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If you don't have specific Windows apps, I'd be tempted to try a Chromebook these days. Around 2 years ago I got a cheap Chromebook and it was terrible. I thi

If you don't have specific Windows apps, I'd be tempted to try a Chromebook these days. Around 2 years ago I got a cheap Chromebook and it was terrible. I think it was $250. Fit and finish and keyboard kind of sucked. I found one of those HP Chromebook 13 g1 boxes, which Woot had refurb for half off at just under $500, and it is much closer to the hardware experience I'm used to with Thinkpads, for 1/6th the price. Now, I almost always reach for the Chromebook instead of the Thinkpad EXCEPT when I need to connect to both of my work VPNs, the Chromebook will only connect to one at a time. I can ssh into my personal and work machines, run my password manager, program via remove vi sessions (though I could stand to use VSCode, I don't have that set up on my Thinkpad either). The Chromebook has been a great experience for me.

StavrosK 8y ago
Chromebooks sound amazing except I don't want to be locked into Google or give them more of my data...
- panarky 8y ago
  Personally I choose Debian, but if the alternative is getting locked into Microsoft and giving them more of my data, then I choose Google.
  - StavrosK 8y ago
    For me, I'm thinking about what I would prefer to give to my parents/family, who right now use Ubuntu laptops. Chromebooks might be a bit slicker, but yeah, there's no contest between Ubuntu and Google in the "big brother" department.
  - Razengan 8y ago
    Surely Google's privacy-invading footprint is far wider than Microsoft's, including Analytics etc.
  - acct1771 8y ago
    Do you trust the hardware?
tomohawk 8y ago
My chromebook sits on the shelf, unused. None of the apps really work properly. It's been a big disappointment. I recently dusted it off and had the apps update. They worked worse than last time. YMMV.
- ricktdotorg 8y ago
  i am curious as to what apps don’t work properly. considering ChromeOS is just an OS that mostly “wraps” web pages, what doesn’t work for you?
  - tomohawk 8y ago
    The most critical one is lastpass.
neverminder 8y ago
Coincidentally, recently project Crostini has reached Chrome OS stable. To those who don't know what it is - Crostini enables running Linux apps on Chrome OS (https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/docs/+/master/containers_and_vms.md https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/docs/+/master/c...). This makes Chrome OS a lot more appealing than it used to be, especially in combination with top end hardware like Pixelbook or Pixel Slate.
- ntsplnkv2 8y ago
  What's the point of even buying a Chromebook if you're just going to run Linux anyway? What is the advantage of buying a chromebook?
  - linsomniac 8y ago
    For me, at home, I'm doing very little. 90% of what I'm doing on my personal laptop these days is in a browser. ChromeOS is a dead simple, secure, browser appliance. Being able to install an Android SSH client and VPN takes that up to more like 99% and lets me do some work things as well. Being able to install a Linux app or two would probably take me more to like 100%. The only thing I really want to do that I'm not at the moment is have a more self-contained development environment like VSCode to dabble on some python rather than sshing over to a box and editing in vi.
marmaduke 8y ago
Goodness, two vpns?
- acct1771 8y ago
  If you're careful, each service is behind a separate one.
Koshkin 8y ago
Why a Chromebook? Linux still works better on x86 CPUs, and I am sure there’s plenty of laptops, including inexpensive ones, that are perfectly suitable for Linux. (My current personal workhorse is a ZenBook on which I have tried Fedora, Slackware, and Ubuntu - all of which ran without issues.)
- linsomniac 8y ago
  I run Linux at the office on my desktop and ~100 physical/virtual machines. But for my personal box, when my 8 year old Thinkpad finally died, I wasn't doing very much with it and wanted something cheap and easy to maintain. And I wanted to see if I could live on a chromebook. The cheap part it did meet, though that was partly because it was refurb. It's surprisingly close in hardware to my $2500 Thinkpad that work brought me, similar display resolution, similar "feel". The Chromebook was $500 refurb or would have been just under a grand new. I don't have to "maintain" it, which I appreciate since I have 100 Linux boxes I maintain at work. My work laptop is running Ubuntu 18.10, 18.04 wouldn't install on it because it's too new. It was a fairly simple install, things mostly work on it. I do have some issues but nothing major. One thing I really hoped for was to be able to use the docking station with multiple monitors, but that isn't supported at all in Linux because of the multiplexer in it. But I can't get the chromebook to work with a USB-C to HDMI adapter either, so...

