Linus Torvalds really likes Google's Chromebook Pixel
Linus Torvalds, Linux's primary creator, may have come to terms, reluctantly, with GNOME 3 for his Linux desktop, but what he really likes is his "new Google 'Pixel' laptops (aka Chromebooks)."
To be exact, he likes being one of the "cool kids" with a Chromebook Pixel because It has "a beautiful screen." I can't argue with that. It's what I love about the Chromebook Pixel too.
Torvalds added that the display is so nice that "suspect I'll make this my primary laptop. I tend to like my laptops slightly smaller, but I think I can lug around this 1.5kg monster despite feeling fairly strongly that a laptop should weigh 1kg or less." Why compromise on weight? "Because the screen really is that nice."
It's not just the screen; he also likes "the form factor. I despise wide-screen displays, but I had gotten resigned to them. Until now. 3:2, baby!"
For the time being, he's also going to be "running Chrome OS on this thing, which is good enough for testing out some of my normal work habits (i.e. reading and writing email)." Torvalds has long liked Chrome OS's interface.
Eventually, though, he expects "to install a real distro on this ... For a laptop to be useful to me, I need to not just read and write email, I need to be able to do compiles, have my own git repositories etc.." It's been possible to install Linux in place of Chrome OS on Chromebooks or to set it up to dual-boot a mainstream Linux distribution, such as Ubuntu, with Chrome OS for over a year now.
Torvalds concluded: "One thing that the Chromebook Pixel really brings home is how crap normal laptops have become. Why do PC manufacturers even bother any more? No wonder the PC business isn't doing well, when they stick to just churning out more crappy stuff and think that "full HD" (aka 1080p) is somehow the epitome of greatness."
High price-tag and all, it's clear that at least one top developer has decided that the Chromebook Pixel is exactly the laptop he needs. I wonder how many others -- especially considering the included free terabyte of Google Drive cloud storage -- will decide that $1,299 isn't too much for a top-of-the-line laptop, especially one that doesn't come with Windows 8 Secure Boot impairing its functionality.
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