14 ms·

Google Pixelbook Is Google’s New Chromebook

140 points by neverminder 9y ago

patwolf 9y ago
As someone who has attempted to use the original Chromebook Pixel as a development machine, I'm glad to see they've added more storage options. The original Pixel had 32GB of storage, and this one offers 512GB. For those unfamiliar with ChromeOS, it allows you to run Linux application using Crouton/chroot, so it really has a lot of potential as a Linux dev machine. However, I ultimately ran out of storage space, and it wasn't worth the time to figure out an inelegant scheme for mounting external storage.
- module0000 9y ago
  That jumped out at me too, the (much) larger storage options sound great. In my chroot I always have to be very conservative about space, even on a 64GB pixel. Glad that will be a thing of the past with the new sizes.
- leggomylibro 9y ago
  This is actually a good reason to go with a 3rd-party manufacturer. Almost all non-Google Chromebooks include microSD card slots, so you can get another 128GB of persistently-mounted executable flash for large builds and similar. Google does not want you to use microSD cards. Google wants you to use Google Drive.
  - EddieRingle 9y ago
    My Chromebook Pixel LS has an SD card slot. It wouldn't be a surprise if this one also has one.
    - leggomylibro 9y ago
      Oh, nice! It would be great to see them reversing that trend.
    - anjbe 9y ago
      Unfortunately, it’s on an internal USB 2 bus, which makes SD access extreme slow. All the external USB ports are at least 3.0, so I use a slim 64GB flash drive.
      - leggomylibro 9y ago
        Huh, that's king of a weird decision, but I guess it is probably going to be near the USB connectors on the board, anyways. I guess that probably means it's falling back to a normal SPI interface instead of the faster quad-SPI MMC interface? Maybe they don't want to spend one of their chip's QSPI peripherals on storage expansion.
- gisenberg 9y ago
  When the Chromebook Pixel is configured to run Linux through Crouton/chroot, it displays a warning on reboot and will automatically reflash the machine to stock ChromeOS without intervention. Not a great option if there's a chance someone non-technical will try to use the machine.
Theodores 9y ago
I don't see how this can possibly be an improvement on the first Chromebook Pixel from a design aesthetic point of view but I am hoping to be proven wrong.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
jdalgetty 9y ago
looks neat
miguelrochefort 9y ago
Who pays $1,199 for a Chromebook?
- pjmlp 9y ago
  I also don't get it, for that price I can get a nice general purpose laptop, with most likely a much better CPU/GPU combo.
  - resoluti0n 9y ago
    A traditional GNU/Linux distro can also be installed bare metal on it. It's a much better option for your privacy. This eliminate Google's data mining of the whole desktop experience and give you better customization options at the same time.
    - pjmlp 9y ago
      I can already do that on a 300 euro laptop, which was sold with Ubuntu installed on it.
      - neverminder 9y ago
        It's the same like saying "I don't need S class Mercedes, VW Polo has 4 wheels too.". Compare the specs of that 300 euro laptop and Pixel 2015 LS - that's not even the same league. I have Ubuntu installed on mine and with core i7, 16 GB of RAM it blows most of the laptops out of the water.
        camus2 9y ago
        Now compare the possibilities of any decent OS versus what basically amounts to a browser... any OS can run a browser, why buy a machine that makes you use a browser exclusively and ties you to Google services for everything?
        toast0 9y ago
Uehreka 9y ago
I think they mean “Google Pixelbook is Google’s new Chromebook Pixel”. If Google has discontinued the cheap Chromebooks it would be really bad for all the school systems that rely on them as cheap laptops for students.
- pgeorgi 9y ago
  > If Google has discontinued the cheap Chromebooks There were three Google Chromebooks: Cr48, Pixel (2013), Pixel (2015). The first had no retail price, the others weren't cheap. The cheap Chromebooks for edu etc are built and maintained with significant effort by Google (see commit authors across the Chromium OS project), but they're not "Google devices" but devices from Samsung/HP/Acer/Asus/Lenovo/...
- sspiff 9y ago
  Google seems to be moving away from cheaper hardware, and moving it's products towards the "high end reference implementation" realm. The same thing happened with Android and the change from Nexus towards Pixel. That doesn't have to be bad news for schools. Schools generally acquire their chromebooks from vendors like Dell and HP and Acer. These vendors will no doubt continue to build cheap systems with Chrome OS for the education market if there is demand.
jimmytidey 9y ago
Would it run an actual Linux OS?
- neverminder 9y ago
  I hope it does. I have a 2015 Pixel LS (last gen) running vanilla Ubuntu without any major issues. The disk size was always a nuisance (64GB only), so this new one looks perfect in that regard. I just wish Intel stopped their bullshit malicious behavior and started supporting LPDDR4 at last and lift the 16 GB RAM cap that LPDDR3 has.
- sethrin 9y ago
  Crouton[0] is one option for that, but I would recommend GalliumOS[1] to anyone interested in a Chromebook. My current laptop is an Acer C720, purchased for $110 and running GalliumOS. It's not shiny or new, but it gets the job done, and it's practically cheap enough to be disposable. There are admittedly times when I wish I could justify the cost of a Pixel or an XPS 13, but I can't really get past the idea of being able to buy a half-dozen other machines for the same price. [0] https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton [1] http://galliumos.org/ http://galliumos.org/
  - acangiano 9y ago
    > but I would recommend GalliumOS[1] to anyone interested in a Chromebook Just make sure the spacebar is never pressed at boot. That's all it takes to screw up your nice dual boot setup.
    - isr 9y ago
      If you: * resize the (unused) root-c partition (use the chrx script to do it for you, if you like) * mount it somewhere under /mnt/stateful_partition * use that for your chroots, etc Then you can safely use chromeos in dev mode, and not worry about the "deadly spacebar at bootup" problem. Pressing the spacebar takes you out of dev mode, which will involve rewriting the contents of the rootfs partition currently in use. It will NOT repartition the entire drive, so your separate partition will be safe. Just revert back to dev mode, and you'll see its still there. Or ... put everything on a mini usb stick :)
FussyZeus 9y ago
Serious question for HNers: Does anyone actually buy these for ChromeOS? Every time I hear these discussed it seems to center around what you can do with them that involves a new OS, either Windows or Linux. So is it really the product in demand or just the demand for hardware not bound down with a bundled OS License?
- pgeorgi 9y ago
  HNers probably replace the OS as soon as possible. Those schools and companies looking for a low maintenance thin client platform won't (or they'd lose the "low maintenance" appeal)
- ekidd 9y ago
  Yes! I have a very nice Samsung Chromebook Plus, which folds into a tablet, and which has a pen, but for roughly 1/3rd the price of the new Chromebook Pixel. I use it as a large format document reader, and as an easy-to-secure, easy-to-wipe, easy-to-restore travel machine. It's also great for sketching out design diagrams on a table in a meeting. The fact that the Chromebook Plus also runs Android apps is a huge plus. I've never unlocked it to install Linux, because that reduces the security guarantees, which were a major selling point for me when travelling.
- lllr_finger 9y ago
