Google Unveils Broadwell-Powered Chromebook Pixel

[joh22n]

Interesting screen, 2560x1700, 3:2 aspect ratio. Not some usual 16:9 BS.

[alexvoda]

WRONG!...The new Macbook also has a headphone jack!
Yeah but that's it. Hope someone invents headphone jack -> HDMI/USB Type A Adapters . Otherwise you can't charge your Macbook while also having peripherals or USB sticks plugged in.

You mean like this(link) Apple cable?

[89c51]

Now what remains to be seen is how easy it will be to wipe all the google crap from it and install a proper distro. The last pixel sucked bigtime on that.

i'd still prefer 128 or 256 storage.

[GreatEmerald]

Interesting. I'm looking for something of the sort, but the pixel number is too great here and the graphics card is too weak.

What's annoying is how few laptops there are with high-end AMD graphics hardware. At this point NVIDIA is not a good option for laptops (pretty much proprietary drivers only and Optimus), and Intel doesn't have strong enough hardware. Grr.

[mendieta]

Now what remains to be seen is how easy it will be to wipe all the google crap from it and install a proper distro. The last pixel sucked bigtime on that.

i'd still prefer 128 or 256 storage.

Yes an yes. I have two chromebooks at home: one runs crouton, which breaks now and then when chrome updates. And I have another (much newer) haswell celeron, dual booting Ubuntu. But getting that to work was a total b*tch. I followed the wonderful information from the Arch Linux wiki, which helped, but it's all so shaky. You need to repartition with a special chrubuntu script; you can't rename or resize anything with gparted; the smallest intervention on your side breaks things and you need to "powerwash" and start all over. By far, the only challenging linux install in over a decade.

And you are left off with a fast machine with no storage, so you need to use an SD card, and maybe mount it properly so you can use it as permanent storage ... way too much crap to care about. The ONLY advantage is that you have chromeOS available, which is nice for using Chrome quickly, and the warm feeling that you avoided paying the MS Tax. That's a biggie for me. I'll much rather buy from Google than from MS.

[chithanh]

About the usefulness of the Chromebook Pixel: It is meant for developers, not for end users. You can develop websites on it using web-based IDEs. You can put it into developer mode and mess with ChromeOS (basically Gentoo) internals. Or you can install crouton or whatever. Google themselves admit that the Pixel serves only a small niche.

WRONG!...The new Macbook also has a headphone jack!
Yeah but that's it. Hope someone invents headphone jack -> HDMI/USB Type A Adapters . Otherwise you can't charge your Macbook while also having peripherals or USB sticks plugged in.

The idea behind the Type C connector is that it can transfer video signals, data, and power at the same time. So when you are at home, plug it into your Type C monitor which will then charge your laptop and provide port replication.
And Apple already sells an adapter that provides another USB Type C (can be used for charging), a USB Type A and an HDMI port.

[liam]

Or, y'know, buy a normal laptop and run those OSes natively. The appeal of Chromebooks is something very cheap and power efficient for basic web browsing tasks. This is the price and hardware of a mid-range workstation laptop.

I'm not saying this laptop itself is bad, but selling it as a chromebook just seems so wasteful of potential.

But the advantage of a pixel is first class Linux support with apple quality.

[tuxd3v]

Seems that the Librem Purim will get some competition

Some weeks ago,
Michael, talked about Purism Librem, and another company trying to do almost the same but with AMD processors, but I don't remember the name.

I am fan of AMD devices, and I wold like to get an eye on that project
If they launch something I can buy..

Someone knows the name of the project?

thanks
tux

[liam]

Interesting. I'm looking for something of the sort, but the pixel number is too great here and the graphics card is too weak.

What's annoying is how few laptops there are with high-end AMD graphics hardware. At this point NVIDIA is not a good option for laptops (pretty much proprietary drivers only and Optimus), and Intel doesn't have strong enough hardware. Grr.

The GPU is MORE than enough, unless you want to game.

[MartinN]

The GPU is MORE than enough, unless you want to game.

... and if you want to game, get a bloody console, don't game on a PC. Like the upcoming Steam console preferably. Or buy two. Stop lining Microsoft's pockets w/Windows licenses used for gaming mostly...