Google's Pricey Pixel Gets USB-C and a Lower Price 139
The Register reports that Google's high-end Chromebook Pixel has gotten a few spec bumps, and a lower price. It's still a touchscreen with a resolution of 2,560 × 1,700, but now that screen is backed by 8GB RAM (rather than 4) as a base configuration, and the system is equipped with a Broadwell Core i5 chip, rather than the Ivy Bridge in the first rev. The price has dropped, too; it may still be the most expensive Chromebook, but now it's "only" $999 on the low end, which is $300 less than the first Pixels cost. ($1300, though, gets an i7, 64 gigs of SSD instead of 32, and 8GB of RAM. Perhaps most interesting is that it adds USB type C, and (topping Apple's latest entry) it's got two of them.
64GB (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm a bit disappointed with the 64GB storage.
I would get one of these for as a Linux laptop, but I want 1TB, like my Macbook.
If the wise denizens of /. can tell me I just need to plug thing X into slot Y to get that, I'll send in my order.
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Slot? This is a consumer device. It's not user serviceable. The SSD is probably either soldered in, or behind so much glue that you'll never be able to put the thing back together again properly once you install the replacement.
Re:64GB (Score:4, Informative)
It's a surface mount, single-package SSD.
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Where did you get that information?
I'd never buy a laptop with soldered in SSD... What if you need to recover data from it and the machine is otherwise dead? What if I want to upgrade it? Most ultrabook super thin laptops have mSATA drives.
The CRB 1 had that (Score:2)
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They did keep the 32GB storage in the $999 model. It's the $1299 upsell model that has 64GB, and also 16GB RAM and an i7.
Nobody seems to be mentioning it, but the Pixel does have an SD slot. So if you really need more storage you could pop in a card. A 256GB card is under $100 now so it's not that big an expense, and storage on the card is fast enough for things like storing a few high definition movies to watch on a long plane trip.
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Unless you really want the touchscreen, I don't really see why you'd buy one of these over another Macbook.
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More ports. Runs Linux. I agree about the touchscreen, though. Don't really quite understand that for a laptop.
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As Chrome gains the ability to run Android apps, a touchscreen will be a must. Not because touch is great on a laptop, but because Android apps would be awful with a trackpad. (actually, everything's awful with a trackpad, but I assume you can plug a mouse into this thing)
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MacBooks run Linux very well. Possibly better than these things. Do you still have to do some hacking to run Linux instead of Chrome?
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Linux is officially supported. The screen is non-wide-screen. It's 5:4. Should be the ultimate laptop if the threads on Slashdot complaining about 16:9 monitors and the lack of vertical space are to be believed.
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More ports. Runs Linux. I agree about the touchscreen, though. Don't really quite understand that for a laptop.
Not more ports than a MBA (which is a similar price, and has more storage and a faster CPU, and doesn't have Google datamining your every word). And it runs [cultofmac.com] Linux [everydaylinuxuser.com], too [linux.com].
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Unless you really want the touchscreen, I don't really see why you'd buy one of these over another Macbook.
I do Mac type things on my Macbook. I'm not interested in ChromeOS. But a native Linux laptop would be handy, especially for long flights where I get most of my best programming done. I hate the touch screen on laptops. I have a Lenovo with that and I had to disable the touch screen so it didn't mess up whenever anyone pointed at the screen.
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What do you mean by a "native Linux laptop?" Linux runs just fine on Mac or Windows notebooks. This notebook happens to come with ChromeOS instead of OS X or Windows. I couldn't find details on the current one, but the old Pixel didn't have a standard BIOS so you had to hack that to get a regular Linux install to work. Then you're left with a notebook with an undersized hard drive because Google expected you to store everything in the cloud.
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What do you mean by a "native Linux laptop?" Linux runs just fine on Mac or Windows notebooks. This notebook happens to come with ChromeOS instead of OS X or Windows. I couldn't find details on the current one, but the old Pixel didn't have a standard BIOS so you had to hack that to get a regular Linux install to work. Then you're left with a notebook with an undersized hard drive because Google expected you to store everything in the cloud.
I know I can run Linux on my Macbook, but I use XCode and have big data sets that use most of the disk.
I could get another Macbook, but then I don't get to play with new things.
The undersized disk thing was my original point.
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If you use XCode then why would you want Linux?
I use XCode on the Mac.
I use Python and assembler and C and a few other things on Linux.
