I was an early proponent of the Chromebook. I put my wife into an Acer C720 years ago to replace an aging laptop. Her former laptop had slowed to a crawl, had a weak battery, and was large and clunky. Her new C720 had the always-on feeling of the iPad that we'd grown accustomed to. It was quick, responsive, had amazing battery life, and was easy to manage.
At the time, Chromebooks were a tad limited. They hadn't even gotten off-line apps yet. Since then, the Chromebook has been her only computer around the house. I used a Raspberry Pi to set up Google Cloud Print, so printing from the Chromebooks, any computer on the network, or even our phones is simple.
The addition of offline apps was meaningless to us, since it is always connected to WiFi. But I have been following the developments in the Chromebook ecosystem with regards to Android apps and now Linux compatibility.
Linux has always been an option for Chromebook users through Crouton. I did that once to try it out on my wife's C720, but quickly realized that for her, the stability of being on a stock system outweighed my desire to run Linux on the go. Especially since there were ssh apps available, and that's usually all I'm looking for to remotely check on my systems.
Android app compatibility was too recent for the aging C720. I primarily used an iPad for web surfing on the couch and for some limited ssh-ing to my servers. I did have an eye out for a good Chromebook the last couple of years, mostly to use a keyboard for things like blogging or editing wikis. This can be done on the iPad, but the touchscreen keyboard is lacking. Good for short bits, but if you want to do any serious writing or sysadmin stuff, you need a real keyboard, even if it's a slightly scaled down version on a little laptop.
My requirements for a Chromebook were it needed to be quick, I wanted 4gb of ram, a high resolution touch screen, and Android apps. The Samsung Chromebook Plus and Pro caught my eye as they were both well reviewed, supported Android out of the box, and had a universally lauded screen in the much more web-friendly 3:2 aspect ratio.
A confluence of Linux app support and a 25% off a single item eBay coupon led me to pull the trigger on the Chromebook Plus. The Pro, with its Intel processor, had been my preferred, but Linux came to the Plus first.
I couldn't be happier with my purchase. The screen is as amazing as everyone says. It's a high resolution touchscreen that has no visible pixels, wide viewing angles, and is very responsive to touch.
I was concerned that the ARM processor in the Plus was going to be a hindrance, since it benchmarks well below most Intel processors. I can say, after having used it for a few weeks now, the ARM processor in here is plenty fast for most things. The only time I have noticed it appear to slow down is running large Linux programs that are processor intensive, such as Firefox.
Since I mention Firefox, yes you can run the Linux version on the Chromebook, for a totally through the looking glass experience. However, as I mention, it ran really slow. Since the Linux programs are running in a native environment as part of Chrome, really the only potential bottleneck is the CPU here.
All the other Linux programs I've tried run, and you're even able to tunnel X through ssh, so you can run a program on a remote computer and see the window drawn locally on the Chromebook.
Since the Plus does have an ARM processor, some Linux programs aren't available. All the utilities and fairly "simple" programs I've tried were all in the repositories. Since this uses the Debian repositories, you'll be hard pressed to find software not available. The only Linux apps I have found absent are emulators for older game systems. This isn't surprising since a lot of those use processor specific code to speed up emulation.
The surprising thing for me is how many Android apps I'm using. Again, most all Android apps should be supported. Since this runs the same ARM processor family as most Android phones, there should be virtually no Android apps not available. However, with a couple of apps, I have found they won't install through the Google Play Store. This is probably due to slight version differences. I had similar compatibility problems with early Android tablets and occasionally when I ran a Nexus phone. Sometimes being on the bleeding edge of the software system means that developers haven't kept up.
With the old C720, I found that the Chromebook could do probably 85-90% of my average portable computing needs. With the advent of Android apps, I'd say this Chromebook can easily fulfill 98% of my needs. Add in the ability to run native Linux apps and tunnel X through ssh, this thing can meet all my needs. I can even use it as a daily "main" computer.
As much as I thought going into it that I'd run a lot of Linux software, the truth is that I run either web-based, native Chrome apps, or Android apps for most everything.
The Plus also has only USB-C connectors. This is great for charging, since you can use either port to charge it. However, unless you happen to have USB-C mice and other accessories, you'll need an adapter or a hub. Neither solution is particularly handy on-the-go. You also do not get an HDMI output. Again, that has to go through the USB-C.
The good news is that the USB-C works great, plug and play, with a cheap USB-C laptop accessory hub. I haven't tried the HDMI output, but the USB type A ports, the gigabit Ethernet, and the card reader on the hub worked immediately and without fail.
The Plus has a screen that folds back so you can use it like a tablet. The on-screen keyboard is adequate when you're in tablet mode. However, it is a big screen, so it's a big keyboard. It's thus kind of hard to type on. Decent enough to search for an app, enter a username or password, or type in a web address, but you'll appreciate the physical keyboard. The tablet experience of Chrome OS is nice, but I find I revert to the laptop form factor for most everything, which isn't a bad thing.
As long as you keep your expectations in check (no editing video or AAA gaming), I think the Chromebook is all most people need. I wouldn't even consider one without a touchscreen and a folding "360 degree" hinge nor getting one that doesn't support Android apps.
