[jacobmarble]

SWEs are issued a desktop machine, and a laptop. The laptop (Mac, Linux or Windows; employee's choice) is essentially a very expensive remote desktop client. All development work (except some OSS stuff) is performed on the desktop machine.

(Or that's how it was when I worked there until 2016.)

[pythonaut_16]

Are Chromebook Pixels a common SWE laptop then? That seems like almost the exact case that they're designed for

[dward]

Yes chromebooks are very common developer laptops, up there in numbers with (still most popular) macbooks and linux laptops. They are more than sufficient for the lion's share of engineering roles. Corp engineering is pushing them hard because they are cheap and secure.