8 ms·

Chromebooks are just much more useful than ipads in so many ways. I've recently finished getting our html5 web conferencing app working smoothly on chromebooks

Chromebooks are just much more useful than ipads in so many ways. I've recently finished getting our html5 web conferencing app working smoothly on chromebooks because pretty much all our educational customers are moving from laptops to chromebooks right now. I was skeptical about chromebooks, but having owned one myself for the past few months I can now see the benefits, and I would recommend them over Windows laptops to anyone who is not a developer. For all intents and purposes chromebooks are essentially virus-proof and screwup-proof. (I'm sure you could get a virus or screw it up, but you would have to try damn hard!)

lchengify 12y ago
Mind if I ask which model? I had a chromebook 3 years ago and found it too slow to do anything beyond basic usage, and especially not software development. I have however heard good things about the Pixel.
- allegory 12y ago
  This appears to be the older ARM ones. The newer Intel ones are pretty nippy even with the Celeron badge.
- cpncrunch 12y ago
  Mine is an Acer C720 (I got that because it's what most of the schools were using). It's fast enough for anything I've used it for (web browsing, web conferencing + ssh client). Takes literally 6 seconds to boot up (or 1 second to wake from sleep). It seems a lot less sluggish than my 2-year old MacBook Pro - I think the SSD helps a lot.
vacri 12y ago
As a gamer, I don't want to have to download gigabytes of stuff from the cloud every time I want to play a AAA title.
- Crito 12y ago
  You won't be playing AAA games on chromebooks anyway...
  - vacri 12y ago
    The parent specified recommending to anyone who isn't a developer. I'm just pointing out a use-case that has been forgotten.
    - sehr 12y ago
      The implication was the typical user. Artists using Photoshop, producers using Ableton, engineers using AutoCAD etc.. were all left out as well.
      - vacri 12y ago
        I'm surprised at how much downmodding my comment is getting. Frankly, it really goes to show just how much of a bubble HN is in if people don't see 'gaming' as being something a 'typical user' does. Gaming is a huge market, full of non-technical users, and Windows is a strong market segment. I mean, seriously, you've just likened gamers to being as rare as AutoCAD users.
        sehr 12y ago
        You're reading too much into this, I was just throwing up other examples of other minority use cases. But, if we assume using Steam (arbitrary) as the benchmark for being somewhat serious about gaming, then there are 75 million[0] computer gamers. Compare that to the number of Windows users[1] at 1.5 billion and they are a definite minority outside the realm of a 'typical computer user'. And if I had to guess and why your comment is being down voted, it's probably because it comes across as a bit nitpicky as gaming very obviously isn't the focus of a Chromebook. [0] - http://www.joystiq.com/2014/01/15/steam-has-75-million-active-users-valve-announces-at-dev-days/ http://www.joystiq.com/2014/01/15/steam-has-75-million-activ... [1] - http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/bythenumbers/index.html http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/bythenumbers/index.html
citruspi 12y ago
Unless you develop specifically with Microsoft technologies, Chromebooks can easily be used by developers as well. You can easily dual boot or run crouton[0]. [0]: https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton
- malkia 12y ago
  This! I have 3 croutonized chromebooks, and as of yesterday one HP chromebox. Takes no time to do it. All running now debian/sid in chroot. You want scratch? "sudo apt-get install scratch". Then have some fun! Or maybe frogatto, or emacs, or QtCreator, or tons of good free software out there... for half, or even quarter the price of iPad.
GuiA 12y ago
> I would recommend them over Windows laptops to anyone who is not a developer. Really? Would you recommend it to your (hypothetical) 17 year old sister about to enter college, or 85 year old grandpa? Asking because I've never used a Chromebook, and this thread has made me very curious about them.
- eslaught 12y ago
  For the 85 year old grandpa, absolutely. I have an uncle (around 85) who went through multiple computers (edit: all Windows), and kept getting virus and other malware; he kept falling for sites that would advertise to "clean" his computer, and it just kept getting worse and worse as a result. The instant he switched to a ChromeOS-device, that all went away, and my tech-support burden also went away instantly. His biggest issues with ChromeOS is printing (his printer of the time was not compatible with Google's cloud printing service), but after he bought a new printer that basically went away too.
  - coldpie 12y ago
    > he kept falling for sites that would advertise to "clean" his computer If they need Windows for some reason, AdBlock is a big help with this.
- kumarm 12y ago
  I bought Chromebook for my Dad who is 66 (who never used computer before) and my daughter who is 8. Both have been using chromebook regularly with little to no help from anyone else.
- tapoxi 12y ago
  I got one for my 25 year old brother (history teacher) as a replacement for his old Macbook. All he does is watch YouTube, browse Facebook, listen to Pandora, check his email, and use Google Drive. He loves the device (an Acer C720) and his only complaint is that he can't run Skype. He switched to Hangouts. For the average user I recommend Chromebooks without question unless they need Microsoft Office.
millstone 12y ago
Isn't a Chromebook just limited to web browsing? iPads can do that and more, right?
- malkia 12y ago
  Nope! There is crouton, and other solutions, or full blown linux running from SD-card or from the device itself. It's very open.
- Widdershin 12y ago
  If you feel like getting a tad nerdy, you can run other Linux distros alongside ChromeOS. They make nice dev books. Sent from my Acer C720 running Elementary OS.
- briandh 12y ago
  I've never used one so I can't attest to their efficacy in practice, but there are plenty of apps available that will work offline: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/category/collection/offline_enabled?utm_source=chrome-ntp-icon https://chrome.google.com/webstore/category/collection/offli... Also, many people I know with $1000+ MacBooks use them for almost nothing but web browsing.
  - lrem 12y ago
    Inside Google, MacBooks are essentially used as Chromebooks with aluminium cases ;)
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- kalleboo 12y ago
  The problem is the browser on the iPad is nearly useless for anything but the most casual of browsing due to memory constraints on the device and the lack of virtual memory/swap. I often run into situations where I literally cannot have just 2 tabs open in Safari and switch between them without losing everything I've typed into text fields since it runs out of memory and dumps the other tab.
sspiff 12y ago
> to anyone who is not a developer. I think you're forgetting a few categories. Graphics designers. Architects. Gamers. Or basically anyone who needs to use software that hasn't been ported to a web-app (of which there are still many).
- BorisMelnik 12y ago
  ...accountants, dentists, medical, automotive, hotel, financial. You are right on with that, there are still so many. I work in b2b and meet with a lot of business owners and office managers. So many small to medium sized business are dependent (and happy with) on their desktop software systems. iPads are great as nodes in some software cases, but essentially any industry where mass input is required I really don't see desktop / laptops going anywhere.
  - allegory 12y ago
    They're on their way out as well. On the financial side, I work for a company that destroyed the entire desktop side of things. Within 5 years they destroyed all the competitors just by doing it all on the web and cutting admin and management costs. With respect to hotels/booking systems, I'm tackling that one myself. All the software already out there is crap. All the markets above apart from possibly medical are ripe for the taking.
    - keithpeter 12y ago
      "On the financial side, I work for a company that destroyed the entire desktop side of things." How does the disaster recovery plan cover complete loss of Internet connection or corruption of remote data? Genuinely interested.
      - allegory 12y ago
        This is always the biggest concern. The smaller firms use 3G based connections anyway as they're mostly on the road. The mid size guys have ADSL and 3G back up. The big guys use leased lines with SLAs. We have 3 fully redundant data centres and a separate archival site. Its cheaper to pay us for the redundancy than fuck it up themselves. Their data is better in our hands as we centralise their DR strategy. Previously their stuff was stored in infected windows laptops with no backups and at best tapes being taken home by staff (unencrypted). They can access it all and export at will too.
Mikeb85 12y ago
Even for developers there is 'developer mode', or you can install a different Linux.

