzzkill, but considering I won't be using this laptop for gaming, and I stream all of my music/tv/movies, I don't actually need a whole pile of local storage. With my current pixel's 64GB I never ran into any issues - the only thing that I feel is a threat to my diskspace is VM images for virtualbox, which I luckily don't have to use much anymore as I now have remote access to windows servers should I need them. The touchscreen (for me) is pointless, I'd much rather have a 128GB/256GB SSD, but it's not the end of the world.

Re: 2015 Chromebook Pixel

#416

Post by X-Istence »

adrianN wrote: post #309
X-Istence wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A friend of mine just sold his 2009 MacBook Pro for $1500, he originally purchased it for $2400 IIRC. That's only $900 worth of deprecation in 6 years.

Last year I bought a 2008 MacBook Pro for 200 Eur. Your friend ripped somebody off.

Or you got a REALLY good deal.

This thing was in almost perfect condition, no scratches, drops, nothing.

Re: 2015 Chromebook Pixel

#417

Post by bri3d »

darcyparker wrote: post #330
zanny wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought this years XPS 13 from Dell looked really slick. When it comes out in Sputnik mode it will definitely be the Linux notebook of the year.

It's a nice laptop... but underspec'd for me. I'd like to see USB-C and more than 1920 x 1080 resolution. I don't care as much about the resolution on a 13" screen. But I'd like to be able to drive a 4K monitor. It's not clear to me whether it can drive a 4K monitor with its display port.

There's an optional 3200x1800 resolution display.

Also, unless Dell have done something very strange it should be able to drive 4K, although I haven't found any confirmation.

Re: 2015 Chromebook Pixel

#418

Post by abalone »

jusben1369 wrote: post #334
benihana wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At this point, I find this whole thing funny. Again. How many times has Apple done this in modern times? Remember the outrage when Apple removed floppy disk drives? Optical drives? Ethernet ports? Remember how mad everyone got when Apple replaced their old, thick connector on the iPhone 5? Nobody complains about how thin their phone is now that the old 30pin connector is no longer the limiting factor on size. Nobody…

I understand your general point and think it holds true. However, I would say in my mind that the way Apple can decide to change their connector and suddenly make redundant a full range of downstream devices (house and car chargers, general chargers, audio equipment) is a real negative and one of the 3 or 4 things that keeps me from moving back over from Android.

But that's not true, is it? The old interfaces are generally still supported with adapters, like this.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD824ZM/A/lightning-to-30-...

So at worst you can complain that existing equipment may require an adapter. That seems like a fair price for progress to me.

Re: 2015 Chromebook Pixel

#419

Post by mark-r »

revelation wrote: post #235
fizzbatter wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, you're not running VMWare on the Pixel either (i don't think?). I'm skeptical that it is even a problem for just about anything you can actually run on the OS. It's a Chromebook afterall, running disk-utilizing programs is not it's design speciality. Sure, you could dump Linux on it - but i'm not sure how many would choose a Pixel over some other highend brands for a Linux machine. I believe the disk is m…

Surely a majority of people buying this won't be running the actual Chromebook system on it? What application can you even run on that system that would use 8GiB of RAM and an i5? And last I checked, you couldn't even run Skype on it, so I mean I just come up pretty much empty for the set of people willing to run Chromebook the OS and buy a 1k machine to do it. Since Chromebook is Linux under the hood, they'll presum…

I just bought more RAM for my PC because the 4GB I had wasn't enough for all the tabs I keep open in Chrome. Every time I switch to a tab that wasn't open for a while it would swap like mad and become unresponsive.

Re: 2015 Chromebook Pixel

#420

Post by pg_is_a_butt »

fuzzywalrus wrote: post #398
dogecoinbase wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally! And moreover, Apple's been on this get-rid-of-all-the-cables kick since at least the introduction of AudioVision 14 Display... in 1993 . Anyone else remember the NeXT's unified power/display/keyboard/mouse/audio cable? ADC cables that passed power, display, and USB through the Cinema displays? Aside from not relying on outside technologies for their success, eliminating cables has basically been Apple's cent…

While Apple has been in the business of simplifying ports there is a difference at least in previous cases we were ready to move on I'd argue. Back in 1999 I don't think I had used a floppy for a few years, zip drives? Sure, but not a floppy. Dropping the optical drive was bound to happen, I don't think I've really used a optical media bay outside of a game console for years. However, every day at work, I plug my Mac…

define "hurt". having a single port simplifies the hardware bridge. multiplexing that to 4 ports would draw more power.

what if you could have a battery that lasted 8 hours on a charge, or 8 hours and 20 minutes. what if the difference was only 5 minutes? what if it was an hour? pretty obvious then.

with portable devices, battery life should trump most things.

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