
Intel-based Chromebooks - Touche
http://chrome.blogspot.com/2013/09/a-fresh-mix-of-intel-based-chromebooks.html
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habosa
I LOVE my ARM Chromebook. For $250 it's one of the best gadgets I have ever
owned (in a class with my Kindle and the original moto Droid). I am very
excited for the possibility of the same machine with a Haswell processor. My
only complaint with the ARM machine is that its JavaScript performance could
be better (it's tablet-level).

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nubela
All i want is a Chromebook Pixel with Haswell and a bigger storage (at least
128GB), and I'll have my perfect *nix laptop.

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jlgreco
I think the extent to which the Chromebook Pixel is currently compelling as
something to run a regular linux distro on is the extent to which the
Chromebook Pixel is currently unmatched among other laptops (greater DPI and
cheaper than the 13" Pro Retina. Worse otherwise, but if your priority is the
screen...).

Hopefully you won't have to wait for the next Chromebook Pixel, but will be
able to buy a more 'regular' laptop with a similar screen in the near future.
I think high-dpi screens are posed to make a big impact on the market.

@drivebyacct2 _" (For those that may wonder, I have to rmmod/modprobe a
chromeos_laptop module after boot"_

I had that problem earlier, but it resolved itself with a new kernel (3.10.11
iirc) and config. If you want I can pastebin my config when I get home, but I
think the only relevant change I made is I stopped building chromeos_laptop
(and dependencies) as a module. I _think_ the root cause was something about
the order or timing of the touchpad and I2C stuff being brought online.

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rjzzleep
i find the galago pro very interesting. 14" full hd. quad core haswell for
1000 usd(well more for me because of ssd, ram etc). unfortunately, 4 hours of
battery life just doesn't cut it for me. and 14" might almost be a tad too
big. but otherwise it looks like an amazing device.

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jlgreco
1080p at laptop sizes just isn't something I can get excited about in a world
where 1080p cellphones are seemingly becoming the new normal.

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MrMeker
As an owner of an Intel Chromebook, the Acer C7, I really do enjoy it.

It is a bit limited, but for $200, it is a great deal. I have a chroot
installed where I can do anything I can't do with the vanilla ChromeOS, and I
am strongly considering upgrading the RAM. I don't think I will buy the full
16GB this thing supports.

I could also upgrade the storage, 16GB is getting a little tight.

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scuba7183
How easy is it to upgrade the RAM and storage? Are they easily accessible?

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blinkingled
RAM on the C7 is a piece of cake to upgrade. Ssd on the other hand takes few
more screw turns but is easy nonetheless. With a 9mm SSD the back cover
doesn't fit flush but 7mm should be better.

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natch
"Something for everyone" where everyone includes Google, the NSA, your future
ex-wife and her lawyers, the Chinese Public Security Bureau, and any
behavioral tracking advertising networks or other businesses Google cares to
partner with. I'll stick with non-cloud-based computing for now.

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harrytuttle
You nailed it there.

And before someone says it, no "I'll stick Ubuntu on it" isn't a valid answer
to the problem as you're still supporting them by buying it.

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pearjuice
Ubuntu is non-FOSS so it isn't a valid answer anyway.

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Widdershin
Just wondering, what makes Ubuntu not FOSS?

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Pengwin
I think the FSF explain it best: [http://www.gnu.org/distros/common-
distros.html#Ubuntu](http://www.gnu.org/distros/common-distros.html#Ubuntu)

Mainly, non-free software repositories, and the amazon integration in unity.

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Widdershin
Thanks for that link. The fact that they provide a version that only contains
FOSS repos makes me think that calling Ubuntu non-FOSS a bit of an
overstatement. That Amazon thing seems a bit icky, though.

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notatoad
If either of those new chromebooks are better than 1366x768, i'm sold.

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bnolsen
I really expect the "netbook" category to bump again now that Bay Trail has
been released. Finally an actual speed bump in the atom family after all these
years!

One positive is that with chromeos being more stable and backed by google
should be able to seriously take on windows in this category unlike the mess
with linux when the first netbooks were released.

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jemeshsu
If I were HP, Acer, Asus or Toshiba, I'd release one with enough storage and
ram, and easy boot to Ubuntu/Mint.

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ameoba
That's why you're not HP, Acer, Asus or Toshiba. They're not interested in
marketing or supporting these things as computers, they're consumer
electronics, much the way that phones and tablets are.

The moment you start to market these things as real computers at a low price
point, somebody's grandmother buys one and starts calling support because they
can't run Office (or some other arbitrary Windows software on it). Word gets
out, it gets distorted until everyone thinks that the hardware is
useless/broken/worthless and you end up with a repeat of MSFT's
Surface/Windows RT debacle.

Google has very carefully positioned this platform in the market. They've been
very clear that a Chromebook is _not_ just another laptop & buyers should not
expect them to be one. The few additional sales they'd get from Linux geeks
are not remotely worth the brand dilution that would occur from selling them
as anything else.

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dingaling
> The moment you start to market these things as real computers at a low price
> point somebody's grandmother buys one and starts calling support because
> they can't run Office

Why are they even providing a support line? I'm not sure why a laptop should
qualify for support when a tablet doesn't.

When you buy a new car there isn't a Hyundai Support Line to call.

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johnbender
It looks like you can sign up for information updates on the new HP and Acer
Chromebooks on the devices page:

[http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/chromebooks.htm...](http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/chromebooks.html)

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devx
Windows-based ultrabooks are selling slowly as it is, and Google thinks
$1,000+ ChromeOS devices will sell better?

They really should stick to ARM-based $250 Chromebooks. But this time please
put at least a 10" tablet-battery, not a 7" tablet battery inside the
Chromebook.

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bnolsen
Pretty much all of the existing ARM socs out there suck majorly for gpu
support. I really believe Bay Trail will shove arm out of the
chromebook/netbook market just because people will be able to tinker with the
thing.

As much as I had been rooting for arm a few years ago I'm totally soured on
the utter crap support situation. If ARM starts bleeding market it will
totally be on their own shoulders for not doing anything about the closed
drivers situation.

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PanMan
When I was in a local electronics shop a few weeks ago, they already had x86
chromebooks (along with the ARM Samsung version). So what's the news here?

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georgemcbay
The news (which is admittedly kind of buried in the wall of text) is they are
releasing new Chromebooks from many manufacturers based on Intel's newer
Haswell microarchitecture.

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hayksaakian
Good sign for anyone wanting to run OSX on a chromebook.

The current line of ARM processors has been a major roadblock thus far.

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rbanffy
Actually, most Chromebooks are Intel-based and ARM based ones are relatively
recent

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hayksaakian
While you're correct, the celeron processor was about as good as they got --
which won't take you very far on OSX

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wasd
Since OEMs don't have to pay the M$ tax, how much more profitable is a
chromebook?

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wmf
Doesn't crapware more than offset the tax, making Windows "better than free"?

OTOH, Google may be giving kickbacks for Chrome OS as well.

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harrytuttle
Perhaps the NSA are giving Google kickbacks as well...

To the downvoters, this was supposed to be sarcastic :)

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aphexairlines
"the large display on the HP Chromebook14"

A 14-inch screen not large for a laptop.

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pjmlp
No thanks. I rather user proper computers with usable OS.

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jerrya
But Google, can't you please make us a Chromebook that can use a Nexus 10 or
similar device as a second screen?

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aray
What's your use-case for this?

It's particularly striking because the Nexus 10 has the same processor as the
ARM chromebook, so anything you could run on the chromebook you could
conceivably just run on the Nexus 10 as well.