  I buy them for anyone in my family that "just wants a laptop to browse the web", as they are fast, secure, cheap, and easy - with great battery life.
- paulryanrogers 9y ago
  A coworker had one. IIRC she used it primarily for writing.
- dgacmu 9y ago
  Yeah - I bought one for taking out of the country and on a two week family vacation (which included some stretches of camping) so that I could manage things remotely while I was gone. It's not my Macbook Pro. But it worked really well for light-duty tasks. The biggest annoyance was that I can't run my password manager on it, so I was hand-copying long strings of hard-to-type garbage from my phone fairly frequently. I wondered if I'd switch over to it. I haven't. I like larger laptops, I prefer the MBP keyboard, and I generally need to be able to run more stuff locally. But I'm glad I have it, I use it around the house when my mac is plugged into a monitor in my office, and I'll definitely use it for all future international travel. (Asus Chromebook Flip, FWIW.)
baybal2 9y ago
>Pixelbook Google will have tough luck registering this trademark in China
- seanmcdirmid 9y ago
  Chromebooks were never sold in china officially anyways. It wouldn't even make sense given how most google services are blocked.
- pimlottc 9y ago
  Could you elaborate on why this name would be hard to trademark in China?
  - baybal2 9y ago
    There was a somewhat well known Chinese brand around 2007-2009 that was making rather decent laptops. The core of the company's collective went to found the BYD's consumer electronics unit and were the ones who made BYD's Vaio P clones. Their makes were rather stylish for a Chinese CE company
    - cat199 9y ago
      Hmm yes. China is well known for it's fierce regulatory regieme with respect to intellectual property. Perhaps they can just rebrand them as Mac and sell them at one of the fake apple stores instead if this becomes a problem..
neverminder 9y ago
I hope this will be as cutting edge as 2015 Pixel LS (I own one, running vanilla Ubuntu): 16 GB RAM, awesome screen (2560x1700) especially good for coders because of 3:2 ratio, first laptop with USB Type-C charging, first laptop with 2 USB Type-C sockets and last but not least - design and build quality that I would argue is even better than that of Apple laptops.
- donquichotte 9y ago
  Wow, the 2015 Pixel LS still go for >1000$ on ebay! Nice to hear that it's possible to run Linux - I have a budget Acer C720p Chromebook and it's a real nuisance to set it up with Linux. Bodhi Linux is great, but once the internal battery runs out, the device is bricked and has to be reflashed with ChromeOS.
  - neverminder 9y ago
    > Wow, the 2015 Pixel LS still go for >1000$ on ebay! Might have to do with it being discontinued yet still a great piece of hardware. > once the internal battery runs out, the device is bricked and has to be reflashed with ChromeOS. Pixel 2015 does not have this problem (unlike the 1st gen one) - that was confirmed at some point on it's forum by one of the googlers involved in the project.
  - toast0 9y ago
    Did you install a new bios? If you're only ever going to run Linux, it's probably better not to run the stock bios in legacy mode. Standard bios booting roms are here https://johnlewis.ie/custom-chromebook-firmware/rom-download/ https://johnlewis.ie/custom-chromebook-firmware/rom-download... or if you want to futz with UEFI, https://mrchromebox.tech https://mrchromebox.tech
    - donquichotte 9y ago
      This is great news, I didn't know there were BIOS updates available for the C720P! I'm not going to use UEFI if it's avoidable.
shasheene 9y ago
I've been using the Samsung Chromebook Plus (ARM chip) laptop/tablet hybrid the past 4 months and it's one of the best devices I've ever owned. Very cheap and has high build quality (great screen and aluminium body). The 4 years prior I used the first ARM Samsung Series 3 Chromebook (much lower build quality, but it was great before it died). I currently use tablet mode for 2-3 hour session for portrait reading (Wikipedia Android app, long-form articles) and from time-to-time light note-taking (Squid Android app) and PDFs. Haven't used crouton or done dev work on this Chromebook yet. Here's a quick review of modern touch-screen Chromebooks used as tablets. While the hardware is exceptional, the software is terrible in tablet-mode. Here are the painful issues that I can currently remember: 1. Easy to accidentally close the entire browser by brushing the X button (I was thinking the browser was crashing the first 4-5 times it happened, very frustrating as can't CTRL-SHIFT-T in tablet mode) 2. Easy to accidentally close a single tab for the same reason. On an Android devices there's a little undo popup to reopen tabs, but that kind of obvious touchscreen user-interface polish isn't there on ChromeOS yet 3. Two finger touchpad scroll doesn't work on Android apps for scrolling -- painful as heck when Wikipedia links open in the Android app in laptop mode Side note: I wish there was a good app to non-destructively markup PDF files with the stylus. I think it was at WWDC this year, Apple showed great work in this area, but sad not to have found software that appears as good for Chromebooks/Android yet. I know Google engineers will come across this post, so hopefully these pain points can be fixed eventually. Chromebook hardware is so good (and cheap), but there's a few painful areas still.
- jordanthoms 9y ago
  I don't usually plug on here but Kami ( web.kamihq.com ) lets you markup PDF documents on chromebooks, everything is kept as PDF annotations so they can be modified later. Stylus drawing on the Chromebook Plus works, though there's still some improvements I want to make to that - I have one as well and it's a great device, definitely my favorite out of the dozens of chromebooks we have at the office! (I'm a founder @ Kami)
  - sumitgt 9y ago
    I want to use Kami, but I am worried by the fact that it asks for permission to your entire Google Drive. Why doesn't Kami use the "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.file https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.file permission" scope that gives only access to files created or opened with the app?
0xFFC 9y ago
>Chromebook Pixel units in that it folds into a tablet Folds? That is far inferior that the iPad Pro and Surface (two most serious competitor, particularly Surface). Surface has the opportunity to dominate the market. God, if this was detachable, I would ditch surface for this in heartbeat. Running linux command line app. Running Chrome apps natively. Running android apps (in foreseeable future). It is like dream, if it was detachable.
j7ake 9y ago
Cool dev machine but for 1200 dollars I want to be able to run Microsoft office when people send me documents without asking them to reformat and also edit and modify images with standard software when necessary. In a collaborative world it is not worth the pain to pay 1200 and not be able to work with people who do not code. Chrome books are acceptable at the 200 dollar price point (I have one that dual boots archlinux) but they are not replaceable as a main work station unless you never interact with people who use popular software.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- Touche 9y ago
  Good news, you can open Microsoft Office documents at office.com.
- Mister_Snuggles 9y ago
  Can't new Chromebooks run Android applications? Microsoft has Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for Android so it seems like the only think you might be missing out on is Access. I can't speak to the quality of the Android applications, but the iOS versions are surprisingly well done.
  - Pigo 9y ago
    My couple years old Pixel runs the Play Store, and most apps are compatible. You run into some apps that don't support every tablets and larger devices, but the big players know what they're doing. Honestly though, once I bought the thing and tried out Google Docs, I haven't bothered to see if Office works on it. It reads and saves to .docx, and it's nice not having to send or store documents, I just share them.
