8 ms·

The new Acer Chromebook

55 points by cleverjake 14y ago

davidbrent 14y ago
Is there anyone on here from Google that could speak to how these are being used internally? Do they fit a business need at Google? Are they issued to specific business area? Anything! I'm looking for an excuse to buy a Chromebook, but can't seem to peg where it would fit in my arsenal.
- jrockway 14y ago
  We use them as laptop replacements. Everyone has a desktop and we don't allow source code checked out to laptops, so the Chromebook (with ssh) makes a fine developer machine. It's also good for the non-engineers who use things like Google Apps extensively (and this is where it's targeted). I have a ThinkPad but when it's time for a refresh I will probably use the Chromebook. I don't really like maintaining two machines, and the Chromebook works well enough as a work laptop without requiring me to do anything other than sign in with my Google account.
  - tcc619 14y ago
    Do you have terminal access with your google version of chromebook? Would be great to see a developer edition of chromebook with a native terminal app.
    - jahmed 14y ago
      They have been working on Secure Shell for a while. You reminded me and I just fired it up and it looks like there have been some improvements since it was first released. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/secure-shell/pnhechapfaindjhompbnflcldabbghjo https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/secure-shell/pnhec...
    - huggah 14y ago
      There is no "Google version". Internally, we use the same SSH app that you would use, which works great. It's not a terminal: you can't do anything locally. But it's a perfectly decent developer environment as long as all you tools and editor are terminal or web applications (mine are).
    - jrockway 14y ago
      You can download the ChromiumOS source code, build it, and install it on any available piece of hardware. (Though the hardware can't be too lightweight; I tried this on an Atom-based eeepc and it's just too slow. A virtual machine on a modern desktop works fine, though, if you just want to see what ChromeOS is like.) You can also install your own build on an actual Chromebook, of course, but you lose automatic updates and the secure boot. You might also consider porting the features you desire to a NaCl app, or contributing to NaCl to add things you need. (Emacs is on my todo list, though not in the near future.)
  - rm999 14y ago
    Why not use a macbook air with ssh? Is it just because these are cheaper?
    - jrockway 14y ago
      Chromebooks use a trusted boot path which makes the devices more difficult to tamper with, even for someone with physical access. (Remember http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china...)
jordonwii 14y ago
Looks interesting, certainly. I'm curious why there's an HDD in it, though (and a big one, at that). I thought Google was gonna mandate smaller SSD's, for speed, and because the extra local space was unnecessary.
mtgx 14y ago
That thing seems to be built for using a fan, and being stuck on desk because of the thickness and terrible battery life.
peteysd 14y ago
3.5 hours of battery? For a laptop in 2012? Seriously?
- cryptoz 14y ago
  I agree with the sentiment, but I've never used a laptop that had more than 2 hours advertised battery life (so, 1 hour in practice). My most recent purchase is a 2010 System76, so I'm quite out of touch, I know. I dream of having 3 hours+ of battery life on a laptop. That far, far more than I'm used to. Though, when tablets can do 10-20 hours, why is this stuck at 3? I agree, that does seem measly.
  - icefox 14y ago
    Installing flash block is often times the #1 way to improve your battery life.
    - cryptoz 14y ago
      I don't have Flash installed, so Flash block isn't going to do much. Thanks though! :)
      - aristidb 14y ago
        Even in 2010, 1 hour is not acceptable, but a reasonable number to expect from a high-end, lightweight 2012 laptop would be around 7 hours (using Linux).
  - mamcx 14y ago
    Have not tried a mac? My old macbook have 3+ hours on it on battery... The new ones are more impressive: http://www.apple.com/macbookair/features.html#battery http://www.apple.com/macbookair/features.html#battery http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/features-retina/#battery http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/features-retina/#battery
- aristidb 14y ago
  For a laptop that costs $199, yes.
ConstantineXVI 14y ago
3.5 hours of battery life, not to mention I've never owned an Acer product that didn't fail horribly in a year. Spend the extra $50 for Samsung's.
- Puer 14y ago
  3.5 is a pretty disappointing figure, but I've owned several Acer products from monitors to net books and none have failed on me yet.
  - ConstantineXVI 14y ago
    2006: laptop, dead motherboard 2008: 2x laptop, chronic overheating 2009: Netbook, battery failed 2010: Desktop, DVD drive failing to open followed by the front falling off (wish I made that bit up).
    - morsch 14y ago
      Well, we believed you, but that still doesn't make it more than a streak of bad luck. (The plural of anectode...) That said: 2012 Computer Reliability Report: Lenovo Most Reliable, Acer Least Reliable, Apple Declined http://ctwatchdog.com/finance/2012-computer-reliability-report-lenovo-most-reliable-acer-least-reliable-apple-declined http://ctwatchdog.com/finance/2012-computer-reliability-repo...
      - sebastianavina 14y ago
        I can verify his experience, every one of the products I've bought from Acer, fail in a very short life span. I've the cataloged as the worst brand around.
      - sliverstorm 14y ago
        The plural of anecdote ... is data, right?
        14y ago
walkon 14y ago
They are misleading by specifically mentioning 1080p video playback performance when the display has only 768 vertical pixels.
- cryptoz 14y ago
