- Working hardware and driver stack - including HW video decoding/encoding and graphics acceleration (there are laptops that work with Linux well, but even the verified ones can be hit and miss at times - e.g. wierd Dell XPS issues with USB-C).
- Very good support for high-res retina screens (Linux is getting there but font rendering is still better on CrOS).
- Reliability - it's really hard to break a ChromeOS device (software-wise). It can almost always just be powerwashed and your next login completely restores it back to how you remember it. Don't underestimate this for less developer use-cases.
The last point is especially useful for schools and companies- having laptops which you can easily replace within minutes is very useful for many employees. Especially since CrOS comes with good enterprise management suite.
Thank you but I don't need help, my comment maybe wasn't really clear. I was just pointing out Snap as a good sandboxing tech for apps in the Linux world.
For sure. Snaps still unfortunately isn't extremely straight forward on the Debian install in Termina(maybe a normal Debian install as well, IDK, I don't normally run Debian) so I figured you might need help! :D
Snaps are nice though for lots of software things and overall a nicer experience than apt, the sandboxing is just icing on the cake.
This has been the big difference for me of using a Chromebook+Crostini vs installing Linux on a typical PC. The battery life on the chromebook just lasts forever and is buttery smooth out of the box while the laptops with linux installed have always had markedly worse battery life than when running their intended OS in my experience.
Maybe 10 years ago I would have agreed but nowadays not so much, the latest Ubuntu is very polished and I had a lot of success with it with completely non-technical users.
Personally it's not the UX that I'm afraid of but when random drivers don't work or updates break things. Once upon a time I enjoyed learning and doing that kind of thing but nowadays I just don't have the time.
Admittedly I haven't installed Linux for a few years and don't even have my own computer now so maybe the situation has improved.
Battery life, convenience of being able to wipe the whole thing and having your settings restored completely (if you're ok with storing everything with Google, of course)
>(if you're ok with storing everything with Google, of course)
*online. You don't really need to keep anything with google other than a log in. My kids have chromebooks, and a google account for logging in and machine control, but then once logged in, they have access to entirely non google resources. (outside of the browser).
... to do what?
You can vote to change the government in most countries, you can't with Google. But Google won't leak your data and will delete it when you request it. What do you trust the government to do better? Or what do you think google will do with it?
Edit: I understand you don't want Google to have your data, that is fully your choice. I'm just curious what risk you are concerned about.
> You can vote to change the government in most countries, you can't with Google
There's a point for the government. Google is basically beyond my influence. They can do whatever they want with nearly no public oversight.
Google might leak my data. Just like countless other private companies have leaked my data.
> what do you think google will do with it
god only know but the government already has all my sensitive information as it is. Warn about leaking SSN or tax information or addresses...but the government knows all that already. It's nothing new to them
Exactly, a private corporation has no public control/oversight board. Our government is run for and by the people. I wonder where this mindset was started.
Agreed. I'm of the mindset that the government is me basically. Maybe I disagree with them sometimes but I have the ability to change their behavior. I have no control over private companies (even if they are publiclly traded)
In a 3 OS ChromeBook, what does ChromeOS bring to the table that Linux and Android don’t already cover?