lchengify 12y ago

Mind if I ask which model? I had a chromebook 3 years ago and found it too slow to do anything beyond basic usage, and especially not software development. I have however heard good things about the Pixel.

allegory 12y ago
This appears to be the older ARM ones. The newer Intel ones are pretty nippy even with the Celeron badge.
cpncrunch 12y ago
Mine is an Acer C720 (I got that because it's what most of the schools were using). It's fast enough for anything I've used it for (web browsing, web conferencing + ssh client). Takes literally 6 seconds to boot up (or 1 second to wake from sleep). It seems a lot less sluggish than my 2-year old MacBook Pro - I think the SSD helps a lot.

vacri 12y ago

As a gamer, I don't want to have to download gigabytes of stuff from the cloud every time I want to play a AAA title.

Crito 12y ago
You won't be playing AAA games on chromebooks anyway...
- vacri 12y ago
  The parent specified recommending to anyone who isn't a developer. I'm just pointing out a use-case that has been forgotten.
  - sehr 12y ago
    The implication was the typical user. Artists using Photoshop, producers using Ableton, engineers using AutoCAD etc.. were all left out as well.
    - vacri 12y ago
      I'm surprised at how much downmodding my comment is getting. Frankly, it really goes to show just how much of a bubble HN is in if people don't see 'gaming' as being something a 'typical user' does. Gaming is a huge market, full of non-technical users, and Windows is a strong market segment. I mean, seriously, you've just likened gamers to being as rare as AutoCAD users.
      - sehr 12y ago
        You're reading too much into this, I was just throwing up other examples of other minority use cases. But, if we assume using Steam (arbitrary) as the benchmark for being somewhat serious about gaming, then there are 75 million[0] computer gamers. Compare that to the number of Windows users[1] at 1.5 billion and they are a definite minority outside the realm of a 'typical computer user'. And if I had to guess and why your comment is being down voted, it's probably because it comes across as a bit nitpicky as gaming very obviously isn't the focus of a Chromebook. [0] - http://www.joystiq.com/2014/01/15/steam-has-75-million-active-users-valve-announces-at-dev-days/ http://www.joystiq.com/2014/01/15/steam-has-75-million-activ... [1] - http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/bythenumbers/index.html http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/bythenumbers/index.html

citruspi 12y ago

Unless you develop specifically with Microsoft technologies, Chromebooks can easily be used by developers as well. You can easily dual boot or run crouton[0]. [0]: https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton

malkia 12y ago
This! I have 3 croutonized chromebooks, and as of yesterday one HP chromebox. Takes no time to do it. All running now debian/sid in chroot. You want scratch? "sudo apt-get install scratch". Then have some fun! Or maybe frogatto, or emacs, or QtCreator, or tons of good free software out there... for half, or even quarter the price of iPad.

