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$149 Chromebooks

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Re: $149 Chromebooks

#361

Post by aikah »

mariusmg wrote: post #102
jdietrich wrote: post #94

This is a colossal, market-moving play from Google. Look at the brand names. TRUE, XOLO, Nexian. Recognise them? Consumers in Thailand, India and Indonesia do - they are local smartphone brands. Look at the promo video. Notice how many Asian faces there are? This isn't about cheap Chromebooks, it's about a major strategic effort to court the global middle class. As with the Android One initiative, Google are seeking…

The middle class can afford to pluck down a few more bucks and get a device with a real OS...

Don't bother, this thread is totally astroturfed by paid googlers. What you can read here is just insane. I can't believe HN is alllowing this. This product is crap,but boy they are selling it hard here.

Re: $149 Chromebooks

#362

Post by aikah »

Mikeb85 wrote: post #355
aikah wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Google's goal is to be able to address the affordability and at the same time not sacrificing quality. Google's goal is to sell its cloud services, not the hardware here. The specs are crappy and that laptop is basically useless if you are doing anything else than internet. Sure it cost 150$, but that's an expensive surfing machine. And Google is off course selling internet services... > I think this product will d…

> Why would people want to pay JUST for a fucking browser? Because there's a lot you can do with a browser these days. You can even run offline apps and native code (Emscripten, NaCl, PNaCl). Also, if you turn on developer mode, you can access all the Gentoo bits that hide underneath the Chrome bits. Consider common use cases - word processing, social media, organising photos, communication - all can be done with a s…

> Because there's a lot you can do with a browser these days. You can even run offline apps and native code (Emscripten, NaCl, PNaCl).

Sure it's true for hipsters, but we are not talking about them right now.

Re: $149 Chromebooks

#363

Post by DanBC »

millstone wrote: post #359
eli wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These things are only obvious in retrospect. Why did the iPod create a new market when the Nomad MP3 Player already existed?

In the case of the iPod, the answer is surely the iTunes Music Store, which was the first legal online store that sold popular music in digital formats.

No it wasn't.

Here's an article from 1999 about a variety of digital music distribution.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb99/articles/netnotes.559....

Re: $149 Chromebooks

#364

Post by robotresearcher »

jhall1468 wrote: post #239
ntakasaki wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean Google does not know exactly how many Chromebooks are being sold by Asus, Lenovo, HP, etc?

No. Why would they? You think Asus, Lenovo and HP are giving sales data to Google?

All the Chromebooks phone home regularly checking for updates, etc. Google knows exactly how many have been used and are in use now.

Re: $149 Chromebooks

#365

Post by robotresearcher »

ntakasaki wrote: post #200
ef4 wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An awful lot of people pluck down premium-level bucks for iOS, which is even more neutered than ChromeOS. Consumers have spoken, they do not care.

> iOS, which is even more neutered than ChromeOS I disagree, developers can develop native apps for iOS even if they need to go through the App Store. Only crippled web apps are allowed on Chrome OS and only Google can develop really native apps.

Google publishes instructions on how to unlock the boot loader and install whatever you want. Apple does not.

Re: $149 Chromebooks

#366

Post by pgeorgi »

Scarbutt wrote: post #356
jrockway wrote: post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apps running in a window can capture whatever keys they want. So Control-W is interpreted by your shell/app, not by the browser (closing the window). In a tab the browser keybindings still exist, so be sure to set "open in new window" by right-clicking the app before running. Terminal settings are configurable and persistent. You can have as many windows open as you like. Here's the app: https://chrome.google.com/web…

cool, I think I'm getting one, one last question :) you said it is your main workstation, I'm guessing you are an external monitor, how well does external monitors work?

Fine.

There's a dialog for setting up resolutions and relative position of the screens to each other. Attaching a screen means that it's automatically fired up with its default settings.

Each screen has the window bar, and clicking on icons there opens the respective website/app on that screen.

When closing the laptop with an attached screen, it merely disabled the display (instead of going to sleep completely) which was confusing the first time but actually makes sense and is how other devices handle the situation as well.

