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AMD doubles the number of CPU cores it offers to Chromebooks
- lupire 4y agoHow much Linux terminal and/or XWindows/Wayland apps (and power-hungry Android apps?) can you do on a modern Chromebook?
- davidmitchell2 4y agoReally a lot. I recently installed CloudReady (equivalent of ChromeOS Flex) on a 8th Gen Dell latitude. From Gimp to running 3 different chrome browsers with different profiles. All just works.
- spicybright 4y agoIt really is impressive how much a cheap computer can do with the right software now a days. Cheapest I see glancing at amazon right now is $75. Chump change in the first world. Probably even the cheapest part of schooling equipment too now. Never seen a textbook go for less than $100, at least in my experience.
- pjmlp 4y agoStill using my 300 euro Asus 1215B from 2009.
- agumonkey 4y agoThat's some serious frugal :)
- pjmlp 4y agoYep, the time that we had to replace computers every two years is well behind us, and that is what brings fear into OEM hearts. When not doing docker or microservices everything, there is hardly any need to keep buying hardware. WebGL 2.0 is based on OpenGL ES 3.0, so for that kind of graphics, any GPU after 2011 will spend most of their cores sleeping. For compiled languages, even C++ (if using binary dependencies via package manager), the workflow is fast enough. I am the opinion, even something like an Amiga 3000 would be more than enough for what most people do with their computers. :)
- agumonkey 4y agopreaching the choir my dear, whenever I see "new big web project" all I see is people sending a few bits of text .. sure it's coated with useless 4k vids and high res banners, but the cruft of the protocol is still a little bit of text. And considering the average brain speed of the population, a fast minitel would suffice :cough:.. hell, the human / system impedance might even improve.
- spicybright 4y agoI still really miss my dell mini laptop. It fit my small hands well and was easily lighter than a book. I used to throw it into one of those mini fashion backpacks and bike to the park to write a bit of code on nice days. Not much fear of breaking it because it was so cheap. Had external batteries too which I sometimes brought an extra of to swap out (which actually sounds crazy compared to how most laptops are now a days)
- pjmlp 4y agoIt still does the job quite well, naturally I took advantage of being able to expand it to 8 GB and replacing the HDD with a SSD one. And despite my Linux vs Windows posts, it is actually Linux based, and was bought that way, also a proof that even that didn't help when regarding some common Linux Desktop themes. Anyway, it has served me well during my travels, like you I am used to take it everywhere. When it finally dies, it is going to be quite hard to find a good replacement that takes over similar responsibility.
- ch_123 4y agoUp until recently I owned a Pixelbook, and the Linux layer (Crostini) made ChromeOS a very viable development platform. The one thing I missed was the ability to start virtual machines (and I believe this may have been addressed on newer ChromeOS hardware)
- blip54321 4y agoExpired Chromebooks are cheap, and great for installing Linux. For my purposes, a $100 used Chromebook is perfectly adequate, and is the sort of device I can take on a hike, kayak, or bike ride, and not worry if it's lost, stolen, or damaged.
- 41b696ef1113 4y agoWhat is the best source to learn more about replacing ChromeOS with Linux? When I was briefly considering this, I found most of the Chromebooks came with non-replaceable eMMC (<64GB), soldered ram (~4GB), or 720p resolution. I am willing to adjust my performance expectations considerably, but the non-expandable storage has made me think I am in for a world of annoyance if I want to use anything other than a web browser.
- blip54321 4y agoThe trick isn't to shop for /most/ Chromebooks. The trick is to shop for /decent, expired/ Chromebooks. Chromebooks are designed around planned obsolescence, and all come with a use-by date, after which they stop updating: https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/6220366?hl=en https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/6220366?hl=en Chromebooks near or past the planned obsolescence date can be had for a song, including decent models. The market is close to non-existent, so there's a glut of them. My Chromebook has a 3200x1800 display, 16GB RAM, and takes an SD card (for expandable, albeit slow, storage). That's plenty for most of the types of work I'd like to do on a boat. It was under $200, almost expired. New, it would have been close to a grand. The most popular way to install Ubuntu is with crouton: https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/install-ubuntu-on-chromebook#1-overview https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/install-ubuntu-on-chromebook#1-... However, I installed it natively. Here's a random tutorial: https://dbtechreviews.com/2018/09/how-to-install-ubuntu-on-chromebook-and-remove-chromeos/ https://dbtechreviews.com/2018/09/how-to-install-ubuntu-on-c... The key annoyance (really the only difference from a "real" laptop) is you have to hit a special key sequence on every boot. I definitely don't think of it as a "world of pain." I wouldn't use it as my primary laptop, but it's great as a device I can use in places I'd never take my primary laptop.
