Linux

I have been repurposing my EOL Chromebook, and I don't think they will ever be able to compete with ThinkPads. I like my Chromebook since it is so damn small, however the specs are really bad. And everything is soldered right on the motherboard. So I have 64GB storage (plus an SD-card) and 4GB RAM. I have enabled ZRAM so the CPU is helping out a bit. But even so I struggle with the memory. Browsers are such memory hogs!

They are built like tanks? The Chromebook laptops I've come across were flimsy as aluminiumfoil. The plastic hinges were so weak you had to try to not tear the screen from the keyboard!

https://zipso.net/chromebook-specs-comparison-table/ I didn't know there were so many Chromebooks. I'm no longer in school (for long time) and don't know if German schools get any netbooks or Chromebooks to work with.

https://docs.mrchromebox.tech/

A lot of Chromebooks can have Linux natively put on them.

I see a lot of pooh-poohing of the idea in this thread, but I think there's people who are willing to do so.

I just took an old Lenovo ThinkCentre Chromebox 10H5 and modified the UEFI firmware with the walkthru from MrChromebox to put Xubuntu on it. It's actually pretty snappy despite its limited hardware.

Also, I upgraded the 16gb M.2 SSD into a far more sufficient 256gb size.

The shortage of RAM is rough, but it can still be a workhorse in a lot of ways. I plan on replacing Xubuntu with a server version to get a little boost out of running it headless to drop the RAM going to rendering a GUI.

I'm not so sure... for the following reasons:

1. Despite using a version of the Linux kernel in ChromeOS, Chromebooks don't always have the best hardware (ie. driver) support from the mainline kernel used by most distributions. That's why there are niche distributions like GalliumOS which provide tweaks to support the touchpad and audio devices in many Chromebooks. It's similar to how Android is Linux, but it's not standard Linux as we are familiar with (so the hardware support is different).

2. Many Chromebooks have really poor specs: low-wattage CPUs, small amounts of storage, low amounts of RAM. While they may be newer, they are actually probably less performant than older laptops. This has changed in recent years with the new Chromebook plus program (or whatever it is called) which mandates a reasonable set of baseline features, but that is talking about current Chromebooks and not the ones from the COVID era.

3. Related to the previous point, many Chromebooks are not serviceable or upgradeable while Thinkpads and some recent laptops are. You are unlikely to open up a Chromebook and be able to replace say the RAM or SSD, which would be a show stopper for a lot of people that like Thinkpads.

So... unfortunately, I think this take is a bit of a miss and I dont' really see it happening. I would be happy to be proven wrong though since my kids have two Chromebooks from the COVID era :}

The problem with chromebooks is that the base specs are pretty shit. A lot of them have 4 GiB of RAM and maybe 16GiB of disk if you're lucky.

They were designed to be thin clients to connect students to the internet, and little else. Maybe they could be hacked into something useful, but I don't think it'll ever make a good PC. They were always destined for the landfill.

Meanwhile, the best thinkpads were quality machines back when they came out. IMO, that's why they're still so versatile today. Free software can't fix bad fundamentals.

I don't not necessarily agree, but I like your prediction. Let's see if it turns out correct. Time will tell.

n.b.: am a Thinkpad enthusiast myself

ARM is the biggest reason this is unlikely to happen imo. Software compatibility is key.

Hot take. 🍿