GuiA 12y ago

> I would recommend them over Windows laptops to anyone who is not a developer. Really? Would you recommend it to your (hypothetical) 17 year old sister about to enter college, or 85 year old grandpa? Asking because I've never used a Chromebook, and this thread has made me very curious about them.

eslaught 12y ago
For the 85 year old grandpa, absolutely. I have an uncle (around 85) who went through multiple computers (edit: all Windows), and kept getting virus and other malware; he kept falling for sites that would advertise to "clean" his computer, and it just kept getting worse and worse as a result. The instant he switched to a ChromeOS-device, that all went away, and my tech-support burden also went away instantly. His biggest issues with ChromeOS is printing (his printer of the time was not compatible with Google's cloud printing service), but after he bought a new printer that basically went away too.
- coldpie 12y ago
  > he kept falling for sites that would advertise to "clean" his computer If they need Windows for some reason, AdBlock is a big help with this.
kumarm 12y ago
I bought Chromebook for my Dad who is 66 (who never used computer before) and my daughter who is 8. Both have been using chromebook regularly with little to no help from anyone else.
tapoxi 12y ago
I got one for my 25 year old brother (history teacher) as a replacement for his old Macbook. All he does is watch YouTube, browse Facebook, listen to Pandora, check his email, and use Google Drive. He loves the device (an Acer C720) and his only complaint is that he can't run Skype. He switched to Hangouts. For the average user I recommend Chromebooks without question unless they need Microsoft Office.

millstone 12y ago

Isn't a Chromebook just limited to web browsing? iPads can do that and more, right?

malkia 12y ago
Nope! There is crouton, and other solutions, or full blown linux running from SD-card or from the device itself. It's very open.
Widdershin 12y ago
If you feel like getting a tad nerdy, you can run other Linux distros alongside ChromeOS. They make nice dev books. Sent from my Acer C720 running Elementary OS.
briandh 12y ago
I've never used one so I can't attest to their efficacy in practice, but there are plenty of apps available that will work offline: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/category/collection/offline_enabled?utm_source=chrome-ntp-icon https://chrome.google.com/webstore/category/collection/offli... Also, many people I know with $1000+ MacBooks use them for almost nothing but web browsing.
- lrem 12y ago
  Inside Google, MacBooks are essentially used as Chromebooks with aluminium cases ;)
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
kalleboo 12y ago
The problem is the browser on the iPad is nearly useless for anything but the most casual of browsing due to memory constraints on the device and the lack of virtual memory/swap. I often run into situations where I literally cannot have just 2 tabs open in Safari and switch between them without losing everything I've typed into text fields since it runs out of memory and dumps the other tab.

sspiff 12y ago

> to anyone who is not a developer. I think you're forgetting a few categories. Graphics designers. Architects. Gamers. Or basically anyone who needs to use software that hasn't been ported to a web-app (of which there are still many).

BorisMelnik 12y ago
...accountants, dentists, medical, automotive, hotel, financial. You are right on with that, there are still so many. I work in b2b and meet with a lot of business owners and office managers. So many small to medium sized business are dependent (and happy with) on their desktop software systems. iPads are great as nodes in some software cases, but essentially any industry where mass input is required I really don't see desktop / laptops going anywhere.
- allegory 12y ago
  They're on their way out as well. On the financial side, I work for a company that destroyed the entire desktop side of things. Within 5 years they destroyed all the competitors just by doing it all on the web and cutting admin and management costs. With respect to hotels/booking systems, I'm tackling that one myself. All the software already out there is crap. All the markets above apart from possibly medical are ripe for the taking.
  - keithpeter 12y ago
    "On the financial side, I work for a company that destroyed the entire desktop side of things." How does the disaster recovery plan cover complete loss of Internet connection or corruption of remote data? Genuinely interested.
    - allegory 12y ago
      This is always the biggest concern. The smaller firms use 3G based connections anyway as they're mostly on the road. The mid size guys have ADSL and 3G back up. The big guys use leased lines with SLAs. We have 3 fully redundant data centres and a separate archival site. Its cheaper to pay us for the redundancy than fuck it up themselves. Their data is better in our hands as we centralise their DR strategy. Previously their stuff was stored in infected windows laptops with no backups and at best tapes being taken home by staff (unencrypted). They can access it all and export at will too.

Mikeb85 12y ago

Even for developers there is 'developer mode', or you can install a different Linux.