Chromebooks outsold Macs for the first time in the US

Re:Chromebooks outsold Macs for the first time in the US by notacoward on Friday May 20, 2016 @08:57PM (#11742637)

Same here. Anybody who repeats the "Chromebooks are for kids who don't do anything sophisticated with their computers" schtick is just showing off their ignorance. A decent Chromebook (e.g. a Pixel or soon one of the HP/Acer models) plus Crouton is a more real development machine than anything Apple ever made, because it's more like the server where you'll eventually deploy. Then, unlike any of the other dozen Linux laptops I've had, it works and continues to work without requiring constant technically-proficient care just to keep things like wifi or suspend/resume from breaking. Mine replaced both an MBA and a Zenbook running Fedora. Haven't looked back since I got it.

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Re:Chromebooks outsold Macs for the first time in the US by millstone on Friday May 20, 2016 @10:25PM (#11742888)

> Crouton is a more real development machine than anything Apple ever made, because it's more like the server where you'll eventually deploy

Well, this assumes one particular type of development! I would not choose a Chromebook to develop, say, Chrome!

I tried Crouton a few years ago, wanting to run xbmc. Audio didn't work, because it required a newer version of the Linux kernel. It turns out you can't just install a stock Linux kernel: you have to use a patched device-specific kernel that Google provides, and for my device, the Google-provided kernel was too old. Perhaps I could have built some frankenkernel, but instead I gave up and got a real Linux box.

I would not try to use Crouton again for a general Linux box, because you become dependent on Google for updating core software.

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Re:Chromebooks outsold Macs for the first time in the US by notacoward on Friday May 20, 2016 @10:41PM (#11742938)

Yes, and it would be fantastic to use a Mac or Windows box to debug something involving Linux kernel drivers, right? There will always be special cases. Sometimes there's only one solution, and you take what you can get within those parameters. I've worked on "one of this exists in the world" kinds of hardware a few times myself. Nonetheless, the "Chromebooks are for n00bs" meme is still BS. For the majority of people who are in love with their Macbooks, a high-end Chromebook is a more than adequate alternative. The fact that it didn't suit your special needs doesn't change that.

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Re:Chromebooks outsold Macs for the first time in the US by millstone on Friday May 20, 2016 @11:00PM (#11742987)

Developing software for something other than a Linux server is not some bizarre edge case. I was reacting to your unqualified claim that a Chromebook is "a more real development machine."

My "special needs" was running popular and well known Linux software. Many people in this thread have said that running Crouton on a Chromebook is just like having Ubuntu or Debian. But this is not so:

1. Google does not reliably update core software

2. It's harder to get help when things go wrong, because the system is sufficiently different from an ordinary Linux box

For those reasons, if you want to run Linux software, it's better to use a familiar Linux distribution, and not ChromeOS.

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Re:Chromebooks outsold Macs for the first time in the US by notacoward on Monday May 23, 2016 @03:00PM (#11756005)

If you want/need to run a very particular version of Linux software, then maybe a Chromebook's not for you. But many thousands of people successfully run all kinds of Linux software that works just fine inside the Crouton environment. I didn't and wouldn't say you're a bizarre edge case, but xbmc is being far more picky about versions than it needs to be and that's not ChromeOS's or Crouton's fault. It's unreasonable to criticize the platform because it didn't satisfy your one use case, and it certainly does nothing to refute my original point that ChromeOS isn't just for newbies.

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Re:Chromebooks outsold Macs for the first time in the US by xuejie on Sunday May 22, 2016 @10:53PM (#11751520)

To develop things like Chrome, a mac won't be enough as well. Chances are you will need a powerful desktop beast anyway, in this case, a Chromebook can be a super handy addition for checking emails, browsing the Internet, not to mention you can also ssh to your desktop and work off the Chromebook.

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Re:Chromebooks outsold Macs for the first time in the US by pgeorgi on Saturday May 21, 2016 @03:50AM (#11743690)

> you have to use a patched device-specific kernel that Google provides

Only because upstreaming is so slow. Those patches end up on the relevant mailing lists and eventually get merged.

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