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Worf
Sep 12, 2017

If only Seth would love me like I love him!

Ice lake will do Call of duty at 30 frames per second

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Atomizer
Jun 24, 2007



bull3964 posted:

I wasn't really going for the best gaming for the buck here nor eeking the best performance out of it, only representing that Ice Lake graphics represent a pretty big jump over the last generation of integrated Intel and makes the prospect of Steam on a Chromebook a lot more useful. I didn't buy the XPS13 to game on, but I did want to see what it could do.

On top of that, we're going to start seeing a lot more AMD APUs in Chromebooks with similar capability.

My main point is that we don't have to wait for dGPU Chromebooks to have a huge library of PC games playable on the hardware.

Yeah I didn't mean to get off on a tangent, but I do think we really do need a dGPU for any serious gaming (on ChromeOS.) It's just too hard to rationalize the modest performance even current Intel iGPUs have versus the alternatives, like the Switch (since we're basically talking about mobile gaming, and generally low-cost CBs.) Also I'll point out that AMD's mobile APUs are lower-performance than their desktop versions, so the current examples of the former are closer to Intel's iGPUs than to low-end nVidia dGPUs.

Worf
Sep 12, 2017

If only Seth would love me like I love him!

https://www.androidpolice.com/2020/01/21/acer-chromebook-712-announcement-education-market/

looks like an extremely solid entry to look out for on sale/refurb as a backpack beater.

Assepoester
Jul 18, 2004
Probation
Can't post for 11 years!
Melman v2

Statutory Ape posted:

https://www.androidpolice.com/2020/01/21/acer-chromebook-712-announcement-education-market/

looks like an extremely solid entry to look out for on sale/refurb as a backpack beater.
Ah! the 3:2 screen is back!

"Display 12-inch LED-backlit TFT IPS LCD, 1366x912, 3:2 aspect ratio, touch screen option"

:nyoron:

Assepoester fucked around with this message at 05:53 on Jan 22, 2020

Dr. Eldarion
Mar 21, 2001

Deal Dispatcher

That was basically my reaction as well. 8-year support duration! 3:2 screen! This looks gre.... oh.

bull3964
Nov 18, 2000

DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.


Man, it's going to be hard for me to resist the sweet sweet OLED screen on the Galaxy Chromebook, but there's just a few things about the design of the device that gives me pause over the Pixelbook. The keyboard obviously isn't going to be as good, no 3:2, and the reports at CES about the screen wobble while typing kinda concerns me. Hopefully the final thing was just engineering sample weirdness because I think I can deal with the rest, but my Pixelbok's screen is rock solid after over two years and i really wouldn't want a wobbly screen.

It would suck to have such a nicely crafted piece of hardware have such a nasty flaw.

Dr. Eldarion
Mar 21, 2001

Deal Dispatcher

With the OLED, I'd be worried about burn-in...

bull3964
Nov 18, 2000

DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.


Dr. Eldarion posted:

With the OLED, I'd be worried about burn-in...

I'm not. The recent round of screens that have hit notebooks have been tested by a few people and so far nothing. Chrome OS doesn't really have persistent UI elements if you have the bar autohide, so I wouldn't think there would be much opportunity for something to cause a problem.

Atomizer
Jun 24, 2007



Woot has a handful of decent options for cheap CBs.

TITTIEKISSER69
Mar 19, 2005

SAVE THE BEES
PLANT MORE TREES
CLEAN THE SEAS
KISS TITTIESS




Also, new HP Chromebooks come with a 3 month trial of Disney+

Worf
Sep 12, 2017

If only Seth would love me like I love him!

TITANKISSER69 posted:

Also, new HP Chromebooks come with a 3 month trial of Disney+

lol i admire the marketing synergy here tbh

pig slut lisa
Mar 5, 2012

irl is good


I'm a computer idiot seeking a new Chromebook. I've done some basic searching for "best chromebooks 2020" but I'm finding myself overwhelmed by choice. When I do happen to find a Chromebook I like on a review page, I try to purchase that model, only to discover that that particular model is not actually for sale, but here are several other models that are maybe pretty similar, but do they differ in some crucial way that I will regret not knowing about, and aaaaaaaaaaa :smith:

So maybe someone in here can help me out.