- oblak 4y agoUnless things have changed over the last few years, I think having 8/16 is a bit of an overkill for an OS this restricted. It says they all have 15W TDB but I'd hope that's just the just max they have been configured to work at. Hence me thinks even the 4/8 5425C should be plenty for web browsing and running android apps for many, many years.
- user_7832 4y agoGood hardware restricted by software reminded me once again of the thing that iPadOS is. Despite excellent processors, the software is essentially iOS, with all its restrictions. Though chrome os is Linux based at least. Question for any curious or innovative HN readers - what would you suggest to do with iPadOS' restrictions? I'm speaking both as an ipad owner disappointed with the software but also as an M1/Ax chip fan. Potential solutions I can easily think of are: 1. Jailbreak - but it needs specific software and can be finicky, and very likely forces you to not get security updates 2. Physically remove the storage and *do something*. Except I don't know what even is possible, assuming that you're okay performing BGA soldering on a $$$ device.
- mattnewton 4y agoSadly, to fully use the M1/Ax processors I think the best thing to do with it is to sell it and buy a MacBook, and encourage others to not buy the high end iPads right now.
- user_7832 4y agoThat is what I too think, however there are 2 issues that come to mind immediately: 1. There is a market for tablets - for note taking or reading magazines, it really is convenient. You could probably switch to a Samsung tablet and likely get a very decent experience, but a lot of the "good" apps are still iOS-only (Procreate, Goodnotes, Notability etc). Not to mention a decent aspect ratio. 2. If buying a proper computer, personally unless you only use MacOS it's prudent to get an x64 chip. Intel's 12th gen chips are (fortunately, finally!) again competitive even with M1s. An Intel/AMD chip can run Windows/Linux/MacOS/BSD/most OSes, but M1 Macs unfortunately can't. Ironically I plan to upgrade from my Air to a Pro for the high refresh rate. Getting a 90hz phone really spoiled me in the most first-world way possible. - Things 3 is another classic example of an app that would be very easy to port to other platforms if so wished, but the devs aren't interested in going outside Apple's Walled Garden. And if it makes them good money I can't even blame them.
- sliken 4y agoSadly dram memory latency has stayed pretty constant over the last decade. As the cores per memory channel keeps increasing, does make one wonder when more memory channels will be added.
- blip54321 4y agoCores are basically free. Interconnect is expensive. Seriously. A Pentium IV was 40M transistors. A Ryzen V 2000 has around 5 billion transistors. It could fit 100 Pentium IV cores if desired. That's not desired -- those transistors are better spent bumping up IPC a little bit -- but we can have a perfectly adequate processor at 1% of a modern CPU. Pentium IV single-core performance is almost identical to a modern entry-level netbook processor: https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Pentium-4-300GHz-vs-Intel-Celeron-N3450/m440vsm208922 https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Pentium-4-300GHz...
- aidenn0 4y agoYou'd be better off comparing to a pentium M. If you put 100 netburst cores on a single die, it would melt [edit] or Maybe a Core-2 as that was 64-bit. E7500 with 3MB of cache was dual-core with 228M transistors, which puts you at 40 cores with 60MB of cache for 5B transistors.
- gruez 4y ago>Pentium IV single-core performance is almost identical to a modern entry-level netbook processor: >https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Pentium-4-300GHz https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Pentium-4-300GHz... No it isn't. 1. userbenchmark is a joke in the hardware community. just search for "userbenchmark bias". It's also banned from both /r/intel and /r/amd. 2. even they themselves admit that the "modern entry-level netbook processor" is 59% faster in single-threaded performance. The only making up for it is "Memory Latency", which I doubt can make up for a 59% gap in performance.
- Dylan16807 4y ago> Pentium IV single-core performance is almost identical to a modern entry-level netbook processor: https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Pentium-4-300GHz-vs-Intel-Celeron-N3450/m440vsm208922 https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Pentium-4-300GHz... Almost identical? The wimpy netbook processor is 59% faster on a single core. Ignore that site's overall speed numbers, they make no sense. But a fair comparison has to be to a desktop chip. Let's look at an i3-12300. It rates +597% on single core performance; seven times faster.
- kitsunesoba 4y agoHopefully this will put some pressure on manufacturers to bump specs on their lowest end offerings. Dell's $300 Windows laptop offering right now for instance is built with a dual core Celeron, which is hard to excuse when most phones and tablets at lower prices are at least tri or quad-core. Once the bottom end baseline is finally moved up to quad or hex-core, there should be a stronger drive for software not aimed at users with heavier workloads to be multithreaded well.