  - limeblack 9y ago
    They can be glitchy(in the sense they are not supported) in my experience not to mention the Page Down doesn't work in Android applications on a Chromebook(unless the app has implemented it which is incredibly rare). I'm just trying to say they aren't useful for many people but just not for me.
camus2 9y ago
To people tempted by the Pixelbook, why not by a Macbook for that price? instead of getting a machine which OS basically amounts to a browser forcing you into google cloud services? You're basically paying a premium to get data-mined... And MacOS runs Chrome so I don't see the big deal here.
- neverminder 9y ago
  "Linux inventor Linus Torvalds replaced Chrome OS on his Chromebook Pixel with Fedora 18, employing Red Hat engineer David Miller's work. Torvalds had praised the Pixel screen but not the operating system, which he felt was better suited to slower hardware." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromebook_Pixel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromebook_Pixel)
- gangstead 9y ago
  That's what I'm thinking. I've bought 2 Chromebooks, most recently I bought a 2013 Chromebook Pixel new-in-box in 2017. I don't know where it sat all those years but for $300 it was an amazing deal and I've come to appreciate the amazing build quality. When I first heard rumors of a new Chromebook Pixel the rumored price was $799. At that price it'd still be the top-of-line for Chromebooks - the nearest "premium" one would be a Samsung Chromebook Plus for $499 and my first was a $249 Asus Flip. But at $799 I wouldn't also have to consider whether I'd be better off getting a Macbook. I guess what I can infer from that is there is no way to make a premium build (strong metal body and hinges, keyboard that feels nice, good screen) for a lower price even with an OS that allows you to skimp on more of the internals (slower processor, less ram, less storage).
- bubblethink 9y ago
  You're paying a premium for good linux and coreboot support. A macbook isn't that unique, and quite a sink of money since it can't run any other OS too well. It certainly can't run linux, and windows isn't too good either. A good linux laptop that ships with coreboot is rare. You can also run windows on these things generally.
  - criddell 9y ago
AdmiralAsshat 9y ago
Not as fond of the build quality on this new Pixel. The original Chromebook Pixel and Pixel LS is probably my favorite design of any laptop--the aluminum body was gorgeous, and the rectangular "slab" look that did not taper off was distinctly unique and not Macbook-derivative. The new one looks like it has a glass back (?) similar to the Pixel phone.
- fhood 9y ago
  I mean, it was definitely a tad macbook derivative.
  - Theodores 9y ago
    Not at all, the original Pixel Chromebook is a design classic, the updated one is notionally better but it is more like a mid-life update that you get with a car, despite the extra features the design is not so pure. Think of it as like the VW camper van going from split-screen to normal windscreen, better but not if you are into design classics. The keyboard is designed without legacy cruft, it is still QWERTY but very much redesigned and not to emulate an Apple - there are none of those weird keys with weird symbols on them in the place of where things like the CTRL key should be. There are also no silly Windows keys. The screen is 3:2 with a touch screen. Apple do not do that. Sure they do 'retina' and that gets the resolution up to Pixel levels of awesomeness. The speakers are below the keyboard rather than some tinny things hidden under lots of holes drilled in aluminium. I don't believe you can get better sound on a laptop or tablet than what the original Pixel does. The colour-bar on the lid is not fruit shaped. It does things too, like an Easter Egg rather than 'obligatory branding'. The tactile look and feel aspects are definitely an improvement on what Apple offers. The keyboard is much nicer for actual typing. I think the same goes for the trackpad but I use an external mouse in Apple world whereas with the Pixel there is no need to plug stuff like external pointing devices in. This is subjective to a certain extent, some people prefer cheap wine. Then the final form factor. There is no roundy-roundy-ness. It is not overly branded with fruit-style images. It is square, not round. Even the colour sets the Pixel apart from Apple products. The Pixel is a start from a blank piece of paper design, it is not a copy of a rival product, it is an example of what can be done and that is not the same idea as 'derivative'.
nickjj 9y ago
I think I'll stick with my Toshiba Chromebook CB35. - It runs native Linux - Works awesome for every day web development - 1080p IPS display - $350 bucks total If anyone wants to see how to set that up (it requires installing GalliumOS which is a native Linux OS for Chromebooks) and read a full review it's over at https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/transform-a-toshiba-chromebook-cb35-into-a-linux-development-environment-with-galliumos https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/transform-a-toshiba-chromeboo....
- chx 9y ago
  Very important observation: this article links to a M.2 2242 SSD with 64-512GB capacity and there seems to be ample stock on Amazon.com. This is important because the second SSD on the ThinkPad T470 and consequently the ThinkPad Anniversary 25 can only be a 2242 one and they are a major PITA to find. While some 2242 drives were broken for a few months it has been fixed a week ago https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-T400-T500-and-newer-T/T470-unable-to-detect-M-2-SSD-2242-after-updates-inlcuding-BIOS/m-p/3801672#M118817 https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-T400-T500-and-newer-T/... on the T470 so I fully expect the TA25 to come with the fix. Because what is missing from the Lenovo forum thread is that Transcend 512GB is the only one actually available at such a capacity and physical size. And, I am guessing, everyone will be getting the only laptop with modern specs and a usable keyboard, right :) ?
  - nickjj 9y ago
    Surprisingly enough, the keyboard on the Toshiba is really good. I think I even type faster on it than my desktop keyboard. Trackpad is a different story (I guess it's average but I suck with trackpads in general because I rarely use it). I feel like it takes me 10 seconds to select text with a trackpad when I could do it in like 1 second with a mouse. Watching me use a trackpad is easily comparable to an ape trying to use hand tools.
    - chx 9y ago
      Try convincing a Tesla owner to give it up for a Yugo before trying to convince a classic ThinkPad zealot -- someone with a six year old ThinkPad T420s, who kept it because of the superior keyboard -- to give it up for some random keyboard and no TrackPoint.
csours 9y ago
Pixel yourself When you're getting old ... Pixelbook Pixels of your mama Taken by your papa a long time ago ... A pixel of you in your birthday suit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7encWb7lNQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7encWb7lNQ
bubblethink 9y ago
Is there any real technical reason to have soldered RAM and storage ? A well built $1200 linux laptop would still be OK if it weren't artificially gimped. M.2 ssds are already quite thin. So the form factor argument doesn't hold. The storage markup on these devices is huge considering that a 1 TB nvme pcie m.2 ssd goes for under $350 (even less during sales).
- haikuginger 9y ago
  Apple has argued that soldered RAM allows them to control traces in a way that lets them get better performance at lower power.
- mmagin 9y ago