Here is the Chromebook I've been rocking for the past 4-5 years. It has served me well and put up with lots of abuse. I like this Chromebook and would buy exactly the same thing new if that were possible, but it's not.

Here are some things I'm looking for (recognizing that perhaps not all of these things exist in the same product):
-Would like to spend about $400. Can go higher if there's real value but I don't think my needs will end up justifying a real premium product.
-Most common uses are internet browsing, streaming video and music, playing simple browser games, and typing up lecture notes and things like that. I do not anticipate playing games that demand a lot of graphical or computing power.
-I don't want a separate numpad since that offsets my hands away from the center of the keyboard as I type.
-I get the sense that trackpad quality varies quite a bit and I suspect I would be annoyed by a bad one. I don't know whether my current one is good or bad relative to the field though so v:shobon:v
-14" screen seems about right. Bigger than that and it's going to be a tight squeeze in the main bag I use.
-Touchscreen and fold-to-tablet are both intriguing but not must haves
-I sometimes hook my current Chromebook up to the TV using an HDMI cable. It would be nice to have an HDMI port in the new machine but I can always buy an adapter if need be.
-I don't otherwise use any peripherals
-I listen to a lot of music on my Chromebook. I'll set it on the counter while doing other loud things like washing dishes and taking a shower. Speakers that produce a high volume are good, but I'm not an audiophile who's going to miss all the layers and highs and lows that you get with premium speakers.
-I carry my current Chromebook around in one hand, take it in the bathroom where it gets steamy, eat and drink while using it, and I have an 11 month old who is rapidly learning how to wreak havoc. Durability is a plus.

If anyone can provide a recommendation I would greatly appreciate it! I will probably buy whatever you tell me since I am a big dummy when it comes to this stuff.

Atomizer
Jun 24, 2007



pig slut lisa posted:

I'm a computer idiot seeking a new Chromebook. I've done some basic searching for "best chromebooks 2020" but I'm finding myself overwhelmed by choice. When I do happen to find a Chromebook I like on a review page, I try to purchase that model, only to discover that that particular model is not actually for sale, but here are several other models that are maybe pretty similar, but do they differ in some crucial way that I will regret not knowing about, and aaaaaaaaaaa :smith:

So maybe someone in here can help me out.

Here is the Chromebook I've been rocking for the past 4-5 years. It has served me well and put up with lots of abuse. I like this Chromebook and would buy exactly the same thing new if that were possible, but it's not.

Here are some things I'm looking for (recognizing that perhaps not all of these things exist in the same product):
-Would like to spend about $400. Can go higher if there's real value but I don't think my needs will end up justifying a real premium product.
-Most common uses are internet browsing, streaming video and music, playing simple browser games, and typing up lecture notes and things like that. I do not anticipate playing games that demand a lot of graphical or computing power.
-I don't want a separate numpad since that offsets my hands away from the center of the keyboard as I type.
-I get the sense that trackpad quality varies quite a bit and I suspect I would be annoyed by a bad one. I don't know whether my current one is good or bad relative to the field though so v:shobon:v
-14" screen seems about right. Bigger than that and it's going to be a tight squeeze in the main bag I use.
-Touchscreen and fold-to-tablet are both intriguing but not must haves
-I sometimes hook my current Chromebook up to the TV using an HDMI cable. It would be nice to have an HDMI port in the new machine but I can always buy an adapter if need be.
-I don't otherwise use any peripherals
-I listen to a lot of music on my Chromebook. I'll set it on the counter while doing other loud things like washing dishes and taking a shower. Speakers that produce a high volume are good, but I'm not an audiophile who's going to miss all the layers and highs and lows that you get with premium speakers.
-I carry my current Chromebook around in one hand, take it in the bathroom where it gets steamy, eat and drink while using it, and I have an 11 month old who is rapidly learning how to wreak havoc. Durability is a plus.

If anyone can provide a recommendation I would greatly appreciate it! I will probably buy whatever you tell me since I am a big dummy when it comes to this stuff.