  It has video out. Also, the 1080p was mentioned during performance discussion, not screen resolution, so I hardly think it's misleading. The discussion was about video decoding power, which not only can this machine do, but it can do with purpose given the video out.
  - dman 14y ago
    Which x86 machine shipping in recent times has had trouble with 1080p output ?
    - cryptoz 14y ago
      Not sure. Every computer I own has trouble, though. Maybe I'm just due for a series of upgrades.
    - UnoriginalGuy 14y ago
      Netbooks with an Atom CPU. Or at least my one struggles a little.
  - lancewiggs 14y ago
    I for one was mislead - until I saw the comment above. While technically you may be correct, the acid test is whether a normal resonable uninformed person would be misled. This is probably not a community with too many of those - quite the opposite, and in a good way.
  - walkon 14y ago
    They should qualify their statement to indicate this resolution only applies when it is hooked up to a significantly better display. I don't think the anticipated typical use case for a Chromebook is to hook it up to better displays as some sort of media center.
capo 14y ago
Intel inside this one: http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/acer-c7-chromebook.html#specs http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/acer-c7-chromeb...
diminish 14y ago
still waiting for the chromebook for hackers. expandable, 8 cores or more with arm processors, and dual boot with linux. google should understand that without giving hackers a choice, they can't go forward. Edit: mainly google needs to create a developer and hacker community, of web developers to show a browser is enough to do everything for personal and business.
- jrockway 14y ago
  Chrome runs fine on any Linux box. If you really want ChromiumOS, you can install that too.
- ceejayoz 14y ago
  > google should understand that without giving hackers a choice, they can't go forward. Why?
- georgemcbay 14y ago
  ChromeOS is really targeted towards non-hackers who need a zero-admin system. But in any case, they all have a developer mode which allows you to install other OSes including Linux. My Samsung ARM Chromebook sort-of "dual boots" (there is no interactive boot manager, so to boot to the other side I need to load up the active side and then run a shell script which switches the boot partition), but the system boots up so fast this isn't much of a problem. It only has 2 cores, though and I don't expect that to be a spec that gets pushed up much in the near future since there are current practical limits on how much more cores will help a browser.
  - diminish 14y ago
    I know Google is targeting non-hackers, and it is good. And that's the point I am elaborating. As an example, I a developer, need a light, fast, powerful laptop with 1650 or more screen width multiple monitor capabilities. I am not important as a target group but I influence hundreds of people around me. Now that I need to change my laptop, I have choices like MacBooks and Ultrabooks. I believe it would take Chrome OS forward quicker, if they offered a low profile powerful samsung chromebook for me..
lolnope 14y ago
Is there any word of a 3G version? The free 100MB/month is the only appealing thing I can see about Chromebooks right now.
Toshio 14y ago
Couldn't locate a price point anywhere in the article.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- mrbuttons454 14y ago
  $199 USD
- mark-r 14y ago
  "Starting tomorrow, the Acer Chromebook will be available for $199 in the U.S. on Google Play, BestBuy.com and rolling out this week in select Best Buy stores."
mrbill 14y ago
Looks like the fan vents alone are thicker than the entire ARM-based Chromebook when closed.
revelation 14y ago
Seems like a netbook with a neutered operating system. Heavy like a stone, gargantuan and with no battery to boot.
randomchars 14y ago
This would be great with a 2560x1600 display! That would explain the battery life too. Obligatory questions: How much RAM does it have and what kind of CPU? (I know it says Intel Core but that doesn't mean much.)
- frou_dh 14y ago
  I doubt the screens on any cheap laptops are up to much. I tried a ThinkPad X131 recently (11.6", ~£400) and the screen was garbage. Looking straight on, there was still colour fade between the top and bottom thanks to the low quality panel.
dchuk 14y ago
Seems like if you can easily pop in an ssd and get a reasonably well supported linux distro on there than that could make for a nice cheap little netbook. No idea what the processor really is or how much RAM it has though so I won't be taking that experimental plunge but I'm sure someone will shortly.
facorreia 14y ago
I'd like to see Google offer a low-cost laptop with Android instead of Chrome OS. It seems it would be much more useful. You can have Chrome in Android too, and a huge library of games and applications. If it had ssh access to the underlying Linux OS it would be fantastic.
- MatthewPhillips 14y ago
  Other companies have tried this; Android isn't good with a mouse.
- honestcoyote 14y ago
  I've got an Asus Transformer with keyboard dock, purchased over the summer. Using it as a laptop, the thing has one major bonus: with a fully charged dock and a fully charged tablet, I can get around 10-12 hours of use. But in terms of programs I need to use every day, it's not very good. Apps are inconsistent about including keyboard shortcuts. There's sometimes a small delay when typing. I can have only one fullscreen window per app. The available office programs aren't very good (and I have to deal with docx/xlsx files every day). There's no decent version of LaTex. Using SSH is ok but that's not something I need to do very often. Using RDP to hook up with my office Windows box also works fairly well but I wouldn't want to do extended work that way. I guess for a use case which involves a lot of SSH and/or remote desktop, this might be a very good laptop due to the battery life. Even though I don't own a Chromebook, I would suspect it's probably better as a laptop even with a reduced number of apps. Overlapping/tiling windows, keyboard shortcuts (presumably) for everything, better support for Google Docs. It only suffers by comparison in regards to the battery life.
