whatever happened to the Chrombooks with cellular data built-in, and no—limit data plans worldwide (or was it US-wide?) for a nominal fee? I feel like if they brought that back it would sell like hotcakes.
Google Pixelbook – A High Performance Chromebook
301–310 of 333 posts
Re: Google Pixelbook – A High Performance Chromebook
#302My initial observations: * 12.4" 2400x1600 (235 ppi) is great * Battery life looks good at "up to 10 hours" * 4 Mics for noise cancelling is interesting * $99 for the pressure sensitive Pixelbook Pen seems steep * Core i5 options ship in 3-4 weeks * Core i7/16GB/512 SSD option puts you on a waitlist * Fully spec'd out: i7, Pen, and Preferred Care is $1997 * Why only two USB-C ports?!
"1) Up to 10 hours of use. Battery performance is based on a mix of standby, web browsing and other use. Actual results may vary."
On standby, the laptop isn't "life".
Re: Google Pixelbook – A High Performance Chromebook
#303Earlier quoted context omitted.
But who are the majority of users here? If all the developers betrayed by latest Apple's MBP lineup migrate to a new platform, suddenly 'majority' starts to care about number of cores and upgradable memory. But that is not likely to happen, given the dumbed-down specs and OS.
Didn't the latest MBP line have the best sales in MBP history? I get many people were upset by some of the changes (including myself) but that doesn't mean people are migrating in mass. Also, a chromebook? No developers are migrating to a chromebook. This is targeting the normal user who wants a nice laptop to do normal web surfing and text work.
Well, there's certainly a segment of the developer market who are always on the lookout for a laptop with good hardware which is also well-supported in Linux. Given that ChromeOS is running on the same kernel, I would expect that to be true here, though some Chromebooks are easier than others to directly install Linux onto.
Re: Google Pixelbook – A High Performance Chromebook
#304Earlier quoted context omitted.
Personally I'd love to have a dev Chromebook. The software stack running on it is second to none. Even the BIOS is light-years ahead any Windows/Linux box. As for OSX I'm not familiar with the boot process.
The BIOS of a system has not once ever factored into my decision making about a tech purchase. Please elaborate...?
1) If you can't disable Secure Boot you might not be able to boot an alternative non-Windows operating system.
2) Some tablets use a 32-bit UEFI while supporting a 64-bit operating system. Nobody supports that. You're stuck with Windows again.
3) Can you turn on Wake On Lan features on the desktop? I played with geoproximity on my phone to send wake up packets when I got within 200m of home.
4) Can you disable Intel's Trusted Platform on your computer? Many people don't trust having an undocumented system in total control of their computer.
Re: Google Pixelbook – A High Performance Chromebook
#305I think a major issue is what happens if Google locks your account for some reason. There have been instances in the past where Google has locked the account of a user for some TOS violations. http://m.gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/google-pixel-reseller... http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/aug/1/jordan-b-peters... http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-08-21/one-statistics-prof... Given that Google has a propensity…
Replace ChromeOS with a free Linux distro!
Re: Google Pixelbook – A High Performance Chromebook
#306Earlier quoted context omitted.
To speak about that third case the very real concern I would have there is that it appears he got access to his account back by being able to attract enough attention from Google management, as he was well connected and had a relatively high profile twitter account (> 100k followers) That kind of solution is unlikely to be of use to customers who don't have the ability to bypass the common process...
It wasn't necessarily the publicity. He reached out through normal channels, but these things normally take some time to process, since they normally have to be reviewed by humans. It's one of those things where you want to tread carefully. I mean, say my account got hijacked. I want to get back in. So does the hijacker. I would much rather prefer waiting an extra day or so, than risk having the hijacker purporting t…
> I mean, say my account got hijacked.
That's a straw man argument because, as far as anybody can tell, the account in question wasn't hijacked.
In reality, this person had a big, multi-day inconvenience foisted onto them out of nowhere, for reasons they apparently can't even talk about. And that's assuming Google even told them what the violation was.
If Google wants people to buy in to their platform then they need something better than an across the board zero tolerance policy.
