Google retires the Pixel C tablet as it shifts focus to the Pixelbook

Re:Google retires the Pixel C tablet as it shifts focus to t... by kleiba on Thursday December 28, 2017 @06:53PM (#16026218)

I don't know, but I still like the idea behind the "netbook": small, portable form factor with real keyboard, cheap machine, decent battery life, GNU/Linux. To me, it's too bad that the netbook was pretty much been pushed off the market by the advent of the tablet PC, but as this fact suggest, I'm obviously part of a minority here.

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Re:Google retires the Pixel C tablet as it shifts focus to t... by on_and_off on Thursday December 28, 2017 @06:55PM (#16026247)

I am not sure I understand your comment regarding this article.

Aren't chromebooks (except for the pixelbook which is very nice but not cheap) the direct successors of netbooks ?

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Re:Google retires the Pixel C tablet as it shifts focus to t... by maxxxxx on Thursday December 28, 2017 @06:59PM (#16026272)

I think the problem with Chromebook is that they are too reliant on connectivity. The disk are too small and I would like to run real desktop apps.

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Re:Google retires the Pixel C tablet as it shifts focus to t... by stewbrew on Friday December 29, 2017 @01:16AM (#16027965)

_net_books usually have small disks too and rely on connectivity -- hence the name.

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Re:Google retires the Pixel C tablet as it shifts focus to t... by khedoros1 on Friday December 29, 2017 @11:17PM (#16033828)

Netbooks run the same OSes as more powerful PCs do. Sure, the concept was that they'd be good for lightweight web browsing, but that was kind of a stretch even when they were popular. The way that I used it never really relied on the net. I installed the software locally. Netbooks are just small laptops.

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Re:Google retires the Pixel C tablet as it shifts focus to t... by moondance on Friday December 29, 2017 @02:06AM (#16028137)

Chromebooks have a fair bit of offline capability in Docs, and some 3rd party apps take advantage of that as well. Still mostly useless without wifi.

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Re:Google retires the Pixel C tablet as it shifts focus to t... by TheSpiceIsLife on Friday December 29, 2017 @04:10AM (#16028513)

I have a HP Stream 11 with Xubuntu. Works well for my needs.

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Re:Google retires the Pixel C tablet as it shifts focus to t... by tonfa on Thursday December 28, 2017 @07:10PM (#16026336)

Even if they run Android apps?

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Re:Google retires the Pixel C tablet as it shifts focus to t... by superobserver on Thursday December 28, 2017 @08:12PM (#16026676)

Obviously not. And the exceptional cases like those where the SSD can be swapped out for larger-than-stock SSD's make the point of connectivity pretty moot. And how hard is it to get connectivity nowadays?

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Re:Google retires the Pixel C tablet as it shifts focus to t... by jacksmith21006 on Friday December 29, 2017 @04:43PM (#16032208)

Most CB support Android now so offline use. Ironically you are getting more offline support for things than Windows or OS X because there is more and more an Android app and for Win and OS x web use is expected.

Was flying United not long ago and the entertainment system supported on iOS and Android so you could use with a CB but not Windows or Mac laptops. Confused the heck out of the person sitting next to my son. Finally explained to him why it was working on my son's laptop.

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Re:Google retires the Pixel C tablet as it shifts focus to t... by kleiba on Thursday December 28, 2017 @07:20PM (#16026385)

You're right, they're probably the closest thing these days. However, I'd still prefer a proper GNU/Linux distribution for my operating system, but there are efforts to get some of them to boot and run on Chromebooks, too.

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Re:Google retires the Pixel C tablet as it shifts focus to t... by bpye on Friday December 29, 2017 @07:49AM (#16029220)

It's not that hard. For the most part things work but on at least Skylake and newer, maybe also Braswell, audio is not 100% working. I really like my HP Chromebook 13 G1 running Linux and at the moment I'm trying to get it working with FreeBSD too.

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Re:Google retires the Pixel C tablet as it shifts focus to t... by shp0ngle on Thursday December 28, 2017 @07:05PM (#16026307)

Have you looked at GPD Pocket? It's a fun and useful device.

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Re:Google retires the Pixel C tablet as it shifts focus to t... by LeoPanthera on Friday December 29, 2017 @02:24AM (#16028214)

I have one and I'm looking to sell it, because the keyboard layout is so non-standard I just can't get used to it. Touch typing is virtually impossible.

