Chromebook for linux?
 

Can somebody recommend a new chromebook that it's easy to install linux on? Some seem to have a lot of issues working with linux. I don't want to use chrouton, I want to completely wipe chrome OS and run only linux.

Get one with an Intel CPU, preferably an older one. Bay Trail devices still have issues, the devs are still working on those. An Acer C720 with 4GB RAM is a good choice. The SSD is easily upgradable, and they're comparatively cheap, but decent performance. You'll need to flash the BIOS, either a partial change or an entire new one. Those are available with a little bit of Google foo.

remn,

To save all the hassle of trying to install Linux on Ideapads and Chromebooks, why not try an older netbook which will work fine with Linux?

Here is one example.
Samsung NC10 10.2" Netbook (2GB):
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Samsung-NC10...4AAOSw~otWguTu

A lightweight Linux distro would be better on this.

Alternatively, try a Linux-friendly 14 inch laptop with Intel i5 cpu and 8GB ram.

HP 8440p:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-EliteBook...item280605b718

Use any distro you like on this one.

Honestly, if you dislike ChromeOS (Why?), don't buy a chromebook.
While I'm dual booting ChromeOS (+crouton) with Debian sid on an old acer c720p, I still needed some of the Acer blobs (that don't seem to work with every kernel version) for the power management.

ChromeOS + a debian chroot is my default setup for mobile stuff (and works very well).

Because I don't like being spied on :) I don't like Windows or MacOS either, so I have to buy one of the commercial OS's and change to linux, at least until they go back to selling laptpots without pre-installed OS's.

I've considered an older 14" notebook but I want something lighter-weight than that.

Chromebooks tend to be light, cheap, and have very long battery life. Older notebooks converted from Windows tend to be heavy, large, and have short battery life. Life is too short to deal with the pain of them. The only drawback I've seen to chromebooks is that they usually have rather small SSDs and only 2 or 4 GB of RAM. On some the SSD can be replaced, and perhaps the RAM on some, but very few if any. Crouton works, and I have it on my C720. But I've converted my chromebox to fullblown Debian, and I like it. The main attraction of CrOS is the quick boot time, and that's not really an issue on a desktop. I can live with waiting a few seconds more to boot, because I don't boot very often. If all you need to do is do online stuff, CrOS is ideal. I only need Linux for the occasional use of gparted and a few other tools, and run CrOS most of the time.

2014 article that might be relevant, or not.

http://blog.codestarter.org/how-we-t...-ubuntu-based/

Some recent news from Jan this year

http://www.pcworld.com/article/28735...hromebook.html

My C710 still chuggs along just fine. Battery still holding a good charge also.

I've got:

Toshiba Chromebook 2 CB35-B3330 (N2840 dual core 2.16 GHz, 2 GB, 16 GB, 1366x768 13.3")
Toshiba Chromebook 2 CB35-B3340 (N2840 dual core 2.16 GHz, 4 GB, 16 GB, 1920x1080 13.3")
HP Chromebook 14 (N2940 quad core 1.83 GHz, 4 GB, 16 GB, 1920x1080 14")

All baytrail. All 3 work great with Fedora with just 1 additional file. They all 3 work well with Debian testing also with a couple files. The HP has one of the nicest laptop keyboards I've ever used. The screen is quite fantastic, being a matte IPS panel, works wonderfully in any lighting. For $250, it's one of the nicest laptops I have. It's my go-to machine. Yeah, I don't have much storage, but it has a micro-sd slot that I can throw an additional 32/64/128 GB in easily enough, and the onboard 16 GB was quite enough to install with a full KDE desktop, including Libreoffice & WPS office, Gimp, Darktable, kmines, kmahjongg, ksudoku, kpat, pysolfc, shutter, chrome in addition to firefox, kodi media center, smplayer, so absolutely FULL functioning desktop with nothing missing, and still have 5 GB free space, that includes the fact that I dedicated 2 GB to swap. For a $250 (sale) or $280(msrp), I don't know that I've ever owned a superior value laptop. The quad-core celeron keeps basic chores humming right along, and while it's not going to be mistaken for a high end processor, LIGHT photo manipulation or such is still tolerably quick.

remn,

From what you have told us, your requirements appear to be:

Small screen/lightweight.
Will run Linux with little or no modifications.
Probably has a decent sized hard drive (250GB).
Cheap.

Whilst the various Chromebooks will do the job after modifications, I would not call them cheap. In the UK they are almost the same price as a 15.6 inch laptop.

As I mentioned earlier an older netbook (from Samsung or Toshiba) would appear to fit your requirements. Just make sure to get one with 2GB of memory, not 1GB and use a lightweight distro.

Example:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/TOSHIBA-NB50...gAAOSwcBhWXvus

I run mx-15 off a live persistent usb on my acer 720. that way I get all the startup/speed benefits of chromebook when I want it, and on those rare occasions when I need it do something more, the liveusb is handy.

http://www.mepiscommunity.org/wiki/m...720-chromebook


that said, a machine similar to the chromebooks is really what you want. i also have a lenovo s21e that is quit similar hardware wise, but without all the hassle of a chromeos installation in your way. similar price range. I honestly wonder if these things started as chromebooks but then lenovo decided to make windows machines out of the hardware.

http://www.mepiscommunity.org/wiki/h...ips-and-tricks

No, these are the Lenovo equivalent of the HP Streambook. Chromebook priced hardware with Windows 10. Microsoft specifically has been making deals with Windows licenses for manufacturers in order to compete with Chromebooks. They still get license $$$, but it's a pittance, and are basically giving the Windows license to the manufacturers to try to stem the tide of Chromebooks.