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mystes
May 31, 2006

Takoluka posted:

Did the Chromebit ever go anywhere?
No.

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VideoGameVet
May 14, 2005

It is by caffeine alone I set my bike in motion. It is by the juice of Java that pedaling acquires speed, the teeth acquire stains, stains become a warning. It is by caffeine alone I set my bike in motion.
Can someone with a Chromebook (that supports Android Apps) let me know if my climate game works on it?

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wvolk.climate

Thank you.

(Yes, it's free)

Vivian Darkbloom
Jul 14, 2004


VideoGameVet posted:

Can someone with a Chromebook (that supports Android Apps) let me know if my climate game works on it?

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wvolk.climate

Thank you.

(Yes, it's free)

Installs and plays fine on my Pixelbook. :) I only tried for a minute but everything seemed to work like I expected. Some highlights on important text would improve usability on the Chromebook a little.

teagone
Jun 10, 2003

That was pretty intense, huh?

Trying to get my uncle to switch from his old, big rear end Dell laptop from 2010 to a Chromebook. What are the best options currently? Budget is $200ish, 1080p display preferable.

waffle iron
Jan 16, 2004
There is Asus C423NA 1080p model in the ~$200-250 range that looks decent. C423NA-WB04 and Walmart appears to have it on sale for $199.

teagone
Jun 10, 2003

That was pretty intense, huh?

waffle iron posted:

There is Asus C423NA 1080p model in the ~$200-250 range that looks decent. C423NA-WB04 and Walmart appears to have it on sale for $199.

Yeah that looks pretty good, thanks. Will keep an eye out for that one during black friday :)

Moey
Oct 22, 2010

I LIKE TO MOVE IT
So any thoughts on the Pixelbook Go?

Still seems expensive, but looks pretty nice.

Clark Nova
Jul 17, 2004

It's 16:9 and 1080p with an optional 4k upsell, so they got rid of the good aspect ratio, which was the only reason I ever lusted after google laptops

bull3964
Nov 18, 2000

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


There's nothing about it (except one thing) that can't be bought for less elsewhere and it lost its distinct design and feature advantage.

About the only compelling reason to get it is that it has the pixelbook keyboard and therefore has the best keyboard ever created for a mobile device.

ThermoPhysical
Dec 26, 2007




bull3964 posted:

There's nothing about it (except one thing) that can't be bought for less elsewhere and it lost its distinct design and feature advantage.

About the only compelling reason to get it is that it has the pixelbook keyboard and therefore has the best keyboard ever created for a mobile device.

Which you can get on the original Pixelbook and still be current OS wise until at least 2024.

The Go is a serious step back just because people hated the Slate. Google basically took their tablet ball and went home when most people just wanted an original Pixelbook with better specs and maybe a nicer pen.

ThermoPhysical fucked around with this message at 22:04 on Oct 17, 2019

Atomizer
Jun 24, 2007



Speaking of the Pixelbook, the top-spec variant is still available refurb'd on eBay for a new low price of $650!!! :eyepop:

That's like, what, 40% of its original MSRP and 2/3 the MSRP of the base model?!? :popeye:

loudog999
Apr 30, 2006

How often does the Pixelbook go on sale? Im still kicking myself for not getting it at around $700 when it was on sale the last time.

Edit: Im talking about from the Google store, not ebay.

MC Hawking
Apr 27, 2004

by VideoGames
Fun Shoe
Jesus I spent like $450 on my c302. That's a hell of a depreciation curve and if I hadn't just spent a mint on a lot of other dumb poo poo I would be all over that even if I don't need it at all since the c302 is still chugging along like a champ.

Wait good god that thing retailed for $1649¿!?!

MC Hawking fucked around with this message at 06:01 on Oct 19, 2019

Atomizer
Jun 24, 2007



It wouldn't surprise me if they were on sale for like BF or something the past year, but I can't recall Google ever actually selling them new at a discount.

And at $650 for the top-end model on eBay? There's no way I'd pay $1k for a new base model over the refurb, let alone an extra $1k for a new version of the same. Get the 3rd party warranty if you're concerned ($150 for 2 years, and you still save $850!)

MC Hawking posted:

Jesus I spent like $450 on my c302. That's a hell of a depreciation curve and if I hadn't just spent a mint on a lot of other dumb poo poo I would be all over that even if I don't need it at all since the c302 is still chugging along like a champ.

Yeah, that's the thing, CBs don't have many moving parts, and aside from specific models with specific issues (e.g. not charging or something like that) they tend to be pretty bulletproof. I have no problem recommending this particular model, and $650 isn't even expensive for a laptop. What if you bought a $650 Windows laptop and it had a failure after a year or two? Would that somehow be better (and less likely) than having the same issue with this PB?

