Chromebook... :(

[bloodline]

My girlfriend won a chromebook in a competition... It's an HP CB2 and the story so far is that it is truely a horrible machine.

The hardware seems ok, but feels like a $200 laptop, it is a adequate in performance... The real problem is ChromeOS... Nothing works, I've downloaded plenty of "apps" from the play store thing, but mostly they just don't work...

I was always quite excited by the concept, but now I'm just fed up... Going back to my iPad and MacBook.

I need to try and figure out how to get Debian on it before it ends up in the bin :-/

[bloodline]

They must be doing something right....

Google’s Chromebook Outsells Apple’s MacBook In US In 2013

The MacBook Air is 5 times the price of the chromebook, of course it's going to sell more.

My girlfriend held off buying an new MacBook Air when she won the competition for the Chromebook... Now she's going to wait for the next Air refresh before buying one.

I'm still having trouble getting a proper OS on this bloody thing! Battery life is terrible too...

[bloodline]

Thanks for sharing your experience.
I nearly bought one yesterday as a linux machine.
it was an Acer C720.

Kamelito

To be fair, the Acer might be a better machine. I'm using the HP Chromebook2... Tonight I'll try and follow Nicholas' advice and see if I can get Debian on it.

[bloodline]

It would appear that the Linux distributions for this chrombook are far less mature than even the Raspberry Pi (which I have found infinitely more fun), and the poor build quality is starting show... The screen is already loose and the case creaks when it is moved.

The track pad is horrible, sometimes (and at random) misinterpreting multifinger gestures as move events!?!?

Battery life is bearable, but nothing compared to what I expect from a mobile device.

I really can't recommend this device to anyone, save up, pay more, get a proper laptop. 11" MacBook Air is back at the top of my shopping list