Thinking about picking a Chromebook (Pixelbook?). Been using macOS almost exclusively for the last decade but I'd rather not have to use that abomination of a keyboard anymore. Any particular reason I should/shouldn't choose a Chromebook over a MacBook?
You only need a laptop for taking notes on meetings, occasionally SSHing and reading emails. . Either is fine
Either is fine. My boss used pixelbook and coded on Google's cloud editor (which has offline support too), and I used MacBook with Sublime. You have to ssh into your server and mount a virtual drive on your laptop for accessing the code though, since storing code on laptops violates the policy.
What do u do for CZI? Do they have much engineering needs? Are engineers treated as second tier (after investments professionals)?
I migrated to a PixelBook a few months ago and I'm using it for 99% of my work. I connect it to a 30" monitor, keyboard and mouse and SSH into a Linux VM whenever needed.
I use a Pixel book as a daily laptop. It's great. So light and the battery lasts all day. Protip...use tablet mode to quickly read morning email. Swiping is awesome
Any benefits of MBP compared to Pixelbook?
Not really.
Depends on how many apps you use outside of Chrome, I guess. The good thing is at Google they encourage you to try pixelbook, and if it doesn't work out, you can always switch back to a MacBook (iirc)
What's wrong with the keyboard? Sure the butterfly switches have a higher failure rate but for a corporate laptop that shouldn't matter since the company would replace it. Shallow key travel would be about the same between MBP and Pixelbook.
Do you use one? It's terrible, dust gets randomly stuck in there and keys stick or feel wobbly. Can't get a replacement every time that happens or Google would go broke, lol.
Yeah I use the 13 inch touch bar mbp right now. It had battery issues in the beginning but high Sierra fixed that. No problems with the keyboard. Also debating pixelbook vs MacBook as a fellow noogler.
I also gave up using apple when I joined Google for the same reason. However, instead of chromebook I chose a Linux thinkpad and it's the best work laptop I've used so far. The keyboard is great for coding, very comfortable typing. it's super quiet and lightweight. I don't want to switch to chromebook also because of keyboard. it doesn't have keys I use often, like Home, End, pg up/down and function keys, and I don't want to memorize key combos to simulate these functions. If you don't use those, chromebook should be fine for you. In any case, unless your job requires using a very specific local app, you'll be fine with any platform. Engineers have a desktop for actual development and remote work is done by ssh-ing into the desktop, you can't download code into your laptop. for office apps, we obviously only use gdocs so it's all on the browser.
Have been using PixelBook for a few months - pretty good performance for EPM/PM and it looks cool too.
Thinking about getting a Pixelbook with the deal going on, has the recent Linux app support made it better for local development
Can't install an IDE or editor like vscode without hacking it to bits lol
vscode is shit anyways. And I don't think you can use an IDE on your laptop at Google?
Really lol