4 Things To Remember To Buy A Chrome Book For Linux
Chromebook’s hardware is user friendly with Linux as it is based on desktop Linux. A Chromebook can easily make a cheap and solid Linux Laptop. When you plan to buy a Chromebook for Linux, there are some important things to keep in mind from ARM vs. Intel Hardware.
Comparison Of ARM And x86 Software Compatibility:
Though there are some most famous Chromebooks such as Chromebook 11 and Samsung Series 3,they are not optimal Linux machines for desktop. They are built with internal CPU instead of Intel Chip.
There are various reasons, the main reason can be considered to be Chromebook which is based on Intel uses the exemplary version of a Linux distribution while the ARM device have to use the ARM port. Every device may not offer the ARM port as they are not well supported by the less software available.
This is very prominent when it refers to closed source software. For an instance the following applications are used by an Intel Chromebook but not an ARM-basis:
- Steam For Linux and its numerous Linux games
- Mine craft and java software
- Skype
- Dropbox
- Wine fro running Windows applications
- Adobe’ Flash browser plug-in(it supports only Intel systems but not ARM ones)
If you want a satisfactory Linux desktop experience, Intel-based Chromebook is a best option to choose from as most of the closed source software only support Intel-based Linux.
Storage Space:
Chromebooks are designed with a little storage of 16 GB local space. Google’s idea is that you are having a small local operating system which Chrome OS and the remaining are stored some where. Of course you definitely need a classic desktop Linux system for more space for applications and your personal files.
By keeping in the mind opt for a Chromebook which is 32 GB SSD and a large mechanical hard drive. Since mechanical hard drives are very slower compared to SSDs, they got terminated.
Though you can use SD card and USB drives, they are very slow as they are ideal for media but not suitable for local hard drive.
Process Of Installing Linux:
There are two ways of installing desktop Linux on your Chromebook. You can install Linux side-by-side with chrome OS system with the help of Crouton. With a single key stroke you can skip to Chrome OS desktop and traditional Linux software at the same time. With the help of this it is beneficial to access both the hardware drivers which includes Chromebook for the Linux system.
It can be preferred with a dual boot system where the Linux system can be installed with SD card and USB drive. Installing Chrome OS with Linux is the most preferable way to install but people who don’t need Chrome OS may opt for a dual-boot system.
Software Supports Chrome OS Not Linux:
Chrome OS based on Linux but it can’t use some features on desktop Linux. For instance, without a dirty hack one cannot watch Netfix on Linux as Netfix completely supported on Chrome OS. As the dirty hack uses Windows version of Silverlight, it is based on Intel-based Chromebooks.
For Linux, google still doesn’t have an official google drive. They said two years back to get it but now they are working on it. It is very hard to use on Linux that 100 GB of free space which you get with Chromebook. By installing a third party Google Drive client or by using in Chrome OS environment, it can access google drive through web browser.
For your cloud storage needs, it offers dropbox official Linux client option or the other alternative to goolge drive.
Keep in mind that Chromebooks contains slow and low power CPUs and low end integrated hardware. Chromebooks are light weight web focused laptops and they make lightweight Linux Laptops which are designed to be cheap and a long battery life guaranteed. But don’t expect Chromebooks to perform several operations at a time by spending lots of dollars on it.
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