My favorite device is a Chromebook | Hacker News Reader

My favorite device is a Chromebook

kokada.capivaras.dev

99 pointsnextos105 comments

My favorite device used to be a Chromebook. I got a maxed out Pixelbook in 2018 and I loved it, especially as Crostini got better and better over the years. It was my primary dev laptop and I loved using it.

I think we know where this is going... Like many other things Google over the past decade, it died on the vine - IIRC Google killed their Chromebook devices group a couple years ago. I would have loved a Pixelbook 2. I'm back on a Macbook because I was just never able to find a Chromebook that had sufficient processing power and memory after the Pixelbook.

framework makes a chromebook that you can put 64gb ram in. I don't think you can upgrade the cpu though

the chromebook in question: https://frame.work/ca/en/products/laptop-chromebook-12-gen-i...

Just get the normal Framework, install Ubuntu on it and delete all the icons except for Chrome

People do all those other things in the message above you on chromebooks, they don't just use chrome. That's why people like them.

And deal with manually updating

Much less secure.

How exactly is ChromeOS "secure"? Is it just a word that gets passed around in the marketing materials? Where is the evidence that it's more secure than Linux?

ChromeOS is Linux, as it's running the Linux kernel. As is Android for that matter. But anyway, Google doesn't let you run random binaries you download on ChromeOS, outside of a limited sandbox, making it more secure than a distro that lets you run curl | sudo sh outside of a VM.

There are some other security shaped things they do as well.

https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/3438631?hl=en

Let's see, the root filesystem is read-only with tamper-proof authentication, user's home directory is encrypted.

Chrome runs with the usual privilege separation in multiple processes each in it's own tight sandbox.

There is no way to autostart anything.

Even in the nuclear case of a 0-day RCE + chained sandbox breakout + privilege escalation to root, the threat can not persist itself... you just reboot the device and are save again.

And the list goes on...

Their crosvm VMM puts every emulated piece of hardware in it's own isolated process[1]. The drive emulator is blocked from even open files itself.

Google has lot's of experience in security, they are one of the few who still build their own browser, the most hostile environment.

[1] https://crosvm.dev/book/appendix/sandboxing.html

Here is an incomplete paper that gives a 50,000ft overview: https://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/developer-library/refer...

The average Linux desktop does not even come close to having a design as thorough as this, much less a full-blown, actually usable implementation of said design. Frankly, 99% of Linux desktop installs used by developers I've ever seen are nothing more than single-user systems with everything running under a user account that is morally (and in practice, technically) equivalent to root.

The bar for desktop security in the Linux world is actually very, very low.

Is this really a problem? I haven't come to close to a personal security issue in over a decade now.

The web services I use are more likely to be hacked than my personal machines.

Much less private.

right there with you!

it's an i7 chromebook with 16GB RAM and 500GB ssd. that's still unheard of to this day...

runs linux apps natively

runs android apps natively

runs windows apps through linux/wine/steam layer

it's lightweight (2 lbs), very thin and fanless

has a high DPI touchscreen

3:2 aspect ratio

the battery lasts 10+ hours

it can be folded over into tablet mode and supports a wacom stylus

it's a chromebook so it's secure, and i don't have to fuss w/ drivers, or linux dependency hell... it just works, but lets you dive into the guts through containers if you want it.

this is a laptop from 2017, mind you... it's 2024 now, and there is still nothing else like it, 7 years later. it's kinda sad...

as usual, google pushes the boundary, and then kills the product. it was supposed to spur other manufacturers to do similar things but that hasn't happened.

there are various assortments and combinations of machines, chromebook or plain PCs that run windows/linux, but nothing actually hits all the marks: high dpi, powerful CPU, lots of memory, touchscreen, small and light, fanless, with a long-lasting battery.

there's nothing else like it.

you can find medium-DPI chromebooks with 4-8GB of RAM, and no touchscreen, and fans, with crappy batteries. you can find 16GB RAM chromebooks w/ FHD (low DPI, and no touchscreen). there are chromebooks w/ 8GB RAM, no touchscreen, high dpi, and fans... there are all sorts of combos in between, but nothing is the form factor of the pixelbook with the features it has. i don't want a plastic piece of crap that breaks.

the closest thing is a macbook air, perhaps, but apple will never make touchscreens on laptops because they want to sell people ipads and macbooks

My daily driver is an Acer Chromebook I bought used in 2018. Web and SSH are 80% of what I do, and it runs Debian in Crostini for the other 20%.

