Chromebook or not?

[notthenewsreader]

Hi Guys

Can someone please offer some advice. I am about to start a course through the Open University and want a laptop/netbook to write my assignments and so on. I have seen the new Google Chromebooks advertised and I don't know whether to buy one on or a laptop such as an Asus Aspire. Can anyone advise please? I already have a google account with google drive (under the old subscription £5 for 20GB with no monthly charge). Please help

[Suo_Eno]

This one? Not a bad idea until you venture much further than just hashing assignments out. Also there's this nice potential of actually running a proper distro here but I'd wait until someone can figure a much less of a hassle in doing that (w/ LMDE maybe ;p~).

It's cheap, should be more than fast enough, heck of a lot better looking than the orig Chromebook and obviously an easily stowable 11.6" lil' bugger. Wouldn't mind paying more for the 3G version.

[steev]

If you can get your work done using Google Docs or other web apps, I say go for it.
I'm very tempted by that new one.

[Suo_Eno]

While we're at it, found this project when I loaded Liliputing just now. It's ARM ChrUbuntu 12.04 Alpha

[900i]

I installed this version of Chrome OS

http://chromeos.hexxeh.net/lime.php

Onto a spare HD in this laptop and tried it out for a few days, I can see the appeal of it but it wasn't for me. You could do the same as I don't think it's for everyone. And better to find out first before shelling out hard earned cash.

[DrHu]

You have a type of choice between a full notebook and a netbook (usually connected to the Internet for applications, such as happens with the Google OS (mobile..))

I personally, unless weight and size is a big concern, would always choose a notebook, which allows me to have local data and applications as well as use an Internet based connection (cloud computing)
--besides Google there are other cloud computing options and even Ubuntu has the notebook remix on which jolicloud is based..
http://www.jolicloud.com/
--since you use Google OS, which is similar (but Internet connected only), that choice is already made..

[Suo_Eno]

AnandTech just done some tests. Check it out.

[Adler]

Hi All,

Has anyone personally loaded a Linux distro on the Samsung Chromebook? I do find it is possible, but would like user experiences.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

[Adler]

BUMP.

[Jimscook]

I just got my Acer Chromebook C7 yesterday and put Chrubuntu on it following this guide

http://liliputing.com/2012/11/how-to-in ... ebook.html

For $199 it's a reasonable little machine, I bought mine to replace an aging Atom netbook. It even has (barely) enough oomph to run the hacked Wine/Netflix.

The RAM is upgradable. I'm being cheap and just picking up another 2GB, but I have seen reports of people installing 8GB SODIMMS in the open slot.

I'm hoping some bright spark out there figures out how to put other OSes on it, I'd rather run my distro of choice. I have a feeling that might entail actually nuking the BIOS and installing an alternate one (it's a clone of the Aspire One - AO756 so I expect you can replace the custom BIOS with that, but I'll wait for someone else to bite the bullet)

[axel668]

I'd rather go for a "classic" netbook, they are not more expensive and you are more flexible if you want to put another OS on it (like Linux Mint, for example)

[Jimscook]

I don't know that I've seen a sub 200 brand new netbook. Also, I've found the Atom processor very weak. The Celeron in the C7 has a fair amount of horsepower. Besides, I'm fairly certain someone will figure out the OS install bit in the weeks to come

[TBABill]

I'm quite enjoying my new C7 Chromebook. I have seen the back and forth discussions with the pros and cons of Chrome OS and this is my first ever. What I've found is since I have an ePrint capable HP printer I can do most anything I already did before. I was using a MacBook Pro and gave it to my son. I'm keeping the C7. It's not nearly as capable or powerful, but he needs a good computer with software install capabilities for college so I'm taking the low end machine and will get back into higher end machines if this one becomes frustrating.

What i realized is I'm one of those guys who tinkers but spends most of the time on the Internet using a browser. I do very little except Excel and Word so Google Docs should suffice for the level of complexity I need in a word processor and spreadsheet program. If I were a heavy power user I'd certainly want local applications, but I'm happy to have a 320GB HD since I have a downloads folder and other local file storage capability.

I like the ChrUbuntu possibility but I'd like to see other distros installable as well. Mint remains my favorite and I'd love to have a version with Cinnamon I could install and dual boot on this machine. It's fairly quick even with 2GB RAM and a slow HDD so more RAM and maybe a future SSD will be in order. This thing is not nearly the machine some of the reviews have labeled it to be....bland, ugly, slow, cheap, etc. It looks like a fairly well built machine and it's not super flexible. The touch pad works great for single finger or 2 finger use and I've had none of the touchpad issues listed in reviews. Most likely those are from users who don't tweak the settings which is simple to do. Or the bump the pad while typing. All in all, if someone wants a linux based (but not really "open source") distro running on a netbook sized machine with quick speed, large local storage, nice screen and keyboard and low price....can't go wrong with a C7. After hours of use I still enjoy it and that's after coming from a MacBook Pro, which to me is a superb machine in its ease of usability, particularly in the touchpad and the speed of the OS.