Is a $25 Chromebook Worth It?!? (2023)

Welcome to my latest video featuring an ultra cheap 2-in-1 touchscreen Chromebook!

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LAKEY INSPIRED
Track Name: "Better Days"

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[leximurphy]

I installed GalliumOS on an old, no longer supported Chromebook, and it works fantastically! I would honestly recommend it, it wasn't very difficult, and all told took me about 20 minutes (although that was after trying out different linux distros that did not work as well, but Gallium worked first try).

[ThailandDantotherescue]

I bought a later generation chromebook that came in the original box and honestly looked brand new. It wasn't a convertible but a decent screen, snappy web browsing and perfect to play movies off an external drive. I gave one to my 81 year old father with a external drive full of over 500 movies. Totally worth it.

[lindastone]

Chromebooks are quite tricky when it comes to putting a new operating system on, but if you get the right model it's reasonably straightforward.

[somethingboutthekiss]

Going through the process of installing linux on your chromebook is worth it in my opinion, I did it for a Samsung Chromebook 3 that I have. It's definitely a task given that I had to remove the write protection screw and find a linux distro that actually worked with my hardware (The now discontinued GalliumOS was the only one that worked for me), but being able to use a more full featured operating system that is much better than the bare bones ChromeOS made the process all worth it.

[aeregreenway]

Try installing ChromeOS Flex on it. My Chromebook was no longer supported with updates, less than 2 years after I bought it. But ChromeOS Flex installed successfully on it, and got updates. Yet, its 12 -hour battery life, made it more valuable as a music performance machine, so I re-wrote its firmware with a version that works with Linux, and made it into a Linux machine, which works fine, and I continue to make good use of it.

[Boogie_the_cat]

Thanks for mentioning to first unplug the battery. As someone who has experienced a lithium battery fire firsthand, I can positively say that it's not so much the fire that is dangerous, but the HUGE volumes of ultra toxic smoke that are released. If you are indoors when this happens with a large battery, and you do not quickly move it outside (which is not easy to do with an object that is on fire) you can pass out from the toxins, and you're gonna have a bad time either way.

It's good to be readiness 😂

[NickABQQm]

I had my $100 Chromebook as a travel laptop for 4 years. I don't run programs on it, I use it to remote my PC at home. Low-end Chromebook from 2018 on itself take like 20-30sec to load 2000+ rows Google Sheets.
Youtube/Twitch works well in 30fps, mine has a framedrops streaming 60fps videos

[andrewlidholm]

I love when you do content covering older hardware! Great video Matt!

[richardcutts]

The listing shown at 00:14 shows a chromebook with play store for $25.59 with free shipping. I take it you didn't buy that one for some reason.

[FlameSoulis]

Lately I've been noticing many 2 in 1 laptops, Chromebooks or otherwise, have been suddenly going for low prices in the used market. I recently refurbed a Dell 5290 for about $130, and with a full LInux install, it's super performant, minus the stylus not pairing right. I mostly use it as an advanced Chromebook with higher flexibility.

[firstlast]

I'm watching this on a Chromebook that I spent less than $20 on used. It's in great condition and I use it to remote into my office setup back at home because my gaming laptop has bad battery life and work computer is connected to my router so I can do remote work anywhere I feel like. Finesse. Good job on the video.

[karolz]

I also have ThinkPad 11e Chromebook, but the 3rd gen. I have installed Windows 10 on it and it works surprisingly well, although 16 GB it’s not a lot of disk space and without SD card it’s almost impossible to use it on a daily basis

[RealJonDoe]

Honestly, the real value in these devices is similar to both the Raspberry Pi or the One Laptop Per Child Project. In developing nations, something so simple to us, with a good Linux install, can be the difference between reading and illiteracy.
I work with a non-profit that does just that, providing one machine as a server, and many cheaper machines as clients to allow access to educational resources that would otherwise be unobtainable, in an area that lacks the very prospect of reliable internet connectivity.

[daveh]

I never messed with them before, but it seems there are a metric buttload of old chromebooks out there. Once they get to their last update, I guess schools or whoever are just selling them off in bulk. I bought a couple Dell chromebooks for around 40-50 each including the shipping. They are still quite usable.

[garagemancave]

I scored a refurbed HP chromebook for 50 bucks from woot, removed the internal write protect screw and installed galliumOS. System runs so much smoother and has consistent updates. Makes a perfect burner laptop!

[FrostWolfve]

Did you try to test that chromebook with FydeOS??

[DiamondDepthYT]

I have a Chromebook from my brother's middle school still laying around. It's from when he was in 8th grade, and because we went into COVID at that time, we never returned the Chromebook to the school. I'm thinking of doing some simple touch ups to it and giving it to my grandmother, who currently uses an over complicated windows 11 laptop that best buy recommended to her (all she does is browse Facebook and play basic mobile games like slot machines).

[youzernejm]

I'd definitely love a vid with Gallium instalation.

Google is really incredible with their lack of support for older hardware. If at least they didn't lock it down the way they do. This way, old chromebooks often become chromebricks.

[DaMu]

If this laptop was offline by default with only online connections for syncing remote files, it's really damn good for $25. Hence, only reason why it's worthwhile to try a custom Linux OS, because as long as the display and keyboard drivers work, you'd only get the same limited features as-is with the outdated Chrome OS, possibly more, but very rarely a brick.

[JoeCole_social]

Linux Mint would run well on this. Worth the investment if you can continue to find hardware in the sub $50 range. A superb netbook.