How does Sup Forums feel about buying the cheapest possible chromebook, overwriting the bootloader with seabios, and installing debian on it? I found a Samsung Chromebook 3 with 16GB eMMC, 4GB RAM and 1.6GHz Celeron N3060 for $120. It's pretty much shit in every way but battery life, because it gets 10 hours.
How much of a mistake would it be to buy this as a lightweight beater laptop for programming outside? I know I can get a thinkpad for this price, and I have several, but I want something with an all-day battery that I won't get too attached to.
Is the storage even upgradeable on these shittops? I imagine eMMC to be a literal SD card soldered onto the motherboard or something.
Gavin Cooper
Mine has an SD card slot so you can add however large of an SD card you can get.
But I save most of my shit on my desktop anyways
Jayden Walker
On the samsung models like this the ssd isn't replaceable, I know some models allow for easy replacement though. Either way it's easy enough to just slap in an SD card or small usb for extra storage
Benjamin Evans
I have an Acer c720 I put GalliumOS on and it's fucking perfect for daily use
Nathaniel Bennett
Have it. Not too shabby. Still fucking gay. Buy a ThinkPad instead.
Ethan Edwards
Love this guy
Benjamin Reyes
did the same with my cb3-111, living the life
Easton Lewis
I have a Chromebook Pixel 2013 (pic related) that I did just that on. I didn't install Debian however, I installed GalliumOS which is basically xubuntu but optimized for Chromebooks and I highly recommend it. Picked mine up for about $300 and it's flawless for your exact purpose. Glorious 3:2 aspect ratio and I have no problem multitasking with VSCode and several different browsers running at the same time. Just make sure you don't forget to install tlp and you will legit be all set. Best laptop I've ever had.
Levi Barnes
What kind of benefits does tlp give?
David Long
Here's a desktop shot. The only two issues that I have that aren't really even issues is that I have to press CTRL+L each time it boots up because I haven't opened it up and removed the write-protect screw. I really have no need. The other issue is that I only get about 5 hours of battery life but it's fine for my use. Buying a cheap chromebook to use as a programming device is the way to go.
Leo Evans
Not that user but TLP extends battery life by actually using some laptop-exclusive features the kernel has built in. It usually adds 2-3h of battery varying on your computer.
Bentley Martin
It optimizes power consumption & makes my laptop not feel like my toast is about to be finished.
Daniel Evans
>5 hours of battery life Not that bad, but aren't chromebooks all sealed up? What if that battery were to degrade?
Zachary Russell
I only paid $300 for mine so by the time that happens I'll be ready for a new one anyway lol chromebooks are disposable as fuck
Eli Morgan
>mfw these are the nu-thinkpads of our time minus being serviceable may god save us from this fate
Owen Edwards
damn I'll have to install that, getting 8-9 hrs now so another boost would be even better
Wyatt Rogers
>tfw these are the nu-thinkpads of our time plus having actual battery life feels good desu
Cooper Lee
yeah it'll add like an hour, maybe two, to that.
ya these are just meant to be thrown away unlike thinkpads. get a new one for 100 bucks w/e. if i get two years out of my chromebook it'll be worth, and ill probably get four years easy
Cooper Thomas
I have a lenovo n22 N3050, 4gb ram, 16 gb eMMC (so pretty damn close to your thing there) I installed seabios on it And stuck galliumOS on it.
Gallium has the drivers for chromebook hardware, so it's a decent option. The battery life is still great (12hr). It is the comfiest a laptop can get. Thin(ish), light, fanless, durable, ect. Would recommend, but make sure you are careful when installing the new firmware or you could brick your machine. Ask me anything else that comes to mind I suppose
Matthew Wood
And to chime in a bit further, these go for roughly $320 - $375 on eBay. The downsides are the lack of some keyboard buttons (super, caps lock, some F keys) and GalliumOS fixes that by assigning them to the right alt key+top buttons. You could do this yourself in any distro though. The other downside is that audio drivers are buggy as fuck. The upsides are that these are nicer than fucking macbooks, linus himself replaced his macbook air with one of these, the aspect ratio is p e r f e c t, and the fan exhausts in between the screen and keyboard gap so you can lay it on a bed no problem. better touchpad than even a mac or thinkpad. if you are interested in a chromebook then go for it
Alexander Price
ah i just enabled dev mode and left it as is, pressing ctrl+l doesnt bother me at all. not bad tho at all
Gavin Ortiz
I've got a Windows laptop with a busted screen that will take about $200 to replace. I'm also poor. Will I be able to use a Chromebook as an everyday machine and not want to kill myself?