I use Windows because my employer shoves it onto my work laptop, but only to VNC or SSH into machines on which I do real work (System Verilog).
I don't write big GUI apps. I do care about making sure the underlying hardware does what it is supposed to do. If it's not esoteric hardware details, it's not really my thing, unless it's a POS for a yarn store, which is punishment for something bad I did in an earlier life.
For a
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Yes. All the way down to tiny cpus in tiny sensors.
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And writing music to USB thumb drive is painfully slow. Most ones will give you a few MB/s of write speed, and it is compounded by the fact you write some hundreds of file so there's slowdown at each "boundary" compared to the favorable case of writing a few big files.
A 128GB SD card might do well, if that's your main music collection you're fitting here. At least, it stays unchanged most of the time. You still have to not mind the slowness and at that cost you could have had a 256GB SSD in the laptop.
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A friend comes over, before he leaves we copy about 7GB of data to his USB drive (empty, by the way) and that takes about half a hour. That's what I am bitching about. Copying from hard drive to hard drive on 100BaseT network was so much better (with no stall when doing concurrent copying)
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Sure, plug one of these [amazon.com] into one of these [google.com] into one of the USB-C slots on the Chromebook.
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USB-C (Score:2)
I don't know if USB-C is backward compatible, but I presume it is. I can't see the specifications, so I don't know if there are additional USB slots if it isn't (but presumably there would be unless they are stupid).
So buy the 64GB version and use that as your system drive. Buy an external USB HD in whatever capacity you want and just plug it in the USB slot.
Problem solved.
Anyone of any competence is going to build a system like that anyway, an SSD system drive with another traditional HD as your media driv
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I happen to know a lot more about USB Type-C than the average punter who hasn't authored specs for the USB SIG.
It's good juju. But compare with an Intel NUC, where you can plug in a PCIe SSD. [newegg.com]
That would be a good thing to be available on the motherboard.
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I have a mSSD slot on mine which is nice, as is ITX builds it saves even more space...
However most ITX cases I have seen thus far don't support removable back plates... which means if I ever have to remove or replace the thing, I will have to basically disassemble everything to get at it which kind of sucks (as on most MB the slot is on the back of the board)... :(
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I happen to know a lot more about USB Type-C than the average punter who hasn't authored specs for the USB SIG.
It's good juju. But compare with an Intel NUC, where you can plug in a PCIe SSD. [newegg.com]
That would be a good thing to be available on the motherboard.
$500? for 512 GB? Are you KIDDING me?!? If SSDs are going to cost THAT much, platters will spin for quite a while in my computers...
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I don't know if USB-C is backward compatible, but I presume it is.
USB-C is just the connector type. The ChromeBook Pixel is using USB 3.x which is backwards compatible just like all other USB revisions.
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Sorry that should have been connector/wiring type. But, yes, with the proper dongle it's backwards compatible with all other USB types.
For god's sake man! (Score:5, Funny)
Close that parenthesis! I can't take it for much longer, it hurts, please!
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Close that parenthesis! I can't take it for much longer, it hurts, please!
A Lisp user, I see :P
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We are here for you, brother or sister!
)
Re: For god's sake man! (Score:5, Funny)
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Apple, stop, you are making this too obvious. (Score:1)
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Apple likes to push "it will take some time" into "soon." Chromecasts/Apple TVs and things like that hooked up to projectors are becoming more common.
Personally, I'm quite happy to trade a bunch of connectors for a lighter notebook.
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It's really evil and a money grab in my opinion.
Money grab by who? If Apple was the only source of USB-C adapters, then you might have a point.
But they're not.
Next time: Think; THEN Post.
sadly no linux on surface (Score:2)
if microsoft surface could run linux, all netbooks and ultraportables discussion would go to the place they should have been for a long time: the garbage.
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The (x86) Surface is a standard PC, you can install and run Linux on it.
Of course, that requires giving money to Microsoft and not everyone wants their keyboard or solely the hardware on offer in the Surface.
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ChromeOS is a great operating system (Score:5, Funny)
... it only lacks a good web browser.
The top end model (Score:5, Informative)
has 16GB, not 8GB, of RAM.
Macbook 2015 (Score:1)
Off the cuff comparison:
1. Storage is a huge loss
2. Has fan. booooo
3. CPU is a win
4. I am going to guess the touchpad is a loss - hard to beat apple on this.
5. Form factor and weight is a big loss
6. I/O ports, winner. silly being apple apple and sacrificing function over form.
7. OS - I prefer a pure linux for CLI but not so much for GUI apps. I would lean for OS X as it has better support in the GUI apps area.
