Posted by speckx 1 day ago
In one post they're complaining about things like Apple having the search bar in different locations in different apps, and in the next post they're seriously trying to tell us that a laptop that requires modifying the software and running shell commands copied from the internet so you can run a text editor to change settings and drivers is the solution? They dropped a note about how they haven't actually tried development on the chromebook at the end but say they assume it would be okay. For someone telling us to switch to Chromebooks, they haven't even finished doing their own homework
Linking to an SEO spam website called technical.city for performance comparisons is another clue that this choice was driven by something else first and the reasoning was backfilled. The new MediaTek part is fast, but there's more to laptop performance than a single bar chart from a site citing ancient benchmarks like PassMark.
I can't read this as anything other than an attempt to make a contrarian choice and then present it as the superior alternative.
Then within 2 sentences: "So this blog post is about my painful journey trying to find a nice piece of hardware that works and feels just as good as Apple's hardware as a web developer."
So yeah I really don't get the motivation
Plus Chromebooks have the better keyboard layout IMHO.
I have a chromebook for traveling and light web dev work since years .. and it works, because I rooted it and allmost do not have to use the UI(I need the terminal and chrome dev tools). In general it got better, but is still horrible inefficient and not ergonomic. Or did you mean it looks good? Well, maybe, but for me a elegant UI means it does not get into my workflow and can do quickly what I want. Which .. it nativly cannot.
ChromeOS is fine. I wish they hadn't given up on Steam and models with dgpus, but I prefer playing games on a Switch these days anyway.
How to go to a specific path? Not by clicking on the filepath like I can do in other OS.
(Apart from that, most of my hate comes from the early days of chromeOS, where the file browser was really, really slow. Doing cd and cp in terminal was blazingly fast, but in the filebrowser the same operations were crippling slow (on different devices), so much that I learned to avoid it. That bug/unoptimal implementation (?) got fixed some years ago and in general it improved, but it is still no joy for me using it)
Edit: I just intentionally tried out some things with my chromeOS device, and noticed many pain points are still there, but the file explorers "search" improved a lot. I allmost like it (more than that of windows file explorer)
I don't understand how Google could screw up Gentoo so badly.
I don't believe the claims of Lenovo hardware (esp trackpad) being as good as a MacBook's, but he thinks it is, so up to him. The keyboard layout is annoying cause control-C is both copy and kill.
There's a meta key on the keyboard, idk why they can't just do meta-c meta-v everywhere. Same in Ubuntu.
The author explicitly acknowledges that Apple makes excellent hardware, and the desire to switch is driven solely by problems with the software (OS).
> All this made me realize Liquid Glass and Apple's software incompetence is absolutely universally hated, yet their hardware is universally loved. So credit where it's due, they make great hardware.
In the meantime, I update, note the minor (to me) changes and go about my work.
I have no idea why this random Mediatek chip was the qualifier for finding a system.
Just Josh Tech (YouTube) and their associated site bestlaptop.deals is my favorite resource at the moment for laptop reviews and for finding the best fit. I’m not affiliated with them in any way, I just think they are thorough and present with a critical eye avoiding a lot of hype YouTuber BS.
They aren’t the best at recommendations for Linux laptops as they don’t fully install the OS but they at least try it out on a live image.
To me the clear winner right now for people who like Linux and want something that’s a MacBook-like experience is the Framework 13 Pro. Framework appears to have resolved basically all of the shortcomings of the current revision (which still is no slouch), they’ve added a CNC aluminum build and haptic trackpad, and it’s a first-class Linux experience that’s Ubuntu certified.
Other than that, I’d be looking at options like the Lenovo Yoga Pro 7i Aura Edition 15, maybe even a Zenbook Duo 2026 if the idea of a second screen on the go is appealing and money is no object.
Someone looking for some discrete GPU performance that rivals or beats MacBook Pros equipped with Pro or Max chips can look at the Zephyrus G14/G16. Sure, they’re “gamer” laptops, but I really like them in person and they feel very premium. They’re pretty well established as the best thin and light gaming laptops on the market, very close in dimensions to MacBook Pro.
