13 ms·

Look, I really like the idea of the Chromebook, but I feel like Google's kinda moving in the wrong direction here. What power user lives completely in the clou

Look, I really like the idea of the Chromebook, but I feel like Google's kinda moving in the wrong direction here. What power user lives completely in the cloud? * Coders obviously can't use this machine. * Designers need photoshop or other non-web apps. * Writers are not gonna migrate from Word to something like this, because either they were already using Google Docs and are fine with their crappy old netbook, or they like Word and are gonna stay with it, because writing is still just plain better in MS land. * Video editors obviously need real apps * Social media experts will just continue to use their iPad3 or Nexus 7/10 * Gamers can't go without DirectX seriously What power users are they talking about?

manaskarekar 14y ago
I think they're abusing the term 'power user' here. What they mean to say is 'power consumer.'
jrockway 14y ago
There is an SSH app for Chrome. If you're "in the cloud" you have a computer to SSH to to code on. I do this with my Chromebook and it works fine; windowed Chrome apps don't steal keys anymore, so C-w is kill-region, not "close the tab". There is also nothing stopping you from porting your favorite development tools to NaCl. This is something I'm planning to look into in the near future. they were already using Google Docs and are fine with their crappy old netbook Also, Google Docs looks really nice on a Macbook's retina display; significantly nicer than on a regular display. If the Pixel renders it the same way, it is a nicer experience.
- duaneb 14y ago
  > windowed Chrome apps don't steal keys anymore, so C-w is kill-region, not "close the tab". I just realized this was really my only major complaint with ChromeOS and I now desire one.
- recuter 14y ago
  That's great but doesn't that mean there's no way of developing locally without installing Ubuntu on this thing?
- cdawzrd 14y ago
  That's great for web developers, but what about those of us who are building desktop or embedded software?
  - frozenport 14y ago
    Don't web developer's need access to image editing tools?
    - tracker1 14y ago
      Most simple editing stuff, like what's in Picasa or Paint.Net/Pinta can be done in a ChromeOS app. My bigger concern is the CPU is overkill, and the GPU may be underkill... the latest/next gen Tegra chipset or similar with that screen would probably be a better combo at a lower price... Without a local OS, I'm afraid I wouldn't even consider this thing for over $800, at the price they are at, they're in Macbook territory, which although getting more locked down, is still much more versatile. Not to mention without VM host support.
- correctifier 14y ago
  That seems like a reasonable use for a $250 computer, but using a $1300 computer with a 2560x1700 display as a dumb terminal is a bit of a waste. Your average end-user is going to be pretty disappointed when they find out that all they can do with their expensive laptop is browse the internet. It seems like the best use of this of this might be to run Linux, but if you accept a slightly lower resolution, you can get a pretty decent Thinkpad or Envy that has a lot more flexibility.
  - fatbird 14y ago
    Paying an extra thousand dollars for a much improved experience of a device that you'll look at 5-10 hours a day for several years, doesn't seem to me to be out of line, even if it does act as a dumb terminal.
    - taligent 14y ago
      So why wouldn't you spend the few hundred more and get a MacBook Pro that isn't a dumb terminal ?
      - fatbird 14y ago
        I was going to reply to this with a reasoned response, but below you've gotten silly and abusive, so enjoy yourself.
        nobleach 14y ago
        He/she may have come off as abusive. But I think that's actually a good question. Yes, the resolution is great. But why would someone spend 1300 bucks on something that has great resolution just so they can ssh into something else? $500 maybe.
        fatbird 14y ago
        Seriously? Downvoted because I won't engage with someone being abusive? Okay, fuck HN.
- taligent 14y ago
  > There is also nothing stopping you from porting your favorite development tools to NaCl. You expect people to dedicate YEARS of their life porting development tools to a platform that in all likelihood is going to be dead soon ? Not happening. > If the Pixel renders it the same way, it is a nicer experience. Sure. And if we are completely ignoring price/value then reading it on a supercomputer connected to a Sony 4K television would equally be better.
  - slurgfest 14y ago
    Or an iPad which cost over $1000. Google isn't really unique here.
- jussij 14y ago
  > There is also nothing stopping you from porting your favorite development tools to NaCl. Writing the code is only half the story. You also need to test that code and that means running the code on a target machine similar to your customer. So unless you customer is also using a Chromebook this is going to make the testing much harder.
  - dragonwriter 14y ago