Ah yes, that's the 2014 version of the Toshiba CB 2, i.e. the bad version because it has a garbage Atom-based Celeron and the 2015 model is much faster. You could actually mostly justify hunting down the 2015 version, because it has the same good display, speakers, touchpad, etc., but they're getting hard to find and are only supported officially through the middle of next year (which isn't a dealbreaker but a consideration, especially since you can find other, newer models in the same price range.) This appears to be the best candidate I could find in a quick search, so you're looking at $200+ for that.

The best modern 14" CB within your budget might be this one, which should check all your boxes except that you'd have to buy a USB-C to HDMI adapter (<$20.) I could also suggest trying out a Chromecast, especially if you're mainly streaming media to a TV (and not just using it as a 2nd display.) I can't vouch for the audio quality on this one though. It's also not a ruggedized model, but those are mainly Edu/Business models and are a separate topic (they'll have tradeoffs in display quality, specs, price, etc.)

My frequent cheap CB recommendation is the Acer 14 from a couple years ago; this one's a refurb and the price is right. It's not as nice as the Toshiba (having owned both of those models and this Acer) in terms of the display and peripheral quality, but it's got a Macbook Air-like metal build that makes it feel more expensive than it is. The CPU is on the lower end of what I'd consider comfortable (for me) to use, but it's definitely an upgrade over the N2840 your Toshiba has.

If you're still open to 13" models, and want to try a convertible, the Acer R13 is the big brother to the revered R11. On that page you can see a <$300 option for the 32 GB storage version, and refurb'd versions of both for even cheaper. The MediaTek CPU is absolutely fine for ChromeOS, and of course this convertible has a touchscreen.

Finally, I regularly use a version of the HP 13, which has an excellent display and backlit keyboard. The touchpad is good too, albeit small, and the speakers are quite fine (just lacking some bass, understandably!) It's a 2016 model, but I still think this m5 variant is worth it at $300 (especially with 8 GB of RAM,) and for whatever reason it still has support through June 2023, which is another pleasant surprise. It charges via USB-C, and you'd have to use an adapter to get video out as well.

There are some 12-13" options if you were willing to go smaller (e.g. Asus Flip, Samsung Plus/Pro) but the above should get you started.

pig slut lisa
Mar 5, 2012

irl is good


Thank you! I'll check these out.

e: Decided to try out a convertible and purchased the Acer R13. Thanks again for taking the time to put together some options.

pig slut lisa fucked around with this message at 06:00 on Jan 30, 2020

TITTIEKISSER69
Mar 19, 2005

SAVE THE BEES
PLANT MORE TREES
CLEAN THE SEAS
KISS TITTIESS




I am so loving annoyed right now. All I want is to have YouTube playing in one tab while I browse in another. I start playing music from YouTube, then when I click over to the other tab, no more music. First tab reloads. I go back to the YouTube tab, it reloads. I've installed the extension "Disable automatic tab discarding 1.0.4" and tried with it enabled and disabled, no difference. Closed and reopened Chrome in between toggling this extension, nothing changes.

This isn't a problem on my Windows laptops either, just on my Chromebook. What utter loving garbage.

Edit: holy poo poo just tried the separate YouTube app, goes silent as soon as I minimize it. Trash.

TITTIEKISSER69 fucked around with this message at 08:39 on Feb 9, 2020

MrNemo
Aug 26, 2010

"I just love beeting off"

What model have you got? That's definitely not something that happens on my Asus.

TITTIEKISSER69
Mar 19, 2005

SAVE THE BEES
PLANT MORE TREES
CLEAN THE SEAS
KISS TITTIESS




Acer Chromebook CB3-431

Cojawfee
May 31, 2006
I think the US is dumb for not using Celsius
My Chromebook was doing that until I restarted it.

TITTIEKISSER69
Mar 19, 2005

SAVE THE BEES
PLANT MORE TREES
CLEAN THE SEAS
KISS TITTIESS




My Chromebook doesn't have a restart button, at least not that I can find.

Fantastic Foreskin
Jan 6, 2013

A golden helix streaked skyward from the Helvault. A thunderous explosion shattered the silver monolith and Avacyn emerged, free from her prison at last.