thereallurch 14y ago
The 100GB of cloud storage is worth $5 a month/$60 year. I'm hoping Google starts throwing around storage with all their future devices. Maybe on the Nexus 4?
nostromo 14y ago
Honest question: is anyone buying these? The Chromebook seems to be all about corporate strategy ("everything in the browser!") and not about creating something people actually want. I'd love to hear about how I'm wrong however. Edit: unsurprisingly, I seem to be wrong. :) The top selling laptop on Amazon is a Chromebook (http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/pc/565108/ http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/pc/565108/)
- UnoriginalGuy 14y ago
  The reviews are "odd." People name a ton of issues and drawbacks but then go on to say they love it and give it full stars. The price is appealing but I cannot see much else that interests me. Some people were saying it cannot even make office documents, open video files, or audio. Those are big damn drawbacks.
- Cowen 14y ago
  I've been using the latest Samsung Chromebook as my primary computer for the past week. So far, I love it. $250 for a tiny, zippy machine with great battery life that can do 99% of what I need, especially since it comes with ssh. On laptops, I usually hate every non-Macbook keyboard, but this one's keyboard is almost indistinguishable in feel from the Macbook Air's, so typing on it is a breeze. It has some hiccups here and there, but considering that this machine hasn't even been available for a month yet, I expect those to get ironed out eventually.
- fmstephe 14y ago
  I bought one. I purchased a first generation Samsung Chromebook. I have written about this here on HN before (too many times), but I think it is worth noting. My experience with my Chromebook runs like this. I bought it because I thought I could use it to ssh (via the underlying terminal in developer mode) into my linode and work on the train each day to and from work. I bought the 3G Chromebook for this reason. When I got it I was very impressed. The build quality is really excellent, it is a piece of really well built commodity hardware. Plastic but excellent, hinge weight and great keyboard. The 3G was unworkable and I had to give up my mobile plans on day one (not the Chromebooks fault - I live in York and commute to Leeds, with bad 3G coverage). So the next stage my Chromebook stays at home and overnight becomes the internet computer for the whole house. We watch TV on it, we do searches on it. It is fast, it is light and for surfing the internet it is just this always on service. Very good :) During this time I played around with installing another OS on the Chromebook. But it was always difficult and I never dedicated the time to gritting through it. However, when the new Chromebooks came out I got all exited again and started looking into it again. In the mean time someone has set up a very easy to use install, with instructions, Ubuntu onto your Chromebook. I did this. Now I program every day on the train to and from work and I enjoy my Chromebook more than any computer I have owned before. A caveat, I use my Ubuntu-ised Chromebook to hack Go code in vim. I am just using terminals and a browser. So if you want more than that from a laptop you may not enjoy it as much as I have. This is just for hackers though. Does not explain why the new ones are so popular with the general public. But my wife is not in IT and she loves it (even with Ubuntu on it :)
BillSaysThis 14y ago
That 100GB is only free for two years. No mention of how much it will cost in the third year. And I was also not at all clear from the on page text that the 1080p playback requires a bigger/better screen: "high-definition videos play smoothly (yes, videos like Gangnam Style in 1080p, in case you’re one of the few left who hasn’t seen it)" doesn't even mention the actual screen resolution. Why doesn't an "extra bright" 11.6" screen can't do better than 768 vertical pixels?
netcan 14y ago
I really do think this chromeOS project is a dud, at least for its original purpose of serving the non-techie lite-user. In my mind I'm always comparing it to Android & iOS based laptops that I expect to come sooner or later. It's less powerful - Not The Simplest - The point of web as an OS was simplicity. No worries about "managing" your computer: installing programs and dealing with files. In reality doing everything through the web it involves workarounds. Bottom line is that iOS & Android have simplified using a computer more. - Not as good at videos and music. - Less Powerful - Web apps have goten powerful, but not as powerful as it looked like they would get circa 2009. You still can't do a lot of things with webapps. What if Mick-first-used-a-computer-in-2011 gets an ipod? He needs itunes. What if his daughter wants to skype him? Bottom line is I don't see why people will want a laptop that does less than their phone.
- isaacwaller 14y ago
  To counter your examples, Google would like you to use Google Music and Google+ Hangouts, both of which work on the Chromebook. As long as you keep yourself confined to the Google ecosystem, the Chromebook is quite powerful.
- micro_cam 14y ago
  I thought the same until a couple coworkers and I got chromeboxes and google io. I don't code or even download images from my camera on it but it lives plugged into a monitor in the living room and the statelessness, fast boot and auto updates make it the perfect "forget about it until i need it for netflix or surfing the web" pc. The window manager is also beautiful and I am hoping the os and ecosystem develop into something I can use for real work.
  - netcan 14y ago
    Sure. There are all sorts of niche applications where it would be great. I bet as public computers in hotel lobbies or similar they'd be great too. That wasn't the intended purpose though. These were supposed to be computers for all the people for whom windows is too much computer.