I like the chromebook I bought for $150, but . . . (Score:2)
I got the Samsung 11" chromebook on sale for $150.
It's great for what it is: an inexpensive device with a decent sized screen, full KB, and fast bootup. Unlike windows, it does not get easily infected.
But I cannot see a chromebook being worth $1000.
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But I cannot see a chromebook being worth $1000.
Especially with only 32 gigs of storage! It doesn't really matter whether or not you need lots of storage with a chromebook - even assuming you don't, it still costs them next to nothing to put just 32 gigs in there!
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Does it have a 2,560 x 1,700 screen? I think that's what you're paying for here.
Can your eyeballs even use 2,560 x 1,700 on a sub-13" screen?
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No, but I don't see the point of such a high res screen, on a device with such limited use.
3:2 aspect ratio -- surprisingly good (Score:1)
2560x1700 is essentially a 3:2 aspect ratio. Terrible for watching movies, fantastic for productivity. I used to code on a pair of 3:2's -- it feels a little weird at first, but you gain a lot more vertical space and it's much more sane than portrait 16:10's: it doesn't break layouts in most applications or webpages.
Open your mind (Score:2, Insightful)
If my work didn't give me a laptop for free, I would be tempted to snap up a new Chromebook Pixel.
The self-anointed tech pundits are all scratching their heads. "Why such a luxurious laptop to just browse the web?"
"Just browse the web." That's the first lie. Web browsers, especially Chrome, no longer just browse the Web. It is no less than a modern GUI toolkit and practically a whole operating system. HTML 5 specifies [w3.org] that web browsers can run background processes, run offline, open and save local files, st
Re:But it's still a Chromebook... (Score:4, Funny)
<sarcasm> Yes, but don't forget, it's running everything through a web browser, so it NEEDS the beefier specs. </sarcasm>
Besides, their next version will be $17,000 and have a fake gold-ceramic housing. Give them credit, though - it'll still be more useful than an Apple watch.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:But it's still a Chromebook... (Score:5, Informative)
Chrome comes with NaCl plugins for google docs, sheets and other things to make them faster. Yes, google docs and sheets use (I believe mostly) native code when run inside chrome (you can disable the plugins that do that). The javascript is for the other browsers.
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It is not the whole application that is written in NaCl and google has the man power to maintain two code bases, plus the backend code is, of course, shared. It might also use the google closure compile to have a single code base that compiles down to both targets (NaCl and javascript).
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Why not just run apps natively then, instead of in the crappy browser environment? Oh, right, Google lock-in.
Do apps written in JavaScript lock you into Google?
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Google apps written in JavaScript lock you into Google.
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Well they do support browsers that don't have NaCl, those browsers are free to implement NaCl as well if they so chose. This is not evil by itself but I can't say there aren't some unfortunate implications.
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it makes sense that a device that requires you use the Google office apps rather than native apps, would require you use considerably more memory and power.
Yes, it's ridiculous, but think of it like this: how optimal do you think a Google spreadsheet, implemented over JavaScript, the DOM, and XML, in turn implemented over various abstraction layers that eventually get down to C++ and some kinda linkage to the native widgets of the underlying OS, is, compared to a Microsoft/GNOME Spreadsheet implemented directly in C++, with a little abstraction but not a lot between that C++ and the underlying OS?
TL;DR: A device that forces you to run desktop apps inside a web browser will always need more power than a device that allows optimized apps to run.
Are you forgetting the other Chromebooks, all implanted with low-end processors? The Pixel is noteworthy because it's overkill. James Kendrick writes [zdnet.com], "My old Acer C720 Chromebook had budget hardware when released, and still runs Chrome OS well." (Okay, his "old" Chromebook came out just a year ago. But still, it has a Celeron. Others have ARM processors.) The consensus is that Chromebooks are snappy no matter the hardware.
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<sarcasm> Yes, but don't forget, it's running everything through a web browser, so it NEEDS the beefier specs. </sarcasm>
Besides, their next version will be $17,000 and have a fake gold-ceramic housing. Give them credit, though - it'll still be more useful than an Apple watch.
Barbara, I'm surprised at you.
The high-end Apple Watch is $10k (which is definitely not that high in the watch-as-a-fashion-statement-world) and actually has a solid 18k Gold-Ceramic "alloy" housing.