TITANKISSER69 posted:

My Chromebook doesn't have a restart button, at least not that I can find.

?????? / ?

Just powercycle dude.

TITTIEKISSER69
Mar 19, 2005

SAVE THE BEES
PLANT MORE TREES
CLEAN THE SEAS
KISS TITTIESS




:lol:

I may have been a bit flippant there (and a bit drunk last night). Either way, powercycling has fixed it for now. Seems like a restart button wouldn't be much to ask, no?

Fantastic Foreskin
Jan 6, 2013

A golden helix streaked skyward from the Helvault. A thunderous explosion shattered the silver monolith and Avacyn emerged, free from her prison at last.

Google suggests holding refresh and hitting power will do it.

Clark Nova
Jul 18, 2004

TITANKISSER69 posted:

Edit: holy poo poo just tried the separate YouTube app, goes silent as soon as I minimize it. Trash.

This behavior in the app is 100% intentional. They're trying to monetize your exact use case on android/ios by forcing you to pay a subscription fee for "youtube music" in order to enable background audio

waffle iron
Jan 16, 2004

ItBreathes posted:

Google suggests holding refresh and hitting power will do it.

Just tried that and it works on my Chromebook. Although beware that when I logged back in it asked me to restore my last session, so it might not be a graceful shutdown.

Atomizer
Jun 24, 2007



Refurb'd HP 15 for $260. 15" FHD display, Core i3, 4 GB RAM, backlit keyboard, partial metal build, numpad.

Daniel Bryan
May 23, 2006

GOAT
Would a Pixelbook (256GB i5) be worth selling for parts? Mine randomly locks up and boot loops, before needing to be recovered. I'm considering it dead.

TITTIEKISSER69
Mar 19, 2005

SAVE THE BEES
PLANT MORE TREES
CLEAN THE SEAS
KISS TITTIESS




Has power washing it helped?

Daniel Bryan
May 23, 2006

GOAT

TITANKISSER69 posted:

Has power washing it helped?

The few times I've been able to eek out one, no. I've done the recovery multiple times, tried older versions of Chrome OS even. Nothing fixes it. Strange that it never crashes during the Recovery flash though.

Casu Marzu
Oct 20, 2008

Thoughts on the HP 13 G1? I can get a M5 w/ 8GB of RAM pretty cheap from a friend. I'd be coming from a Acer R11 with the N3060. From what I can tell, the HP would be lightyears ahead of my current chromebook, right? I know they're somewhat older, but seem pretty solid still.

Casu Marzu fucked around with this message at 01:01 on Feb 23, 2020

Atomizer
Jun 24, 2007



Casu Marzu posted:

Thoughts on the HP 13 G1? I can get a M5 w/ 8GB of RAM pretty cheap from a friend. I'd be coming from a Acer R11 with the N3060. From what I can tell, the HP would be lightyears ahead of my current chromebook, right? I know they're somewhat older, but seem pretty solid still.

That's actually my daily driver! I still recommend them because they're often half or less of their original MSRP and have great features at that price (e.g. around $300 or so depending on the specific version,) plus over 3 more years of official support! And since you mentioned it I decided to look, and sure enough, there are more on sale at woot.com: m5 + 8 GB for $240, and m7 + 16 GB for $300 (the one I use.)

I totally recommend either version at those prices (as long as the latter is available the $60 difference is worth it IMO, especially for double the RAM,) but you could see if your friend could beat the $240 list price (or like $260 or so after tax) unless his is immaculate (while refurbs are often in perfectly fine condition, it's still an unknown and you could presumably at least inspect his yourself to determine if his price is worth it over a refurb.)

One thing to note is that I've had the bottom rubber feet/strips peel off entirely; first the closer one, then later the one next to the hinge. It's not a huge problem for me but something to keep in mind as it's really the only thing to "fail" on this or any CB I've used.

Worf
Sep 12, 2017

If only Seth would love me like I love him!

Haha, I do appreciate the use of "fail"

Those rubber feet are only doing their job! Now as for that feet-glue...