Six years later it's still fast, still secure, updates guaranteed through 2028.

Acer continues to make a few in this class with 16gb RAM and 256gb to 512gb SSD. When this eventually dies I'll get whatever similar they're selling then.

It's ridiculously cheap, even cheaper per month or year of usage. That's nice but it's not about cost for me. I'd pay 200% of the equivalent Windows or Mac or Framework machine just for the reliability, security, convenience, speed and peace of mind.

Do you mind sharing what an equivalent relatively modern equiavalent would be? I would love a small portable dumb terminal with a keyboard.

It runs Android apps too, right?

If I had to replace my old Chromebook, I'd probably go with this:

https://www.amazon.com/Chromebook-2560x1600-i5-1240P-LPDDR4X...

Decent CPU, 16gb RAM, 256gb SSD, quality screen with a thin bezel.

I like the extra memory because I sometimes run multiple Linux containers at the same time.

If you only want a dumb terminal for web and SSH you could easily get by with half that without sacrificing performance.

no touchscreen, not fanless, not much storage, not high dpi, and bad battery I've heard... it's also just a rather large laptop as well. :(

i did look at this when i was trying to decide on an alternative before i just bought another barley used pixelbook with only 50 battery cycles.

it's half the price so if it works for you, great! but it's no pixelbook replacement imo

HP Dragonfly Chromebook exist with up to 32GB RAM and has pretty good specs (good screen with touch), but it's very expensive for what you get.

I have one of those at work and it's a nice device, but I don't think it's worth the money.

Besides, I'm a sucker for fanless laptops. I used to have pixelbooks for personal use (first the 2018 and then the Go). A while ago I bought an M2 air and run asahi Linux on it. That HW plus ChromeOS would be nice...

Can I ask what made you move on? I'm still using mine for basic tasks from the couch and as a travel device. It's perfect for taking to a cafe and crushing some email for a few hours. And the screen is a beauty.

I develop and run code in Crostini (e.g. VSCode, primarily for TypeScript and Python development in NodeJS, run Postgres, etc.) Over the years the lack of performance options (i.e. memory and processor updates) has become hugely noticeable, e.g. compilation is much faster on my current MacBook.

The Pixelbook was always a bit slower (obviously running in Crostini takes a bit of a perf hit) but originally the other benefits made up for it, but now the performance gap has become a chasm.

If you want powerful hardware there's ChromeOS Flex, combine it with a framework laptop and you should be fine

fwiw, Framework sells a Chromebook

ChromeOS flex can't run Android apps like native ChromeOS - so getting the framework chromebook edition will give you all bells and whistles.

agreed that it's a possibility which is where https://docs.mrchromebox.tech/ comes in. I've yet to be failed by its guidance for either box or book

Framework makes a Chromebook that can be stuffed with RAM and storage.

Thanks for the reminder. I looked into it when it first came out, and I know there was something I thought was a deal breaker but can't now remember what it was. Perhaps I just didn't realize how much memory can be added. I'll take a closer look again!

My favorite device used to be a Chromebook (Dell Chromebook 13, codename Lulu). But it stopped getting updates a long time ago (wasn't covered by the new 10 year policy). It ran for a long time just fine but then a few sites started not working on the old version of Chrome.

I flashed it's bootloader to the Mr Chromebox one and now it's been running Fedora Kinoite very well. So still my favorite device, just a new favorite OS. Kinoite (via RPM Ostree) gives that same feeling of no worry updates.

ChromeOS is great and has only improved. Its great as an OS that needs absolutely no care and feeding. It was amazingly efficient, it didn't start struggling until 120+ browser tabs. But Kinoite (combined with things like Distrobox) is more flexible. There's a lot more of how the sausage is made especially getting full disk encryption going (I used tang and clevis) on Kinoite. And ChromeOS has some of the things that make Distrobox and Flatpaks great (desktop integration basically).