55 points by cleverjake 14y ago

Is there anyone on here from Google that could speak to how these are being used internally? Do they fit a business need at Google? Are they issued to specific business area? Anything! I'm looking for an excuse to buy a Chromebook, but can't seem to peg where it would fit in my arsenal.

jrockway 14y ago
We use them as laptop replacements. Everyone has a desktop and we don't allow source code checked out to laptops, so the Chromebook (with ssh) makes a fine developer machine. It's also good for the non-engineers who use things like Google Apps extensively (and this is where it's targeted). I have a ThinkPad but when it's time for a refresh I will probably use the Chromebook. I don't really like maintaining two machines, and the Chromebook works well enough as a work laptop without requiring me to do anything other than sign in with my Google account.
- tcc619 14y ago
  Do you have terminal access with your google version of chromebook? Would be great to see a developer edition of chromebook with a native terminal app.
  - jahmed 14y ago
    They have been working on Secure Shell for a while. You reminded me and I just fired it up and it looks like there have been some improvements since it was first released. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/secure-shell/pnhechapfaindjhompbnflcldabbghjo https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/secure-shell/pnhec...
  - huggah 14y ago
    There is no "Google version". Internally, we use the same SSH app that you would use, which works great. It's not a terminal: you can't do anything locally. But it's a perfectly decent developer environment as long as all you tools and editor are terminal or web applications (mine are).
  - jrockway 14y ago
    You can download the ChromiumOS source code, build it, and install it on any available piece of hardware. (Though the hardware can't be too lightweight; I tried this on an Atom-based eeepc and it's just too slow. A virtual machine on a modern desktop works fine, though, if you just want to see what ChromeOS is like.) You can also install your own build on an actual Chromebook, of course, but you lose automatic updates and the secure boot. You might also consider porting the features you desire to a NaCl app, or contributing to NaCl to add things you need. (Emacs is on my todo list, though not in the near future.)
- rm999 14y ago
  Why not use a macbook air with ssh? Is it just because these are cheaper?
  - jrockway 14y ago
    Chromebooks use a trusted boot path which makes the devices more difficult to tamper with, even for someone with physical access. (Remember http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china...)