I must admit though; I probably wouldn't buy that model even if I was loaded...
And I don't know if you watched the Keynote the other day; but they really do make some compelling use-cases for it (and I don't mean stupid-shit like sending your heartbeat or flower-scribbles).
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The high-end Apple Watch is $10k (which is definitely not that high in the watch-as-a-fashion-statement-world) and actually has a solid 18k Gold-Ceramic "alloy" housing.
It's definitely high when the company it comes from is the maker of common computers and smartphones though, particularly when the device itself is identical to the $349 version just in a different colored (let's be honest you're not noticing that it is actually a different material in any circumstance, which is exactly why no other version comes in a gold color unlike many of Apple's other products) case.
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The high-end Apple Watch is $10k (which is definitely not that high in the watch-as-a-fashion-statement-world) and actually has a solid 18k Gold-Ceramic "alloy" housing.
It's definitely high when the company it comes from is the maker of common computers and smartphones though, particularly when the device itself is identical to the $349 version just in a different colored (let's be honest you're not noticing that it is actually a different material in any circumstance, which is exactly why no other version comes in a gold color unlike many of Apple's other products) case.
What in THE hell are you talking about???
The three versions of the watch probably have the same guts; but they definitely have different case materials: Aluminum, Stainless Steel and Gold. Of course Apple would want to distinguish the actual Gold case from the others; to do otherwise would be utterly ridiculous, and would actually devalue both the lower-end AND the premium SKUs in the eye of the (potential) customer.
This is Marketing 101. Can someone with some actual Marketing experience please explain
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What in THE hell are you talking about???
Why did you ask that question if you were going to go on a big rant about something you profess to not understand rather than waiting for an answer anyway?
To clarify: Other high-priced watches have some differentiating factor, they aren't just a cheap watch with the same case mass-produced from a different material. This is putting a Timex in the same shaped case but mass-producing it out of a more expensive material.
...also please don't take personal offence to the comparison of Apple and Timex, I know som
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Personally, I hate gold-anodized or gold-plated products. To me, they just look like they are made for those who would like others to THINK they can afford actual Gold (like the high-end Apple Watch), but in actuality, they can't.
Truly rich people are happy wearing 24 carat gold jewlery that has been copper plated. It matters just as much to them as anything else.
The $10k iWatch is only made out of gold so that it can be priced at $10k.
Has anybody figured out the scrap value? Those places that buy scrap g
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A nice watch is a great fashion accessory - these are fugly ugly. You can strap them around your ankle and say you're being tracked while out on parole and it would be less embarrassing ...
The first app for it is the BMW one that will let you roll up your windows with your watch. Or find your car. Call me underwhelmed.
About the only really useful app for any watch will be to find my phone (or my keys) :-)
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Apple, a Buick-class company, got BMW to answer the phone?
Maybe they heard the rumors of Apple wanting to get in the car business and thought Apple might be interested in buying them. After all, with BMW with a market cap of less than $80 billion, Apple can use part of the $137 billion they have stored off-shore [theguardian.com] to make an all-cash offer and permanently avoid US taxes on it.
Re:But it's still a Chromebook... (Score:5, Interesting)
Actually that means it runs Linux natively, which is kind of a big draw from my perspective. I'm considering getting one, but will not be running ChromeOS on it if I do.
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Only if by big draw you like kludges. Sure it may be the Linux way but still.
Yeah, you CAN run Linux on it. You can also run Windows (it has SeaBIOS in it). But to do either means you have hit Ctrl-D within 30 seconds of power up (or reboot) every time to boot into your "alternate" (non-ChromeOS) OS otherwise it times out and goes into a rec
Although... (Score:2)
It does have drawbacks, but you can work around them. Good for tweakers.
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As a Pixel 1 owner here, you can just crack open the Chromebook, screw tight the write-protect screw for the BIOS and flash a replacement ROM that removes the whole ChromeOS boot capability and delay. It does have drawbacks, but you can work around them. Good for tweakers.
Excuse me; but a $1k laptop with those weak-ass specs shouldn't require "workarounds".
You Linux guys are sooooo funny.
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Being able to flash the firmware is kind of cool, actually, particularly since it's open source, so you can hack it first.
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Re: But it's still a Chromebook... (Score:1)
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I bought a Lenovo X131e Chromebook second hand for exactly that purpose. Went online for the instructions to boot it into developer mode so I could change the OS ... Nothing worked. I emailed Lenovo directly with the serial number for advice, got no reply. As far as I can tell it is a device that does not allow any change to the BIOS.