Vivian Darkbloom
Jul 14, 2004


Speaking of Pixelbooks, would you say this is a good sign?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D8MQsSuuvA


I let the battery run down last night and this happens now when I try to charge it. At least there's a decent warranty.

bull3964
Nov 18, 2000

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


I've had mine do that a few times. There is a trick to getting it working again, though now I can't remember. I think there's a key combination to bypass the battery and get it to boot directly off ac power which resets the hardware and gets everything working again. Then when you restart it works normal again on battery. I've noticed no ill long term effects.

Vivian Darkbloom
Jul 14, 2004


bull3964 posted:

I've had mine do that a few times. There is a trick to getting it working again, though now I can't remember. I think there's a key combination to bypass the battery and get it to boot directly off ac power which resets the hardware and gets everything working again. Then when you restart it works normal again on battery. I've noticed no ill long term effects.

I couldn't find the combination to boot from AC, but after letting it stay plugged in for a while it turned out I could power it on by unplugging it. Not thrilled about it but it seems to work for now.

Nephzinho
Jan 24, 2008





Atomizer posted:

Speaking of the Pixelbook, the top-spec variant is still available refurb'd on eBay for a new low price of $650!!! :eyepop:

That's like, what, 40% of its original MSRP and 2/3 the MSRP of the base model?!? :popeye:

Goddammit. Time to start looking through the couch cushions.

MC Hawking
Apr 27, 2004

by VideoGames
Fun Shoe
Hold down the refresh key and mash the power button. That resets the charging controller if you've run things down to low.

Atomizer
Jun 24, 2007



MC Hawking posted:

Hold down the refresh key and mash the power button. That resets the charging controller if you've run things down to low.

This would be my suggestion; that is specifically the "hardware reset" key combination and generally solves any peculiarities, like touchscreen or audio suddenly failing to work.

TITTIEKISSER69
Mar 19, 2005

SAVE THE BEES
PLANT MORE TREES
CLEAN THE SEAS
KISS TITTIESS




Anyone able to mount a shared folder via Samba on their Chromebook? I keep getting "Error mounting share. Check the file share URL and try again." when entering the same path that works on my Windows laptop. It's a USB hard drive plugged into the USB port on the router, which is set to use SMB2.

Atomizer
Jun 24, 2007



TITTIEKISSER69 posted:

Anyone able to mount a shared folder via Samba on their Chromebook? I keep getting "Error mounting share. Check the file share URL and try again." when entering the same path that works on my Windows laptop. It's a USB hard drive plugged into the USB port on the router, which is set to use SMB2.

That was my experience as well, but then again I have a pretty non-standard home network (i.e. using my IPTV receivers to bridge Ethernet to HomePNA :eng101:) so that failure wasn't much of a surprise to me. Also dealing with whatever Windows firewall and permissions issues add another layer of complexity.

I use Google Drive, with the drive folder synced locally to my desktop so that's the easiest way to have a shared folder even over the Internet.

AF
Oct 7, 2007
hi

Atomizer posted:

Speaking of the Pixelbook, the top-spec variant is still available refurb'd on eBay for a new low price of $650!!! :eyepop:

That's like, what, 40% of its original MSRP and 2/3 the MSRP of the base model?!? :popeye:

Holy poo poo, thanks for sharing this. My Dell Chromebook is on the fritz (user induced) and I've been looking for a replacement

MC Hawking
Apr 27, 2004

by VideoGames
Fun Shoe
My c302 has yet again run afoul of the "I don't want to charge" bug and it is driving me up the wall. Every charger registers as a low power charger and wants me to put it to sleep. But when I shut it down, it refuses to charge at all.

I'm at 1% battery and don't have enough for a power wash. The hell am I supposed to do now?

Atomizer
Jun 24, 2007



I believe this is one of the variants of the Acer R11 that I've recommended for years. It's a few years old, but is still supported through June 2021 per Google's "Auto Update Policy" page. It's a good deal for $120, even refurb'd and only for another year & a half.

MC Hawking posted:

My c302 has yet again run afoul of the "I don't want to charge" bug and it is driving me up the wall. Every charger registers as a low power charger and wants me to put it to sleep. But when I shut it down, it refuses to charge at all.

I'm at 1% battery and don't have enough for a power wash. The hell am I supposed to do now?

I haven't had that specific issue with any CB I've used. I'd suggest contacting Asus, and/or perhaps checking with the Chrome Unboxed guys as they're all about CBs too; if any community member has heard of that issue they would've.