Since you have a proper linux under the hood, you can easily install and use things like nodejs / npm etc as well.
> You can technically game on some Chromebooks, but come on.
I just want the Steam edition of Dwarf Fortress, really =)
> If you were trying to do native Linux development on a Chromebook you'd be going through more obstacles.
Not really. Crostini has been supported for years, and it uses less resources than macOS containers while supporting normal filesystems instead of virtualizing it on APFS like Docker does.
According to their GitHub, this should solve the issues you mentioned with Linux development on macOS. Note: I have not used it myself as I find macOS+Brew sufficient for my tasks.
I find people who make these complaints about Linux just like Linux better. Totally fine. From my perspective, sure, some things are slightly different or need a homebrew install, but there’s plenty about Linux that’s as big or bigger pain as some of the stuff on the Mac.
That said, if Liquid Glass is the complaint and your solution is a Chromebook, wow. Just, wow.
Honestly this and Crostini both look like there are too many caveats. I'd just SSH into an Rpi for anything that won't natively run in macOS. And would not even deal with Chromebook.
P.S. I +1'd bigyabai's comment only to save it from being marked dead; why is someone downvoting that??
To be fair there is some config and tweaking required, but for a free tool it seems pretty good. Parallels has a better EXPERIENCE but I don't use VMs often; when I need raw Linux I just use one of my homelab servers.
Yes.
What do you mean by "works exactly the same?" The same as Ubuntu installed on an ARM laptop? No, there is not GUI, DE, and a lot of tools are stripped.
You can literally pull this down and get it up and running in minutes:
https://hub.docker.com/_/ubuntu/
Rosetta is not necessary to get this working either. Now, there maybe some warts with DNS that you might encounter depending on if you have a certain VPNs running, use dnsmasq, etc.. But there are potential workarounds for many issues.
If you want a full VM, I would recommend Lima/Colima. If you need a full VM with GUI and all, then maybe use something like Parallels, VMware Fusion, etc..
Last time I tried UTM specifically for reading an ext4-formatted SD card in my MacBook's internal slot, I couldn't get it to interface with the reader, but that works on Chromebooks' Linux VM supposedly.
I would say no, but then again, I would also not recommend using any type of container for that type of work either.
I use Container on macOS to build containers for things like Claude Code, Node.js, Java, etc.. You know, software I want no where near my host OS. I mount a directory in the container, if needed, and it's smooth sailing.
I do believe Container allows for one to run x86 containers with Rosetta, but I also know once you enable Rosetta, it's easier to reinstall your OS than to uninstall. I like to keep things tidy, so I will not go down this path.
> ext4-formatted SD card in my MacBook's internal slot
I would not use Container nor any other containerization tool for this task regardless of whether it is possible or not. I would be surprised if any VM client would be able to get this working too, but I've been out of the VM world for a bit.
It's also worth mentioning that come macOS 28, Rosetta will be dead and gone except for a select set of video games. That version of Rosetta will essentially be stripped down to the point of working just enough for those games and nothing more. So, I would not get too attached to the idea of running x86 binaries on macOS for too much longer.
I believe there may be some tools that can read ext4 on macOS, but UTM not reading from the host's SD Card is unsurprising. I have never used UTM, but I would imagine it would not have the capability to pass the SD reader through, but I could be entirely wrong.
I'd seriously recommend buying the cheapest burner Chromebook, x86 machine, VPS, or whatever you need if you think running x86 binaries and reading/writing to/from ext4 formatted storage will be in your future. You could maybe try an external USB SD reader, but I cannot comment if that would work either.
Container still has a few warts. Mainly, Container and mDNSResponder on macOS do not always play nicely together. If you use a VPN that binds to port 53, you will also have a bad time. Container-to-Container name resolution is also hit or miss.
However, none of these issues have prevented me from accomplishing what I need. Though, I can see where friction may arise between some corporate network environments and Container.
https://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/developer-library/guide...
