It's a shame they didn't put USB 3.0 slots on these chromebooks. Pretty useless with 2.0 for any external hard drive activity.
The Samsung ARM Chromebooks have one.
$149 Chromebooks
291–300 of 425 posts
Re: $149 Chromebooks
#292Earlier quoted context omitted.
http://www.amazon.com/HP-Stream-Laptop-Personal-Horizon/dp/B... HP Stream 11 is likely the closest to what you're looking for $199 so slightly more expensive, but a year of Office365 included...
the first hit is always free
downvotes for disagreeing with the O365 business model? thanks hacker news!
Re: $149 Chromebooks
#293Earlier quoted context omitted.
Even that's not accurate. Advertising is selling access to people matching a certain demographic profile to advertisers. They maintain a demographic profile (arguable: how accurate and comprehensive it is) by way of this line of business, but at no point is that profile sold to advertisers. At no point has Google, or any other reputable ad network, had a system whereby you can download the information, personal or ot…
Google has indeed sold information to the NSA. http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertlenzner/2013/09/23/attveri...
(Tedious disclaimer: my opinion, not my employer's. Not representing anybody but me. I work at Google, not on lawful intercept.)
That's not what this article says. This article is about what happens when the government lawfully issues a warrant to obtain somebody's private data, and orders a private company to give them the data. When this happens the company has some rights to recover their costs from the government.
You may not like what the US government is doing here. I certainly don't. But it's still the law, and companies that operate in the US have to comply with it.
Re: $149 Chromebooks
#294Earlier quoted context omitted.
That was an interesting, and scary, wielding of their power actually. I'm happy they don't have quite that much power anymore. The reason I say it was scary was that it was a moment in time where you could watch a class of computers from one generation to the next get worse because of limits imposed by Microsoft on OEMs. I bought a Dell Mini 9 just before they switched to the Mini 10. The Mini 10 actually had half th…
The people who downvoted SwellJoe: Can you explain? The facts about the "netbooks" are verifiable facts, see e.g. [0]. That's a business version of "embrace, extinguish" (no extension here), and it's classic for the Bill Gates / Ballmer era. Microsoft was strongarming the manufacturers - in 2009, they could still do that easily (and they might still be able to today). The carrot and stick was reduced Windows licensin…
I have a theory about humans having a generally short memory for corporate malfeasance, or to put it in a better light, having a much more forgiving nature than I do.
I also tend to get down-voted whenever I talk about nasty stuff Apple has done.
And, occasionally, when I do get a reply rather than or in addition to a downvote it will be of the form: "Well, X also does what you accused Y of." i.e., complaints about the monopolistic practices of Microsoft will result in, "Well, Google is also a monopoly, and I think they're worse because of this other thing." Which, while often true statements, do not provide any reason to dismiss the assertions about Microsoft they are responding to.
I am occasionally disappointed in HN. But, that's OK, because HN is occasionally disappointed in me.
Re: $149 Chromebooks
#295Earlier quoted context omitted.
Actually, I upvoted this, but on reflection I think this is wrong. Here's why: - Most Chromebooks are freely bootloader unlocked, allowing any operating system to be loaded on them. - ChromeOS follows the same open source model as Chrome—Most core features open, with things like Flash/Wildvine/API keys held secret. - There are no native apps on ChromeOS—the correct question is not "Can Mozilla write a browser for Chr…
> There are no native apps on ChromeOS—the correct question is not "Can Mozilla write a browser for ChromeOS", its "Can Mozilla write an app for ChromeOS" Exactly - ChromeOS is a browser. "Can Mozilla write a browser for ChromeOS" makes about as much sense as "Can Mozilla write a browser for Chrome" or "Can Google write a browser for Internet Explorer". ...or it would have made that little sense before Mozilla wrote…
The fact that the Chromium process is what's compositing windows is relatively uninteresting to the end user. It's Linux with a different GUI system. Ubuntu is ditching X11 also, as I understand it, so people other than Google appear to be prepared to redo Linux GUIs.
There's Native Client, so you can write native code. I believe there are things like Emacs for NaCl, though Emacs is relatively useless until someone also ports your favorite programming language, version control, etc. to this model. For programmers, it's tough to have to redo everything, and because we tend not to use the ability to run unaudited native code to install viruses on our machine, it seems like a lot of work for no reason. For the end user, though, things are a bit different. It's a long road but ultimately computers that are easier to use and get fewer viruses is a worthy goal, I think.
Someone could port Firefox to ChromeOS if they found it to be interesting. It would probably be quite difficult, however.
I use ChromeOS as my primary workstation because it removes a lot of headaches I have with computers. I hate configuring things. I just want a terminal with Emacs and a web browser. ChromeOS gives me this. I log into my laptop and it has the exact same configuration as my desktop.
