3 ms·

what even are chromebooks? i ve never seen one. i assume it s one of the obscure things 'only in america'

by jdrc 5y ago

3pt14159 5y ago
They're in Canada too. Mostly children use them. Sometimes hackers will install linux on them and use them as a super cheap (~$300) one-time-use laptop.
- hdjjhhvvhga 5y ago
  As a side note, you can't just easily replace ChromeOS with Linux like you'd do on most Windows laptops.
a3w 5y ago
I want one, b/c UNIX and USB-C charging fits my personal needs very well. But the devices are either so cheap or badly equipped storage wise (Pixelbooks) that my 8 y/o Thinkpads outperform them. So I guess a MacBook will be my next buy in a few years to again have an ultra portable 10-year-proof device.
- derekp7 5y ago
  For me the best thing about Chromebooks are the tablet experience (either 2-in-one or detachable keyboards). Specifically, the fact that touch screen isn't implemented the same way a mouse is, but gestures work the way you expect (i.e., swiping on a browser window scrolls it instead of selecting text like a mouse would). Also, the browser is a desktop style browser instead of tablet / phone style. And once they included the ability to run Android and plain Linux apps, that made it much more useful. Still not a full PC / laptop replacement for all my use cases though, but a nice accessory.
TheAdamist 5y ago
Very cheap "laptops" running chrome os, mostly targeted towards schools. They can be centrally managed which is an attraction in addition to the price. They may be using arm processors and tiny flash memory like a phone with a large display. Although there are higher end ones with specs similar to low/medium end windows notebooks. I don't think they are exclusive to America, but hackernews isn't the target for low capability machines.
dagw 5y ago
Lots of schools here in Sweden give them out to students. That being said, I don't think I've seen an adult spending their own money on one for themselves.
nukemaster 5y ago
> i ve never seen one. Really? At least the Walmart here stopped selling PC laptops and only sells chromebooks now.
sliken 5y ago
Used mostly by schools, they are pretty close to a zero-admin laptop that generally only runs chrome. So students can see slides, do homework, access the web, access shared spreadsheets/documents, etc. It's all tied to your google account, and the school district can literally get by with zero admins. If a student drops one in a pool overnight, they can get a new laptop, login, and all their work is already there. They are rather cheap, I bought my kid one for $180, like 7 years ago and it's still going. The intro instructions showed that if you poured a soda into the keyboard shake it out a few times and it should be fine. In highschool they handed my kid a laptop on the first day, quite a bit nicer than the 7 year old laptop, and of course quite familiar. I've seen minimal market penetration outside of education. It is nice that they upstream patches for linux and to be called a chromebook they have to support a dev mode where you can install your own OS. So you can get a laptop, without paying the Microsoft tax.

what even are chromebooks? i ve never seen one. i assume it s one of the obscure things 'only in america'

by jdrc 5y ago

what even are chromebooks? i ve never seen one. i assume it s one of the obscure things 'only in america'

They're in Canada too. Mostly children use them. Sometimes hackers will install linux on them and use them as a super cheap (~$300) one-time-use laptop.

hdjjhhvvhga 5y ago
As a side note, you can't just easily replace ChromeOS with Linux like you'd do on most Windows laptops.

a3w 5y ago

I want one, b/c UNIX and USB-C charging fits my personal needs very well. But the devices are either so cheap or badly equipped storage wise (Pixelbooks) that my 8 y/o Thinkpads outperform them. So I guess a MacBook will be my next buy in a few years to again have an ultra portable 10-year-proof device.

derekp7 5y ago
For me the best thing about Chromebooks are the tablet experience (either 2-in-one or detachable keyboards). Specifically, the fact that touch screen isn't implemented the same way a mouse is, but gestures work the way you expect (i.e., swiping on a browser window scrolls it instead of selecting text like a mouse would). Also, the browser is a desktop style browser instead of tablet / phone style. And once they included the ability to run Android and plain Linux apps, that made it much more useful. Still not a full PC / laptop replacement for all my use cases though, but a nice accessory.

TheAdamist 5y ago

Very cheap "laptops" running chrome os, mostly targeted towards schools. They can be centrally managed which is an attraction in addition to the price. They may be using arm processors and tiny flash memory like a phone with a large display. Although there are higher end ones with specs similar to low/medium end windows notebooks. I don't think they are exclusive to America, but hackernews isn't the target for low capability machines.

dagw 5y ago

Lots of schools here in Sweden give them out to students. That being said, I don't think I've seen an adult spending their own money on one for themselves.

nukemaster 5y ago

> i ve never seen one. Really? At least the Walmart here stopped selling PC laptops and only sells chromebooks now.

sliken 5y ago

Used mostly by schools, they are pretty close to a zero-admin laptop that generally only runs chrome. So students can see slides, do homework, access the web, access shared spreadsheets/documents, etc. It's all tied to your google account, and the school district can literally get by with zero admins. If a student drops one in a pool overnight, they can get a new laptop, login, and all their work is already there. They are rather cheap, I bought my kid one for $180, like 7 years ago and it's still going. The intro instructions showed that if you poured a soda into the keyboard shake it out a few times and it should be fine. In highschool they handed my kid a laptop on the first day, quite a bit nicer than the 7 year old laptop, and of course quite familiar. I've seen minimal market penetration outside of education. It is nice that they upstream patches for linux and to be called a chromebook they have to support a dev mode where you can install your own OS. So you can get a laptop, without paying the Microsoft tax.