I think I mentioned before that three years ago I bought a nice looking but small Chromebook. It turns out it was two years old, and though new, it is reaching end of support at the end of this month. My question is: what do I buy next?

Most of us are no strangers to platform shifts. I went from the Apple IIe to a CP/M based Kaypro, to an MD-DOS Kaypro, to a Mac laptop (pre-OSX), then to various Linux devices. I still keep an old Mac around. And I have another Mac running elementary OS, where the Outliner program (https://github.com/phase1geo/Outliner is developing rapidly into a really powerful tool. But the Chromebook was ideal for what I wanted: so light, quick, almost transparent that it was ideal for a trip to the coffee shop or somewhere on plane. (Not that either of those has been common lately). I tried various tricks to install Linux on this machine (using crouton and an attempt to do USB booting), but my machine is pretty old in Chromebook terms, and the results were unsatisfying. The machine is optimized for ChromeOS, not Linux.

But end of life means unsupported, and too much of my life is online to permit the use of an unpatched browser or OS.

My use case is pretty simple: I use outliners mostly for browsing, correspondence, writing, and personal information management. My favorite tools are Dynalist (where the platform really doesn't matter, so long as I have wifi), Freeplane (or Mindmup 2), emacs org-mode/markdown-mode, Outliner, and the Google Suite. SimpleNote. Only Outliner really locks me into anything.

So what's next? My options as I see them:

- powerwash a few times, then recycle the Chromebook. With two other computers around (the aforementioned Mojave MacBook Pro, and another MacBook Pro running elementary), not to mention a Kindle Fire and a phone, that should be enough! Think of the savings on cords, bags, power supplies...

- a new Chromebook. The prices are still awesome, the builds are good, and the performance surprising. 5 years is probably long enough to use a computer. The other cool thing: current Chromebooks allow the installation of some Linux apps, Android app, and easier virtualization. So I can add a couple extra tools (emacs and Halna, maybe), and expect them to be pretty well integrated.

- a used PC. One of our local shops does a brisk business in reconditioned Windows laptops. For about $300, I can get a Windows 10 Dell machine with 8 gigs of RAM and a SSD hard drive. It might not last 5 years, but it might. That gives me the ability to dual boot Linux, and keep Windows 10 for the odd online meeting program that seems to need it. Windows 10's linux subsystem is better these days, too.

- a new, full-featured laptop. All of the comments about Apple hit home: hardware issues, software changes. Not the best time to buy a Mac. Microsoft's infernally over-engineered software and approach to privacy means I won't go all in on Windows. But something like System76 produces quality laptops with Pop!_OS installed. The price shoots up to closer to $1,000. (Although Best Buy has some deals from time to time that are closer to the $500 mark.) But it will definitely last a while.

Bottom line: I really don't need a high end machine. I'm not doing video or photo editing, I don't have big libraries of music or movies. The sad truth is that every document I've ever produced or want to save would fit on a flash drive.

I find myself inclining toward the Chromebook. But I'm curious about this crowd. When your computers flake out, what are you folks leaning toward these days?

If you do want to stick with a CB and size is not an issue, I would recommend HP's 14" i3/8GB/64GB model that is sometimes referred to as the x360. Best Buy often has this machine on sale at $399. It is a decent keyboard and the machine is highly responsive. I bought one to replace an older, unsupported 11" Acer CB and have been quite happy. I use it a lot to read an online "print replica" of a local newspaper and it is as responsive, if not more so, than an iPad Pro using the paper's print replica app. And it is quite a bit more responsive than either of my Surface Pro or 8th Generation i5 Yoga with Win10. The battery life is over ten hours and I would not say that is a stretch. It is big and somewhat heavy, and the screen and audio are just average, but the keyboard is reasonably good. Something to consider.

Good luck,

--Ken

Thanks, Ken, I'll check it out. And sorry for typo above. I use a COMPUTER for browsing, correspondence (email), then outliners for most everything else.

jaslar wrote:

When your computers flake out, what are you folks leaning
toward these days?

iPhone/iPad. Incredibly powerful devices that work with Bluetooth (or attached) keyboards, and a vibrant app ecosystem. On iOS I own and use Cloud Outliner Pro and OmniOutliner for outlining.

If you're happy with a chromebook, why change? It doesn't matter what works for others.

Personally, though, had I your use-case, I'd be looking on eBay for a used ThinkPad T or X series between 3rd and 5th generations in the screen size of your choice (12"-15"). Not only do they (like all ThinkPads) have the best keyboards available, they're cheap (around $200+ for an FHD display, 8-16GB and an SSD), famously durable with inexpensive replacement parts (nothing costs more than $50 to replace) if anything goes wrong and they all have compatible parts with MacOS so you (basically) have your choice between Win 10, Linux & (hackintoshed) MacOS. Any cpu of that era should meet your needs, just fine. Check out the ThinkPad Reddit forum here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Thinkpad

I'm trying to get a good Dell XPS 15 notebook 2nd Hand on EBay, it's best for Hackintosh, Linux and Windows.
But i'm also looking at Microsoft Surface Pro tablet.