    > Writing the code is only half the story. You also need to test that code and that means running the code on a target machine similar to your customer. Right. And unless you are writing desktop software, that most likely means running it on a commodity physical or virtual servers, which aren't going to be your dev workstation. For user-facing web software (as opposed to pure web services), ideal UI testing means having a wide variety of hardware/OS/browser combinations available for testing, but none of that needs to be your development workstation, either. So neither of thos are strokes against using a Chromebook for development.
- account_taken 14y ago
  No ssh-agent or forwarding. SSH console is usable but good 'ol terminals beats it hands down.
madoublet 14y ago
Am I missing something here, or did they build a machine that even their own developers cannot use? When you go to the Google campus, will everyone still be toting around a Macbook?
- habosa 14y ago
  Many of their developers use Chromebooks, I believe. Code is not allowed to be stored locally on mobile devices so they use Chromebooks and SSH (or any other laptop and SSH).
  - objclxt 14y ago
    Additionally, I think that going forward on-site interviews at Google will use Chromebooks to type code up, rather than white-boarding (which makes me sad, but I suspect will make all the people who hate white-boarding a lot happier).
  - madoublet 14y ago
    Interesting. I could not give up my IDE.
  - rayiner 14y ago
    That pretty much explains the Pixel then.
  - deltasquared 14y ago
    And this is why I am always suspicious of an IDE. This sounds like a really nice way to talk to a Linode to develop on.
- jklein24 14y ago
  Google engineers are not actually allowed to write code locally on those laptops. The macbooks are only used when hanging out around campus to view email and ssh into workstations (linux desktops) where actual work is done. That same thing can be done from chromebooks.
dragonwriter 14y ago
> Coders obviously can't use this machine. Depends what they are coding; developers working with PaaS platforms using one of the many cloud IDEs can certainly use it. > Writers are not gonna migrate from Word to something like this, because either they were already using Google Docs and are fine with their crappy old netbook, or they like Word and are gonna stay with it, because writing is still just plain better in MS land. If they are using Google Docs on an existing laptop/netbook, well, eventually its going to need replaced, and if that's their main use, ChromeOS presents a lot less distraction than traditional desktop OS's for that use role.
- d23 14y ago
  We've recently shifted to developing directly on a development instance on EC2 and haven't looked back. The IDE we use supports editing over SSH, so we simply treat the machine as if it were on our laptop. The best part is access anywhere. Last week I set up a local-only development box and everything was going swimmingly -- until I needed to work from home. I realized just how amazing being able to work from anywhere truly was. There needs to be a balance. If I can't use my IDE on a chromebook, that obviously won't work. But if I can have access to my tools locally that manage remote service and data -- I'm golden.
  - bsimpson 14y ago
    I wonder if Brackets has any aspirations for a Chrome OS port. It's already a packaged JS app, but I don't know how portable their device API layer is.
  - heywire 14y ago
    I'm curious, what IDE are you talking about? I have the Samsung ARM Chromebook, and I've been forcing myself to learn vim so I can do development on a remote system over SSH, or on a local chroot environment. For my day job, I'm a Windows developer, so I'm used to the Visual Studio tooling.
    - d23 14y ago
      We're python guys, and we use Komodo Edit.
mixedbit 14y ago
Maybe what they meant is that power users can install some real OS on this model?
- schmrz 14y ago
  Seriously, why is everyone ignoring this?
  - rayiner 14y ago
    Because nobody wants to buy a $1,300 machine that they have to futz with right out of the box.
    - ics 14y ago
      I would think HN is the kind of place where that's exactly what people would want to do. I'm not convinced by this Chromebook either, but stock configurations / things I can change are definitely not the reason.
      - rayiner 14y ago
        Even hackers appreciate a product that's awesome out of the box.
    - dman 14y ago
      Except everyone who uses linux on a macbook pro / macbook air.
raingrove 14y ago
Try cloud-based development environments like Action.IO
dman 14y ago
The best way to control the future is to invent it.
rodolphoarruda 14y ago
You are assuming most consumers make buying decisions through reason, which is not the case since many years now.
kzahel 14y ago
I am extremely excited about this simply because of the display. Finally there is a laptop with a display that competes with Retina macbooks. If you don't like chrome OS then you can install ubuntu or whatever. The lack of local storage space would be a pain, though, I do admit.
- jrajav 14y ago
  I wonder how well Ubuntu would handle high DPI? (Honest question)