Well, then you can only put it in dev mode and use chromebrew. Which I am glad exists, but even installing node can be a pain and the way to get it running changed over the years.
In other perspective, ChromeOS supports running Linux apps w/ GUI without much differences. You just open your terminal, type `apt install XXX`, then `XXX` should work out-of-the box.
I don't see any reasons that ChromeOS is less open then macOS
What concrete points makes you put macos as more open ?
Other than that, it's perfect! (On the blance,still better than any other laptop)
I don't think that's entirely true. For instance, ChromeOS supports Mesa, which macOS has spent the past decade pretending doesn't exist.
The Spotify web app is still much more limited than the desktop app.
> Did you know that Adobe ported Photoshop etc to web, with all the AI bells and whistles and the web apps perform incredibly well?
Perfect if all you need out of Photoshop is the AI portion, I guess.
> As a side note, it is no surprise that Adobe's suite of creative apps [...] now work incredibly well on the web across all operating systems
They literally don't.
> Quickshare (the Airdrop alternative) ACTUALLY WORKS
Saying this like Airdrop isn't one of Apple's most bulletproof "just works" features ever
It only just works if all devices are logged in to the same Apple account. Otherwise you have to allow a 10 minute window in the phones settings.
Work Mac laptop not logged in won’t see an iPhone unless you go into settings. My home and work PCs I both own can’t even be airdropped to, I know some people think this adds value to Mac machines but in a world where the most powerful gpu isn’t on a Mac it actually makes the apple ecosystem feel like trash if you’re someone working on the top end of computing and can’t send a file from your workstation to your phone.
For cross-platform local sharing, I use KDE-connect.
It's more serious on iPhones cause it's glitchy in ways that will interfere with basic usage, also yet another "we need old phones to feel slower" update.
A majority need only a browser.
Also, I don't understand how this is magically better on mac os. Mac os doesn't have electron apps? Get real, it's the same bullshit on every desktop OS. At least we can all agree it's more consistent than windows.
Besides that, macOS and Windows each only have one DE and one window system. So in tutorials or IT help, it's enough info to specify that you're using "Mac" or maybe "Mac Tahoe," not "Linux, Debian Trixie, KDE Plasma, on Wayland." Not to mention hardware-specific issues, though those aren't Linux's fault.
They start already from the wrong place.
As a Mac user I was pleasantly surprised when I switched to a arch Linux based distribution.
My desktop and Thinkpad run Gentoo. A NAS I have at home is the build host. I am a business software consultant, and a common thread in all of my interactions is: I need to be prepared. If I'm fiddling with "hang on my mic doesn't work" or "i need to reboot", I look silly.
An onsite visit might be in an executive board room, or a closet in the back of a warehouse with a TV from 2007 and a VGA connector.
If I need software installed quick, like Zoom or something, Flatpak gets me 95% there. Yes, I could use Ubuntu or something normal, but I like portage and long for the day I can use FreeBSD seriously on the desktop.
So enter Chromebooks, which come with portage, can use Flatpak, and the OS is basically just a web browser. Plus, I don't have to wrestle with SELinux, or any of the other nitty gritty stuff that gets in the way of real work™. It's either a PWA or an Android app, and it just works.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ProgrammerHumor/comments/mx4dni/cho...
Do you fear technology?
> Yes
Is your daddy rich?
> No
ChromeOS
It's not my main machine, but for $300 (2023 dollars) it's excellent for tinkering on the couch with Netflix on TV in the background.
Might make sense if the Chromebook can be degoogled and set up with a clean Linux distro. Barring that, a regular laptop with Linux may be an option.
I did not think anyone would be interested in reading about any of this, and reading the article reinforces my hypothesis.
The trackpad on Apple's newest iPad Pro keyboard case is excellent.
Downside: whenever you go back to your Macbook you'll try poking the screen a lot.
The real question is if you have enough patience to power through making it work.
Been running Debian on an hp Chromebook for 2y now.