Light Chromebook/Netbook for running Linux?

[ankitvad]

Thinking of buying a Chromebook, and using chroot-chronos to run Linux on it. Need a decent keyboard. Any views ? Any views on the following ? -Acer c720 -Acer Chromebook 11 -Asus c201(rockchip processor)

Acer seems to support all Linux versions perfectly. But c720 is so ugly.. :( Any views ?

[mikegedelman]

Typing this on a C201, 4 gig version. Was just working in Linux earlier, I have crouton with the default xfce4 setup.

Keyboard is good, but it doesn't have a delete key or a meta key (this might be true on all chromebooks). The touchpad is above average IMO, but it doesn't seem to work great in Linux (haven't tried tweaking it yet).

Know that running linux via crouton can be a pain in the ass if you're used to having a full-blown linux install. If you want to be in Linux > 50% of the time I'm not sure I would use crouton, you could maybe explore the dual-boot option which I haven't tried.

Overall it's great for my purposes - most of the time I'm just in Chrome or sshed to my DigitalOcean box. if I need to do something else with a real OS I can switch over to crouton. Super cheap, it's super light, and the battery life is great.

[ankitvad]

Ordered the c201. I use Linux For on the go development. Apart from that it's just typing and stuff... Could you tell me where crouton fails ? I'll use arch Linux which is minimal, what are the things i won't be able to do ?

[c0nducktr]

This one isn't out yet, but it looks like it will be very nice, however at $550, you're getting into the "why not just buy a full laptop" territory.

https://www.google.com/work/chrome/devices/hp-chromebook-13/

[CyberFonic]

I'm using a Samsung ChromeBook with Crouton - it's Ok. The keyboard is reasonably good. But the touchpad is not even close to that on the old MacBook Pros.

Unless you are really looking for the lowest cost possible, I would suggest that a more mainstream notebook will be give you a better experience.

[ankitvad]

Well there's the option that i remove my own laptop all-together and buy the ASUS ux305, but my thinkpad works fine. Got a decent system. the charging unit and battery is a little messed up, otherwise perfect system. So, looking for a portable chromebook. Samsung/Dell not available here...

[dank00]

Dell Chromebook 11