I now have a device that runs ChromeOS and nothing else. So it's going to get sold on to the next victim. Make sure if you do buy one for this purpose that you really are able
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Good advice. This is why I tend to buy the official Google labeled thing and not the third-party version. Works for Android too. I am indeed trolling the chromium os site to see if info on the new pixel will pop up. So far nothing.
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I bought an Atom based Windows tablet. To run Windows. I wanted a cheap portable Windows device to run some ham radio applications as part of my portable station, and it fills the bill nicely. But I didn't go in with any plans to use it for Linux, nor have I tried it so far.
You are correct, though, if one wants to use it to run any OS other than Windows. Investigate the particular device first.
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I don't know. Maybe it works fine as a Linux Machine.
Most Chromebooks have very little local storage. This "high end" Chromebook has 64GB, but 16GB is more typical. They are intended to be used as thin clients, and there many good uses for those. For non-tech office workers, Chomebooks often work well because they are using web docs anyway, and doing "everything in the browser" means it is all on a synchronized and backed-up server. Chromebooks also work well as shared computers for schools. They are cheap (starting under $200), easy to set up (the apps
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You really do not pay extra for the Windows license. Twenty to thirty bucks amounts to 1-2% of the final purchase price. It is very cheap. From the manufacturer's perspective, this gives them reduced distribution, support, and inventory costs witch would otherwise be added to the product price. Not surprising if the Windows computer is actually cheaper.
The real reason for getting this laptop is because it's a nice laptop with components that are well supported in Linux. And it is highly likely that
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You really do not pay extra for the Windows license. Twenty to thirty bucks amounts to 1-2% of the final purchase price.
According to your figures, the minimum people are spending on a computer is $1,000 ($20 == 2%) and up to $3,000 ($30 == 1%).
If you're spending that much, you're more likely buying an Apple laptop, in which case you're not paying for a Windows license.
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I don't know. Maybe it works fine as a Linux Machine.
I'm sure it would work just fine as a Linux machine, that's probably what most people will buy it for. ChromeOS being a Linux distribution means it should at least have good hardware support for other Linux distributions.
Think of it - it is a nice piece of hardware without Microsoft tax on it.
I'd say that's probably negligible, I mean this is hardly any cheaper than any comparable Windows laptop and it's pretty silly to think they wouldn't be amortizing some of the operating system development costs in the price of this system. On a Mac you're paying an OSX "tax" and on this you
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Saying ChromeOS is a 'Linux distribution' is like saying that my iPod Touch runs a version of NextStep.
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I have a normal Dell Inspiron 17, which was $800. 8GB of RAM, 1TB of hard disk (not SSD), a wide keyboard w/ a numeric keypad panel. I overwrote Windows 8.1 w/ PC-BSD, and except for the WiFi issue, no complaints. This whole thing sure beats a Chromebook.
I also bought a new $99 Winbook - 2GB RAM, 32GB integrated flash (translation: NAND flash, same as in SSD). For things that must have Windows, such as my label maker, or GoToMeeting I use that. But my daily activities - browsing, email, even my g
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Nope. You have a fair amount of control as to how much data Google stores, and can tell Google to delete all of your data if you like. See here [google.com]. I do think Google could stand to do a bit of work improving the interface, and making it more clear that they allow this sort of thing. But they do have pretty good privacy controls.
Even on a Chromebook, you can avoid Google collecting essentially anything connected to you if you simply browse in an incognito window and don't log into Google within that window.
Re: Relates to Systemd? (Score:5, Funny)
The pixel is endorsed by Slashdot folk hero Bennett, was coded by female H-1B visa workers, uses the latest technological advances in graphene, interfaces with Tesla vehicles and can end global warming. SystemD makes all of this possible.
Re: Relates to Systemd? (Score:4, Funny)
But is the case 3D-printed?
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Feeding the troll, but...
Ain't Chrome OS derived from Gentoo? That too, only the first version - it's not a rolling derivative, like CentOS or Scientific Linux is of RHEL. So ChromeOS didn't have systemd, and likely won't, unless Google decides they want something like it in the OS.
Re:Do Not Be Alarmed Brethren (Score:4, Funny)
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Even at 64GB people would say it's a typical overpriced Apple toy which only fashion-oriented idiots would buy.
But Google releases the same thing with lower specifications and people stay silent.