I really need a touch/pen device on Windows to develop and test my software when WinUI is coming end of year, which is a big event for every developer of future Windows apps. Finally they are going into the right direction.

jaslar wrote:

- a new Chromebook. The prices are still awesome, the builds are good,
and the performance surprising. 5 years is probably long enough to use a
computer. The other cool thing: current Chromebooks allow the
installation of some Linux apps, Android app, and easier virtualization.
So I can add a couple extra tools (emacs and Halna, maybe), and expect
them to be pretty well integrated.

What's better than a Chromebook? You answered your own question: a new Chromebook! ;-)

I have bought both Thinkpads and Dell XPS in the past and will do again.
TP is the coders' all time fave. Has numerous i/o plus built like tanks, bought several through the years.

XPS is good for main use, slimmer. i/o-wise have bought a few good hubs for it, not the cheapo ones.
If wanting a very portable XPS, 13 inch is better than 15, works well, typing on one now bought new before Xmas.
If budget allows, buying new is good be it TP or XPS.
Otherwise fleet (from corp buyers upgrading) sellers on ebay sell many batches with limited warranty to check.
Some very good deals last time i checked a couple of years ago.

Software/OS-wise, there are even other options than what is mentioned in the OP.

Back to hardware, Chormebooks (with keyboards attached) are getting better too.
Currently tempted by a proper Chrome tablet (w/ detachable keyboard) which finally has a bargain price, Lenovo Duet, solid build and top specs, good toy.
But might upgrade to a larger pricier chromebook, with attached keyboard.

Not using Chromebooks much now. Moved on from a ChromeBox too, playing with a couple of Android TV Boxes i just got.
But that's TV, just fun.

BTW for a couple of years anyone asking me for a Linux distro, been recommending Pop! OS.
But to non tinkerers of Linux unlike me, if needed for serious work on Linux.

But personally would not buy their hardware, but good for Gov/corps (their main buyers) needing Linux with certain protocols/support etc in place, turnkey. Because if tinkering oneself, can get much better bang for bucks if installing/tweaking oneself. But their hardware with their OS is ideal combo, so depends on person.
They are the leading Linux PC makers. But their Pop!OS imo is the least trouble free Linux flave for some time now. LTS versions, can't go wrong.

> least trouble free

most trouble-free

Thanks everyone. I love the many different perspectives, which is why I tend to do these open ended questions. You often surprise me!

jaslar wrote:

Thanks everyone. I love the many different perspectives, which is why I
tend to do these open ended questions. You often surprise me!

Agreed. We have a great diversity of thoughts here and that is one of the forum's strengths IMHO. I often need to bounce concepts off of folks, and I appreciate the willingness of other members to engage in some brainstorming.

--Ken

Thought I'd post my final decision. I bought a Pixelbook Go, a Chromebook with 8 gigs of RAM, 64 gigs of storage, and a memory card reader. Why?

- the build quality. It's super light, speakers on top, surprisingly wide and bright screen
- the end of life. The device will no longer receive security updates after 2028. 8 years is a good guarantee.
- Linux support. This worked a treat. Turn on the option, wait a few minutes, and you have a virtual machine version of Buster Debian, 10.4, released May 9th, 2020. From there, apt install emacs, freeplane, etc. And you can set things up to share certain directories between ChromeOS and Linux. Bottom line: what Google doesn't offer as software, I can get from the Debian repositories. But my use of software is definitely narrowing. It happens that you can use the Google Suite offline, but having emacs (mostly for org-mode) means that I can still work when I'm far from a hotspot. Incidentally, emacs runs while ChomeOS is running, and I can copy back and forth between OSs.
- low maintenance. Part of me loves the care and feeding of a Linux computer. But with a Chromebook, there just isn't that much to do but turn it on.
- battery life. I'm getting 12 hours of intense use.

It wasn't cheap. $649 at Best Buy. But if I'm ever able to travel again, I'll love the portability and power of it.

Thanks, all, for your comments and opinions.

jaslar wrote:

Thought I'd post my final decision. I bought a Pixelbook Go, a
Chromebook with 8 gigs of RAM, 64 gigs of storage, and a memory card
reader.

Great decision! But I'd say that, as a Chromebook fan, wouldn't I? ;-)

That's the one I'd get too. Except that my refurb Dell Chromebook 13 is still going strong, after 4 years...

Enjoy your new toy, I mean tool!