  - mbillie1 14y ago
    Probably not that well at first, but if you throw the possibility of a laptop that competes with a Retina MBP into the mix, I'd imagine there would be some desire in the community to work on it at least. (edit: competes in terms of screen resolution... 4GB RAM and an i5 is not as good as 8-16GB RAM and an i7 of course)
bitcartel 14y ago
Not just what, but where are the power users? Both models of the Chromebook Pixel are still available with immediate shipping from the Play Store. Contrast to the Nexus 4 sales launch.
athesyn 14y ago
Probably CEO's who send emails for a living.
antimatter15 14y ago
Apparently the codename for the Pixel (in the chromium os issue tracker, svn, etc) was Link[1], and recently they've added a metallic (i.e. chrome) android statue (without a corresponding android update) [2]. I might be just over-analyzing things, but there might be some software update in Google I/O signalling a merge between Android and Chrome OS (where the latter is already starting to get features like Google Now on that mobile-convergence pathway like Apple's OS X Lion). Android has arguably more high-performance, graphics-heavy and touch-enabled apps, and has the toolchains to compile more sophisticated applications (IDEs, etc). [1]: https://plus.google.com/100132233764003563318/posts/exCKa13F6KZ https://plus.google.com/100132233764003563318/posts/exCKa13F... [2]: https://plus.google.com/+PaulWilcox/posts/23QtTfiVrtk https://plus.google.com/+PaulWilcox/posts/23QtTfiVrtk Also, Google has a weird ironic naming paradigm. First is Chrome which is named as such because they want to minimize the browser's chrome (tab bar, menus, buttons, etc.), and now is the Pixel which has a HiDPI display so people kind of forget the pixel. It would probably be a bad idea to call their self-driving car Crash though.
- numbsafari 14y ago
  I imagine they'll call their self-driving car Driver.
  - endtime 14y ago
    Close - it's "Chauffeur".
- IheartApplesDix 14y ago
  iirc, it has always been Google's plan to combine Chrome and Android.
  - nl 14y ago
    au contraire Speak to any Googler and you'll hear about the Chrome/Android divide. It's a pretty big issue and possibly Google's biggest weakness.
smrtinsert 14y ago
I still feel they haven't resolved the Android vs. Chrome OS debate. I can't imagine this doesn't create some tension within the organization. Maybe they're hoping to sell Android to Oracle (yikes).
- jfb 14y ago
  Or develop a ChromeOS tablet! "We're pushing computing forward. It'll definitely make the ecosystem rethink touch," Pichai said. "I think people will take the first step toward building tablets with this." [1] Are the inmates running the asylum over there? [1] http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57570520-93/googles-chromebook-pixel-elevates-chrome-os-ambitions/ http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57570520-93/googles-chromeb...
- dragonwriter 14y ago
  > I still feel they haven't resolved the Android vs. Chrome OS debate. The long-term strategy, which they announced years ago, is to converge the two platforms. (Its been obvious for some time that, in more detail, Android was the near-term comparatively low-risk [for Google] option, and ChromeOS was the long-term, higher-risk option.)
mvanveen 14y ago
I tried using a chromebook and an ipad as my sole dev setup for a week or so over the holidays. I actually found it was more freeing than a traditional setup in certain ways! Once I got a linode server set up I stopped worrying about not having my dev env. With persistent 3G I was actually able to SSH in and get work in settings I never would have considered previously. The obvious thing that was missing from the chromebook experience was a core set of native app. 1password, skype, spotify, and a few others haven't quite made it to a web app yet. However, most of these apps have a native client ready to go for iOS. So between the chromebook and iPad mini I felt like I had everything I needed to be productive. Ultimately, I simply wanted a nicer machine to work on day to day. Chrome OS is a real pleasure to use (I like it more than modern OS X in some ways!), but the hardware on my Samsung laptop just felt, well...cheap. This new machine fits that sweet spot really nicely. I could see myself considering to purchase this machine as a dev laptop if I hadn't just bought a new macbook pro.
- polshaw 14y ago
  Putting ubuntu on the chromebook would really have given a much better experience than either the stock or the iPad.
  - mvanveen 14y ago
