> On Tue, 18 Mar 2014, Thierry de Coulon wrote:
>
> > On Monday 17 March 2014 18.30:07 Felmon Davis wrote:
> >
> >> the trick will be, I think, getting the touchpad to work. I abhor
> >> touchpads but still want it to work. also there are only two usb
> >> ports.
> >
> >
> > I hate touchpads too, which is why almost all my laptops are/where Thinkpads.
> > I've taken a look at the c720 (they say 1.25 kg) and Lenovo's x131e (1.8 kg!)
>
> I seem to be on a binge since I just got a Thinkpad x131e too! it's ok
> and is meant to replace my trusty netbook but there are some things I
> dislike about it and I find it hard to abandon this netbook.
>
> > and I must say I'm more and more surprized at the Chromebook trend.
> >
> > They are cheap ok. However, I just purchased a second hand Thinkad X200 for
> > less than $250, it weights 1.4 kg and runs Debain perfectly (with TDE of
> > course) on a 64 GB SSD. The X201 is just a little more expensive for
> > Touchpad friends.
>
> of course the Chromebook is cheaper new than the second-hand Thinkpad
> you cite but not so much if one buys a nice big ssd card.
>
> > I understand it is fun to see if these netbooks can run with Linux, but I
> > doubt it is really usefull.
>
> oh, I have no doubt it is really useful depending on your purposes. in
> fact, the more I look at it, it would be more likely to replace my
> netbook (my steady helpmate) than the fancy new Thinkpad! (I wanted
> the Thinkpad for the power, however.)
>
> 'would' be more likely because there are some drawbacks so I'm
> undecided if I'll even keep it.
>
> it doesn't have a proper BIOS, a fact I very much dislike; a lot of
> 'open software' research went into this but Google is playing
> lock-down; even opening it voids the warranty - basically no
> 'user-serviceable parts'. the keyboard is weird, lacks function keys.
> no ethernet but a usb ethernet dongle works fine but only two usb
> ports, which is also a problem for me since I like to use a
> usb-connected trackball.
>
> less than a week to go then keep or return. but if I keep it, it will
> be more than a 'toy'.
>
> F.

Hi,
I'm glad you've been able to install a complete Linux on your Chromebook. It means that Linux support for it has improved in the last few months!
I have 2 netbooks: The original first-generation Asus EEE 2G surf and the one I bought last summer: Asus EEE X101CH.

At the time I looked to replace my underpowered first-gen EEE, I saw for sale an used Acer Chromebook, but I wasn't too interested by it because of the fact that while its a x86 machine, it is not IBM PC compatible (BIOS and friends). Sadly, I also need Windows for industrial Windows-only software, so this Chromebook was not interesting.

I bought the Acer netbook (standard netbook) at Wal-Mart and I returned it 2 days later because I didn't liked the overall quality of the product, being used to Asus and big bros like IBM. Right after, I bought my new Asus EEE X101CH. It has a few issue with Linux, such as supporting only 2d graphics, and the Wifi is not as rock-solid (more than wired connection) as it was on my old EEE, but it is very powerful, at least for my needs. It also needed to run bleeding-edge distros like Ubuntu, because it didn't booted at all on PCLinuxOS, which as an older 3.2-series kernel. Overall, it is a great machine and I like its 3.5hrs+ battery life.

It is sad that netbooks aren't made anymore (now a rare exception), because they were good small machines, at an affordable price and in a very useful size.

-Alexandre