Re: $149 Chromebooks

#367

Post by pgeorgi »

TheTaO wrote: post #321
nevir wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think having a "full OS" factors very much into the decision process for someone considering this kind of device.

Not phrased that way but phrasedmore like: why can't I run skype on this? Or why can't I use this while on plane and so on

Why no Skype? Because the owner of Skype doesn't feel like supporting that. That may make these devices unsuitable for you, but consider that this same owner may want to consider dropping service for you on your other devices, too.

(The ubiquitous presence of an ISA/OS pair is a historical anomaly, and I believe it's on the way out)

You can't log in to a Chromebook for the first time while on a plane. After initialization, for example the Google Docs suite works pretty well with no connection - and so could any other web app that doesn't rely on connectivity for its base operation: eg. Skype on Windows on a plane will work just as bad as Hangouts on Chrome OS on a plane.

Re: $149 Chromebooks

#368

Post by STRML »

nemexy wrote: post #79

The most important thing of these Chromebooks, at least for me, is the quality of the touchpad and keyboard, as if I ever get one they will be used mainly for typing stuff/chatting. There is a reason why I still us an almost decade-old Lenovo Thinkpad R61 as a reserve machine and something that I can use outside/on the go. Granted it is a big heavy but for me, it's worth it. So, is there a chromebook, that can offer…

To be honest, I think the Samsung Chromebook (~$249 model) has the best keyboard/touchpad of any laptop I've used < $800. That doesn't mean it's fantastic, but it is surprisingly good and much better than most at any price point.

Re: $149 Chromebooks

#369

Post by pgeorgi »

Crito wrote: post #83
nemexy wrote: post #79

The most important thing of these Chromebooks, at least for me, is the quality of the touchpad and keyboard, as if I ever get one they will be used mainly for typing stuff/chatting. There is a reason why I still us an almost decade-old Lenovo Thinkpad R61 as a reserve machine and something that I can use outside/on the go. Granted it is a big heavy but for me, it's worth it. So, is there a chromebook, that can offer…

The touchpad on the Chromebook Pixel (the annoyingly expensive one) is high end. Large glass multitouch touchpad. I doubt you'd be satisfied with the keyboard though. So I think the answer is probably "No." The most expensive one available doesn't have a good keyboard by 60-series era Thinkpad standards, so I would be surprised if any do.

The most expensive Chromebook doesn't cater to Thinkpad users. The Lenovo Chromebook might.

Re: $149 Chromebooks

#370

Post by pgeorgi »

nfoz wrote: post #38
na85 wrote: post #11

I'd definitely consider using a Chromebook if the offline functionality works. My understanding from people I know working at Google is that the offline Docs and Gmail experience is pretty sub-par at the moment. I guess if you pop out their SSD for a larger one it'd make a decent BSD netbook. Bitrig[0] is slowly but surely getting better. [0] https://www.bitrig.org/

I bought a Chromebook Pixel 2015. The first thing it asks, when you turn it on, is for an Internet connection. You cannot go past the first-boot panel until you give it internet access, then agree to Google's ToS which says you'll let them auto-install updates at anytime, and then let it try to download updates from Google. Then you must log in to a Google account. I didn't bother with ChromeOS enough to see how well…

How to open the Pixel 2015: remove the two glued-on rubber strips on the bottom, remove the 15-or-so screws below them, remove the bottom plate.

Once you're there, you can even turn a screw (or pull a jumper on some devices) to unlock the write protection of the firmware flash chip.

https://johnlewis.ie/custom-chromebook-firmware/rom-download... provides tested replacement firmware that make running 'regular' operating systems more comfortable on many Chromebooks (no more security measures in the form of scary warning screens and 'return to factory' key combos). That may kill warranty - or not.

I find that this is a pretty reasonable trade off between providing an 'unbreakable' secure-by-default (hence the auto updates, which also cover firmware) configuration that is also reasonably safe against drive-by attacks (that's why the jumper is inside the device) while allowing people to use their hardware differently if they want. This doesn't rely on security problems that are used as 'jail break' elsewhere.

And yes, the SSD is soldered on. There's not a whole lot of space in that box, and soldering makes things so much more compact.

(Disclosure: I work on Chrome OS firmware)

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