What do you guys think about ChromeBooks?

[MannDude]

What are your thoughts on them? Useful? When do you use yours? Can it / has it replaced any other device of yours?

Trying to think of some contest prizes and been looking at ChromeBooks. Not sure if I'd want one for myself, as I'd rather just have a netbook or regular laptop, but I've never really used one. I've heard good things, though.

What are your thoughts?

 

[shovenose]

I had one of the :$249 Samsung Series 3 Chromebooks" - sold it on eBay since I didn't need it I have my Lenovo Ideapad Lynx convertible tablet w/ keyboard dock.

That said, it was a great little device.

 

[drmike]

Pieces of total garbage.  Sure, they are upgrading the stack to deal with workaround like being offline...

Why support the NSA / NSA partners in snooping on users?

Good giveaways would be some privacy-centric stuff. Ummm storage (who can't use more storage).  Media devices. Pi's and other hacker culture devices... I can come up with more

 

[jarland]

Meh, a good tablet is better IMO.

 

[MannDude]

Well, YubiKeys, Raspberry Pis, VPN subscriptions, dedicated servers, etc were all part of the plan as well. But looking for 'premium' type prizes, like tablets/laptops.

 

[Aldryic C'boas]

I gave the tablet thing a try (TF300T with keyboard dock) - while the slimness and how light it was made it very easy to port around, at the end of the day I found myself missing a pure Debian install.  Tablets and chromebooks are decent enough for faffing about, but I couldn't work productively from one.

 

[drmike]

Well, ...  were all part of the plan as well. 

You could always have a "BECOME A SUMMER HOST" business plan competition to mine for new good cash making hosting businesses, and not give a prize away

That would act as free press, goodwill amongst the community and enrich yo' pocket with dollaS Yo!

 

[wdq]

I have had the ARM Samsung Chromebook for around a year now and I have to say it is better than the netbook I had, but it isn't perfect. I really only find it useful when I am away from an actual computer, but still need to spend some time typing. 

Personally I'd be more interested in DIY sorts of prizes. Raspberry Pis would be great. 

 

[Ivan]

Even a Chromebook is good enough as a contest prize. But I guess like some mentioned, a good tablet is better (features wise). Sounds like an exciting contest, I really need a portable computer.

 

[jcaleb]

+1 for tablet

 

[Ivan]

Actually, I think the Surface RT is a great tablet. If compared to the Chromebook, the Surface RT beats it hands down. Even though the Surface might be a little bit more expensive. This video is a good reference towards what the Surface RT is capable of. Of course I don't know if Curtis would consider this as a prize for a contest since it sure is quite expensive ($300+) but I'm just comparing it to the Chromebook here. But both the devices aren't privacy-centric, really. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9somrcpcuF4

 

[Boltersdriveer]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?hl=en-GB&gl=SG&v=FVaPZAJaqFM

 

[drmike]

^--- probably one of the few times Ballpalmer and myself will agree.  Chrome seems like a distraction/complication/another OS from Gaggle.

Let's have server client in the cloud across slow uplinks.  Sure, nice academic sort of proof of concept.  Too many issues.

 

[concerto49]

Not too impressed besides cheap. Quality doesn't seem that good. It's heavy. Chrome OS is usable, but not that useful. I prefer tablets to Chromebooks and proper notebooks on the higher end.

 

[Boltersdriveer]

^--- probably one of the few times Ballpalmer and myself will agree.  Chrome seems like a distraction/complication/another OS from Gaggle.

Let's have server client in the cloud across slow uplinks.  Sure, nice academic sort of proof of concept.  Too many issues.

Conceptually I'd actually say that it's a great idea but in terms of real-world usage where you don't really even get the net everywhere and 3G sucks on most providers? Yeah, no.