MC Hawking
Apr 27, 2004

by VideoGames
Fun Shoe
Confirming that the usual fix of "leave it on the charger overnight" does not work. The only thing it's doing is blinking the charging light when it's plugged in and the lid is open. Refuses to boot.

I'll contact Asus but I doubt that they'll do anything. Battery related warranty is 12mo. It's not the battery that died though it's some fuckery with the controller module going haywire if you let overall charge to low. Registering any charger I use as a low power charger irrespective of output then refusing to take a charge indicates to me that it's hosed, Jim.


Edit: yeah, ASUS wants to charge $60 just to have a lab tech look at it.

Unfortunately I need a working laptop for school pronto so dicking around with swapping in a new battery with the hope that it has enough charge for me to wipe the device is kinda out of the question. It's so dead that the only sign of life is the amber "charge me" light flashes when you hit the boot button.

I have one more USB c charger I can try at work but I doubt it'll do anything. If the two other chargers I've tried do nothing, there's not much hope.

Edit 2: fortunately it looks like Amazon warehouse has the updated c424 for a significant discount right now. Unless there's anything better in the $500 range on market y'all can suggest?

Edit 3: weird, apparently you can get these to boot off of AC power if you remove the battery.

Edit 4: you can absolutely boot the device off AC power by unplugging the battery to Mobo connector which allows for power washing and also indicates that there's something wrong with the battery presuming that the controller is part of that assembly.

MC Hawking fucked around with this message at 18:58 on Oct 26, 2019

MC Hawking
Apr 27, 2004

by VideoGames
Fun Shoe
HAHAHAHA IT loving WORKED.

heck yeah.

It's quick charging fine now. :toot:

MC Hawking fucked around with this message at 19:09 on Oct 26, 2019

Dr. Eldarion
Mar 21, 2001

Deal Dispatcher

All I want is a clone of the original Chromebook Pixel, with updated internals so the battery life isn't terrible and it doesn't get skin-scorchingly hot. Is the Pixelbook (non-Go) the closest I can get to that? I tried the Pixelbook out and it was okay, but the screen was a little smaller and not as nice, and the speakers were significantly worse.

I'd be interested in the Go, but that aspect ratio... :/

Atomizer
Jun 24, 2007



Dr. Eldarion posted:

All I want is a clone of the original Chromebook Pixel, with updated internals so the battery life isn't terrible and it doesn't get skin-scorchingly hot. Is the Pixelbook (non-Go) the closest I can get to that? I tried the Pixelbook out and it was okay, but the screen was a little smaller and not as nice, and the speakers were significantly worse.

I'd be interested in the Go, but that aspect ratio... :/

Well the 2015 Pixel fixes all of the issues of the original 2013 version (I have both.) The LS model appears to be going on eBay for...$200-300! :stare:

They also added a year of official support to it so it's covered into 2021.

Humerus
Jul 7, 2009

Rule of acquisition #111:
Treat people in your debt like family...exploit them.


Best Buy has their Black Friday ad up and is actually selling a ton of stuff at BF prices* including the HP x360 Chromebook with 8GB RAM and i3 for $350 which seems like a hell of a deal. The white color is the only one advertised as BF price but the blueish one is also $350. I'm very tempted since something like the Asus C434 is still hundreds more.

*The ad specifically says "planned" Black Friday price so who knows.

teagone
Jun 10, 2003

That was pretty intense, huh?

Been looking at some chromebook black friday deals. Came across these in case anyone is interested:

$179
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo...p?skuId=6296001

$119
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/samsung-11-6-chromebook-intel-atom-x5-4gb-memory-32gb-emmc-flash-memory-night-charcoal/6371528.p?skuId=6371528

$99 (on Black Friday only)
https://www.target.com/p/hp-11-6-chromebook-11-v031nr/-/A-75574446

The Samsung and HP auto-updates expire in about a year or two. The Lenovo's AUE got extended to 2025.

Atomizer
Jun 24, 2007



teagone posted:

Been looking at some chromebook black friday deals. Came across these in case anyone is interested:

$179
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo...p?skuId=6296001

$119
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/samsung-11-6-chromebook-intel-atom-x5-4gb-memory-32gb-emmc-flash-memory-night-charcoal/6371528.p?skuId=6371528

$99 (on Black Friday only)
https://www.target.com/p/hp-11-6-chromebook-11-v031nr/-/A-75574446

The Samsung and HP auto-updates expire in about a year or two. The Lenovo's AUE got extended to 2025.