  Cost, durability, probably easier to fit into an even thinner form factor. I don't like it either, but I'm pretty sure they're not just doing it to be a jerk.
- cat199 9y ago
  > The storage markup on these devices is huge considering that a 1 TB nvme pcie m.2 ssd goes for under $350 (even less during sales). Looks like you answered your own question..
- slezyr 9y ago
  Don't think there is any reason for than. Xiaomi Notebook Air 12.5 has two M.2 slots. But still a soldered RAM.
GrinningFool 9y ago
I've been using an Asus Chromebook. I don't have the specs, but it's ~ a year old and was at the higher end of sub $500 pack at the time. I've pretty much given up on using it. I liked to use it for ssh over to my real computer (over wifi) to get work done; but this was always noticeably laggy. Trying to use basic tools on it (zoom, slack) is painfully slow - and if you run two bandwidth-hungry things at once, forget it. I have to jump through hoops to get a decent shell for ssh that Just Works - which sorta means it doesn't Just Work after all. Running anything heavier than the shell is slow. I don't know the specs on the one, but I think I'm done with ARM on anything but phones. At least when them, I don't have any expectation of good performance from applications/sites to begin with.
- EddieRingle 9y ago
  My Chromebook Pixel LS included a Core i7 that was more than enough for regular Chrome OS usage, plus running Arch Linux via Crouton.
hypersoar 9y ago
From my experience with a 2013 Pixel I got from I/O, these machines come with a huge caveat: you can't get them repaired. At all. I cracked the glass over the screen on mine and called Google about getting it fixed, expecting them to tell me that it'd cost $X00 for an out-of-warranty repair. But they wouldn't take it at all. They suggested contacting 3rd-party repair shops, but some research into that nixed the idea pretty quick. So if something goes wrong with machine 1 day after your warranty runs out, you're probably SoL. Apparently replacing the battery isn't too difficult, but, other than that, you don't have a lot of options. That's okay for a $300 laptop. But I don't think it's acceptable for a $1,200 one.
- danjoc 9y ago
  >So if something goes wrong with machine 1 day after your warranty runs out, you're probably SoL. https://9to5google.com/2016/12/09/google-pixel-screen-peeling-support/ https://9to5google.com/2016/12/09/google-pixel-screen-peelin... You're pretty SoL when it's brand new too, evidently.
  - PeachPlum 9y ago
    Are your customer protection laws super weak ? In the UK I would have gone to the local Trading Standards Office. Seems all people in the US can do is complain on websites and hope someone online-famous enough takes up their cause.
    - baq 9y ago
      That's the trade-off of having less regulation. OTOH I hear that the US has the most regulation in the world, so I'm confused.
      - rsynnott 9y ago
        I assume you hear that from someone who's either very confused or just making it up. Consumer regulation in the US is generally rather weak as compared to the EU. Some other regulation less so, but the idea that the US has the most regulation isn't really credible. Some aspects of the American right-wing like making these very extreme claims, presumably on the basis that some people won't bother to check. Another even more implausible one is that America is the most-taxed country; this simply isn't even vaguely true no matter what way you look at it.
linsomniac 9y ago
I've just recently gotten OpenVPN and SSH working on my Chromebook and it is fairly decent, though with some limitations that make me wonder who is really paying $1,100 and up for a Chromebook... I got one of those crazy HP 13 chromebooks, a Pixel-level device that at the time a few months ago was really the only available option more recent than the Pixel. I ended up finding it on Woot for $520, instead of nearly a grand. It has the high res display, charges over USB-C so I can use the same charger for my laptop, chromebook, phone, and Fiance's laptop. The device is nice. The OpenVPN was not TOO bad to set up, but you seem to only be able to have one VPN active at a time. So I can connect to either the office OR the data center OR my personal network, where my laptop can connect to all of them. The SSH works great, but doesn't have an SSH agent so copying from one remote machine to another doesn't really work. It looks like there is some agent option but I haven't gotten that working. One nice feature of the SSH program is that it can map the remote system as a local Chromebook drive, so I can drag and drop downloaded files when I need to. For programming I'm looking at Cloud9, which I've played with in the past but never seriously. Probably will just end up SSHing to a box and running vim, I do very little development. For running Ansible sysadmin tasks, I'm either going to have to go into my desktop and set up an SSH agent to handle the connections to all the other hosts, or use Rundeck once I've committed and pushed the Ansible changes. So, 90% of what I NEED a laptop for at home (something broke at work, working on personal servers/network), the Chromebook will do, though not quite as nicely as a laptop. Also, I'm using Enpass for passwords, and on the Chromebook I'm using the Android app, which kind of sucks compared to the Linux app version. The comparison is that around the same time I got a Lenovo T470s running Linux. Also has high res display, also is tiny. It has something weird going on with the mouse buttons where after a suspend they sometimes "stick". The Chromebook is less expensive, though not really disposable. The $250 chromebook I tried really kind of sucked.
- ramses0 9y ago
  I have the same one. It's been great w/ crouton (although crouton chromium is noticeably slower than chrome from the "native" os). It's a great, slim beast for $500, I paid the higher price to get it earlier as my primary "home" laptop, and I love it. It's bridging me quite nicely until apple either zigs or zags on their laptop line.
danjoc 9y ago
Terrible design; $99 pen with no place to stow it. Apple style price jacking for storage; $1199-128GB, $1399-256GB, $1749-512. I don't see this hardware line going anywhere either. I won't be surprised if the pen requires charging like Crapple. Samsung has better offering with Plus/Pro at less than half the price. Why did Google let the guy who rekt Moto run Pixel and Nexus into the ground? This is terrible.
- isr 9y ago
  In the absence of specs, we're all guessing here. That said, I would (err) guess that the more expensive versions also have more RAM and bigger CPU's. We'll see when the actual models are trotted out ...
  - danjoc 9y ago
    The specs are widely available. This is chromebook Eve. It is very overpriced.
    - isr 9y ago
      Unless I missed something, we have different price points for 3 different models, but apart from storage capacity, no mention of other spec diffs between these models. So we don't know if these models also have increasing ram, or more powerful cpu's, in addition to the extra on-board storage. Until we get the full specs of all the models. Which is why ascribing the price increases solely to the increased storage size is, well, silly. If you have these "widely available" specs showing what exactly is different across the 3 models, then spill the beans. Otherwise ...
EddieSpeaks 9y ago
Hey look like less useful Surface Book/Pro clones
akhilcacharya 9y ago
If the SSD specs are accurate, this could be fantastic. The biggest problem with the last Chromebook was the storage capacity for Linux from what I can gather.
scottlegrand2 9y ago
No TensorFlow transistors? Seems like a squandered opportunity to further #MLAllTheThings and to build the first real consumer alternative to #Nvidiopoly.
sixothree 9y ago
Stupid question maybe, but can you edit documents offline?