So TL;DR, look at flashing your bootloader and installing Linux.

https://docs.mrchromebox.tech/docs/getting-started.html

What about recently released ASUS ExpertBook CX54 Chromebook?

https://www.asus.com/laptops/for-home/chromebook/asus-expert...

> My favorite device used to be a Chromebook.

Adding to the noise: +1.

The software and concept remains excellent. For me ChromeOS + crostini on a Chromebook is a "good enough" Linux Desktop with guaranteed hardware compatibility, 8 years software updates, and a battery that must last at least 7 hours running on hardware that is designed to withstand the treatment handed out by a 16 year old. Because of the Android security model it's far safer than traditional desktops, be they Windows or MacOS or Linux. For example it's secure enclave is something a bank can trust.

But all bar the education hardware is mostly gone, and what hasn't gone it is produced in such small numbers it's at Macbook level pricing. It's a shame.

My favorite device is an android phone these days.

With termux, I can get most of my work done right away. This is especially true since I switched from VS Code to yazi+helix in the command line as an IDE.

The rest of what I need works in a proot ubuntu instance[1]

Also, since Android 13, the overall OS is pretty good with floating windows.

Some brands (Samsung, Honor, etc.) have full on desktop experiences now with kb+m. Google is slow rolling this into core android since 2017, though, to protect their Chromebook market.

1. https://ivonblog.com/en-us/posts/termux-proot-distro-ubuntu

What's the complete setup like? Keyboard etc.?

For termux: install termux from fdroid and pkg install all the stuff you need. There's a couple of gotchas if you try to build stuff directly, but it mostly just works overall.

For full Linux with x11 GUI: follow the guide I linked.

For the keyboard setup, I just plug keyboard, mouse and monitor on a USB c dongle. I don't use android desktop mode personally.

My next device will likely be a foldable phone, with a foldable keyboard and a stand it works as a laptop in a pinch (otherwise dongle for kb/mouse/display)

I'm big on digital minimalism and have relied on Chromebooks for everything for well over a decade now. I have Gimp, Inkscape, and the other flagship Linux apps I need. I have ssh and my tmux/shell/vim development environment I prefer.

It would be nice if there were an open source alternative, but all that the open source community wants to deliver is rip-offs of the Windows XP experience. Chromebook is what desktop Linux was supposed to be, but nobody understood that the browser was the Linux desktop the whole time.

I seem to recall peppermint os started out as the Linux alterative to the windows netbook (circa 2009 maybe?), with the hope of being what chrome os is now, but after awhile of losing to chromebooks it looks like they shifted gears pretty hard.

A long time ago, I bought an Acer Chromebook off of Groupon for $100. It was surprisingly performant despite being woefully underpowered. The screen wasn’t big but was bright and had a nice resolution. I too was able to get Crostini up and running but hit the limit with certain windowed apps.

I’ve been on the hunt for a Chromebook these days but they feel like poor value to me these days. They tend to have bad speakers, resolution, and frequently processors that run hot and much worse battery life than the Acer.

They seem like a worse value today because I expected them to be cheap and run all day while letting me browse the internet quickly. They can do that but at a much higher price and at that point you’re looking at a used MacBook Air or a Windows device.

You need to look for sales. I have an acer Chromebook for $80 which is my daily tagalong computer (I bring it EVERYWHERE) in case I have downtime unexpectedly and want to get stuff done.

But I also am an oldster and hate typing on the phone, so a keyboard is a huge draw for me.

Battery life is like 6 hours (it says 9 but I’ve never tested it). It charges off a USBC port so can even charge (slowly) from car charger. Decent keyboard and pad.

For that price (300 EUR) I'll take a used classic ThinkPad with a shiny new SSD anyday.

Me too. I posted this blog, despite I prefer Linux, as I found it intriguing.

The message I got was that your device doesn’t have to be perfect to be satisfied with it; paradoxically, I’d wager the OP is more satisfied with his ChromeOS setup than others are with much more expensive devices.

Yes, author of the post here.

BTW, I have a 500EUR Thinkpad (P14s Gen 1 AMD) that I like very much but it is heavier, the fans spins often and the battery life is bad (like, 2 hours in a good day).

