Chromebook for Solus - need recommendation

WetGeek

My wife has killed another laptop. Well, maybe that's not quite fair, but she's gone through a lot of them. I think this one simply died while she was using it.

My wife is a senior who is not the least bit technical. A Chromebook would serve her well, I think, but the ChromeOS will not. She loves playing games like Spider solitaire, Shisen-sho, and Mahjongg all day, but is not interested in typical Internet games.

After the last time her computer died -- or was killed -- I ordered a Chromebook for her, but not only did it not come with any games, it couldn't even connect with our wi-fi, so we couldn't get it online at all. I had to return it, and let her use a spare laptop of mine.

This tiime I'd like to try another Chromebook, but I'm looking for a recommendation from the forum. I need a Chromebook that I know I can install Solus on. I assume any good quality machine will have decent wi-fi, but I'm not interested in something that will run ChromeOS only. I assume it needs a 64-bit Celeron CPU?

Any ideas from the forum? Extra points for personal recommendations from folks now running Solus on a Chromebook!

tomscharbach

WetGeek A Chromebook would serve her well, I think, but the ChromeOS will not.

The whole point of a Chromebook is ChromeOS.

A reality check you probably won't like:

(1) Installing any Linux OS on a Chromebook is difficult and usually doesn't work well. I've did it for a friend about 18 months ago and don't recommend it unless you are a masochist.

(2) Chromebooks are nothing special unless you want a 16/32 GB eMMc drive or non-standard hardware that doesn't play well with Linux drivers for some reason.

(3) Any number of low-end laptops (Celeron/Pentium, 4 GB RAM, 64 GB drive) from reputable manufacturers with Intel components that will run Solus acceptably are available at the low-end Chromebook price point. Best Buy, for example, lists a half dozen brand new ASUS laptops at under $200 US today, and Dell is selling a brand new Inspiron 15 3000 laptop on limited quantity special for $199 US today (by the time you find it, it will be sold out). The Dell Outlet sells Dell-refurbished Inspirons at a Chromebook price point.

My advice: Buying a Chromebook with the intention of shoehorning Solus onto it is going to be nothing but trouble. Better alternatives exist. Much better alternatives.

I will otherwise stay out of this discussion,

[deleted]

WetGeek Why a Chromebook? Why not a PC? I very recently bought a Micro$oft Surface Go Laptop for $349 from BestBuy. It has an intel i5 and 4GB of RAM, plenty faster than a Celeron/Chromebook, plus it's super easy to load on just about any version of Linux. You can either keep Windows 10/11 or dispense with it all together.

fvlserevere

Hi. This guy https://www.reddit.com/user/MrChromebox/ does not recommend to buy a chromebook anymore in order to install whatever distro you like. He knows what he talks about. Some techy reasons about recent chromebook models (legacy firmware, sound drivers, etc) discourages potential linux users from installing any distro on it. Have a sight on this link https://mrchromebox.tech/#devices, perhaps you can decide from some info over there. But it seems, however, there are chances for running some distros on recent devices in some way. https://cb-linux.github.io/breath/ Hope this helps. Sorry me the poor language .
I Forgot to mention: I'm typing from a chromebox with coreboot installed from mrchromebox scripts for about years.

WetGeek

Thanks to everyone for your quick replies. You've got me convinced. One of the reasons I was considering a Chromebook was an assumption that it would be fairly lightweight, and easy for her to handle. But that may be a bad assumption.

I've decided to get her another regular laptop, probably a refurbished one that's a couple of years old. That should ensure that I can install Solus on it without waiting for the kernel to catch up with the newest components. She certainly would not benefit from the newest tech for her use case.

[deleted]

WetGeek I was needing a new computer, but didn't want to invest a lot in a really good Laptop, so I bought a very affordable one, which of course came pre-loaded with Windows 10. I'm not a fan of Micro$oft and then too this small Laptop I just bought doesn't have a lot of CPU power or storage capacity. Getting rid of Windows freed up a lot more usable space on the Drive and Linux is so much faster because it doesn't require nearly as much resources and processing power as Windows. So, now I have a nice new zippy little Laptop.

tomscharbach

@WetGeek A Celeron N4020 will run Solus acceptably (Solus ran okay on my now-dead Inspiron 3180 with an AMD A6 9220 CPU, which was the equivalent of a 2017-era Celeron), but Solus will run much better on a Pentium N5020 or an i3, which is all you need to run Solus Budgie with solid performance. Well worth the extra $50 or so you will pay. At this point, I really will stay out of this discussion, because I've told you everything I know.

[deleted]

tomscharbach I briefly had a small laptop with a Celeron processor, I bought it new off of Amazon, but the laptop battery would not take a charge or hold a charge, typical of a lot of Chinese made batteries. Anyway after only one day of use I returned it, got all my money back. It was $100 cheaper than the Micro$oft Surface Go laptop that I ended getting, but in the end I'm glad I got an i5 rather than a Celeron.

WetGeek

I was hoping to find something lighter for her, but in the end I ordered a refurbished Dell Latitude E5570. Except that it has an i5, and mine has an i7, they're very similar. It should handle her solitaire games without breaking a sweat, and I KNOW it will love Solus and will connect to our wi-fi without a problem.

It will be here Thursday, and she can get by with our little travel laptop until then.

wrefiyu

WetGeek 你考虑用容器吗
Would you consider using containers/for example doctor

WetGeek

wrefiyu Would you consider using containers/for example doctor

I'm sorry, but I don't understand what that means. Containers for what? My message was about a laptop that I bought for my wife.

Actually it arrived a day early. Yesterday I replaced Windows with Solus Plasma and added the games that she likes to play, and now she's quite happy with it.

zmaint

@WetGeek You might look at Lenovo. I got a pair of AMD/AMD Ideapad3's last year that were surplus/academic models (IE they made a ton for schools and had some left over that they released on the open market). Got them on Walmart.com for $350ish for blue and $400 for red. Might be worth a shot and see if you can find a similar deal. I immediately installed Solus Plasma on both and they've been fantastic for the price. Can even do some light gaming on them (like Shadowrun, CK2 speed stuff).

WetGeek

zmaint You might look at Lenovo.

Thanks for the recommendation. As it happens, I've already gotten her a refurbished (like new) DELL Latitude that's of fairly recent vintage for just over $200. The way she goes through laptops, I needed to keep it as low as I could for a usable machine. The Latitude is working well for her, with Solus Plasma replacing Windows 10 on its SSD moments after it arrived here.

tomscharbach

WetGeek The way she goes through laptops, I needed to keep it as low as I could for a usable machine.

LOL. I hope your wife doesn't frequent this forum, or you'll be eating mashed potatoes for a month. 😆

zmaint

WetGeek My wife goes through phones like it sounds like yours goes through laptops. 😆

WetGeek

tomscharbach you'll be eating mashed potatoes for a month

Not likely. I'm the cook in this family. 😃