140 points by neverminder 9y ago

As someone who has attempted to use the original Chromebook Pixel as a development machine, I'm glad to see they've added more storage options. The original Pixel had 32GB of storage, and this one offers 512GB. For those unfamiliar with ChromeOS, it allows you to run Linux application using Crouton/chroot, so it really has a lot of potential as a Linux dev machine. However, I ultimately ran out of storage space, and it wasn't worth the time to figure out an inelegant scheme for mounting external storage.

module0000 9y ago
That jumped out at me too, the (much) larger storage options sound great. In my chroot I always have to be very conservative about space, even on a 64GB pixel. Glad that will be a thing of the past with the new sizes.
leggomylibro 9y ago
This is actually a good reason to go with a 3rd-party manufacturer. Almost all non-Google Chromebooks include microSD card slots, so you can get another 128GB of persistently-mounted executable flash for large builds and similar. Google does not want you to use microSD cards. Google wants you to use Google Drive.
- EddieRingle 9y ago
  My Chromebook Pixel LS has an SD card slot. It wouldn't be a surprise if this one also has one.
  - leggomylibro 9y ago
    Oh, nice! It would be great to see them reversing that trend.
  - anjbe 9y ago
    Unfortunately, it’s on an internal USB 2 bus, which makes SD access extreme slow. All the external USB ports are at least 3.0, so I use a slim 64GB flash drive.
    - leggomylibro 9y ago
      Huh, that's king of a weird decision, but I guess it is probably going to be near the USB connectors on the board, anyways. I guess that probably means it's falling back to a normal SPI interface instead of the faster quad-SPI MMC interface? Maybe they don't want to spend one of their chip's QSPI peripherals on storage expansion.
gisenberg 9y ago
When the Chromebook Pixel is configured to run Linux through Crouton/chroot, it displays a warning on reboot and will automatically reflash the machine to stock ChromeOS without intervention. Not a great option if there's a chance someone non-technical will try to use the machine.

Theodores 9y ago

I don't see how this can possibly be an improvement on the first Chromebook Pixel from a design aesthetic point of view but I am hoping to be proven wrong.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

jdalgetty 9y ago

looks neat

miguelrochefort 9y ago

Who pays $1,199 for a Chromebook?

pjmlp 9y ago
I also don't get it, for that price I can get a nice general purpose laptop, with most likely a much better CPU/GPU combo.
- resoluti0n 9y ago
  A traditional GNU/Linux distro can also be installed bare metal on it. It's a much better option for your privacy. This eliminate Google's data mining of the whole desktop experience and give you better customization options at the same time.
  - pjmlp 9y ago
    I can already do that on a 300 euro laptop, which was sold with Ubuntu installed on it.
    - neverminder 9y ago
      It's the same like saying "I don't need S class Mercedes, VW Polo has 4 wheels too.". Compare the specs of that 300 euro laptop and Pixel 2015 LS - that's not even the same league. I have Ubuntu installed on mine and with core i7, 16 GB of RAM it blows most of the laptops out of the water.
      - camus2 9y ago
        Now compare the possibilities of any decent OS versus what basically amounts to a browser... any OS can run a browser, why buy a machine that makes you use a browser exclusively and ties you to Google services for everything?
        toast0 9y ago

Uehreka 9y ago

I think they mean “Google Pixelbook is Google’s new Chromebook Pixel”. If Google has discontinued the cheap Chromebooks it would be really bad for all the school systems that rely on them as cheap laptops for students.

pgeorgi 9y ago
> If Google has discontinued the cheap Chromebooks There were three Google Chromebooks: Cr48, Pixel (2013), Pixel (2015). The first had no retail price, the others weren't cheap. The cheap Chromebooks for edu etc are built and maintained with significant effort by Google (see commit authors across the Chromium OS project), but they're not "Google devices" but devices from Samsung/HP/Acer/Asus/Lenovo/...
sspiff 9y ago
Google seems to be moving away from cheaper hardware, and moving it's products towards the "high end reference implementation" realm. The same thing happened with Android and the change from Nexus towards Pixel. That doesn't have to be bad news for schools. Schools generally acquire their chromebooks from vendors like Dell and HP and Acer. These vendors will no doubt continue to build cheap systems with Chrome OS for the education market if there is demand.

jimmytidey 9y ago

Would it run an actual Linux OS?

neverminder 9y ago
I hope it does. I have a 2015 Pixel LS (last gen) running vanilla Ubuntu without any major issues. The disk size was always a nuisance (64GB only), so this new one looks perfect in that regard. I just wish Intel stopped their bullshit malicious behavior and started supporting LPDDR4 at last and lift the 16 GB RAM cap that LPDDR3 has.
sethrin 9y ago
Crouton[0] is one option for that, but I would recommend GalliumOS[1] to anyone interested in a Chromebook. My current laptop is an Acer C720, purchased for $110 and running GalliumOS. It's not shiny or new, but it gets the job done, and it's practically cheap enough to be disposable. There are admittedly times when I wish I could justify the cost of a Pixel or an XPS 13, but I can't really get past the idea of being able to buy a half-dozen other machines for the same price. [0] https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton [1] http://galliumos.org/ http://galliumos.org/
- acangiano 9y ago
  > but I would recommend GalliumOS[1] to anyone interested in a Chromebook Just make sure the spacebar is never pressed at boot. That's all it takes to screw up your nice dual boot setup.
  - isr 9y ago
    If you: * resize the (unused) root-c partition (use the chrx script to do it for you, if you like) * mount it somewhere under /mnt/stateful_partition * use that for your chroots, etc Then you can safely use chromeos in dev mode, and not worry about the "deadly spacebar at bootup" problem. Pressing the spacebar takes you out of dev mode, which will involve rewriting the contents of the rootfs partition currently in use. It will NOT repartition the entire drive, so your separate partition will be safe. Just revert back to dev mode, and you'll see its still there. Or ... put everything on a mini usb stick :)

FussyZeus 9y ago

Serious question for HNers: Does anyone actually buy these for ChromeOS? Every time I hear these discussed it seems to center around what you can do with them that involves a new OS, either Windows or Linux. So is it really the product in demand or just the demand for hardware not bound down with a bundled OS License?