    It certainly would have been a more flexible experience! I have a friend who frequents a coffeeshop I hang out at who I have been teaching Python and misc. hacking to. I ended up giving him the chromebook, and he's set it up with ubuntu (both by dual booting and through booting of a thumb drive!). So I definitely appreciate and accept the flexibility of ubuntu on the chromebook. If you want to say it's "better," I'd ask "to what end?" I personally really like the security model of ChromeOS and having working 3G drivers was a huge benefit when I was experimenting with this setup. I love having a secure client I can trust to connect to sanctioned dev environments on. It's much harder for me to vet that my ubuntu rig hasn't been root-kitted vs. trusting the block-level cryptographic hashing on ChromeOS. I think this is probably where most people would call me a tin-foil hat weirdo, and I wouldn't disagree. This might be just a fun exercise to think about right now. However, I think it's an increasingly important factor in considering personal computing setups and it definitely played into my choice of platform on the ChromeBook. Plus, it's also just plain cool to see how much mileage you can get out of just chrome + ssh!
fatbird 14y ago
Coders obviously can't use this machine. https://github.com/adobe/brackets https://github.com/adobe/brackets
- fatbird 14y ago
  I don't understand why I'm getting downvoted. Brackets is an HTML5 based IDE that's currently targeting the web development set, but could easily branch out (like any text editor) into being a good editor for any language, and is built to work in a browser. Make the remote repository for you code a bunch of files by SFTP, using SSH for commands, and you have a remote IDE for any development process, including eventually a debugger. How many breathless stories have been linked here about dudes in Oregon pedaling their mountain bike out into the forest and setting up their iPad 3 and Zagg keyboard, and using their LTE connection to do remote dev? Same thing for the Chromebook.
  - jrajav 14y ago
    I didn't downvote you, but are you seriously suggesting that all you need for arbitrary development is a nice-looking, syntax-highlighting text editor? Leaving aside the fact that Brackets itself is relatively immature. It may work if you use SSH, as others have mentioned, but that still restricts your use case and that's not what you implied at first.
    - fatbird 14y ago
      I was reacting to "coders obviously can't use this machine" because coders, with SSH and a nice IDE that fits into the environment, obviously can use this machine. As others have observed, you're not buying this for the processor, you're buying it for the large, high-res touchscreen, aluminum body, built-in LTE, and light weight. If you want raw CPU and hard drive space, you'll get a Mac. I don't think screen-and-body is an invalid reason, either, to pay a premium. When you use a tool all day, the surface quality, the experiential quality, makes a difference. I've never really understood being cheap with something that you're going to look at and touch 6-10 hours a day for 3-4 years, on average. That said, yes, brackets is immature, but fairly brightly points to a future where a browser OS like ChromeOS is more than sufficient for a really wide variety of use-cases.
mtgx 14y ago
I just think they are moving in the wrong direction between ChromeOS is for $200-$300 machines, not $1300 machines, no matter what extra specs they give it. Why buy such a powerful machine if you can't use Photoshop, IDE's or 3D games anyway? But as a $250 web machine with 10h of battery life? Sure.
- nicklovescode 14y ago
  because the machine will be used to power photo editing software, IDEs, and 3D games
- SonicSoul 14y ago
  probably because Google is looking into the future. with the advent of technologies like WebGL a lot of apps can be moved into the browser. Including photo editing and 3D gaming. If such apps are running in a browser, as non native code, this would call for good hardware specs. especially with such high resolutions. seems reasonable to me.
  - quaunaut 14y ago
    Problem is, WebGL won't be worth a damn for 3d gaming for years to come. Hell, Chrome's Native Client is better than WebGL for that even now.
- dragonwriter 14y ago
  > Why buy such a powerful machine if you can't use Photoshop, IDE's or 3D games anyway? Web-based IDEs and 3D games exist that can be used with this (photo editors, too, though not Photoshop.)
OGinparadise 14y ago
What power user [is willing to pay $1300 and] lives completely in the cloud? This Chrome OS might be great as a tablet, but as a $1300 browser...?
portalbreakfast 14y ago
Bigger issue for writers = we're all broke. Not sure who would spend this much money on this, but even if wanted to most writers can't.
skybrian 14y ago
How about managers? That is, people with actual power. :-)
slurgfest 14y ago
You have multiple good points. But I don't think that writing really requires Windows, that is a pretty extravagant claim. You can write with a typewriter or a text editor, it's not DTP. And I don't see how someone whose job is to operate sites like Twitter has any serious reason why they would need Windows per se.
- quaunaut 14y ago
  I wasn't claiming it requires windows whatsoever. Word is available for mac as well. And if you're the kind of writer that doesn't need it, you probably already are using docs, on your $300 netbook, and you really don't care. This isn't going to improve your life in any way, because frankly, a computer from 1995 would be all you need for writing. I'd say earlier, but you at least need a half-decent print preview.
Shorel 14y ago
The ones who want to install Ubuntu on the thing?