Casu Marzu
Oct 20, 2008

Atomizer posted:

That's actually my daily driver! I still recommend them because they're often half or less of their original MSRP and have great features at that price (e.g. around $300 or so depending on the specific version,) plus over 3 more years of official support! And since you mentioned it I decided to look, and sure enough, there are more on sale at woot.com: m5 + 8 GB for $240, and m7 + 16 GB for $300 (the one I use.)


Good to know! Now I feel like I'm ripping my friend off, he asked for $175, which is even a better deal than I thought.

Atomizer
Jun 24, 2007



Statutory Ape posted:

Haha, I do appreciate the use of "fail"

Those rubber feet are only doing their job! Now as for that feet-glue...

To elaborate, I usually use it on my lap or the bed, versus a hard desk/table-top, meaning the laptop is pushed and pulled on surfaces that have a bit of play to them. This made the feet (which again are rubber strips running laterally across most of the bottom surface, with raised portions towards the four corners to approximate discrete feet) loosen up over time and start to peel at the middle.

Casu Marzu posted:

Good to know! Now I feel like I'm ripping my friend off, he asked for $175, which is even a better deal than I thought.

An even better deal if it's in halfway-decent shape! Definitely go for it, that's an excellent price to pay for 3+ years of support on a great CB!

At this point based on his asking price I'm assuming he bought one of these refurbs in the first place so he's not too concerned about taking the loss on an older CB he probably paid at most $300-400 for (compared to its original MSRP of around $800 IIRC.)

TraderStav
May 19, 2006

It feels like I was standing my entire life and I just sat down
I saw a headline recently that folks were taking old laptops and installing ChromeOS on them. I have a Surface 3 (non-pro) lying around going unused. Where can I find out if this is a device that is compatible / able to have ChromeOS loaded onto it. Would love to make use of this with my kids.

Dr. Eldarion
Mar 21, 2001

Deal Dispatcher

AFAIK, people are using CloudReady to do it: https://www.neverware.com/freedownload

TraderStav
May 19, 2006

It feels like I was standing my entire life and I just sat down

Dr. Eldarion posted:

AFAIK, people are using CloudReady to do it: https://www.neverware.com/freedownload

Awesome, will check it out. Thank you

Casu Marzu
Oct 20, 2008

:lol: The HP 13 G1 is hilariously overbuilt and crazy fast compared to my Acer R11. Pretty good purchase.

Nephzinho
Jan 25, 2008





Do any Chromebooks have a decent keyboard? Was looking at an XPS 13 and realized I really don't need more than access to Notion's web app and the forums. Streaming too I guess.

e; Hmm found an old monster of a laptop from work that was wiped, might just throw Chrome on that.
e2; Nope, this was in my bricked pile for a reason.

Nephzinho fucked around with this message at 21:13 on Feb 29, 2020

TITTIEKISSER69
Mar 19, 2005

SAVE THE BEES
PLANT MORE TREES
CLEAN THE SEAS
KISS TITTIESS




Intriguing offer: Dell 2-in-1 11.6" Chromebook $169 at Best Buy - with a quad-core Celeron N3450 and 4GB RAM: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/dell-2...p?skuId=6398968

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silence_kit
Jul 14, 2011

by the sex ghost

TITANKISSER69 posted:

I am so loving annoyed right now. All I want is to have YouTube playing in one tab while I browse in another. I start playing music from YouTube, then when I click over to the other tab, no more music. First tab reloads. I go back to the YouTube tab, it reloads. I've installed the extension "Disable automatic tab discarding 1.0.4" and tried with it enabled and disabled, no difference. Closed and reopened Chrome in between toggling this extension, nothing changes.

This isn't a problem on my Windows laptops either, just on my Chromebook. What utter loving garbage.

Edit: holy poo poo just tried the separate YouTube app, goes silent as soon as I minimize it. Trash.

I've noticed this too recently. Restarting helps fix the problem temporarily but pretty soon I get the same problem after restarting. I'm thinking that maybe 4 GB of memory isn't enough for ChromeOS anymore (my Chromebook has 4 GB of memory too) or possibly there is a memory leak in the operating system.

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