pgeorgi 9y ago
HNers probably replace the OS as soon as possible. Those schools and companies looking for a low maintenance thin client platform won't (or they'd lose the "low maintenance" appeal)
ekidd 9y ago
Yes! I have a very nice Samsung Chromebook Plus, which folds into a tablet, and which has a pen, but for roughly 1/3rd the price of the new Chromebook Pixel. I use it as a large format document reader, and as an easy-to-secure, easy-to-wipe, easy-to-restore travel machine. It's also great for sketching out design diagrams on a table in a meeting. The fact that the Chromebook Plus also runs Android apps is a huge plus. I've never unlocked it to install Linux, because that reduces the security guarantees, which were a major selling point for me when travelling.
lllr_finger 9y ago
I buy them for anyone in my family that "just wants a laptop to browse the web", as they are fast, secure, cheap, and easy - with great battery life.
paulryanrogers 9y ago
A coworker had one. IIRC she used it primarily for writing.
dgacmu 9y ago
Yeah - I bought one for taking out of the country and on a two week family vacation (which included some stretches of camping) so that I could manage things remotely while I was gone. It's not my Macbook Pro. But it worked really well for light-duty tasks. The biggest annoyance was that I can't run my password manager on it, so I was hand-copying long strings of hard-to-type garbage from my phone fairly frequently. I wondered if I'd switch over to it. I haven't. I like larger laptops, I prefer the MBP keyboard, and I generally need to be able to run more stuff locally. But I'm glad I have it, I use it around the house when my mac is plugged into a monitor in my office, and I'll definitely use it for all future international travel. (Asus Chromebook Flip, FWIW.)

baybal2 9y ago

>Pixelbook Google will have tough luck registering this trademark in China

seanmcdirmid 9y ago
Chromebooks were never sold in china officially anyways. It wouldn't even make sense given how most google services are blocked.
pimlottc 9y ago
Could you elaborate on why this name would be hard to trademark in China?
- baybal2 9y ago
  There was a somewhat well known Chinese brand around 2007-2009 that was making rather decent laptops. The core of the company's collective went to found the BYD's consumer electronics unit and were the ones who made BYD's Vaio P clones. Their makes were rather stylish for a Chinese CE company
  - cat199 9y ago
    Hmm yes. China is well known for it's fierce regulatory regieme with respect to intellectual property. Perhaps they can just rebrand them as Mac and sell them at one of the fake apple stores instead if this becomes a problem..

neverminder 9y ago

I hope this will be as cutting edge as 2015 Pixel LS (I own one, running vanilla Ubuntu): 16 GB RAM, awesome screen (2560x1700) especially good for coders because of 3:2 ratio, first laptop with USB Type-C charging, first laptop with 2 USB Type-C sockets and last but not least - design and build quality that I would argue is even better than that of Apple laptops.

donquichotte 9y ago
Wow, the 2015 Pixel LS still go for >1000$ on ebay! Nice to hear that it's possible to run Linux - I have a budget Acer C720p Chromebook and it's a real nuisance to set it up with Linux. Bodhi Linux is great, but once the internal battery runs out, the device is bricked and has to be reflashed with ChromeOS.
- neverminder 9y ago
  > Wow, the 2015 Pixel LS still go for >1000$ on ebay! Might have to do with it being discontinued yet still a great piece of hardware. > once the internal battery runs out, the device is bricked and has to be reflashed with ChromeOS. Pixel 2015 does not have this problem (unlike the 1st gen one) - that was confirmed at some point on it's forum by one of the googlers involved in the project.
- toast0 9y ago
  Did you install a new bios? If you're only ever going to run Linux, it's probably better not to run the stock bios in legacy mode. Standard bios booting roms are here https://johnlewis.ie/custom-chromebook-firmware/rom-download/ https://johnlewis.ie/custom-chromebook-firmware/rom-download... or if you want to futz with UEFI, https://mrchromebox.tech https://mrchromebox.tech
  - donquichotte 9y ago
    This is great news, I didn't know there were BIOS updates available for the C720P! I'm not going to use UEFI if it's avoidable.

shasheene 9y ago

I've been using the Samsung Chromebook Plus (ARM chip) laptop/tablet hybrid the past 4 months and it's one of the best devices I've ever owned. Very cheap and has high build quality (great screen and aluminium body). The 4 years prior I used the first ARM Samsung Series 3 Chromebook (much lower build quality, but it was great before it died). I currently use tablet mode for 2-3 hour session for portrait reading (Wikipedia Android app, long-form articles) and from time-to-time light note-taking (Squid Android app) and PDFs. Haven't used crouton or done dev work on this Chromebook yet. Here's a quick review of modern touch-screen Chromebooks used as tablets. While the hardware is exceptional, the software is terrible in tablet-mode. Here are the painful issues that I can currently remember: 1. Easy to accidentally close the entire browser by brushing the X button (I was thinking the browser was crashing the first 4-5 times it happened, very frustrating as can't CTRL-SHIFT-T in tablet mode) 2. Easy to accidentally close a single tab for the same reason. On an Android devices there's a little undo popup to reopen tabs, but that kind of obvious touchscreen user-interface polish isn't there on ChromeOS yet 3. Two finger touchpad scroll doesn't work on Android apps for scrolling -- painful as heck when Wikipedia links open in the Android app in laptop mode Side note: I wish there was a good app to non-destructively markup PDF files with the stylus. I think it was at WWDC this year, Apple showed great work in this area, but sad not to have found software that appears as good for Chromebooks/Android yet. I know Google engineers will come across this post, so hopefully these pain points can be fixed eventually. Chromebook hardware is so good (and cheap), but there's a few painful areas still.

jordanthoms 9y ago
I don't usually plug on here but Kami ( web.kamihq.com ) lets you markup PDF documents on chromebooks, everything is kept as PDF annotations so they can be modified later. Stylus drawing on the Chromebook Plus works, though there's still some improvements I want to make to that - I have one as well and it's a great device, definitely my favorite out of the dozens of chromebooks we have at the office! (I'm a founder @ Kami)
- sumitgt 9y ago
  I want to use Kami, but I am worried by the fact that it asks for permission to your entire Google Drive. Why doesn't Kami use the "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.file https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.file permission" scope that gives only access to files created or opened with the app?

0xFFC 9y ago

>Chromebook Pixel units in that it folds into a tablet Folds? That is far inferior that the iPad Pro and Surface (two most serious competitor, particularly Surface). Surface has the opportunity to dominate the market. God, if this was detachable, I would ditch surface for this in heartbeat. Running linux command line app. Running Chrome apps natively. Running android apps (in foreseeable future). It is like dream, if it was detachable.

j7ake 9y ago

Cool dev machine but for 1200 dollars I want to be able to run Microsoft office when people send me documents without asking them to reformat and also edit and modify images with standard software when necessary. In a collaborative world it is not worth the pain to pay 1200 and not be able to work with people who do not code. Chrome books are acceptable at the 200 dollar price point (I have one that dual boots archlinux) but they are not replaceable as a main work station unless you never interact with people who use popular software.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
Touche 9y ago
Good news, you can open Microsoft Office documents at office.com.
Mister_Snuggles 9y ago
Can't new Chromebooks run Android applications? Microsoft has Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for Android so it seems like the only think you might be missing out on is Access. I can't speak to the quality of the Android applications, but the iOS versions are surprisingly well done.
- Pigo 9y ago
  My couple years old Pixel runs the Play Store, and most apps are compatible. You run into some apps that don't support every tablets and larger devices, but the big players know what they're doing. Honestly though, once I bought the thing and tried out Google Docs, I haven't bothered to see if Office works on it. It reads and saves to .docx, and it's nice not having to send or store documents, I just share them.
- limeblack 9y ago
  They can be glitchy(in the sense they are not supported) in my experience not to mention the Page Down doesn't work in Android applications on a Chromebook(unless the app has implemented it which is incredibly rare). I'm just trying to say they aren't useful for many people but just not for me.