jordonwii 14y ago

Looks interesting, certainly. I'm curious why there's an HDD in it, though (and a big one, at that). I thought Google was gonna mandate smaller SSD's, for speed, and because the extra local space was unnecessary.

mtgx 14y ago

That thing seems to be built for using a fan, and being stuck on desk because of the thickness and terrible battery life.

peteysd 14y ago

3.5 hours of battery? For a laptop in 2012? Seriously?

cryptoz 14y ago
I agree with the sentiment, but I've never used a laptop that had more than 2 hours advertised battery life (so, 1 hour in practice). My most recent purchase is a 2010 System76, so I'm quite out of touch, I know. I dream of having 3 hours+ of battery life on a laptop. That far, far more than I'm used to. Though, when tablets can do 10-20 hours, why is this stuck at 3? I agree, that does seem measly.
- icefox 14y ago
  Installing flash block is often times the #1 way to improve your battery life.
  - cryptoz 14y ago
    I don't have Flash installed, so Flash block isn't going to do much. Thanks though! :)
    - aristidb 14y ago
      Even in 2010, 1 hour is not acceptable, but a reasonable number to expect from a high-end, lightweight 2012 laptop would be around 7 hours (using Linux).
- mamcx 14y ago
  Have not tried a mac? My old macbook have 3+ hours on it on battery... The new ones are more impressive: http://www.apple.com/macbookair/features.html#battery http://www.apple.com/macbookair/features.html#battery http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/features-retina/#battery http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/features-retina/#battery
aristidb 14y ago
For a laptop that costs $199, yes.

ConstantineXVI 14y ago

3.5 hours of battery life, not to mention I've never owned an Acer product that didn't fail horribly in a year. Spend the extra $50 for Samsung's.

Puer 14y ago
3.5 is a pretty disappointing figure, but I've owned several Acer products from monitors to net books and none have failed on me yet.
- ConstantineXVI 14y ago
  2006: laptop, dead motherboard 2008: 2x laptop, chronic overheating 2009: Netbook, battery failed 2010: Desktop, DVD drive failing to open followed by the front falling off (wish I made that bit up).
  - morsch 14y ago
    Well, we believed you, but that still doesn't make it more than a streak of bad luck. (The plural of anectode...) That said: 2012 Computer Reliability Report: Lenovo Most Reliable, Acer Least Reliable, Apple Declined http://ctwatchdog.com/finance/2012-computer-reliability-report-lenovo-most-reliable-acer-least-reliable-apple-declined http://ctwatchdog.com/finance/2012-computer-reliability-repo...
    - sebastianavina 14y ago
      I can verify his experience, every one of the products I've bought from Acer, fail in a very short life span. I've the cataloged as the worst brand around.
    - sliverstorm 14y ago
      The plural of anecdote ... is data, right?
      - 14y ago

walkon 14y ago

They are misleading by specifically mentioning 1080p video playback performance when the display has only 768 vertical pixels.

cryptoz 14y ago
It has video out. Also, the 1080p was mentioned during performance discussion, not screen resolution, so I hardly think it's misleading. The discussion was about video decoding power, which not only can this machine do, but it can do with purpose given the video out.
- dman 14y ago
  Which x86 machine shipping in recent times has had trouble with 1080p output ?
  - cryptoz 14y ago
    Not sure. Every computer I own has trouble, though. Maybe I'm just due for a series of upgrades.
  - UnoriginalGuy 14y ago
    Netbooks with an Atom CPU. Or at least my one struggles a little.
- lancewiggs 14y ago
  I for one was mislead - until I saw the comment above. While technically you may be correct, the acid test is whether a normal resonable uninformed person would be misled. This is probably not a community with too many of those - quite the opposite, and in a good way.
- walkon 14y ago
  They should qualify their statement to indicate this resolution only applies when it is hooked up to a significantly better display. I don't think the anticipated typical use case for a Chromebook is to hook it up to better displays as some sort of media center.

capo 14y ago

Intel inside this one: http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/acer-c7-chromebook.html#specs http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/acer-c7-chromeb...

diminish 14y ago

still waiting for the chromebook for hackers. expandable, 8 cores or more with arm processors, and dual boot with linux. google should understand that without giving hackers a choice, they can't go forward. Edit: mainly google needs to create a developer and hacker community, of web developers to show a browser is enough to do everything for personal and business.

