tl;dr: buy a Cr-48 on eBay for $225, put a bigger hard drive in for $120, follow Todd Vierling's recipe for Ubuntu with 3G, and have yourself an amazing laptop for $350.
I had a pretty similar experience. Chrome on ChromeOS was unusably laggy. It would pause for 1 second every time I opened a new tab, and sometimes 2 full seconds before it would scroll. But after I flashed the ROM and installed stock Ubuntu on it, Firefox lagged much less. I eventually gave up on it because the wi-fi driver was buggy and would drop the signal every 5 minutes, but if I could fix that, I would be very happy with it as a web-browsing "appliance".
The Cr-48 discussed here was given out for free (sort of like a beta tester program), so that was by definition subsidized. ;)
And as far as I could tell, the "actual" Chromebooks that went on sale later one have been priced comparable to their non Chrome OS counterparts, so I don't think there were any subsidies in play.
I can agree that Ubuntu is vastly better than ChromeOS. Chrome in Ubuntu is far faster than Chrome in ChromeOS. That having been said, the rest of the environment is still too slow for my taste, even with a conservative window manager, and that's with me shelled into my server for compiles and the like.
Also, I've not fired it up since my free subscription expired, but the latest version of Ubuntu very happily sees and offers to enable the 3G card.
(final note, if this spurs anyone to google "install ubuntu on cr-48", I will advise you that opening the cr-48, taping the bios-write-protection to disable it, and installing (32-bit) Ubuntu from a jump drive is vastly easier than the other two options which require VirtualBox and/or replacing the user filesystem in place with scripts that haven't been updated for some time)
This reminds me of how totally ADD Google was before Larry Page became CEO. It just started all sorts of shiny puppy projects, or even bought companies like Piknik to support those puppies [1]. Google today is a much more focussed animal. It is Google+ and social.
Given the Motorolla acquisition and the massive growth of mobile, I guess Android is still safe for now.
OK, I like this article because I've been using my CR48 solely since I received it.
Firstly, it is not a dual core machine; the production Samsung/Acers are, the CR48 is single core, hyperthreaded.
I went a similar path with Ubuntu; although I just created a new stateful partition and access the ChromeOS Kernel. This allows me to dual boot when needed. After 8 months, I can tell you, it is not needed. I code and it is just not possible in ChromeOS with the current webapps available.
I have considered switching to full Ubuntu because ChromeOS chose to use a 32bit kernel for whatever reason(compatibility?). However, the processor can't support more than 2GB ram, even with a 64bit OS so I'm open to opinions.
I haven't used the 3G card yet, so I can't speak on it. I am considering swapping it out for a Broadcom HD Decoder so I can watch 720p and hopefully 1080p videos without choppiness.
Did you notice a performance increase when you swapped to a larger HD?
As for battery life, ChromeOS is a little better, but with Ubuntu, I routinely get 7 - 8.5 hours. There are some Ubuntu tweaks for SSD drives that I've done as well. Out of the box Ubuntu is setup for platter drives.
Overall the CR48 has some quirks but is an awesome machine, and I love the design of it more than the production models. I was able to buy an extra one of Craigslist for $150 as a backup. The closest competitor I think is the Macbook air 13" which costs 9x more(!)
Any HNewsers still have one laying around they're not using and want to get rid of? I'd like to upgrade from my 3 year old netbook. Email is in profile.
I gave mine to someone who just started learning web programming and it has been great! Using shiftedit with dropbox for creating and editing files, and the battery life on it is amazing. But, i agree, ChromeOS is mot for everyone.
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[ 2.1 ms ] story [ 42.1 ms ] threadAnd as far as I could tell, the "actual" Chromebooks that went on sale later one have been priced comparable to their non Chrome OS counterparts, so I don't think there were any subsidies in play.
Also, I've not fired it up since my free subscription expired, but the latest version of Ubuntu very happily sees and offers to enable the 3G card.
(final note, if this spurs anyone to google "install ubuntu on cr-48", I will advise you that opening the cr-48, taping the bios-write-protection to disable it, and installing (32-bit) Ubuntu from a jump drive is vastly easier than the other two options which require VirtualBox and/or replacing the user filesystem in place with scripts that haven't been updated for some time)
Bricking a machine means it is permanently ruined. You cannot turn a brick back into a computer. Thus the term bricked it.
If you just need to reinstall the OS, that's not bricked. You just nuked it. It can be rebuilt.
Given the Motorolla acquisition and the massive growth of mobile, I guess Android is still safe for now.
[1] http://cr-48.wikispaces.com/Video+Gallery
Firstly, it is not a dual core machine; the production Samsung/Acers are, the CR48 is single core, hyperthreaded.
I went a similar path with Ubuntu; although I just created a new stateful partition and access the ChromeOS Kernel. This allows me to dual boot when needed. After 8 months, I can tell you, it is not needed. I code and it is just not possible in ChromeOS with the current webapps available.
I have considered switching to full Ubuntu because ChromeOS chose to use a 32bit kernel for whatever reason(compatibility?). However, the processor can't support more than 2GB ram, even with a 64bit OS so I'm open to opinions.
I haven't used the 3G card yet, so I can't speak on it. I am considering swapping it out for a Broadcom HD Decoder so I can watch 720p and hopefully 1080p videos without choppiness.
Did you notice a performance increase when you swapped to a larger HD?
As for battery life, ChromeOS is a little better, but with Ubuntu, I routinely get 7 - 8.5 hours. There are some Ubuntu tweaks for SSD drives that I've done as well. Out of the box Ubuntu is setup for platter drives.
Overall the CR48 has some quirks but is an awesome machine, and I love the design of it more than the production models. I was able to buy an extra one of Craigslist for $150 as a backup. The closest competitor I think is the Macbook air 13" which costs 9x more(!)
thanks for the correction
> Did you notice a performance increase when you swapped to a larger HD?
No. Although the left palmrest tends to be a bit warmer!
> Ubuntu tweaks for SSD drives
Do tell? What?
> I love the design
This. I really like having an "unbranded" machine. I don't need big, glowing, ostentatious branding on my pants, why do I need it on my computer?
Here's a SSD tweaking link: http://www.howtogeek.com/62761/how-to-tweak-your-ssd-in-ubun...
The CR48 does raise some eyebrows when you pull it out;