camus2 9y ago

To people tempted by the Pixelbook, why not by a Macbook for that price? instead of getting a machine which OS basically amounts to a browser forcing you into google cloud services? You're basically paying a premium to get data-mined... And MacOS runs Chrome so I don't see the big deal here.

neverminder 9y ago
"Linux inventor Linus Torvalds replaced Chrome OS on his Chromebook Pixel with Fedora 18, employing Red Hat engineer David Miller's work. Torvalds had praised the Pixel screen but not the operating system, which he felt was better suited to slower hardware." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromebook_Pixel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromebook_Pixel)
gangstead 9y ago
That's what I'm thinking. I've bought 2 Chromebooks, most recently I bought a 2013 Chromebook Pixel new-in-box in 2017. I don't know where it sat all those years but for $300 it was an amazing deal and I've come to appreciate the amazing build quality. When I first heard rumors of a new Chromebook Pixel the rumored price was $799. At that price it'd still be the top-of-line for Chromebooks - the nearest "premium" one would be a Samsung Chromebook Plus for $499 and my first was a $249 Asus Flip. But at $799 I wouldn't also have to consider whether I'd be better off getting a Macbook. I guess what I can infer from that is there is no way to make a premium build (strong metal body and hinges, keyboard that feels nice, good screen) for a lower price even with an OS that allows you to skimp on more of the internals (slower processor, less ram, less storage).
bubblethink 9y ago
You're paying a premium for good linux and coreboot support. A macbook isn't that unique, and quite a sink of money since it can't run any other OS too well. It certainly can't run linux, and windows isn't too good either. A good linux laptop that ships with coreboot is rare. You can also run windows on these things generally.
- criddell 9y ago

AdmiralAsshat 9y ago

Not as fond of the build quality on this new Pixel. The original Chromebook Pixel and Pixel LS is probably my favorite design of any laptop--the aluminum body was gorgeous, and the rectangular "slab" look that did not taper off was distinctly unique and not Macbook-derivative. The new one looks like it has a glass back (?) similar to the Pixel phone.

fhood 9y ago
I mean, it was definitely a tad macbook derivative.
- Theodores 9y ago
  Not at all, the original Pixel Chromebook is a design classic, the updated one is notionally better but it is more like a mid-life update that you get with a car, despite the extra features the design is not so pure. Think of it as like the VW camper van going from split-screen to normal windscreen, better but not if you are into design classics. The keyboard is designed without legacy cruft, it is still QWERTY but very much redesigned and not to emulate an Apple - there are none of those weird keys with weird symbols on them in the place of where things like the CTRL key should be. There are also no silly Windows keys. The screen is 3:2 with a touch screen. Apple do not do that. Sure they do 'retina' and that gets the resolution up to Pixel levels of awesomeness. The speakers are below the keyboard rather than some tinny things hidden under lots of holes drilled in aluminium. I don't believe you can get better sound on a laptop or tablet than what the original Pixel does. The colour-bar on the lid is not fruit shaped. It does things too, like an Easter Egg rather than 'obligatory branding'. The tactile look and feel aspects are definitely an improvement on what Apple offers. The keyboard is much nicer for actual typing. I think the same goes for the trackpad but I use an external mouse in Apple world whereas with the Pixel there is no need to plug stuff like external pointing devices in. This is subjective to a certain extent, some people prefer cheap wine. Then the final form factor. There is no roundy-roundy-ness. It is not overly branded with fruit-style images. It is square, not round. Even the colour sets the Pixel apart from Apple products. The Pixel is a start from a blank piece of paper design, it is not a copy of a rival product, it is an example of what can be done and that is not the same idea as 'derivative'.

nickjj 9y ago

I think I'll stick with my Toshiba Chromebook CB35. - It runs native Linux - Works awesome for every day web development - 1080p IPS display - $350 bucks total If anyone wants to see how to set that up (it requires installing GalliumOS which is a native Linux OS for Chromebooks) and read a full review it's over at https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/transform-a-toshiba-chromebook-cb35-into-a-linux-development-environment-with-galliumos https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/transform-a-toshiba-chromeboo....

chx 9y ago
Very important observation: this article links to a M.2 2242 SSD with 64-512GB capacity and there seems to be ample stock on Amazon.com. This is important because the second SSD on the ThinkPad T470 and consequently the ThinkPad Anniversary 25 can only be a 2242 one and they are a major PITA to find. While some 2242 drives were broken for a few months it has been fixed a week ago https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-T400-T500-and-newer-T/T470-unable-to-detect-M-2-SSD-2242-after-updates-inlcuding-BIOS/m-p/3801672#M118817 https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-T400-T500-and-newer-T/... on the T470 so I fully expect the TA25 to come with the fix. Because what is missing from the Lenovo forum thread is that Transcend 512GB is the only one actually available at such a capacity and physical size. And, I am guessing, everyone will be getting the only laptop with modern specs and a usable keyboard, right :) ?
- nickjj 9y ago
  Surprisingly enough, the keyboard on the Toshiba is really good. I think I even type faster on it than my desktop keyboard. Trackpad is a different story (I guess it's average but I suck with trackpads in general because I rarely use it). I feel like it takes me 10 seconds to select text with a trackpad when I could do it in like 1 second with a mouse. Watching me use a trackpad is easily comparable to an ape trying to use hand tools.
  - chx 9y ago
    Try convincing a Tesla owner to give it up for a Yugo before trying to convince a classic ThinkPad zealot -- someone with a six year old ThinkPad T420s, who kept it because of the superior keyboard -- to give it up for some random keyboard and no TrackPoint.

csours 9y ago

Pixel yourself When you're getting old ... Pixelbook Pixels of your mama Taken by your papa a long time ago ... A pixel of you in your birthday suit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7encWb7lNQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7encWb7lNQ

bubblethink 9y ago

Is there any real technical reason to have soldered RAM and storage ? A well built $1200 linux laptop would still be OK if it weren't artificially gimped. M.2 ssds are already quite thin. So the form factor argument doesn't hold. The storage markup on these devices is huge considering that a 1 TB nvme pcie m.2 ssd goes for under $350 (even less during sales).

haikuginger 9y ago
Apple has argued that soldered RAM allows them to control traces in a way that lets them get better performance at lower power.
mmagin 9y ago
Cost, durability, probably easier to fit into an even thinner form factor. I don't like it either, but I'm pretty sure they're not just doing it to be a jerk.
cat199 9y ago
> The storage markup on these devices is huge considering that a 1 TB nvme pcie m.2 ssd goes for under $350 (even less during sales). Looks like you answered your own question..
slezyr 9y ago
Don't think there is any reason for than. Xiaomi Notebook Air 12.5 has two M.2 slots. But still a soldered RAM.