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Re:Google retires the Pixel C tablet as it shifts focus to t... by fpoling on Friday December 29, 2017 @08:03AM (#16029261)

What about the screen? From various videos I got impression that it is rather reflective.

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Re:Google retires the Pixel C tablet as it shifts focus to t... by LeoPanthera on Friday December 29, 2017 @03:54PM (#16031923)

I have no issues with the screen.

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Re:Google retires the Pixel C tablet as it shifts focus to t... by softrock on Friday December 29, 2017 @01:26AM (#16028004)

I could buy 3 old Thinkpads for the price of one of those.

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Re:Google retires the Pixel C tablet as it shifts focus to t... by Hextinium on Friday December 29, 2017 @03:00AM (#16028310)

Ebay has totally changed how I view cheap electronics for this reason, why buy a crappy chinese knockoff when i can buy a top of the line thinkpad or dell from 4-5 years ago

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Re:Google retires the Pixel C tablet as it shifts focus to t... by GuiA on Friday December 29, 2017 @03:32AM (#16028395)

Buying used is fantastic. Even setting a few Craigslist alerts can lead to wonderful things happening.

I had a friend shopping around for a professional level digital camera recently, and he didn’t realize until I told him that he could buy a 1-2 year old model with near identical specs and save some cash to buy lenses/accessories/etc or just save it.

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Re:Google retires the Pixel C tablet as it shifts focus to t... by fpoling on Friday December 29, 2017 @04:38PM (#16032174)

One cannot get 7" Thinkpad with full HD screen, weight slightly above a pound and 8GB of RAM. GDP pocket is rather unique and its success is a clear indicator that there is a demand for such form-factor.

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Re:Google retires the Pixel C tablet as it shifts focus to t... by moondance on Friday December 29, 2017 @02:04AM (#16028127)

It seems like the netbook space was unfortunately so plagued by bad hardware that it lost all credibility as a viable alternative to a laptop-- but there are still very few instances in which I prefer a touchscreen to a keyboard. Even a not-great one.

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Re:Google retires the Pixel C tablet as it shifts focus to t... by digi_owl on Friday December 29, 2017 @06:13AM (#16028871)

The impression i have is that first Intel freaked, as they worried that they would cannibalize the ultra-portable market.

Second Microsoft freaked, because Vista could not run on them.

End result was that we got a combo of hardware and software that was not fit for anything, along with a bunch of gray-box rebrands (particularly of a certain MSI model).

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Re:Google retires the Pixel C tablet as it shifts focus to t... by ryan-c on Friday December 29, 2017 @09:19AM (#16029552)

> I don't know, but I still like the idea behind the "netbook": small, portable form factor with real keyboard, cheap machine, decent battery life, GNU/Linux.

You and I clearly have very different definitions of "real keyboard".

I've actually been wanting an Android tablet that I can connect a USB mechanical keyboard to (probably an Atreus[0]) as a Chromebook replacement. Problem is, I want vanilla Android (no bloat), and for it to get updates for at least 3 years.

0. https://atreus.technomancy.us/

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Re:Google retires the Pixel C tablet as it shifts focus to t... by reaperducer on Friday December 29, 2017 @12:45PM (#16030670)

The definition of "netbook" has changed a lot over the years.

It used to be ultra-cheap, ultra-small (in all dimensions, not just thickness), underpowered machine running Linux that had just enough oomph to do some basic surfing and e-mail. It was the laptop you brought with you when you didn't want to risk your real laptop. The early eeePC was a perfect example.

Now it's a Chromebook which is pretty much a laptop by another name.

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Re:Google retires the Pixel C tablet as it shifts focus to t... by ryan-c on Saturday December 30, 2017 @09:50AM (#16035440)

I had an EeePC 900 back in the day, and used it as you described. I use my Chromebook in much the same way. I want a device with a nice screen that can run a web browser and a mosh client.

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Re:Google retires the Pixel C tablet as it shifts focus to t... by bvm on Friday December 29, 2017 @09:31AM (#16029593)

I know I'm a glutton for punishment but the eeepc 701 keyboard is the best I've ever typed on. I miss it to this day.

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Re:Google retires the Pixel C tablet as it shifts focus to t... by ryan-c on Saturday December 30, 2017 @09:53AM (#16035453)

I owned an EeePC 900 which I believe used the same keyboard. I wouldn't even describe it as "good".

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