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Quoth · 05-14-2025, 03:14 PM

Be careful which you buy:
The ARM versions have better battery life and Android support but poorer for Crostini (built in Linux in a container on a Virtual Machine).
The Google ChromeOS apps are very poor compared to Linux or Windows apps and very few.

I wiped mine (an x86-64) and installed native Linux Mint. About x2 faster and less grief. You can install an Android emultator / VM on Linux and that's all ChromeOS is doing. It was rubbish for Android.

I use the built in 64G chip for the OS and all my user files are on a 512G micro SD card (formatted ext4), and works well with Calibre and 9000 ebooks/PDFs. The Google supplied Crostini Linux is crippled by having Chrome Browser provide a desktop via "Wayland" and having all connected USB and SD storage mounted as 9P filesystems. A bad experience for Calibre, Libra Office etc.

ChromeOS / Chromebook is for a laptop format Chrome Browser and a few badly running Android Apps (none of my important ones other than Viber worked, and it was buggy compared to Viber on Linux. Alternate browsers to Chrome only available either as Android or Linux versions.

Repurposing an x86-64 Chromebook for Native Linux isn't for the faint hearted, but far better.

They are also built down to a price so many have poor screens. If you need real programs then get a cheap €400 laptop for Linux Mint, or install it on existing computer.

Also T&C of ChromeOS is that Google is in control.

Cbromebooks and ChromeOS are much better than it was, but unless you only use the Google apps, forget it. No local user account either. Can only disable updates (which randomly kill features) by claiming WiFi is metered. Too many tools are actually Chrome Browser Extensions. The entire desktop is actually provided by Chrome Browser, which is spyware.

No sane backup system.

Though it runs on Linux, you have no access to that. Layers of Vms & containers and a separate crippled Linux implementation in a container on a VM for the user. Switching to full developer mode wipes everything. A restore of ChromeOS backup wipes everything except ChromeOS.

05-14-2025, 03:14 PM	#11
Quoth Still reading Posts: 14,262 Karma: 105299897 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper	Be careful which you buy: The ARM versions have better battery life and Android support but poorer for Crostini (built in Linux in a container on a Virtual Machine). The Google ChromeOS apps are very poor compared to Linux or Windows apps and very few. I wiped mine (an x86-64) and installed native Linux Mint. About x2 faster and less grief. You can install an Android emultator / VM on Linux and that's all ChromeOS is doing. It was rubbish for Android. I use the built in 64G chip for the OS and all my user files are on a 512G micro SD card (formatted ext4), and works well with Calibre and 9000 ebooks/PDFs. The Google supplied Crostini Linux is crippled by having Chrome Browser provide a desktop via "Wayland" and having all connected USB and SD storage mounted as 9P filesystems. A bad experience for Calibre, Libra Office etc. ChromeOS / Chromebook is for a laptop format Chrome Browser and a few badly running Android Apps (none of my important ones other than Viber worked, and it was buggy compared to Viber on Linux. Alternate browsers to Chrome only available either as Android or Linux versions. Repurposing an x86-64 Chromebook for Native Linux isn't for the faint hearted, but far better. They are also built down to a price so many have poor screens. If you need real programs then get a cheap €400 laptop for Linux Mint, or install it on existing computer. Also T&C of ChromeOS is that Google is in control. Cbromebooks and ChromeOS are much better than it was, but unless you only use the Google apps, forget it. No local user account either. Can only disable updates (which randomly kill features) by claiming WiFi is metered. Too many tools are actually Chrome Browser Extensions. The entire desktop is actually provided by Chrome Browser, which is spyware. No sane backup system. Though it runs on Linux, you have no access to that. Layers of Vms & containers and a separate crippled Linux implementation in a container on a VM for the user. Switching to full developer mode wipes everything. A restore of ChromeOS backup wipes everything except ChromeOS. Last edited by Quoth; 05-14-2025 at 03:16 PM.