GrinningFool 9y ago

I've been using an Asus Chromebook. I don't have the specs, but it's ~ a year old and was at the higher end of sub $500 pack at the time. I've pretty much given up on using it. I liked to use it for ssh over to my real computer (over wifi) to get work done; but this was always noticeably laggy. Trying to use basic tools on it (zoom, slack) is painfully slow - and if you run two bandwidth-hungry things at once, forget it. I have to jump through hoops to get a decent shell for ssh that Just Works - which sorta means it doesn't Just Work after all. Running anything heavier than the shell is slow. I don't know the specs on the one, but I think I'm done with ARM on anything but phones. At least when them, I don't have any expectation of good performance from applications/sites to begin with.

EddieRingle 9y ago
My Chromebook Pixel LS included a Core i7 that was more than enough for regular Chrome OS usage, plus running Arch Linux via Crouton.

hypersoar 9y ago

From my experience with a 2013 Pixel I got from I/O, these machines come with a huge caveat: you can't get them repaired. At all. I cracked the glass over the screen on mine and called Google about getting it fixed, expecting them to tell me that it'd cost $X00 for an out-of-warranty repair. But they wouldn't take it at all. They suggested contacting 3rd-party repair shops, but some research into that nixed the idea pretty quick. So if something goes wrong with machine 1 day after your warranty runs out, you're probably SoL. Apparently replacing the battery isn't too difficult, but, other than that, you don't have a lot of options. That's okay for a $300 laptop. But I don't think it's acceptable for a $1,200 one.

danjoc 9y ago
>So if something goes wrong with machine 1 day after your warranty runs out, you're probably SoL. https://9to5google.com/2016/12/09/google-pixel-screen-peeling-support/ https://9to5google.com/2016/12/09/google-pixel-screen-peelin... You're pretty SoL when it's brand new too, evidently.
- PeachPlum 9y ago
  Are your customer protection laws super weak ? In the UK I would have gone to the local Trading Standards Office. Seems all people in the US can do is complain on websites and hope someone online-famous enough takes up their cause.
  - baq 9y ago
    That's the trade-off of having less regulation. OTOH I hear that the US has the most regulation in the world, so I'm confused.
    - rsynnott 9y ago
      I assume you hear that from someone who's either very confused or just making it up. Consumer regulation in the US is generally rather weak as compared to the EU. Some other regulation less so, but the idea that the US has the most regulation isn't really credible. Some aspects of the American right-wing like making these very extreme claims, presumably on the basis that some people won't bother to check. Another even more implausible one is that America is the most-taxed country; this simply isn't even vaguely true no matter what way you look at it.

linsomniac 9y ago

I've just recently gotten OpenVPN and SSH working on my Chromebook and it is fairly decent, though with some limitations that make me wonder who is really paying $1,100 and up for a Chromebook... I got one of those crazy HP 13 chromebooks, a Pixel-level device that at the time a few months ago was really the only available option more recent than the Pixel. I ended up finding it on Woot for $520, instead of nearly a grand. It has the high res display, charges over USB-C so I can use the same charger for my laptop, chromebook, phone, and Fiance's laptop. The device is nice. The OpenVPN was not TOO bad to set up, but you seem to only be able to have one VPN active at a time. So I can connect to either the office OR the data center OR my personal network, where my laptop can connect to all of them. The SSH works great, but doesn't have an SSH agent so copying from one remote machine to another doesn't really work. It looks like there is some agent option but I haven't gotten that working. One nice feature of the SSH program is that it can map the remote system as a local Chromebook drive, so I can drag and drop downloaded files when I need to. For programming I'm looking at Cloud9, which I've played with in the past but never seriously. Probably will just end up SSHing to a box and running vim, I do very little development. For running Ansible sysadmin tasks, I'm either going to have to go into my desktop and set up an SSH agent to handle the connections to all the other hosts, or use Rundeck once I've committed and pushed the Ansible changes. So, 90% of what I NEED a laptop for at home (something broke at work, working on personal servers/network), the Chromebook will do, though not quite as nicely as a laptop. Also, I'm using Enpass for passwords, and on the Chromebook I'm using the Android app, which kind of sucks compared to the Linux app version. The comparison is that around the same time I got a Lenovo T470s running Linux. Also has high res display, also is tiny. It has something weird going on with the mouse buttons where after a suspend they sometimes "stick". The Chromebook is less expensive, though not really disposable. The $250 chromebook I tried really kind of sucked.

ramses0 9y ago
I have the same one. It's been great w/ crouton (although crouton chromium is noticeably slower than chrome from the "native" os). It's a great, slim beast for $500, I paid the higher price to get it earlier as my primary "home" laptop, and I love it. It's bridging me quite nicely until apple either zigs or zags on their laptop line.

danjoc 9y ago

Terrible design; $99 pen with no place to stow it. Apple style price jacking for storage; $1199-128GB, $1399-256GB, $1749-512. I don't see this hardware line going anywhere either. I won't be surprised if the pen requires charging like Crapple. Samsung has better offering with Plus/Pro at less than half the price. Why did Google let the guy who rekt Moto run Pixel and Nexus into the ground? This is terrible.

isr 9y ago
In the absence of specs, we're all guessing here. That said, I would (err) guess that the more expensive versions also have more RAM and bigger CPU's. We'll see when the actual models are trotted out ...
- danjoc 9y ago
  The specs are widely available. This is chromebook Eve. It is very overpriced.
  - isr 9y ago
    Unless I missed something, we have different price points for 3 different models, but apart from storage capacity, no mention of other spec diffs between these models. So we don't know if these models also have increasing ram, or more powerful cpu's, in addition to the extra on-board storage. Until we get the full specs of all the models. Which is why ascribing the price increases solely to the increased storage size is, well, silly. If you have these "widely available" specs showing what exactly is different across the 3 models, then spill the beans. Otherwise ...

EddieSpeaks 9y ago

Hey look like less useful Surface Book/Pro clones

akhilcacharya 9y ago

If the SSD specs are accurate, this could be fantastic. The biggest problem with the last Chromebook was the storage capacity for Linux from what I can gather.

scottlegrand2 9y ago

No TensorFlow transistors? Seems like a squandered opportunity to further #MLAllTheThings and to build the first real consumer alternative to #Nvidiopoly.

sixothree 9y ago

Stupid question maybe, but can you edit documents offline?