10 ms·

No way a cheap $150 Chromebook will last 4 years. I've been buying Chromebooks for my wife for a while now and you really do get what you pay for. It's like tha

No way a cheap $150 Chromebook will last 4 years. I've been buying Chromebooks for my wife for a while now and you really do get what you pay for. It's like that parable with the poor and rich person's boots. Sub-$200 Chromebooks are plastic so they break easily. I've had issues with keyboard switches not working any more. The hole where the power adapter plugs in gets loose and stops making a good connection. You're looking at about 2 years of everyday use before something critical breaks MAX. A good, aluminum Chromebook that will actually last a few years of everyday use is about $300.

chocolatebunny 9y ago
Where are you getting a $300 aluminum Chromebook?
- keenerd 9y ago
  My Asus C100P was around $280 when it was released. It is now down to $230. The 4GB model specifically, because it is my daily driver and I do my dev work on it. I do "actual computing" on it too, since it is has way more ram and disk than any of my cloud stuff.
  - jajern 9y ago
    Do you still have ChromeOS on it?
    - keenerd 9y ago
      Of course not. I've documented some of that: http://kmkeen.com/c100p-tweaks/ http://kmkeen.com/c100p-tweaks/
- AdmiralAsshat 9y ago
  These days you can find a first-gen Chromebook Pixel for about $300 or so: https://swappa.com/buy/google-chromebook-pixel-1st-gen-lte-unlocked https://swappa.com/buy/google-chromebook-pixel-1st-gen-lte-u... If you don't mind that it's four years old at this point, it was by far the best Chromebook I ever used, and my girlfriend is still using it as her daily driver (I gave it to her because I thought it was too nice a piece of equipment to gather dust in a drawer).
Orangeair 9y ago
Sam Vimes' Boots theory of socio-economic unfairness: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Vimes#Boots_theory_of_socio-economic_unfairness https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Vimes#Boots_theory_of_soci...
- chadgeidel 9y ago
  I'm loathe to go down this rabbit hole, but I have anecdotal experience here. My wife convinced me to buy a pair of what I thought was very expensive boots. (Wolverine 1000 Mile boot). They are nice, and supposed to last "a very long time." There's a hidden cost though. I recently had them re-soled and had to buy some laces (this is after about a year and a half of wear) and the cost of re-soleing the boots was also very expensive! I'm not sure I am saving much over the cost of regularly buying less expensive boots.
  - brianwawok 9y ago
    How many miles did you put in? It literally takes me like 3 years and a few 1000 miles before my shoes need resoled...
    - chadgeidel 9y ago
      I have no idea but not 1000 miles. I wear them to work and back. Apparently I'm hard on shoes? I didn't think they needed to be resoled, but I don't know shoes. My wife is the "fashionista". :-)
      - L_226 9y ago
        I've owned the same pair of Danner Mountain Light II's since 2012 and have never had them resoled or serviced. These boots have been with me to 15+ countries including trekking in India, have been on many, many hikes and all I do is clean and polish them every few months. I estimate I have walked at least 2000km in them, never had any issues. Can't recommend Danner enough.
  - blackSnake 9y ago
johndotsun 9y ago
