[PLUG-TALK] Chromebook as laptop replacement [RESOLVED]

[Keith Lofstrom]

On Fri, Apr 16, 2021 at 01:33:36PM -0700, Rich Shepard wrote:
>I'm sure some folks here have experience with various flavors of
>chromebooks and I'd appreciate recommendations for a laptop replacemen.

Chromebooks and "laptops" are superficially similar for
superficial applications.   We use laptops running 
Scientific Linux for "real work" and secure interaction.
With SL and CentOS transitioning to uselessness, those
will probably transition to Debian or AlmaLinux over the
coming months.

Unfortunately, keeping up to date with Zoom and other
Chrome/Dodopaddle applications is very difficult with SL.
I do not want to bring any "free" closed-source applications
inside our security firewall, where our valuable data and
private client records reside.

So, I purchased a HP Chromebook on sale for $90.  With auto
updates and native Chrome apps, We treat it as a closed
source appliance rather than a computer, and store nothing
secure on it, besides passwords for Zoom and the like.

We connect it to the raw internet OUTSIDE the firewall,
and presume that Chrome will update itself, and handle
security threats.  If not, there will be a VASTLY bigger
problem worldwide, and strong incentives for others to
solve those problems.  If that happens, we stop using
Chrome apps, turn off the chromebook, and wait for a cure.

The Chromebook has a built-in camera and microphone; we
leave it closed when we aren't using it.  The camera is
pointed at the user and a curtain, and nothing else.  
When we use it without the camera, we flip some black
tape weighted with pennies over the lens.

Updates for a few years, then planned obsolescence, after
which I expect there will be interesting ways to repurpose
the Chromebook.  *IF* it physically survives that long,
which is indeed iffy.  I don't know how to crack it open
to upgrade or repair it - "crack" may be apropos. 

So, we treat the Chromebook as a $3/month (amortized)
utility, for very constrained objectives.  It is a
security threat, but less so than our portable phones.

-------

The actual cost is time; with the Chromebook sitting there,
we are tempted to fall into the social-media time-vampire
brain-rot universe.  Rich Shepard's friend may be a heavy
social media user, and that deserves re-consideration and
conscious planning as well. 

I am currently reading Cal Newport's "Digital Minimalism:
Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World".  You may see
less of me when I take the book's lessons to heart.  

Keith

-- 
Keith Lofstrom          keithl at keithl.com