So definitely in a whole other league. I bought this Thinkpad thinking that I would bring everywhere, but after trying to get the battery life to something acceptable and never getting at a good level, I decided to just forget it and leave at my desk. I still love the fact that I can get a 8 core CPU in such a small profile and have 40GB of RAM, but if you ask me which device I would bring in a trip... well, you know the answer already ;).

I used a chromebook for a long time for travel while I was using a linux desktop at home. I've now switched to a macbook as the only device I use due to apple silicon and the macbook being the only laptop I could order with a QWERTY keyboard in germany. Still there are many things I miss from the chromebook:

- touchscreen

- alt+tab

- proper fullscreen mode

- linux VM

- no annoyances like apple music or "look this up" popping up randomly

An entire category of things I miss are things that make tabbed browsing more pleasant. ChromeOS is the only OS that seems designed for that:

- swipe to cycle through tabs

- triple tap to open in a new tab

- move pointer to the top to select other tabs, in effect giving you an infinitely tall tab bar, like MacOS has an infinitely tall menu bar[1]

I hope there will be chromebooks with snapdragon x elite chips and Google will figure out distribution like Apple (order and choose keyboard layout online and pick up at a store).

[1]: https://blog.codinghorror.com/fitts-law-and-infinite-width/

https://alt-tab-macos.netlify.app/

MacOS has a number of ways to run VMs, including VMware, virtual box, parallels, UTM, qemu

I think what is always lacking in these reviews is: compared to what?

I’m always curious to see what other devices authors have used prior to this “best device”.

For example, I started with a 2010 MacBook Pro, then a T430 Thinkpad, then a dell, then a desktop computer, then Apple finally fixed the butterfly keyboard so now I use a 2021 MacBook Pro.

In my experience nothing comes close to the trackpad of the MacBook. But I haven’t tried something like a Framework or a Chromebook. So maybe those are better.

I really wish there was a “rent a laptop” service where you could check out a different laptop every month and see if you really like it.

He is not claiming it to be a best device and clearly says it is deficient in most everyway but the complete package results in something so useful and handy and easy to carry around that it makes up for all of its faults. A favorite is generally not the best, the word implies being colored by emotion and lacking in logical reasoning.

You can get laptops in all shapes, sizes, performances, battery-lives, prices, etc. I've never met a Chromebook that seemed like a good value. They're either cheap and underpowered or expensive and overpowered for being a Chromebook.

It's like that photography saying, the best camera is the one you have. It's no use if I've got this high end Thinkpad that's better if I'm too afraid of losing it so it never leaves the house and I end up taking the Chromebook most of the time.

No, there are two kinds of trackpads in the world: Apple trackpads and shitty trackpads.

Hello, author of the post here.

I never said best device, I said favorite device. I have a work MacBook Pro 16'' M2 Pro (what the f* is the name scheme of Apple nowadays, but I disgress), that of course is miles better than this device, but even if it was mine I would never bring it in say, a short trip. It is simple too big and too heavy.

The fact is this device small and lightweight, so I leave this at my nightstand since it doesn't occupy too much space, and ends up being always there when I want to do a quick coding session or write in this blog. Compare this with my heavier laptops that never leave my desk because they're too big.

In my experience, the MacBook features a trackpad, sound system and battery life that no other laptop comes close to supporting, let alone all 3 of them.

I'm a heavy Linux user, but my next laptop will be a MacBook.

The demise of Lacros indicates to me that CrOS is dead as an independent project. Inertia will keep it going for a while but in the long run it is doomed to be subsumed by Android in an unsatisfying way. Which is what a lot of people have predicted for a long time. I think they will eventually be right.

https://9to5google.com/2024/07/12/chromeos-lacros-ending/

I have one, but I never use it. It sits in a corner. I want to love it, for it’s simplicity if nothing else, but it’s slow and then I’ll want to run something it doesn’t support.

Interestingly, I’ve fallen for a Kindle Fire lately. An even more limited device. I also have the pen. My Chromebook has a pen too, but the keyboard folds around and is awkward when in tablet mode.