How are you treating them? I'm using a 2014 Toshiba Chromebook 2 which is made entirely out of plastic and while it's not in perfect cosmetic conditions it's still 100% functional and doesn't show any signs of impending failure. I've dropped it on hard and soft surfaces alike from table height, and I've had it under 20 or 30 pounds of other objects fairly regularly. The charging cable still makes a good connection but I've been particularly careful not to use the chromebook or the charger as a handle for the other respectively as I've seen so many other people doing. I'm nearly three years into using it and nothing critical has broken.
- LanceH 9y ago
  That's a $300 Chromebook, though. Bought three for the family, two had the screens go bad, their support is non existent.
icebraining 9y ago
I find it amazing, but maybe I was just lucky. I bought a cheap plastic HP ultrabook a decade ago and it survived four years of being carried every day on a backpack on the bus and being taken to camping vacations. Sure, it had scratches aplenty, and a couple of broken spots on the outer rim, but it worked fine.
godot 9y ago
Anecdotal point: I have the exact same Acer Chromebook 11 that the OP mentions in the article, which I bought for around $150 USD. It all feels like plastic, but has been very durable for me. Case in point: I was assaulted and robbed last year walking on the street, while carrying this laptop in my backpack. I don't have much else in the backpack and it's a thin one without padded protection. The robber pistol-whipped me and I fell to the ground. He kicked me in the back once (while I have the backpack on). My Chromebook took most of the force. There is still a visible dent on the front cover of the laptop right now, as a result of this. It still works perfectly (other than the dent being an aesthetic issue). This was a year ago and I am still using this Chromebook. I also had none of the issues you mentioned with keyboard switches, power adapter plugs, etc. Maybe it's a manufacturer thing and not a Chromebook thing? Maybe Acer is better?
- AdmiralAsshat 9y ago
  I'm glad you survived the assault, but I am curious: he robbed you but didn't steal your laptop? Was it too cheap for his taste?
  - godot 9y ago
    Took my wallet. Didn't take my phone or backpack. Just after the cash.
  - stordoff 9y ago
    A laptop you need to fence (small chance of getting caught) and potentially need to wipe/unlock it depending on security settings. Cash OTOH is easy.
  - bbcbasic 9y ago
    He would have, but it had a dent in it. (Someone vouch please because this is funny!)
- da02 9y ago
  What did you lose in the robbery? What city was this in?
tbirdz 9y ago
Just as a counter point I've got a cheap C720 I got 4 years ago for lightweight mucking about, and it has held up to daily use perfectly fine. I wiped ChromeOS and installed mainline Linux on it, which has great support for it. No problems with the keyboard, screen, power supply, or anything, and I've had to open it to remove the flash-protect screw, and it's survived several moves, travel and outdoor use. I suppose I could be just lucky, but as is I could probably use it for another 4 years without trouble. The biggest issue is the soldered in RAM which is only 2GB. But that's plenty for emacs, light firefox, and even videos since it's got hardware decoding acceleration.
- heywire 9y ago
  Seconding the C720, mine runs Arch Linux just fine on 2GB. I only have to be careful not to open too many browser tabs.
wryun 9y ago
[OP] I've owned this laptop for almost 2 years, and it's been heavily used, first as a work laptop for a year (I used EC2 instances for 'real stuff') and then a home laptop. Still works perfectly and looks fine. We'll see how it holds up... Anecdotally, I have never has a laptop die in over 20 years except for the backlight failing after many years on my second hand Toshiba T1100 and my aged HP 2510p becoming flaky after a few disassemblies to clean dust out (and attempting to use better thermal paste on the heat sink).