The Lenovo seems just fine. I'd avoid the latter two though: the HP because of the lower-end dual-core CPU, and the Samsung also because of the CPU, except that's the first CB I've ever seen with the Atom x5, which was more appropriate for a small tablet like 5 years ago. :stare:

teagone
Jun 10, 2003

That was pretty intense, huh?

My uncle actually picked up the Lenovo C330 today after I showed it to him; helped him get set up a couple hours ago and it's pretty nice! The display is what surprised me the most. It's a lot better quality than most other sub $200 Chromebooks I've seen being IPS and whatnot, and its touch screen is decently responsive. It's kind of awkward to use in full tablet mode though, but using it on a desk/table in the "tent" position for media watching felt pretty natural.

asecondduck
Feb 18, 2011

by Nyc_Tattoo
So after not touching it for awhile I pulled out my Acer R11 and wow, things have progressed notably. I was able to get Studio One 2 (a digital audio workstation) running on it with Crossover with... okay, a decent amount of trouble, but it worked. Apple Music is now installable natively from the Play Store, and Linux is now officially supported, so I have GIMP, Audacity, and Apple Music running with minimal effort and no developer mode.

Of course, it's not a terribly fast device (though Chrome OS is almost unbelievably fast given the specs) and the screen is an unfortunate size/resolution... so I'm considering getting a refurb Pixelbook to replace it. However, the R11's keyboard is, in my opinion, one of the best keyboards I've ever used. Has anyone used the R11 and Pixelbook and can compare the keyboards? I know everyone says the Pixelbook has a great keyboard but seriously I love the R11's.

asecondduck fucked around with this message at 16:54 on Nov 10, 2019

RichterIX
Apr 11, 2003

Sorrowful be the heart

asecondduck posted:

So after not touching it for awhile I pulled out my Acer R11 and wow, things have progressed notably. I was able to get Studio One 2 (a digital audio workstation) running on it with Crossover with... okay, a decent amount of trouble, but it worked. Apple Music is now installable natively from the Play Store, and Linux is now officially supported, so I have GIMP, Audacity, and Apple Music running with minimal effort and no developer mode.

Of course, it's not a terribly fast device (though Chrome OS is almost unbelievably fast given the specs) and the screen is an unfortunate size/resolution... so I'm considering getting a refurb Pixelbook to replace it. However, the R11's keyboard is, in my opinion, one of the best keyboards I've ever used. Has anyone used the R11 and Pixelbook and can compare the keyboards? I know everyone says the Pixelbook has a great keyboard but seriously I love the R11's.

Just piggybacking on this post to say I still really love my r11. If they made the exact same thing over and over again but just made it 1080p and gave it a current processor I'd probably just keep buying them every few years

Atomizer
Jun 24, 2007



asecondduck posted:

So after not touching it for awhile I pulled out my Acer R11 and wow, things have progressed notably. I was able to get Studio One 2 (a digital audio workstation) running on it with Crossover with... okay, a decent amount of trouble, but it worked. Apple Music is now installable natively from the Play Store, and Linux is now officially supported, so I have GIMP, Audacity, and Apple Music running with minimal effort and no developer mode.

Of course, it's not a terribly fast device (though Chrome OS is almost unbelievably fast given the specs) and the screen is an unfortunate size/resolution... so I'm considering getting a refurb Pixelbook to replace it. However, the R11's keyboard is, in my opinion, one of the best keyboards I've ever used. Has anyone used the R11 and Pixelbook and can compare the keyboards? I know everyone says the Pixelbook has a great keyboard but seriously I love the R11's.

Yup, the R11 notably was a model that had early support for Android apps. What's up with the display though? I know it's 11" and WXGA, do you just wish it was a higher resolution, or slightly larger to better justify a higher resolution? (Because even at 12-13" FHD can be overkill at native resolution, at least on ChromeOS.)

In general CB keyboards are all good, and while I haven't used the PB I've heard the same things about its keyboard. I don't think you'll be disappointed with it.

RichterIX posted:

Just piggybacking on this post to say I still really love my r11. If they made the exact same thing over and over again but just made it 1080p and gave it a current processor I'd probably just keep buying them every few years

Agreed, although you can kind of get the same thing (e.g. convertible) in a modern form from various manufacturers (e.g. HP x360.) As above, I wouldn't recommend a higher resolution at that display size though, because ChromeOS doesn't resize the interface so everything is tiny at a high native resolution, and the touchpad input isn't entirely compensated* so swiping across the touchpad to move the cursor takes significantly more movement, which is admittedly less of an issue on a touchscreen (ignoring the tiny interface elements!) My HP 13 has a native 3200x1800 resolution that I use zoomed to an effective 1600x900 because of that, and it's perfect at this setup, whereas at native resolution it's difficult to make out tiny details (for me at least.)