manaskarekar 14y ago

I think they're abusing the term 'power user' here. What they mean to say is 'power consumer.'

jrockway 14y ago

There is an SSH app for Chrome. If you're "in the cloud" you have a computer to SSH to to code on. I do this with my Chromebook and it works fine; windowed Chrome apps don't steal keys anymore, so C-w is kill-region, not "close the tab". There is also nothing stopping you from porting your favorite development tools to NaCl. This is something I'm planning to look into in the near future. they were already using Google Docs and are fine with their crappy old netbook Also, Google Docs looks really nice on a Macbook's retina display; significantly nicer than on a regular display. If the Pixel renders it the same way, it is a nicer experience.

duaneb 14y ago
> windowed Chrome apps don't steal keys anymore, so C-w is kill-region, not "close the tab". I just realized this was really my only major complaint with ChromeOS and I now desire one.
recuter 14y ago
That's great but doesn't that mean there's no way of developing locally without installing Ubuntu on this thing?
cdawzrd 14y ago
That's great for web developers, but what about those of us who are building desktop or embedded software?
- frozenport 14y ago
  Don't web developer's need access to image editing tools?
  - tracker1 14y ago
    Most simple editing stuff, like what's in Picasa or Paint.Net/Pinta can be done in a ChromeOS app. My bigger concern is the CPU is overkill, and the GPU may be underkill... the latest/next gen Tegra chipset or similar with that screen would probably be a better combo at a lower price... Without a local OS, I'm afraid I wouldn't even consider this thing for over $800, at the price they are at, they're in Macbook territory, which although getting more locked down, is still much more versatile. Not to mention without VM host support.
correctifier 14y ago
That seems like a reasonable use for a $250 computer, but using a $1300 computer with a 2560x1700 display as a dumb terminal is a bit of a waste. Your average end-user is going to be pretty disappointed when they find out that all they can do with their expensive laptop is browse the internet. It seems like the best use of this of this might be to run Linux, but if you accept a slightly lower resolution, you can get a pretty decent Thinkpad or Envy that has a lot more flexibility.
- fatbird 14y ago
  Paying an extra thousand dollars for a much improved experience of a device that you'll look at 5-10 hours a day for several years, doesn't seem to me to be out of line, even if it does act as a dumb terminal.
  - taligent 14y ago
    So why wouldn't you spend the few hundred more and get a MacBook Pro that isn't a dumb terminal ?
    - fatbird 14y ago
      I was going to reply to this with a reasoned response, but below you've gotten silly and abusive, so enjoy yourself.
      - nobleach 14y ago
        He/she may have come off as abusive. But I think that's actually a good question. Yes, the resolution is great. But why would someone spend 1300 bucks on something that has great resolution just so they can ssh into something else? $500 maybe.
      - fatbird 14y ago
        Seriously? Downvoted because I won't engage with someone being abusive? Okay, fuck HN.
taligent 14y ago
> There is also nothing stopping you from porting your favorite development tools to NaCl. You expect people to dedicate YEARS of their life porting development tools to a platform that in all likelihood is going to be dead soon ? Not happening. > If the Pixel renders it the same way, it is a nicer experience. Sure. And if we are completely ignoring price/value then reading it on a supercomputer connected to a Sony 4K television would equally be better.
- slurgfest 14y ago
  Or an iPad which cost over $1000. Google isn't really unique here.
jussij 14y ago
> There is also nothing stopping you from porting your favorite development tools to NaCl. Writing the code is only half the story. You also need to test that code and that means running the code on a target machine similar to your customer. So unless you customer is also using a Chromebook this is going to make the testing much harder.
- dragonwriter 14y ago
  > Writing the code is only half the story. You also need to test that code and that means running the code on a target machine similar to your customer. Right. And unless you are writing desktop software, that most likely means running it on a commodity physical or virtual servers, which aren't going to be your dev workstation. For user-facing web software (as opposed to pure web services), ideal UI testing means having a wide variety of hardware/OS/browser combinations available for testing, but none of that needs to be your development workstation, either. So neither of thos are strokes against using a Chromebook for development.
account_taken 14y ago
No ssh-agent or forwarding. SSH console is usable but good 'ol terminals beats it hands down.

