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I went through multiple iterations of Chromebooks as a developer. I really wanted to love them, but they're just not powerful enough for it. Even opening multip

I went through multiple iterations of Chromebooks as a developer. I really wanted to love them, but they're just not powerful enough for it. Even opening multiple tabs slowed down the Pixelbook, for example. I think at this point, unless Google indeed drastically revamps the architecture to make it much more powerful for the buck, it's a dead product in this category. Education seems like the only market where it shines.

stickfigure 5y ago
I don't think the Chromebook was ever aimed at developers. It's the console you use for your marketing and customer support team.
- dinvlad 5y ago
  Not exactly - they've marketed it to developers with Crostini for a number of years now. But it's just not there, unfortunately.
zz865 5y ago
They're not powerful enough to do all the work all the time but if you have a lot of web based work they're definitely perfect for a lightweight terminal.
- dinvlad 5y ago
  "Lightweight on the go" I would say, especially if editing something remotely with good connectivity - sure, and might be a sweet spot. Though it's less convenient than having a general-purpose machine.. I've worked from coffee shops etc., and found it to be much more versatile to bring an extra pound of a Macbook instead, even for SaaS work with a remote IDE.
- quickthrower2 5y ago
  Web can be the most demanding of applications in terms of memory and cpu (for what you get)
wffurr 5y ago
Chromebooks with fans are substantially faster than the Pixelbook. Pixelbook was a fanless low power CPU design, and the Intel low power CPUs just aren't quite up to powering video calls and a bunch of heavy browser apps. Chromebooks with an Intel chip that have a cooling system with a fan can use much more powerful chips and seem to be fine. Typing this from an HP c1030 which I've never seen slow down.
krrrh 5y ago
I’ve never really considered a chromebook for development, and I’m almost certainly going to order a new MacBook pro next month, but we’ve been using Gitpod lately and it (and presumably codespaces) seem like they are really freeing developers from needing beefy machines. I know you could have gotten a lot of these benefits already by maintaining a bespoke dev server, but having a common set up for a team with prebuilds makes a big difference. Gitpod’s recent open sourcing of their VS Code fork, along with the growth of the open-vsx extension marketplace, seems like it will really open things up further.

stickfigure 5y ago

I don't think the Chromebook was ever aimed at developers. It's the console you use for your marketing and customer support team.

dinvlad 5y ago
Not exactly - they've marketed it to developers with Crostini for a number of years now. But it's just not there, unfortunately.

zz865 5y ago

They're not powerful enough to do all the work all the time but if you have a lot of web based work they're definitely perfect for a lightweight terminal.

dinvlad 5y ago
"Lightweight on the go" I would say, especially if editing something remotely with good connectivity - sure, and might be a sweet spot. Though it's less convenient than having a general-purpose machine.. I've worked from coffee shops etc., and found it to be much more versatile to bring an extra pound of a Macbook instead, even for SaaS work with a remote IDE.
quickthrower2 5y ago
Web can be the most demanding of applications in terms of memory and cpu (for what you get)

wffurr 5y ago

Chromebooks with fans are substantially faster than the Pixelbook. Pixelbook was a fanless low power CPU design, and the Intel low power CPUs just aren't quite up to powering video calls and a bunch of heavy browser apps. Chromebooks with an Intel chip that have a cooling system with a fan can use much more powerful chips and seem to be fine. Typing this from an HP c1030 which I've never seen slow down.

krrrh 5y ago

I’ve never really considered a chromebook for development, and I’m almost certainly going to order a new MacBook pro next month, but we’ve been using Gitpod lately and it (and presumably codespaces) seem like they are really freeing developers from needing beefy machines. I know you could have gotten a lot of these benefits already by maintaining a bespoke dev server, but having a common set up for a team with prebuilds makes a big difference. Gitpod’s recent open sourcing of their VS Code fork, along with the growth of the open-vsx extension marketplace, seems like it will really open things up further.