ChromeOS auto-updates and takes 8 seconds to reboot afterwards. It doesn't nag me about auto-updates or checking that Windows Defender is up to date. All my work is saved somewhere other than my desktop/laptop, so if I lose the computer or get another one all I have to do is log in again.
It's very much a thin-client thing, which some people hate, but I find quite suitable for my normal workflow. sshing into a Linux box is generally great for doing work. Using the GUIs is an effort in frustration. ChromeOS solved that issue for me. (Yup, I need an Internet connection to get to my ssh-able Linux box somewhere. I always have one.)
If you are convinced Google is out to get you with configuration syncing, SSH clients that run "in a web browser" (but are native code and preserve all keybindings that you're used to), and "cloud storage" then ChromeOS is probably not for you. Enter developer mode (one keypress) and install your favorite Linux distribution instead -- all the patches necessary to make the devices work are in the open source tree, and unlike with Linux on random Windows laptops, your WiFi will work and you'll get the advertised battery life.
I have given ChromeOS laptops to family members where my previous attempts at giving them computers have failed. A year later their laptops are running the latest version of the OS and didn't have any viruses. I even got them using two-factor authentication with security keys! I was surprised.
Disclaimer: I work on ChromeOS as my 20% project. But I work on it because it solved a lot of my computing problems and I find it worth my time. I wouldn't waste my time advocating to help my employer sell $149 laptops.
Re: $149 Chromebooks
#296Earlier quoted context omitted.
I find duckduckgo equally effective and they don't need to build a profile on me to do it.
What often gets ignored in that value judgement is that the profile can lead to more relevant search results. (Subjectively, Google's results get better when I'm signed in.) At least for me, using DDG is like stepping back into the 90's as far as search result quality goes.
Agreed, I tried it for about a month, and went back to google... with my profile information, my search results tend to be much better.
Re: $149 Chromebooks
#297And when they are sold in Australia, they will cost over $350.
Re: $149 Chromebooks
#298Earlier quoted context omitted.
You are kind of conflating a few different issues here. iDevices are locked down for the purposes of Apple maintaining iron-fisted control over the platform at the expense of both developers and end-users. Chromebooks are locked down for end-user security and ease-of-administration. Chromebooks allow the end-user to unlock the bootloader and/or run them in developer mode if they really want to do that (and this is al…
> Apple maintaining iron-fisted control over the platform at the expense of both developers and end-users. There are legitimate benefits to having a locked down platform which Apple (and developers/consumers) have decided is worth the negatives. There are zero viruses or malware on iOS compared to quite a few on Android. The quality of applications is significantly higher on iOS because (a) developers have a consiste…
And these advantages are meaningful not just for the companies, but for the end-user. Most users don't want to root their own machines, they just want a machine that can help them live their lives, make ends meet, and learn more about their world. A virus that bricks the machine keeps them from doing that.
Of course, for some 15-year-old girl in Jakarta, "learn more about their world" may in fact mean rooting their machine so they can deal with grotty Unix details and 8 years down the road build on that to for an MEng thesis and then startup.
Re: $149 Chromebooks
#299Earlier quoted context omitted.
>I liken it to techies running out and buying a Tesla. You can't put your own turbo on it, you can't do much to improve the performance or customize it, you can't repair the engine in your garage, you can't drop in a new transmission when yours goes out, and it's not a manual transmission, so you're giving up a lot of control in driving it. That is an interesting analogy, but it's pretty misleading. Tesla happens to…
Well obviously turbo is just an example. Analogies can only ever approximate their subject, they can never be perfect. The idea is, that's the antithesis of what the guy down at your local garage might look for. It's not terribly moddable, you have less control over the inner workings, it's really expensive, the manufacturer holds tight control over the software, and yours is exactly the same as the one next to it. T…
But what I'm saying is that the tight control specifically from Tesla is totally unrelated to it being electric. Nothing stops electric vehicles from being great for modding. Tesla is a lot like Apple but it's not at all about the engine.
And some of the androids are even more expensive than iPhones...
Re: $149 Chromebooks
#300Earlier quoted context omitted.
For this workflow (where you already have most of a computer at two locations), wouldn't having a diskless workstation at work and home also work out, and just carry around a USB thumbdrive? That way you still have the same environment in both locations.
I've actually considered USB before in years past and discounted it because the speed of USB sticks was very bad (in the context of keeping all your files on one, compiling from one, etc). Thinking about it again in light of your comment made me realize there very well could be USB 3.0 thumbdrives with suitable speed (based on some Googling around it looks like there are some that are quite fast, but you have to be r…
Why not switch to desktops? You'll be more productive (faster/bigger/more capable everything), and you won't have to haul around an entire laptop.
If you commit your work, you only need the network to sync between two desktops.