As it turns out I have ended up buying a cheap Windows 8 laptop as ones running anything else were more expensive. I really don"t like going down as a sale for MS though but at least I'll be able to watch Amazon video streaming on it even if that does mean jumping through a lot of hoops to dual boot.

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Here's an article that describes how to install Ubuntu on a Chromebook. I know you wanted to know about Debian, and I know you have decided against it anyway, but this may help others who see this thread.

Crouton does support Debian using the -r option

Example (with sid and e17):

Thanks guys, if I or somebody I know buys a Chromebook I'll be sure to look into it. They might be cheaper in the January sales too.

just to fill in some missing info here, albeit months after the last post.

There is good enough support for putting debian (not to mention archlinux and crunchbang) on the acer c720, including fixes for all broken hardware, especially the touchpad. Everything can be working: suspend, hibernate, wifi, bluetooth, touchpad, keystroke fixes. (I have not looked at webcam / microphone as I have no need for them.)

Came across this thread because just reinstalled sid after a warranty repair to the machine. Now find the trackpad now works (sid kernel is now 3.16) without having to run any workaround scripts. But there has been some change to bluetooth....... which is for another thread.

Andrew.

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Thanks, with my latest M$ purchase to replace the rubbish that Acer sell (opeining the laptop and happening to lift the device when you do is "not included in the warranty") I can, at least, open the darn thing without losing a few hundred dollars.

Wow,

I've got them to replace the screen twice! First time dodgy peeling paintwork near keyboard had scratched the screen. They also replaced part of the case. Second time screen stopped working whenever power adaptor inserted.

I expected resistance on both occasions, and there was, but this time it was resolved in a few conversations.

I had recent extensive experience dealing with Apple customer service for a friend whose brand new mac air stopped working (due to water in the machine that she had not put there). Awful. Customer service meant very politely doing whatever is necessary to not provide service to customers. Apple's intransigence was despite store video showing that the bangkok distributor hadn't followed Apple point of sale procedures: they did not open box in front of customer, and the machine had not been in its sealed plastic envelope (as shipped). In other words, Apple chose to ignore the evidence that the machine had been interfered with before sale.

Acer was less bad, but the facts were also rather different. Overall, I now assume that this is industry wide: all vendors will avoid warranty for any available pretext.

"The rubbish that Acer sell". As far as this machine, Acer c720 chromebook, is concerned your comment may be harsh, but it seems fair.

How else to make a machine so cheap? Running Linux, it's an all solid state notebook that boots in 8 seconds and gives 8-10 hours battery life. A solid state version of standard laptop with similar spec would have cost me two or three times as much, with the only advantage being a larger SSD. (I have actually found the 16 GB SSD helpful: my data now lives on USBs or micro SDs, and only the operating system and applications live onboard).

I would suspect there would be quality issues with chromebooks in general: These products are a small battle in a bigger google-microsoft war. In order to get the required result with chromeos, the machines had to be cheap. Probably too cheap, given present manufacturing costs. It's early days for chromebooks, but the likely future industry impact is that the quality will be fixed at the lower cost.

andrew.