jrockway 14y ago
Chrome runs fine on any Linux box. If you really want ChromiumOS, you can install that too.
ceejayoz 14y ago
> google should understand that without giving hackers a choice, they can't go forward. Why?
georgemcbay 14y ago
ChromeOS is really targeted towards non-hackers who need a zero-admin system. But in any case, they all have a developer mode which allows you to install other OSes including Linux. My Samsung ARM Chromebook sort-of "dual boots" (there is no interactive boot manager, so to boot to the other side I need to load up the active side and then run a shell script which switches the boot partition), but the system boots up so fast this isn't much of a problem. It only has 2 cores, though and I don't expect that to be a spec that gets pushed up much in the near future since there are current practical limits on how much more cores will help a browser.
- diminish 14y ago
  I know Google is targeting non-hackers, and it is good. And that's the point I am elaborating. As an example, I a developer, need a light, fast, powerful laptop with 1650 or more screen width multiple monitor capabilities. I am not important as a target group but I influence hundreds of people around me. Now that I need to change my laptop, I have choices like MacBooks and Ultrabooks. I believe it would take Chrome OS forward quicker, if they offered a low profile powerful samsung chromebook for me..

lolnope 14y ago

Is there any word of a 3G version? The free 100MB/month is the only appealing thing I can see about Chromebooks right now.

Toshio 14y ago

Couldn't locate a price point anywhere in the article.

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
mrbuttons454 14y ago
$199 USD
mark-r 14y ago
"Starting tomorrow, the Acer Chromebook will be available for $199 in the U.S. on Google Play, BestBuy.com and rolling out this week in select Best Buy stores."

mrbill 14y ago

Looks like the fan vents alone are thicker than the entire ARM-based Chromebook when closed.

revelation 14y ago

Seems like a netbook with a neutered operating system. Heavy like a stone, gargantuan and with no battery to boot.

randomchars 14y ago

This would be great with a 2560x1600 display! That would explain the battery life too. Obligatory questions: How much RAM does it have and what kind of CPU? (I know it says Intel Core but that doesn't mean much.)

frou_dh 14y ago
I doubt the screens on any cheap laptops are up to much. I tried a ThinkPad X131 recently (11.6", ~£400) and the screen was garbage. Looking straight on, there was still colour fade between the top and bottom thanks to the low quality panel.

dchuk 14y ago

Seems like if you can easily pop in an ssd and get a reasonably well supported linux distro on there than that could make for a nice cheap little netbook. No idea what the processor really is or how much RAM it has though so I won't be taking that experimental plunge but I'm sure someone will shortly.

facorreia 14y ago

I'd like to see Google offer a low-cost laptop with Android instead of Chrome OS. It seems it would be much more useful. You can have Chrome in Android too, and a huge library of games and applications. If it had ssh access to the underlying Linux OS it would be fantastic.

MatthewPhillips 14y ago
Other companies have tried this; Android isn't good with a mouse.
honestcoyote 14y ago
I've got an Asus Transformer with keyboard dock, purchased over the summer. Using it as a laptop, the thing has one major bonus: with a fully charged dock and a fully charged tablet, I can get around 10-12 hours of use. But in terms of programs I need to use every day, it's not very good. Apps are inconsistent about including keyboard shortcuts. There's sometimes a small delay when typing. I can have only one fullscreen window per app. The available office programs aren't very good (and I have to deal with docx/xlsx files every day). There's no decent version of LaTex. Using SSH is ok but that's not something I need to do very often. Using RDP to hook up with my office Windows box also works fairly well but I wouldn't want to do extended work that way. I guess for a use case which involves a lot of SSH and/or remote desktop, this might be a very good laptop due to the battery life. Even though I don't own a Chromebook, I would suspect it's probably better as a laptop even with a reduced number of apps. Overlapping/tiling windows, keyboard shortcuts (presumably) for everything, better support for Google Docs. It only suffers by comparison in regards to the battery life.

thereallurch 14y ago

The 100GB of cloud storage is worth $5 a month/$60 year. I'm hoping Google starts throwing around storage with all their future devices. Maybe on the Nexus 4?

nostromo 14y ago

Honest question: is anyone buying these? The Chromebook seems to be all about corporate strategy ("everything in the browser!") and not about creating something people actually want. I'd love to hear about how I'm wrong however. Edit: unsurprisingly, I seem to be wrong. :) The top selling laptop on Amazon is a Chromebook (http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/pc/565108/ http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/pc/565108/)

