30 Days in ChromeOS

I survived 30 days in ChromeOS as a poweruser. I don’t use Chrome Browser and I don’t enjoy using Andorid apps. This is how I used ChromeOS like a desktop instead of a mobile phone. No, I didn’t enable developer mode for this.

[bpw]

This is the beauty of computing, there’s is always a way to make any computer work for people and you don’t need to spend tons of money to have a decent computer with ChromeOS.

[almosthelpless]

I think pre-installed Linux is the key to desktop adoption more widely. I wouldn't use Chrome OS daily, but it does seem useful and I've heard it's great for educational environments since Chromebooks are easy to administrate.

[Patricia-kktr]

For the past two months I used Chromebook to browse (Vivaldi) and run a few debian programs like Calibre book management, I realized I didn't need anything more powerful.
It's rock solid, great battery and a lightweight design.
And cheap!

[ObsidianMercian]

Great video, I really enjoy your unbiased, open minded approach. We bought Chromebooks for our children and they work well for their needs (education). The relatively low cost (but good performance) is also a big plus.

[steveforbes]

I work for an internet advertising firm. I work remotely and everything is via a web interface. I am now on my second ChromeOS laptop. The only issue with the first one was the memory. The current ThinkPad deployment has 8gig of memory and a Ryzen5 processor and this thing does not skip a beat. At any given time I can have 12 to 15 tabs open, video conferencing, VOIP, and more. It gets used hard for 8 to 10 hours a day without issue. I hated it at first because I was coming over from a Mac but once I got the basics down, there was no issue at all.

[taher]

Personally the ui in the OS looks really clean and simple to me! I very much welcome that unlike the Windows puzzling ui which we are all used to at this point.

[joeljohnson]

I go back to before PCs. I wrote my first program in 1969. That said, I had to use DOS, and then Windows. In 2009 I got retired, so I got a part time job at Best Buy selling computers. While there I saw a chromebook and started playing with it. Someone bought one and brought it back, so I got it with an employee discount. I fell in love with it. I still needed Windows 7 for Quicken, but after a few years I didn't need it any longer. I converted my 2008 laptop to Linux Mint, but use the Chromebook as my daily driver. I am not a power user, or a gamer, but the Chromebook more than meets my needs.
I understand that a Chromebook (or Linux) is not for everyone, but for old farts, like myself, it is easy to use and is safe.

[refusist]

bought my mom a chromebook years ago and everytime I visit her I'm just so pleased to use it. no bs it just werks. really the best "distro" for noobs

[KuzonEmbers]

Chris thank you so much for this video! I work retail in South Africa and for the majority of people these laptops are great (especially low-income households). Now I can show them this as reassurance🙌🏾

[megumicarrot]

it’s great to see someone showcasing how much one can really do with ChromeOS

Chromebooks are pretty neat cheap devices that i feel get too much hate

[satysin]

I tried out Chrome OS recently when they released the Flex stuff and it is a pretty nice DE. I really wish it were possible to have a *proper* Linux system with it and not Linux in a container and all that jazz you get using their developer mode. Something like a vanilla Debian or Fedora system and the Chrome OS shell would be very interesting imho.

[jordangreen]

ChromeOS is really great - stable, light weight, and flexible. If you are deep in the Google ecosystem (android user) it's even better. I compare it to getting a macbook with your iphone, that's how good the integration is. Google has also been very keyboard friendly for a long time and I find that my workflow is way faster in ChromeOS than it is in Windows. Then you have Crostini as well which just expands the flexibility even further. I've been coding in VS Code and IntelliJ, also use MySQL Workbench, and more. When people say chromebooks are just a browser and nothing else, you can tell they've got outdated information. PWAs are the future for most users, and chromebooks are paving the way behind the scenes.

[aqlee]

things i don't like in chrome os: read-only android container & chrome audio server

[Keyshooter]

imho chromeOS is like the perfect linux for normies, not to bash it or anything, i actually mean it as something good

[richard]

Lurve chromebooks. We (the whole IT dept) do home working via chromebooks into Windows. Quick, light, cheap, passively cooled, and self maintaining.

[hamatawah]

I have seen a previous video that you stated chrome OS was a masterpiece unappriciated, underrated... you truly keep focus on the OS itself and not the developer name/brand.

[mrme]

I installed brunch chromeos on my $2000 surfacebook 3. Honestly, I like it A LOT more than windows. I hardly boot into windows anymore. I even do most of my development in it.

[abhabh]

Everything has its use case.
Its nice for people who only need some stuff online,
like sending mails, watching media and writing an essay.

[AkiiOnTheRoad]

A phone with 8g 12g or 16g RAM and a top grade Arm cpu could outperform a average laptop if chrome os combined with Android can be installed on the phone and when plugining in a monitor it just shows the chrome os desktop. We can normal office jobs and light development jobs on the phone. The premise is that the applications must be optimized or maybe providing native api by Google to rewrite the applications daily used.

[tacioandrade]

I'm a ChromeOS user today for one simple reason the great battery at an acceptable cost.
I have a Lenovo notebook with an 8th generation i7, but whose battery no longer reaches 3 hours of high power, as I sometimes spend all day on the street, I decided to upload a Windows VPS to the cloud and buy a used ChromeOS that I found for a sensational price here in the city of a person who bought it for the bride and she did not adapt to it.
I can't say that ChromeOS is a mature operating system, for example I suffer a lot with the use of OneDrive (which I use for the low cost of storage in Brazil) or when I need to use Android apps like Anydesk to do remote access and they don't work so well like on a Windows or Linux PC.
But despite everything, today I'm happy with ChromeOS with just over 1kg of weight, battery of over 8 hours of autonomy (to have something like this in Brazil, I would have to spend 5 or 6 times the value of the Chromebook I have or suffer with a Windows computer that would make me want to kill my clients and family for its poor performance).
Now with Windows VPS + Parallels Client (it was the best RDP client I found) + Android Apps + Linux Shell, I have been able to get decent performance on the street in emergency customer support jobs.