![[H]ard|Forum](/styles/hardforum/xenforo/logo_dark.png){kind=logo}
King of Heroes
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2008
- Messages
- 2,006
So I got a 2015 edition of the Toshiba Chromebook 2 with the Core i3 Broadwell processor during Prime Day. I started using it yesterday and I wanted to share my thoughts on it, especially against the Dell XPS 13 9350 that I currently use.
First off, I am legitimately shocked at how good the Chromebook is.
While its build quality isn't quite as good as the XPS (the case of the Chromebook appears to be made of a really good polycarbonate, while the XPS13 uses metal), its performance and battery life are excellent given its specs, and its keyboard and trackpad are objectively superior to the XPS13. The keys are more tactile and have better travel. Its trackpad is highly accurate and the gestures just work with no glitches whatsoever. This is compared to the XPS13 whose keys are very shallow with little tactile feedback and whose trackpad gestures only really works well with IE or Edge (two-finger scrolling is garbage on Chrome and glitches all day long on Firefox). The only advantage the XPS13 has in these areas is that I prefer the texture of its trackpad, the one on the Chromebook feels like an extremely fine sandpaper. I got used to it fairly quickly, but I still like the Dell's more.
The Chromebook's screen is also worthy of all the praise its getting. You can ratchet the brightness up quite a bit and colors are more vivid on it compared to the XPS13, but thats very likely because its a glossy screen compared to the matte one of the Dell. I can't say its "objectively" better because of that, but I personally like it more.
Second, It really sucks that I can't actually do work on the Chromebook.
I'm a Python developer, and I use the XPS13 when I want to do that on the go. As great as the Chromebook is, I can't actually be productive on it unless I'm just doing research (yes, I knew that would be a problem going in) or watching tutorials on Youtube. I imagine this will improve slightly when Android app support drops, and I know I can run full Ubuntu alongside ChromeOS using Crouton (though I'd have to upgrade the 16GB SSD first).
I understand why Google locked down ChromeOS, and it was obviously worth it since they can squeeze a lot of performance out of cheap, low-end hardware. However its also frustrating, because I would use this Chromebook as my primary in a heartbeat if I could use ChromeOS like any other Linux distribution.
Finally, this was an absolute steal at $279.99 (and maybe even at $399.99).
If this goes on sale at that price again I'm getting one for myself, since this one will eventually be handed over to my parents (they use a crappy Sony Vaio laptop running Windows 8.1). Though, I now have to wonder, if a $279.99 laptop can be this good, just what the heck is the point of getting a $900-$1,000 Chromebook Pixel? I know its supposed to be a halo product for ChromeOS, but with its inherent limitations I wonder if its vastly superior specs will even be noticeable? I can multiple instances of Chrome with alot of tabs in each on the Toshiba and not perceive any slow down. I can't imagine how much of a monster multi-tasker you'd have to be to make the Pixel's specs worth it.
First off, I am legitimately shocked at how good the Chromebook is.
While its build quality isn't quite as good as the XPS (the case of the Chromebook appears to be made of a really good polycarbonate, while the XPS13 uses metal), its performance and battery life are excellent given its specs, and its keyboard and trackpad are objectively superior to the XPS13. The keys are more tactile and have better travel. Its trackpad is highly accurate and the gestures just work with no glitches whatsoever. This is compared to the XPS13 whose keys are very shallow with little tactile feedback and whose trackpad gestures only really works well with IE or Edge (two-finger scrolling is garbage on Chrome and glitches all day long on Firefox). The only advantage the XPS13 has in these areas is that I prefer the texture of its trackpad, the one on the Chromebook feels like an extremely fine sandpaper. I got used to it fairly quickly, but I still like the Dell's more.
The Chromebook's screen is also worthy of all the praise its getting. You can ratchet the brightness up quite a bit and colors are more vivid on it compared to the XPS13, but thats very likely because its a glossy screen compared to the matte one of the Dell. I can't say its "objectively" better because of that, but I personally like it more.
Second, It really sucks that I can't actually do work on the Chromebook.
I'm a Python developer, and I use the XPS13 when I want to do that on the go. As great as the Chromebook is, I can't actually be productive on it unless I'm just doing research (yes, I knew that would be a problem going in) or watching tutorials on Youtube. I imagine this will improve slightly when Android app support drops, and I know I can run full Ubuntu alongside ChromeOS using Crouton (though I'd have to upgrade the 16GB SSD first).
I understand why Google locked down ChromeOS, and it was obviously worth it since they can squeeze a lot of performance out of cheap, low-end hardware. However its also frustrating, because I would use this Chromebook as my primary in a heartbeat if I could use ChromeOS like any other Linux distribution.
Finally, this was an absolute steal at $279.99 (and maybe even at $399.99).
If this goes on sale at that price again I'm getting one for myself, since this one will eventually be handed over to my parents (they use a crappy Sony Vaio laptop running Windows 8.1). Though, I now have to wonder, if a $279.99 laptop can be this good, just what the heck is the point of getting a $900-$1,000 Chromebook Pixel? I know its supposed to be a halo product for ChromeOS, but with its inherent limitations I wonder if its vastly superior specs will even be noticeable? I can multiple instances of Chrome with alot of tabs in each on the Toshiba and not perceive any slow down. I can't imagine how much of a monster multi-tasker you'd have to be to make the Pixel's specs worth it.