Google’s Chromebooks Have Hit Their Stride • Hacker News Board

Re: Google’s Chromebooks Have Hit Their Stride

#51

Post by vinkelhake » Sun, Dec 29, 2013, 12:32 AM UTC

I got a Chromebook (XE500C21) as a gift and I didn't think it'd see much use. I set up crouton on it and I'm using it for browsing, IRC and some (very light) programming. I've come to use it far more than I thought I would.

My primary reasons for reaching for it rather than a "real" laptop (got a couple of Thinkpads around as well) is that it's got great battery life and that it's so cheap that I don't care if it gets wrecked. It's been beaten, stepped on, splashed on.

It sits somewhere between a tablet and a normal laptop. It doesn't replace any of them, but it's a great complement.

Re: Google’s Chromebooks Have Hit Their Stride

#52

Post by kenjackson » Sun, Dec 29, 2013, 12:44 AM UTC

mg74 wrote: post #49

kenjackson wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are really Netbook challengers. For OEMs it is a race to the bottom. But it is a smart play for Google. But like Netbooks I think it'll have a short run. In the same way it is hard for WinPhone to compete against Android in the long tail of apps, I think the long tail of Win apps is tough to compete with when you can get a Windows PC at almost the same price.

The bet Google is making is that the long tail of Win apps will be dwarfed by the longer tail of web apps. As always, the future will tell.

Web apps run on PCs too. The long tail is Visual Studio, SPSS, Excel, Illustrator, Photoshop, Audyssey, Matlab, Emacs, Call of Duty, VLC, etc...

Tablets are a great secondary device. I think Chromebooks are too bulky and not feature rich enough as a secondary device. And simply can't replace a laptop as a primary.

And with virtually no price delta, I just don't see the story.

Re: Google’s Chromebooks Have Hit Their Stride

#53

Post by charleslmunger » Sun, Dec 29, 2013, 12:47 AM UTC

ladzoppelin wrote: post #8

So basically Chrome OS is like Microsoft windows only with less features, less control, less software, hardware dependent and developed by an advertising company? Doesn't Chrome OS resemble an IPad challenger rather than a Windows/MacBook substitute?

It's like Windows except it's gratis, more secure, more control (check out crouton [1]), and hardware that runs chromeOS is by definition linux friendly, which encourages more hardware support [2].

On top of that, almost all of it is open source.

[1] https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton [2] https://patchwork.kernel.org/patch/2205401/ (for example)

Re: Google’s Chromebooks Have Hit Their Stride

#54

Post by rkudeshi » Sun, Dec 29, 2013, 1:01 AM UTC

gkoberger wrote: post #41

Bought Chromebooks (and Chromecasts) for all my tech-illiterate family members in order to cut down on having to provide tech support, and it's been amazing. No issues so far, and everything just works.

What do they do for Office-type documents and photo management? Google Docs and Picasa?

Re: Google’s Chromebooks Have Hit Their Stride

#55

Post by charleslmunger » Sun, Dec 29, 2013, 1:02 AM UTC

[deleted] wrote: post #24

Brakenshire wrote: post #20

How are Chromebooks for use with other Linux distributions? Would be nice to have hardware which was made for use with the Linux kernel (and therefore, presumably, guaranteed to have near-perfect hardware support).

[deleted]

Is there a source for the Asus not being able to be unlocked?

Re: Google’s Chromebooks Have Hit Their Stride

#56

Post by cshimmin » Sun, Dec 29, 2013, 1:05 AM UTC

gkoberger wrote: post #41

Bought Chromebooks (and Chromecasts) for all my tech-illiterate family members in order to cut down on having to provide tech support, and it's been amazing. No issues so far, and everything just works.

I do nearly all my work on remote machines, writing code in Vim over SSH. Could chromeOS work for someone like me? Is there a decent terminal app for chromeOS? I don't want a PuTTY-like utility that allows me to open sessions; I'm looking for a tabbed terminal that allows me to run basic linux commands locally and ssh into remote machines...

Re: Google’s Chromebooks Have Hit Their Stride

#57

Post by dded » Sun, Dec 29, 2013, 1:09 AM UTC

kenjackson wrote: post #52

mg74 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The bet Google is making is that the long tail of Win apps will be dwarfed by the longer tail of web apps. As always, the future will tell.

Web apps run on PCs too. The long tail is Visual Studio, SPSS, Excel, Illustrator, Photoshop, Audyssey, Matlab, Emacs, Call of Duty, VLC, etc... Tablets are a great secondary device. I think Chromebooks are too bulky and not feature rich enough as a secondary device. And simply can't replace a laptop as a primary. And with virtually no price delta, I just don't see the story.

> And [Chromebooks] simply can't replace a laptop as a primary

I now know two people with Chromebooks. Both also have an (older) desktop. By any reasonable measure, it's the Chromebooks which are the primary. It's almost as if the desktop provides an it's-there-if-I-really-need-it fallback in case any of the long-tail apps are needed, but both are finding them not needed. (Note that neither are office workers.)

Both knew going in that the device would not run their PC software, so I think perhaps the correct messaging is out there.

Still, two is a very small number, even in the personal anecdote space. So, we'll see.

Re: Google’s Chromebooks Have Hit Their Stride

#58

Post by dragonwriter » Sun, Dec 29, 2013, 1:10 AM UTC

rasengan0 wrote: post #48

Replying on a $249 ARM chromebook running https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton it runs Firefox, vim, BitTorrent Sync A key chord and I'm back on ChromeOS Updates on ChromeOS are clean and easy Instant on just as fast as iPad ChromeOS: Flip the lid open and there you are Linux: + sudo startxfce4 Your data is yours. The Win7 updates to my old netbook which i don't even use anymore take like an hour. Windows can run Tur…

> Windows can run TurboxTax

So can pretty much every mobile/desktop OS, including ChromeOS, now that Turbo Tax has web-based "Turbo Tax Online" editions.

The "I need Windows to run X" factor is getting weaker over time.

Re: Google’s Chromebooks Have Hit Their Stride

#59

Post by prodigal_erik » Sun, Dec 29, 2013, 1:12 AM UTC

kovalkos wrote: post #31

mentos wrote: post #12

I'd be interested in seeing if anyone has had success in getting OSX to run on a Chromebook. So far googling for "Chromebook hackintosh" doesn't look promising. The same way Apple has come out with its 'C' line of iPhones which I assume are cheaper, I see an enormous opportunity to do the same with their Macs. Imagine a $250 Macbook.

>Imagine a $250 Macbook. The only good part about Macs is the hardware. I would much rather run a normal linux distro instead. Putting OS X on $200 Chromebook is like buying a barn and thinking you will get 1000-acre piece of land with it.

The only good part about Macs is the UI. There used to be Mac clones made with commodity hardware, but they sold so well they threatened Apple's ridiculously inefficient margins.

Apple's supply chain isn't as bad now, but if all you want is a browser there's no reason to get it from them.

Re: Google’s Chromebooks Have Hit Their Stride

#60

Post by dded » Sun, Dec 29, 2013, 1:12 AM UTC

rkudeshi wrote: post #54

gkoberger wrote: post #41

Bought Chromebooks (and Chromecasts) for all my tech-illiterate family members in order to cut down on having to provide tech support, and it's been amazing. No issues so far, and everything just works.

What do they do for Office-type documents and photo management? Google Docs and Picasa?

In the two cases I know of, nothing replaces Office-type docs (as in, they don't use them), and Facebook replaces an over-loaded SD card that never leaves the camera for photo management.

(Note, I'm not the GP.)