Jeremiah Brown
The RK3399 based Samsung Chromebook can run Arch natively if you don't care about GPU accel.
Zachary Thompson
depends on what you use your computer for, user
Benjamin Butler
If your everyday stuff is done on a web browser then it's great If not then no
Nicholas Williams
Nowadays mainly web browsing and torrenting. Not a big gamer but have a desktop that I can game on when desired. I really just want a decent screen with good lightweight performance.
Ryder Murphy
lurk more or go back to /r/eddit. we havent even discussed using botnetOS in here at all
for that youll be fine, just install linux
Bentley Ross
to expand on this, if you have no idea what the fuck youre doing then go to /tpg/, thinkpad general, and ask that question there and just get a thinkpad instead
Matthew Scott
>unironically uses chromeOS wew lad
Daniel White
I want to buy a laptop like the Acer chromebook 14 (pic related). A laptop with decent res, screen, build quality and cheap. Any advices?
Nolan Gonzalez
what's wrong with the Acer 14? or are you looking for something similar but cheaper?
Bentley Anderson
Just get a used thinkpad. Chromebooks have shit tier screens, keyboards, processors. Etc etc
James Myers
>I know I can get a thinkpad for this price, and I have several, but I want something with an all-day battery that I won't get too attached to.
Nolan Long
Not poster but yes. I want something < $100 i can install a linux distro to fuck around with on.
Noah Robinson
look around for deals on cyber monday, I'm sure there will be a fuck ton of older models on sale for around or a little above $100. Otherwise browse ebay and local craigslist for used ones
Evan Kelly
Buy extra 9cell batteries for your thinkpad. Buy 9cell plus the slice battery for your thinkpad. Chromebooks are good as a free computer for Children of Color in public education but beyond that they are shit. For the same price you can get way more with a used thinkpad.
Juan Nelson
If I want something to use as a generic all-purpose laptop I would prefer for it to be compact, lightweight, and only need maybe the charger with it. No reason to haul around more shit like extra batteries for a laptop that's going to be used for mostly lightweight tasks... If I need to do something that requires actual power then I'm probably not out and can use a desktop
Oliver Phillips
>wanting to run Windows
Bentley Thompson
That's a feature.
Cameron Thomas
Just use one of your Thinkpads with a new 9-cell and tlp. You really don't fucking need a Chromebook, especially if you have way more powerful laptops at your disposal. A low-spec laptop might sound attractive but only before you actually have to live with six fucking teen GB of trash speed storage.
>tripcode Undisputed tech Youtuber has spoken. I'd actually install Debian testing with the netinst and upgrade to unstable (it's not actually unstable) though.
Benjamin Garcia
>Just use one of your Thinkpads with a new 9-cell and tlp. Loud bricks belong at home my friend.
Parker Rivera
How many rupees are you being paid to shill overpriced chromebook shotboxes? This whole thread is infested with chromebook shills. To any real anons reading this: Buy a used thinkpad. It is a much better investment.
Evan Evans
Nothing wrong with It. But here in my country its a pain in the ass to get one. So im looking for something similar
Jack Torres
>Overpriced >"""Investment""" I'd much rather invest in not having to lug around a giant plastic piece of shit and extra batteries just to get a slight performance boost from outdated hardware
Daniel Thomas
>x220 >giant You either are female or soyboy. Go buy an iPad pro commie faggot
Connor King
buy thinkpad or bust!
Robert Garcia
Nah I'll stick to my Chromebook with 1 battery, 1080p screen, enough power for normal uses, and is less than 3lbs