Should I buy a chromebook for linux?

So at my local used game/tech store there is a first gen Samsung Chromebook that they cant sell that I could get for 75$, Is it worth it? I will probably use just as a school/project laptop and try to get into crouton development if I get it or just my own projects. It seems like a interesting project to get to see how things go. I have already dabbled quite a bit into Linux so i figured it would progress my knowledge further.

unless your just going to be using that chromebook for simple operations such as web designing and seeing videos/blogs/emails & other web activities... dont expect to game on it haha. yeah i would recommend it. its clean. light and very portable :D

If it were an Acer C710 I would demand you jump on it but.....

No, just go to a parts depot and buy a barebones Pentium M laptop if you want a project. I recommend the HP NW8000.

I use a Chromebook Pixel with Arch as my school laptop. Setting everything up can be hard and you will run into issues. For example:

  • If you close the lid it will shut down even when it is told to sleep when the lid closes.
  • If you run out of battery it will forget that you enabled SeaBIOS and will shut you out of Linux and you will lose everything.
  • Because of that ^ I recommend that you dual boot Linux & Chrome OS if you have enough storage because if it locks you out of Linux you will have to reinstall chrome os and will lose your Linux distribution.
  • The keyboard only goes up to F10 and there is no Super key
  • Getting the touch screen to work well is a bit of challenge depending on the model.
  • Some Chromebooks don't have SeaBIOS so you either can't install Linux on them or you have to flash it SeaBIOS
  • I have had some issues with screen brightness, keyboard backlight, and fan speed.

So before you do I would research it a ton and look into issues and their fixes

why did you buy a pixel? aren't they really expensive despite being made purely for web surfing and document writing etc?

I got it used and super cheap, and I am in love with the amazing screen. I love the build and LTE Capability.

I found on craigslist a c720 for about 100$, might jump on that because it has a broadwell processor and can replace chrome OS with Linux easily. They have these at my school for people who don't bring their own device and they feel decent, better then the Samsung but thicker which I have no problem with because it is very light. Also yes I will be using for coding and some web design with brackets.

EDIT: C720 was sold

wow really, how much did you get it for? it's such an awesome machine, just not worth the money by any means

Five hundred bucks, I so far don't regret it, it just is so pretty and fun to use.