madoublet 14y ago

Am I missing something here, or did they build a machine that even their own developers cannot use? When you go to the Google campus, will everyone still be toting around a Macbook?

habosa 14y ago
Many of their developers use Chromebooks, I believe. Code is not allowed to be stored locally on mobile devices so they use Chromebooks and SSH (or any other laptop and SSH).
- objclxt 14y ago
  Additionally, I think that going forward on-site interviews at Google will use Chromebooks to type code up, rather than white-boarding (which makes me sad, but I suspect will make all the people who hate white-boarding a lot happier).
- madoublet 14y ago
  Interesting. I could not give up my IDE.
- rayiner 14y ago
  That pretty much explains the Pixel then.
- deltasquared 14y ago
  And this is why I am always suspicious of an IDE. This sounds like a really nice way to talk to a Linode to develop on.
jklein24 14y ago
Google engineers are not actually allowed to write code locally on those laptops. The macbooks are only used when hanging out around campus to view email and ssh into workstations (linux desktops) where actual work is done. That same thing can be done from chromebooks.

dragonwriter 14y ago

> Coders obviously can't use this machine. Depends what they are coding; developers working with PaaS platforms using one of the many cloud IDEs can certainly use it. > Writers are not gonna migrate from Word to something like this, because either they were already using Google Docs and are fine with their crappy old netbook, or they like Word and are gonna stay with it, because writing is still just plain better in MS land. If they are using Google Docs on an existing laptop/netbook, well, eventually its going to need replaced, and if that's their main use, ChromeOS presents a lot less distraction than traditional desktop OS's for that use role.

d23 14y ago
We've recently shifted to developing directly on a development instance on EC2 and haven't looked back. The IDE we use supports editing over SSH, so we simply treat the machine as if it were on our laptop. The best part is access anywhere. Last week I set up a local-only development box and everything was going swimmingly -- until I needed to work from home. I realized just how amazing being able to work from anywhere truly was. There needs to be a balance. If I can't use my IDE on a chromebook, that obviously won't work. But if I can have access to my tools locally that manage remote service and data -- I'm golden.
- bsimpson 14y ago
  I wonder if Brackets has any aspirations for a Chrome OS port. It's already a packaged JS app, but I don't know how portable their device API layer is.
- heywire 14y ago
  I'm curious, what IDE are you talking about? I have the Samsung ARM Chromebook, and I've been forcing myself to learn vim so I can do development on a remote system over SSH, or on a local chroot environment. For my day job, I'm a Windows developer, so I'm used to the Visual Studio tooling.
  - d23 14y ago
    We're python guys, and we use Komodo Edit.

mixedbit 14y ago

Maybe what they meant is that power users can install some real OS on this model?

schmrz 14y ago
Seriously, why is everyone ignoring this?
- rayiner 14y ago
  Because nobody wants to buy a $1,300 machine that they have to futz with right out of the box.
  - ics 14y ago
    I would think HN is the kind of place where that's exactly what people would want to do. I'm not convinced by this Chromebook either, but stock configurations / things I can change are definitely not the reason.
    - rayiner 14y ago
      Even hackers appreciate a product that's awesome out of the box.
  - dman 14y ago
    Except everyone who uses linux on a macbook pro / macbook air.

raingrove 14y ago

Try cloud-based development environments like Action.IO

dman 14y ago

The best way to control the future is to invent it.

rodolphoarruda 14y ago

You are assuming most consumers make buying decisions through reason, which is not the case since many years now.

kzahel 14y ago

I am extremely excited about this simply because of the display. Finally there is a laptop with a display that competes with Retina macbooks. If you don't like chrome OS then you can install ubuntu or whatever. The lack of local storage space would be a pain, though, I do admit.

jrajav 14y ago
I wonder how well Ubuntu would handle high DPI? (Honest question)
- mbillie1 14y ago
  Probably not that well at first, but if you throw the possibility of a laptop that competes with a Retina MBP into the mix, I'd imagine there would be some desire in the community to work on it at least. (edit: competes in terms of screen resolution... 4GB RAM and an i5 is not as good as 8-16GB RAM and an i7 of course)

bitcartel 14y ago

Not just what, but where are the power users? Both models of the Chromebook Pixel are still available with immediate shipping from the Play Store. Contrast to the Nexus 4 sales launch.