Re: Google Pixelbook – A High Performance Chromebook
#307I hate this trend of dumbing down product specifications. I don't know who started it (probably Apple?), but everyone does it now. Like what fucking i5 or i7 processor ? Is the storage soldered even for the nvme option ? It doesn't help that Intel keeps playing tricks with their naming either. i7 used to be quad core, then it became dual core for thin laptops. Now they are back to low freq quad core in some SKUs. For…
The specifications will be released in full eventually, right now the buy link is just a waiting list. No money is exchanging hands so why does it matter if it's a Intel Core i7-7660U or a Intel Core i7-7560U Processor? What really bothers me is I can't find the timings for the memory. I need to know that my CAS settings aren't going to hamper the performance of my cutting edge app transitions. Kidding, we don't even…
It turns out the processors are i5-7Y57 and i7-7Y75 (source B&H). Super low power year old chips. Not too optimistic about the performance as a general linux laptop.
Re: Google Pixelbook – A High Performance Chromebook
#308Earlier quoted context omitted.
I uploaded full seasons of a very old 90s cartoon and my account is disabled. I cannot even purchase YouTube TV to try it out. Of course, reaching out to support is moot - their RoboSupport sucks. I will never purchase a Google product if I can help it and will steer clear of them in any team setting where I can affect the decision.
Um, you realise you uploaded a bunch of (presumedly) copyrighted material to a public video sharing site? That would normally raise a bunch of red flags. If you're stuck, there are dedicated support channels to actually talk to people - or feel free to reach out to me (my non-work email is in my profile.)
Um, you realise you uploaded a bunch of (presumedly) copyrighted material to a public video sharing site?
I think he realizes that (although I wonder given that he tries to minimize it by saying that it was an 'old 90's cartoon').
I think this is really scary though - did he lose access to YouTube? Or all of gmail? That would really be scary. I'm guessing that he just lost access to YouTube, but if he lost access to his gmail or google docs, then that's an awfully severe penalty for violating someone's copyright. I'm sure the RIAA/MPAA/etc would be pleased... but is that just?
Maybe he just lost access to his YouTube channel?
Re: Google Pixelbook – A High Performance Chromebook
#309Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm only speaking in general terms here, not specifics. However, reselling phones is usually against the ToS of pretty much every retailer. This isn't unique to Google. Here are our ToS - https://store.google.com/intl/en-US_us/about/device-terms.ht... . > You may only purchase Devices for your personal use. You may not commercially resell any Device, but you may give the Device as a gift. Recipients of gifts may need…
> In fact - Apple even introduced controls to stop scalping of Genius Bar appointments Yeah, they prevent the purchase. That sounds reasonable. They decidedly DO NOT brick the buyer's phone, or their entire digital life, if they suspect someone bought more than the limit. Also, even if they did, which would be just as horrible and outrageous as when Google does it, at least they have reasonable phone support and reta…
The issue isn't buying over the limit.
The issue is making it seem like your account is hijacked, or part of a bot-net, or committing payment fraud (e.g. stolen credit cards).
Say you create 100 email accounts - john001@gmail.com, john002@gmail.com, john003@gmail.com etc. - and have them each buy a phone, and ship them to a single physical address. Most people would see that as a major red flag for something fishing going on.
Or say suddenly all of these otherwise unrelated accounts suddenly started ordering goods online, and shipping to a PO Box in the Ukraine.
As a consumer, I most definitely want all of this stopped.
In fact, my bank will regularly call me up and ask me to confirm transactions that seem suspicious (or send me an SMS) - if I don't respond in time (e.g. I'm travelling), they will lock out my credit card.
That is exactly what you want as a customer.
So in this case - it seems these people knew they were engaging in something shady - but perhaps they didn't put two and two together and think, gee, if I let somebody order something on my credit card, yet addressed to him, I wonder if it will look like my account was hijacked?
Re: Google Pixelbook – A High Performance Chromebook
#310Earlier quoted context omitted.
Could you share your email transition strategy? Any tips? Do you still end up checking the account?
You can easily set up email forwarding in Gmail to forward all messages to your new address. After that it's just a matter of switching everything over to email your new address directly.
Generally it’s better to fetch email as not to trip additional spam filters. Many email providers support this, ex https://www.fastmail.com/help/receive/fetchotheremail.html. If moving from gmail you may need to adjust security settings, which is probably another indication that Google isn’t a great teammate in this.