If you have a stylus though, I highly recommend the Squid app. It’s a pretty great app for handwritten notes and drawings. I might have loved the Chromebook more if I had discovered this app on it.

The coordination between the containerized Debian terminal and ChromeOS is really quite good. I pop back and forth all day long effortlessly.

[disclaimer] I was one of the pre-release beta testers for ChromeOS...

I just got a duet 3 two weeks ago and I am surprised by how much I like it. Got it mostly for reading/annotating pdfs but I am finding that I use it for all general computer stuff. The small keyboard took abit to get used too and the chromebook's lack of many common keys with the caps lock being more a function shift still throws me off but is growing on me.

I find them criminally underrated. Mine is also my favorite device, and I've worked months at a time on it as a programmer as my only device.

I liked it so much I wanted to install it on my own desktop machine, but unfortunately ChromeOS Flex at least runs an older kernel that doesn't work on newer hardware. In my case it doesn't even try to boot.

The newer Chromebook plus devices are pretty good and they sell for around the same price. They get the basic right, 8GB Ram, 1080p IPS screen, 256Gig UFS or eMMC 5.1, good speakers and not bad trackpads. I got a ASUS CX34 at the starting of this year. It's been pretty good so far. No complaints with battery life or performance.

I have the same Chromebook since a few weeks now (got it in sales at 299 euros in France) and... it is my favorite device too.

First, the build quality is very nice for 299 euros. It does not feel weak or "plastic" at all. It comes with an ok keyboard and, imoo, a "meh" touchpad. The keyboard offers a nice protection to the chromebook.

Most of Android apps work well on this device, on both smartphone & tablet settings.

I can open a shell on a Debian distribution using LXC, do my light coding on it without any issue, and then go back to native web apps like YouTube in tablet mode once I finish coding...

2-in-1 chromebooks are really what iPad failed to do for me: both media consumption and light coding when I need to, with a very good battery life (6 to 8h depending of my needs). Also, I can plug in via USB-C on my external screen and work on external screen without any issue.

Imoo ChromeOS is really the best "it-just-works" Linux machine since a while, and I really hope Google will continue to maintain this great system (and ecosystem, plugged with my Android phone) for a while!

The CPU is a bit weak for heavy coding, and the audio is just "ok" for media consumption, but otherwise I really love this device!

Eternal yes to this

I've been Chromebooking since 2015 as soon as I found out about Crouton, which crashed more often than I'd like so I was happy to see the Linux 'Beta' become a thing.

I still have a Mac mini and will probably always but no more towers for me. I have several CBs for biz vs. personal use and haven't spent more than US$180 on any of them. They're not the fastest machines as my OSX machine often reminds me but this is the way forward for me and I try to apply the same decisioning in as many purchases as possible

Mine's a first gen 8GB Surface Go; very light, decent life, pretty good note-taking functionality with a pen, absurdly cheap used and just about powerful to do the job for situations where I'm travelling and _may_ need to do some minor dev work

I use a macbook for dev work generally but the Surface Go has been a godsend for separation of concerns.

> And what I think makes ChromeOS really powerful is Crostini, a full Linux VM that you can run inside ChromeOS. It runs Debian (it seems you can run other distros though) with a deep integration with ChromeOS, so you can run even graphical programs without issues (including OpenGL!)

Agreed. WSL2 makes Windows really powerful too.

Author of the post here.

WSL2 is not even in the same league of Crostini integration though.

Also I find Windows really annoying nowadays. In desktops I much prefer to use NixOS with a minimal window manager (i3/Sway/Hyprland).

What do you mean by not in the same league? You only mentioned running GUI apps, and WSL2 can do that fine.

Well, for starters, you get hardware acceleration and device pass through. So you can use your webcam and stuff under linux and you get animations, smooth video playback, etc.

Also you can access your linux files directly from chrome os, and vice versa.

WSL can do hardware acceleration (for video too), and supports GPU passthrough so Linux CUDA apps can run fine. You can also use your USB devices.

You can access your Linux files from Windows easily too. They are under \\wsl$\distroname\…

(and vice versa of course, through /mnt/c /mnt/d etc)

Hey, author of the post here. Didn't expect someone else to submit it to HN. Happy to answer any questions.