athesyn 14y ago

Probably CEO's who send emails for a living.

antimatter15 14y ago

Apparently the codename for the Pixel (in the chromium os issue tracker, svn, etc) was Link[1], and recently they've added a metallic (i.e. chrome) android statue (without a corresponding android update) [2]. I might be just over-analyzing things, but there might be some software update in Google I/O signalling a merge between Android and Chrome OS (where the latter is already starting to get features like Google Now on that mobile-convergence pathway like Apple's OS X Lion). Android has arguably more high-performance, graphics-heavy and touch-enabled apps, and has the toolchains to compile more sophisticated applications (IDEs, etc). [1]: https://plus.google.com/100132233764003563318/posts/exCKa13F6KZ https://plus.google.com/100132233764003563318/posts/exCKa13F... [2]: https://plus.google.com/+PaulWilcox/posts/23QtTfiVrtk https://plus.google.com/+PaulWilcox/posts/23QtTfiVrtk Also, Google has a weird ironic naming paradigm. First is Chrome which is named as such because they want to minimize the browser's chrome (tab bar, menus, buttons, etc.), and now is the Pixel which has a HiDPI display so people kind of forget the pixel. It would probably be a bad idea to call their self-driving car Crash though.

numbsafari 14y ago
I imagine they'll call their self-driving car Driver.
- endtime 14y ago
  Close - it's "Chauffeur".
IheartApplesDix 14y ago
iirc, it has always been Google's plan to combine Chrome and Android.
- nl 14y ago
  au contraire Speak to any Googler and you'll hear about the Chrome/Android divide. It's a pretty big issue and possibly Google's biggest weakness.

smrtinsert 14y ago

I still feel they haven't resolved the Android vs. Chrome OS debate. I can't imagine this doesn't create some tension within the organization. Maybe they're hoping to sell Android to Oracle (yikes).

jfb 14y ago
Or develop a ChromeOS tablet! "We're pushing computing forward. It'll definitely make the ecosystem rethink touch," Pichai said. "I think people will take the first step toward building tablets with this." [1] Are the inmates running the asylum over there? [1] http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57570520-93/googles-chromebook-pixel-elevates-chrome-os-ambitions/ http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57570520-93/googles-chromeb...
dragonwriter 14y ago
> I still feel they haven't resolved the Android vs. Chrome OS debate. The long-term strategy, which they announced years ago, is to converge the two platforms. (Its been obvious for some time that, in more detail, Android was the near-term comparatively low-risk [for Google] option, and ChromeOS was the long-term, higher-risk option.)

mvanveen 14y ago

I tried using a chromebook and an ipad as my sole dev setup for a week or so over the holidays. I actually found it was more freeing than a traditional setup in certain ways! Once I got a linode server set up I stopped worrying about not having my dev env. With persistent 3G I was actually able to SSH in and get work in settings I never would have considered previously. The obvious thing that was missing from the chromebook experience was a core set of native app. 1password, skype, spotify, and a few others haven't quite made it to a web app yet. However, most of these apps have a native client ready to go for iOS. So between the chromebook and iPad mini I felt like I had everything I needed to be productive. Ultimately, I simply wanted a nicer machine to work on day to day. Chrome OS is a real pleasure to use (I like it more than modern OS X in some ways!), but the hardware on my Samsung laptop just felt, well...cheap. This new machine fits that sweet spot really nicely. I could see myself considering to purchase this machine as a dev laptop if I hadn't just bought a new macbook pro.

polshaw 14y ago
Putting ubuntu on the chromebook would really have given a much better experience than either the stock or the iPad.
- mvanveen 14y ago
  It certainly would have been a more flexible experience! I have a friend who frequents a coffeeshop I hang out at who I have been teaching Python and misc. hacking to. I ended up giving him the chromebook, and he's set it up with ubuntu (both by dual booting and through booting of a thumb drive!). So I definitely appreciate and accept the flexibility of ubuntu on the chromebook. If you want to say it's "better," I'd ask "to what end?" I personally really like the security model of ChromeOS and having working 3G drivers was a huge benefit when I was experimenting with this setup. I love having a secure client I can trust to connect to sanctioned dev environments on. It's much harder for me to vet that my ubuntu rig hasn't been root-kitted vs. trusting the block-level cryptographic hashing on ChromeOS. I think this is probably where most people would call me a tin-foil hat weirdo, and I wouldn't disagree. This might be just a fun exercise to think about right now. However, I think it's an increasingly important factor in considering personal computing setups and it definitely played into my choice of platform on the ChromeBook. Plus, it's also just plain cool to see how much mileage you can get out of just chrome + ssh!

