amuck-landowner

Chromebook, yes or no?

Aldryic C'boas

The Pony
Couldn't do it.  I played with one on demo, and absolutely hated it - I'm too used to dropping down into terminals, working without X... to make one of these do what I want would require too ridiculous of a setup to make it worth it.

I'll stick to my little netbook >_>
 

D. Strout

Resident IPv6 Proponent
Couldn't do it.  I played with one on demo, and absolutely hated it - I'm too used to dropping down into terminals, working without X... to make one of these do what I want would require too ridiculous of a setup to make it worth it.

I'll stick to my little netbook >_>
They're certainly not for everyone. I love me some terminal action too, and if you think about it these devices were designed more for mom and pop to just browse the web, check e-mail, stuff like that. But like I said, they're pretty capable. They can run Ubuntu if you want, and they do have a terminal. The terminal is limited, sure, but SSH in to a "full-fledged" remote machine and away you go. You can open a full-screen terminal with the press of a four buttons.

Anyway, no point trying to convince you. You have a setup that works for you, and that's great. I just love the portability of these machines, so my setup works for me and everyone's happy :) I am of course curious as to what @trewq thinks, but we'll see.
 

trewq

Active Member
Verified Provider
Couldn't do it. I played with one on demo, and absolutely hated it - I'm too used to dropping down into terminals, working without X... to make one of these do what I want would require too ridiculous of a setup to make it worth it.


I'll stick to my little netbook >_>
I jump between Windows, Ubuntu and OSX daily so I'm pretty flexible with the way I use things.


I was considering getting a netbook and putting an ssd in it but it's much more expensive.
 

raindog308

vpsBoard Premium Member
Moderator
Had one.  Sold it.

Just too many limitations.  If I'm just going to consume content, I'd rather have a tablet.  If I'm going to play games - well, none available really (there are some for tablet but I still like more complicated ones which means a laptop).  If I'm going to get some work done or create content, forget it.

Writing on it was OK but...using what?  Not office, easily - yeah, there's office online and Google docs, but I'm one of those guys who uses those 20% features in Office.  No Scrivener.  SSH and RDP (chromote) is possible but painful.  My password manager (PasswordSafe) wasn't available...nor was Dropbox...nor any kind of IDE...nor Adobe tools...nor hobby tools like Poser/3D tools...etc.

It just didn't meet my needs.  If I'm going to relax, I grab my tablet.  If I'm going to work or be productive, I grab an old laptop (and maybe remote into my desktop).

YMMV.
 

datarealm

New Member
Verified Provider
If you already have a laptop you don't mind carrying around, probably not much point for a chromebook.

Having said that, I picked up an Acer 720 refurb for $150 for travelling and it works like a champ.  Installed Ubuntu with chrUbuntu, and there's really nothing it can't run at this point....

The downsides are slightly underpowered and poor display.  But for being able to remote to servers and get online while travelling, its great (light and good battery).  And for $150 I don't have to cringe _too_ much when it accidentally gets dropped.
 

trewq

Active Member
Verified Provider
Just thought I would update you guys. One of the major stores here is having a big sale on chromebooks so I went in knowing I wanted the Samsung 11". Took one look at the display model and decided against it, it's just too small of a screen for me.


I'm doing some research on the 14" variants and also netbooks now. I have also increased my budget.


If anyone has any suggestions I'm all ears.
 

mojeda

New Member
The biggest thing I see people doing when getting a chromebook, is going in not knowing the limitations/uses for it. They want a cheap laptop to use and chromebook is generally in that area however is not a replacement for a full laptop/netbook.

Chromebooks are really only good if you need something cheap to browse the internet with. If you're looking to do something outside of that, then you're better off looking for a nice netbook.
 

rmlhhd

Active Member
Verified Provider
I've never used on myself although for the price you can't really go wrong. If it's shit then it's shit, if it's good then it's the best ~$150 you've ever spent.
 

setupvps

New Member
Verified Provider
I use it but its only nice for web use in my opinion like check some news or check your bank or paypal :p

or answer tickets but not some massive use
 

k0nsl

Bad Goy
....not exactly Chromebook, but somewhat related: I ordered a Chromebox today, just to play around with. If I don't like it, I'll give it to my sister :)

It should arrive Tuesday.
 
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