"And what I think makes ChromeOS really powerful is Crostini, a full Linux VM that you can run inside ChromeOS"....

This is akin to the person that uses their left hand to touch their right ear....

Both MacOS and Windows offer that without all constraints and privacy negligent services from Google/Alphabet.

There might be something more to it. There are a world of software engineers who have access to all that, including me, who find chromeos an excellent env to work on. I have a mac, google isn't spying on your when you write code in crostini and compile it.

> Both MacOS and Windows offer that without all constraints and privacy negligent services from Google/Alphabet.

As yes, Windows, the famously privacy respecting OS. [1] [2]

Apple has also been hard at work developing new ways to gatekeep users from running their own software. [3] macOS updates are also widely known to be small, quick to install, and never leave the computer unbootable. [4] /s

I, like the author, have had Chromebooks for many years. They are, bar none, the most easy to use and secure by default computer I have ever used.

Chromebooks are cheap and are supported for longer than any Windows/macOS release and the update process is utterly seamless and without issue.

It has all but removed IT support requests from my elderly relatives. The worst thing they can do is install a sketchy Chrome extension, but that's painless to remove compared to malware.

[1] https://www.windowscentral.com/how-remove-advertising-window...

[2] https://www.thewindowsclub.com/windows-10-telemetry

[3] https://9to5mac.com/2024/08/06/macos-sequoia-makes-it-harder...

[4] https://support.apple.com/en-us/102531

Neither macOS nor Windows offers the deep Linux integration you get with Crostini (macOS doesn't run Linux apps, while WSL2 is good it doesn't offer the same integration as Crostini).

And modern version of Windows are much more of a privacy nightmare than ChromeOS, just take a look at the Windows Recall for example.

What is the mac version of WSL or Crostini?

Yep, totally feel the same about computers these days: https://taoofmac.com/space/blog/2024/07/03/2000

Pretty happy with chromebook duet, but faster mobile cpus = bloatier android apps. Can't even run youtube app without stuttering anymore. OS itself still pretty servicable.

Some chromebooks are decent machines. Unfortunately some strange decisions like the circumcised keyboard layout makes it a no-go.

if you re-arrange the letters in 'chromebook' you get 'e-waste'.

Nope, you get: https://new.wordsmith.org/anagram/anagram.cgi?anagram=chrome...

    Broke Mooch
    Hobo Mocker
    Comb Hooker
    Hombre Cook
    Mr Coke Hobo
    Mr Book Echo
    Bro Mock Hoe

I’m gonna stop you right there and vote for Mr Coke Hobo as the new mascot of the Chromebook.

This guy isn’t wrong. Chromebooks are overpriced thin clients to Google’s services. Nothing more, nothing less.

Once Google EoL your device (within a year or two lol) it’s as good as paperweight.

We've got Chromebooks we bought for our org three years ago that aren't EOL until 2028 at the earliest. Some of the more recent ones are 2030.

After about 2020 Google pledged to support Chromebooks for 10 years.

I'm at seven years and counting with my OG Pixelbook and still getting regular updates. Although it is currently serving as a dedicated Home Assistant dashboard using a fantastic app called WallPanel (via the Android compatibility layer on ChromeOS).

You are wrong on everything. Google gives 10 years of updates, once the support lifetime ends you can put flex on it, linux, but chromeos keeps working, you just stop getting updates. Mostly that is because a 10 year old device is pretty slow, you'll want to faster device.

I have one 10 year old mac laptop, all I can do it boot it and wait minutes for the login panel to show. Actually I should get rid of that as ewaste.

While both technically wrong and true of every computer, many Chromebooks can run non-Googled Linux distros and far outlive their support term… $50 might get you a very nice, lightweight, and portable “netbook” on the used market that you can use another 5 years for basic tasks.

ChromeOS, outside of being Googled, is quite capable (crostini is really nice), well secured (minus Google privacy concerns), and generally a nice user experience. You can even run Firefox and avoid browsing with Chrome.

You get 10 years of updates.

https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/6220366?hl=en

I had no idea they extended this to 10 years! This makes the original comment that much more wrong.

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