StavrosK 8y ago

Chromebooks sound amazing except I don't want to be locked into Google or give them more of my data...

panarky 8y ago
Personally I choose Debian, but if the alternative is getting locked into Microsoft and giving them more of my data, then I choose Google.
- StavrosK 8y ago
  For me, I'm thinking about what I would prefer to give to my parents/family, who right now use Ubuntu laptops. Chromebooks might be a bit slicker, but yeah, there's no contest between Ubuntu and Google in the "big brother" department.
- Razengan 8y ago
  Surely Google's privacy-invading footprint is far wider than Microsoft's, including Analytics etc.
- acct1771 8y ago
  Do you trust the hardware?

tomohawk 8y ago

My chromebook sits on the shelf, unused. None of the apps really work properly. It's been a big disappointment. I recently dusted it off and had the apps update. They worked worse than last time. YMMV.

ricktdotorg 8y ago
i am curious as to what apps don’t work properly. considering ChromeOS is just an OS that mostly “wraps” web pages, what doesn’t work for you?
- tomohawk 8y ago
  The most critical one is lastpass.

neverminder 8y ago

Coincidentally, recently project Crostini has reached Chrome OS stable. To those who don't know what it is - Crostini enables running Linux apps on Chrome OS (https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/docs/+/master/containers_and_vms.md https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/docs/+/master/c...). This makes Chrome OS a lot more appealing than it used to be, especially in combination with top end hardware like Pixelbook or Pixel Slate.

ntsplnkv2 8y ago
What's the point of even buying a Chromebook if you're just going to run Linux anyway? What is the advantage of buying a chromebook?
- linsomniac 8y ago
  For me, at home, I'm doing very little. 90% of what I'm doing on my personal laptop these days is in a browser. ChromeOS is a dead simple, secure, browser appliance. Being able to install an Android SSH client and VPN takes that up to more like 99% and lets me do some work things as well. Being able to install a Linux app or two would probably take me more to like 100%. The only thing I really want to do that I'm not at the moment is have a more self-contained development environment like VSCode to dabble on some python rather than sshing over to a box and editing in vi.

marmaduke 8y ago

Goodness, two vpns?

acct1771 8y ago
If you're careful, each service is behind a separate one.

Koshkin 8y ago

Why a Chromebook? Linux still works better on x86 CPUs, and I am sure there’s plenty of laptops, including inexpensive ones, that are perfectly suitable for Linux. (My current personal workhorse is a ZenBook on which I have tried Fedora, Slackware, and Ubuntu - all of which ran without issues.)

linsomniac 8y ago
I run Linux at the office on my desktop and ~100 physical/virtual machines. But for my personal box, when my 8 year old Thinkpad finally died, I wasn't doing very much with it and wanted something cheap and easy to maintain. And I wanted to see if I could live on a chromebook. The cheap part it did meet, though that was partly because it was refurb. It's surprisingly close in hardware to my $2500 Thinkpad that work brought me, similar display resolution, similar "feel". The Chromebook was $500 refurb or would have been just under a grand new. I don't have to "maintain" it, which I appreciate since I have 100 Linux boxes I maintain at work. My work laptop is running Ubuntu 18.10, 18.04 wouldn't install on it because it's too new. It was a fairly simple install, things mostly work on it. I do have some issues but nothing major. One thing I really hoped for was to be able to use the docking station with multiple monitors, but that isn't supported at all in Linux because of the multiplexer in it. But I can't get the chromebook to work with a USB-C to HDMI adapter either, so...