UnoriginalGuy 14y ago
The reviews are "odd." People name a ton of issues and drawbacks but then go on to say they love it and give it full stars. The price is appealing but I cannot see much else that interests me. Some people were saying it cannot even make office documents, open video files, or audio. Those are big damn drawbacks.
Cowen 14y ago
I've been using the latest Samsung Chromebook as my primary computer for the past week. So far, I love it. $250 for a tiny, zippy machine with great battery life that can do 99% of what I need, especially since it comes with ssh. On laptops, I usually hate every non-Macbook keyboard, but this one's keyboard is almost indistinguishable in feel from the Macbook Air's, so typing on it is a breeze. It has some hiccups here and there, but considering that this machine hasn't even been available for a month yet, I expect those to get ironed out eventually.
fmstephe 14y ago
I bought one. I purchased a first generation Samsung Chromebook. I have written about this here on HN before (too many times), but I think it is worth noting. My experience with my Chromebook runs like this. I bought it because I thought I could use it to ssh (via the underlying terminal in developer mode) into my linode and work on the train each day to and from work. I bought the 3G Chromebook for this reason. When I got it I was very impressed. The build quality is really excellent, it is a piece of really well built commodity hardware. Plastic but excellent, hinge weight and great keyboard. The 3G was unworkable and I had to give up my mobile plans on day one (not the Chromebooks fault - I live in York and commute to Leeds, with bad 3G coverage). So the next stage my Chromebook stays at home and overnight becomes the internet computer for the whole house. We watch TV on it, we do searches on it. It is fast, it is light and for surfing the internet it is just this always on service. Very good :) During this time I played around with installing another OS on the Chromebook. But it was always difficult and I never dedicated the time to gritting through it. However, when the new Chromebooks came out I got all exited again and started looking into it again. In the mean time someone has set up a very easy to use install, with instructions, Ubuntu onto your Chromebook. I did this. Now I program every day on the train to and from work and I enjoy my Chromebook more than any computer I have owned before. A caveat, I use my Ubuntu-ised Chromebook to hack Go code in vim. I am just using terminals and a browser. So if you want more than that from a laptop you may not enjoy it as much as I have. This is just for hackers though. Does not explain why the new ones are so popular with the general public. But my wife is not in IT and she loves it (even with Ubuntu on it :)

BillSaysThis 14y ago

That 100GB is only free for two years. No mention of how much it will cost in the third year. And I was also not at all clear from the on page text that the 1080p playback requires a bigger/better screen: "high-definition videos play smoothly (yes, videos like Gangnam Style in 1080p, in case you’re one of the few left who hasn’t seen it)" doesn't even mention the actual screen resolution. Why doesn't an "extra bright" 11.6" screen can't do better than 768 vertical pixels?

netcan 14y ago

I really do think this chromeOS project is a dud, at least for its original purpose of serving the non-techie lite-user. In my mind I'm always comparing it to Android & iOS based laptops that I expect to come sooner or later. It's less powerful - Not The Simplest - The point of web as an OS was simplicity. No worries about "managing" your computer: installing programs and dealing with files. In reality doing everything through the web it involves workarounds. Bottom line is that iOS & Android have simplified using a computer more. - Not as good at videos and music. - Less Powerful - Web apps have goten powerful, but not as powerful as it looked like they would get circa 2009. You still can't do a lot of things with webapps. What if Mick-first-used-a-computer-in-2011 gets an ipod? He needs itunes. What if his daughter wants to skype him? Bottom line is I don't see why people will want a laptop that does less than their phone.

isaacwaller 14y ago
To counter your examples, Google would like you to use Google Music and Google+ Hangouts, both of which work on the Chromebook. As long as you keep yourself confined to the Google ecosystem, the Chromebook is quite powerful.
micro_cam 14y ago
I thought the same until a couple coworkers and I got chromeboxes and google io. I don't code or even download images from my camera on it but it lives plugged into a monitor in the living room and the statelessness, fast boot and auto updates make it the perfect "forget about it until i need it for netflix or surfing the web" pc. The window manager is also beautiful and I am hoping the os and ecosystem develop into something I can use for real work.
- netcan 14y ago
  Sure. There are all sorts of niche applications where it would be great. I bet as public computers in hotel lobbies or similar they'd be great too. That wasn't the intended purpose though. These were supposed to be computers for all the people for whom windows is too much computer.