chocolatebunny 9y ago

Where are you getting a $300 aluminum Chromebook?

keenerd 9y ago
My Asus C100P was around $280 when it was released. It is now down to $230. The 4GB model specifically, because it is my daily driver and I do my dev work on it. I do "actual computing" on it too, since it is has way more ram and disk than any of my cloud stuff.
- jajern 9y ago
  Do you still have ChromeOS on it?
  - keenerd 9y ago
    Of course not. I've documented some of that: http://kmkeen.com/c100p-tweaks/ http://kmkeen.com/c100p-tweaks/
AdmiralAsshat 9y ago
These days you can find a first-gen Chromebook Pixel for about $300 or so: https://swappa.com/buy/google-chromebook-pixel-1st-gen-lte-unlocked https://swappa.com/buy/google-chromebook-pixel-1st-gen-lte-u... If you don't mind that it's four years old at this point, it was by far the best Chromebook I ever used, and my girlfriend is still using it as her daily driver (I gave it to her because I thought it was too nice a piece of equipment to gather dust in a drawer).

Orangeair 9y ago

Sam Vimes' Boots theory of socio-economic unfairness: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Vimes#Boots_theory_of_socio-economic_unfairness https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Vimes#Boots_theory_of_soci...

chadgeidel 9y ago
I'm loathe to go down this rabbit hole, but I have anecdotal experience here. My wife convinced me to buy a pair of what I thought was very expensive boots. (Wolverine 1000 Mile boot). They are nice, and supposed to last "a very long time." There's a hidden cost though. I recently had them re-soled and had to buy some laces (this is after about a year and a half of wear) and the cost of re-soleing the boots was also very expensive! I'm not sure I am saving much over the cost of regularly buying less expensive boots.
- brianwawok 9y ago
  How many miles did you put in? It literally takes me like 3 years and a few 1000 miles before my shoes need resoled...
  - chadgeidel 9y ago
    I have no idea but not 1000 miles. I wear them to work and back. Apparently I'm hard on shoes? I didn't think they needed to be resoled, but I don't know shoes. My wife is the "fashionista". :-)
    - L_226 9y ago
      I've owned the same pair of Danner Mountain Light II's since 2012 and have never had them resoled or serviced. These boots have been with me to 15+ countries including trekking in India, have been on many, many hikes and all I do is clean and polish them every few months. I estimate I have walked at least 2000km in them, never had any issues. Can't recommend Danner enough.
- blackSnake 9y ago

johndotsun 9y ago

How are you treating them? I'm using a 2014 Toshiba Chromebook 2 which is made entirely out of plastic and while it's not in perfect cosmetic conditions it's still 100% functional and doesn't show any signs of impending failure. I've dropped it on hard and soft surfaces alike from table height, and I've had it under 20 or 30 pounds of other objects fairly regularly. The charging cable still makes a good connection but I've been particularly careful not to use the chromebook or the charger as a handle for the other respectively as I've seen so many other people doing. I'm nearly three years into using it and nothing critical has broken.

LanceH 9y ago
That's a $300 Chromebook, though. Bought three for the family, two had the screens go bad, their support is non existent.

icebraining 9y ago

I find it amazing, but maybe I was just lucky. I bought a cheap plastic HP ultrabook a decade ago and it survived four years of being carried every day on a backpack on the bus and being taken to camping vacations. Sure, it had scratches aplenty, and a couple of broken spots on the outer rim, but it worked fine.

godot 9y ago

Anecdotal point: I have the exact same Acer Chromebook 11 that the OP mentions in the article, which I bought for around $150 USD. It all feels like plastic, but has been very durable for me. Case in point: I was assaulted and robbed last year walking on the street, while carrying this laptop in my backpack. I don't have much else in the backpack and it's a thin one without padded protection. The robber pistol-whipped me and I fell to the ground. He kicked me in the back once (while I have the backpack on). My Chromebook took most of the force. There is still a visible dent on the front cover of the laptop right now, as a result of this. It still works perfectly (other than the dent being an aesthetic issue). This was a year ago and I am still using this Chromebook. I also had none of the issues you mentioned with keyboard switches, power adapter plugs, etc. Maybe it's a manufacturer thing and not a Chromebook thing? Maybe Acer is better?

AdmiralAsshat 9y ago
I'm glad you survived the assault, but I am curious: he robbed you but didn't steal your laptop? Was it too cheap for his taste?
- godot 9y ago
  Took my wallet. Didn't take my phone or backpack. Just after the cash.
- stordoff 9y ago
  A laptop you need to fence (small chance of getting caught) and potentially need to wipe/unlock it depending on security settings. Cash OTOH is easy.
- bbcbasic 9y ago
  He would have, but it had a dent in it. (Someone vouch please because this is funny!)
da02 9y ago
What did you lose in the robbery? What city was this in?

tbirdz 9y ago

Just as a counter point I've got a cheap C720 I got 4 years ago for lightweight mucking about, and it has held up to daily use perfectly fine. I wiped ChromeOS and installed mainline Linux on it, which has great support for it. No problems with the keyboard, screen, power supply, or anything, and I've had to open it to remove the flash-protect screw, and it's survived several moves, travel and outdoor use. I suppose I could be just lucky, but as is I could probably use it for another 4 years without trouble. The biggest issue is the soldered in RAM which is only 2GB. But that's plenty for emacs, light firefox, and even videos since it's got hardware decoding acceleration.

heywire 9y ago
Seconding the C720, mine runs Arch Linux just fine on 2GB. I only have to be careful not to open too many browser tabs.

wryun 9y ago

[OP] I've owned this laptop for almost 2 years, and it's been heavily used, first as a work laptop for a year (I used EC2 instances for 'real stuff') and then a home laptop. Still works perfectly and looks fine. We'll see how it holds up... Anecdotally, I have never has a laptop die in over 20 years except for the backlight failing after many years on my second hand Toshiba T1100 and my aged HP 2510p becoming flaky after a few disassemblies to clean dust out (and attempting to use better thermal paste on the heat sink).