fatbird 14y ago

Coders obviously can't use this machine. https://github.com/adobe/brackets https://github.com/adobe/brackets

fatbird 14y ago
I don't understand why I'm getting downvoted. Brackets is an HTML5 based IDE that's currently targeting the web development set, but could easily branch out (like any text editor) into being a good editor for any language, and is built to work in a browser. Make the remote repository for you code a bunch of files by SFTP, using SSH for commands, and you have a remote IDE for any development process, including eventually a debugger. How many breathless stories have been linked here about dudes in Oregon pedaling their mountain bike out into the forest and setting up their iPad 3 and Zagg keyboard, and using their LTE connection to do remote dev? Same thing for the Chromebook.
- jrajav 14y ago
  I didn't downvote you, but are you seriously suggesting that all you need for arbitrary development is a nice-looking, syntax-highlighting text editor? Leaving aside the fact that Brackets itself is relatively immature. It may work if you use SSH, as others have mentioned, but that still restricts your use case and that's not what you implied at first.
  - fatbird 14y ago
    I was reacting to "coders obviously can't use this machine" because coders, with SSH and a nice IDE that fits into the environment, obviously can use this machine. As others have observed, you're not buying this for the processor, you're buying it for the large, high-res touchscreen, aluminum body, built-in LTE, and light weight. If you want raw CPU and hard drive space, you'll get a Mac. I don't think screen-and-body is an invalid reason, either, to pay a premium. When you use a tool all day, the surface quality, the experiential quality, makes a difference. I've never really understood being cheap with something that you're going to look at and touch 6-10 hours a day for 3-4 years, on average. That said, yes, brackets is immature, but fairly brightly points to a future where a browser OS like ChromeOS is more than sufficient for a really wide variety of use-cases.

mtgx 14y ago

I just think they are moving in the wrong direction between ChromeOS is for $200-$300 machines, not $1300 machines, no matter what extra specs they give it. Why buy such a powerful machine if you can't use Photoshop, IDE's or 3D games anyway? But as a $250 web machine with 10h of battery life? Sure.

nicklovescode 14y ago
because the machine will be used to power photo editing software, IDEs, and 3D games
SonicSoul 14y ago
probably because Google is looking into the future. with the advent of technologies like WebGL a lot of apps can be moved into the browser. Including photo editing and 3D gaming. If such apps are running in a browser, as non native code, this would call for good hardware specs. especially with such high resolutions. seems reasonable to me.
- quaunaut 14y ago
  Problem is, WebGL won't be worth a damn for 3d gaming for years to come. Hell, Chrome's Native Client is better than WebGL for that even now.
dragonwriter 14y ago
> Why buy such a powerful machine if you can't use Photoshop, IDE's or 3D games anyway? Web-based IDEs and 3D games exist that can be used with this (photo editors, too, though not Photoshop.)

OGinparadise 14y ago

What power user [is willing to pay $1300 and] lives completely in the cloud? This Chrome OS might be great as a tablet, but as a $1300 browser...?

portalbreakfast 14y ago

Bigger issue for writers = we're all broke. Not sure who would spend this much money on this, but even if wanted to most writers can't.

skybrian 14y ago

How about managers? That is, people with actual power. :-)

slurgfest 14y ago

You have multiple good points. But I don't think that writing really requires Windows, that is a pretty extravagant claim. You can write with a typewriter or a text editor, it's not DTP. And I don't see how someone whose job is to operate sites like Twitter has any serious reason why they would need Windows per se.

quaunaut 14y ago
I wasn't claiming it requires windows whatsoever. Word is available for mac as well. And if you're the kind of writer that doesn't need it, you probably already are using docs, on your $300 netbook, and you really don't care. This isn't going to improve your life in any way, because frankly, a computer from 1995 would be all you need for writing. I'd say earlier, but you at least need a half-decent print preview.

Shorel 14y ago

The ones who want to install Ubuntu on the thing?