*ChromeOS unfortunately has mouse acceleration enabled with no apparent way to disable it, so despite the touchpads generally being good and working uniformly, (like the CB keyboards,) I've always suffered with relatively imprecise touchpad input on all CBs despite otherwise loving everything about them.

asecondduck
Feb 18, 2011

by Nyc_Tattoo

Atomizer posted:

Yup, the R11 notably was a model that had early support for Android apps. What's up with the display though? I know it's 11" and WXGA, do you just wish it was a higher resolution, or slightly larger to better justify a higher resolution? (Because even at 12-13" FHD can be overkill at native resolution, at least on ChromeOS.)

In general CB keyboards are all good, and while I haven't used the PB I've heard the same things about its keyboard. I don't think you'll be disappointed with it.
After years of using super-high res phones and a retina MBP, the default size for text and elements is larger than I'm used to/want. The 90% scaling option is actually perfect, except that it's an emulated resolution and looks kinda terrible as a result. Also I wouldn't mind a slightly larger screen with less bezel--though I think the Pixelbook has roughly equivalent bezels to the R11.

RichterIX posted:

Just piggybacking on this post to say I still really love my r11. If they made the exact same thing over and over again but just made it 1080p and gave it a current processor I'd probably just keep buying them every few years
Basically, this is what I want too. An R11 with an i3 (maaaaybe i5, though I'm not sure I need that), 8gb ram, and a 1080p screen.

After some more reflection I think I'm gonna just stick with my R11.

[Edit: To clarify the resolution thing, Chrome OS does something pretty clever, which is that it zooms out webpages so the non-native resolution isn't terribly noticeable in Chrome. But Android apps and stuff like text in the launcher looks bad at the less-than-native resolution.]

asecondduck fucked around with this message at 01:46 on Nov 11, 2019

dbcooper
Mar 21, 2008
Yams Fan

Humerus posted:

Best Buy has their Black Friday ad up and is actually selling a ton of stuff at BF prices* including the HP x360 Chromebook with 8GB RAM and i3 for $350 which seems like a hell of a deal. The white color is the only one advertised as BF price but the blueish one is also $350. I'm very tempted since something like the Asus C434 is still hundreds more.

*The ad specifically says "planned" Black Friday price so who knows.

Best Buy's Black Friday Chromebook sales are up:

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/search...ll%20Categories

The HP x360 14 Chromebook (model # 14-DA0011DX)[1] is indeed on sale for $350:

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-2-i...p?skuId=6301869

AFAICT it was released in 2018[3] has software support to June 2025[2]. The specs look good and Fakespot gave the reviews on the Best Buy page [adjusted] 4.5/5 stars[4]. There weren't enough reviews on the matching Amazon item page[5] to analyze, apparently.

Anyone have experience with HP Chromebook hardware durability/reliability?

----
[1] https://support.hp.com/in-en/document/c06160945 - Product Specifications
[2] https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/6220366?hl=en
[3] https://zipso.net/chromebook-specs-comparison-table/ - 34400 Octane, FWIW
[4] https://www.fakespot.com/bestbuy/hp...-and-cloud-blue
[5] https://www.amazon.com/HP-Chromebook-x360-14-14-Touch/dp/B07K5SKF73/

Atomizer
Jun 24, 2007



I had an early HP 14 that was perfectly fine, and I daily use an HP 13 G1. Most CBs are just fine in terms of build quality, although the detachables in particular might make me worry a little.

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TraderStav
May 19, 2006

It feels like I was standing my entire life and I just sat down
Hey all, never touched a chromebook in my life so don't have a lot of knowledge in this space. My kids use them at school all the time and my youngests (8 years old) have recently gotten pretty into writing stories and such on their iPads. I believe it's time to get them something more robust to work with and my wife and I like the idea of using Chromebooks for their 'work' at home. They likely won't be using it much outside of google docs/sheets/slides and maybe some interesting apps that come along the way (Scratch and the like).

My initial thought is that with the low level of requirements that I have any old CB should be able to work but want to avoid the pain that I've experienced in the past by picking up budget Amazon tablets that only gave me frustration. What should I be looking at spec-wise at a minimum for these during the BF sales this week?

From what I've read on the past few pages I should be looking at a minimum of 4GB RAM and Touchscreen. Everything else seems like it would be fine for kids. I see above lots of discussion on official support through a certain date (2021...2025). Is there anything to this other than no more updates, or is there a harder stop to the usage of the device? Just want to be cognizant so I don't buy into a problem a year or two from now.

Thanks!

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