- sokoloff 4y agoI have a Chromebook (Samsung 4) with a Celeron N4020 2/2 1.1GHz ("up to 2.8GHz"), 6W TDP processor. It's not going to blow anyone away with its performance, but it's entirely adequate and I love that it has all-day battery life from a $100 device (mine was $92.44 delivered&taxed on sale; the typical street price is $119). I don't want the lowest end offerings to become 15W TDP chips in $300 laptops. I think there's a perfectly valid place for 6W chips in $100 devices, which brings computing access to more people and places.
- ClumsyPilot 4y agoDo you run Linux? I think even web browsing on Windows with this is challenging
- sokoloff 4y agoIt's running ChromeOS with the Linux dev system installed. I did last year's Advent of Code in Clojure on this device, including some airplane trips. (I didn't solve every puzzle, but the limitation on the ones I didn't get was me, not the Chromebook. It runs Emacs, cider, and the Clojure REPL just fine.) I'm typing on it right now and it's fine for casual use. (It gets a fair amount of weekend use because I neither want to undock my work laptop nor carry around something that large, expensive, and heavy.) Would I run it as my only computer if $500 wouldn't pressure my family finances? Probably not. If my choice was between this and nothing, that's an even easier choice.
- jewel 4y ago
- nicklaf 4y agoI'd be more interested in turning a Chromebook into a vanilla linux box if they moved away from soldered RAM (which is all I saw in Chromebooks a few years ago).
- ece 4y agoYep, and slow storage too last time I checked.
- minorkey 4y agoNow if only Chromebooks could offer better resolution than 1920x1080. Do I have to buy an AMD Windows laptop, pay the Microsoft tax, and convert it to a Chromebook? (Assuming it's possible).
- soared 4y agoPixelbook is 4k. Seems like google discontinued the line but I use my 5 year old machine every day and it’s amazing. Boots in 1 second. Meanwhile my windows laptop is unusable.
- Const-me 4y agoMicrosoft only taxes laptops sold by physical retail outlets. When ordering them online, one can often find a laptop without any OS preinstalled. Vendors are usually selling them to corporations who want Win10 enterprise covered by their volume licensing contracts. Another good thing about them, it’s very uncommon for enterprise-targeted models to have soldered RAM or SSD. For instance, my secondary computer is HP ProBook 445 G8 with Ryzen 5 5600U which I upgraded to 32GB RAM / 2TB SSD, can recommend. However, I have no idea about ChromeOS compatibility, I’m using Windows and ordered a version with the OS license included.
- scarface74 4y agoThere is no Microsoft tax for all intents and purposes. Manufacturers make more than an enough on the pre-installed crapware to make up for the Windows license.
- IE6 4y ago
- mark_l_watson 4y agoI think this is good news, even though I bought a Chromebook last year and expect to use it for at least 5 years before replacing it. Linux containers are a very nice feature for development and having more CPU cores and general power is a great thing. My Chromebook, at $300 is a great deal, compared to my new large iPad Pro (just the magic keyboard is $350, pencil is extra - both included on the Chromebook).
- 1MachineElf 4y agoIf the Steam Deck didn't exist, then due to the recent support for Steam[], one of these would be my next choice for a portable Half Life 1/2 appliance. [0] https://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/steam-on-chromeos/ https://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/steam-on-chromeos/
- KSPAtlas 4y agoAMD chromebooks would be amazing Linux machines if it wasn't for Google messing things up.
- hedora 4y agoOne of the better (most ergonomic) laptops I've used was an Acer "WinBook", which was a fanless windows laptop (probably based on their chromebooks) that happened to be extremely Linux friendly. Any idea if they're making similar non-chromebook versions of these?
- creakingstairs 4y agoI have been looking for a Chromebook/Linux small laptop and all the small laptops available in Japan kinda suck for various reasons. I wish Apple would bring back the 12 inch MacBook with the new M1 chip. Atom chip and butterfly keyboard was horrible at the time but now it would be a perfect ultralight laptop.
- hankman86 4y agoDoes anyone still care about Chromebooks (outside of the education sector, that is)?
- admax88qqq 4y agoToo bad JS is single threaded. And the overhead of WebWorkers (multi process) makes it too expensive for all but some niche workloads.
- IE6 4y agoModern Chromebooks do a lot more than just run a single website or a single web app - for example right now I am replying to you in Chrome browser but I also have a docker container running doing some dev work in the debian linux console on a separate workspace.
- admax88qqq 4y agoA use case that is meaningless for 90+% of chreombook users.
- IE6 4y agoInterested to see your data - can you share a reference? Thanks!
- dest 4y agoOne thread for JS main loop, one for the DOM, others for network requests… Browsers on regular web pages are already quite multithreaded.