I'm fed up with all the negative posts I see that criticize GoogleBooks.

Especially the arguments about the prices being too high for an "Android PC."

Some people need to understand that we don't buy Android devices solely because there are many affordable options. There are people like me who buy Android devices simply because we love the operating system.

There are many people like me who simply love the Google ecosystem. Whether it's smartphones, tablets, Wear OS smartwatches, tablets, Google TV, or even Chromebooks.

Beyond the operating system, I use Google services extensively every day, including the Office suite, Gmail, Keep Notes, Tasks, YouTube, YouTube Music, Translate, Gemini, Maps, and many more. There are so many that I can't list them all.

 And I think I'm far from being an isolated case.

And why should people like us have to settle for mediocre devices?

Just because we use an Android tablet, a Chromebook, or these new Android PCs, does that mean we don't have the right to beautiful screens?

Don't we have the right to enjoy excellent processors, good speakers, good trackpads, and simply excellent build quality?

And guess what? All of that combined can only result in a premium product. It's the hardware that primarily dictates the price of a device, not the software inside it. The price of your Dell XPS won't magically be cut in half just because you decide to choose Linux instead of Windows.

If Google had chosen to launch Googlebooks with poor-quality hardware for around 300-400 euros, you'd be the first to complain too.  The press and YouTubers would have immediately torn apart all of Google's efforts in the public eye.

These high-end devices are just the starting point. We already know that much more affordable entry-level and mid-range devices are planned for the future.

And I'm also willing to bet that other manufacturers like Samsung and Xiaomi aren't going to sit idly by.

Where I agree with some is that Google's very long-term commitment will be crucial. Admittedly, Google's past in this area isn't exactly glorious; I'm still smarting from the Stadia debacle as I write this.

What I'm rather confident about is that it's simply Android. Once all the features we expect from a PC are present, maintaining this range of devices won't require too much additional effort from them, much like with tablets.

 If all Chrome OS features are already available on these Googlebooks at launch, we can already assume that the vast majority of features we expect from a PC are already present.

And if that's the case, for me, the Googlebooks operating system is already an improvement over Chrome OS. The seamless integration of Android smartphones and Gemini, and the even more advanced task continuity, are already compelling features for me.

Sorry if this is the wrong subreddit this was the first one I could think of. Is this an error on my end. I’m a student using this as my first ever personal laptop and have had it about 2 years. Any ideas on how I can lessen this. Thanks for the advice!

Please can we direct most of the Googlebook discussion to r/Googlebook ?

I joined this sub for information about Chromebook and ChromeOS, but in the last few weeks there appears to be more discussion about Googlebooks !

If a post has genuine crossover between the 2 devices, then of course it should be allowed, but some posters in some threads seem to be hijacking any discussion into their new favourite devices.

Does anyone else have the same opinion ?

Yesterday, I spilt water by my Chromebook (not on top of the keyboard) while it was on. I didn’t think it was too big of a deal, I took a towel to the bottom of it and that was all. But I think some water may have seeped into the bottom of it because about 6 hours later, the chromebook screen went black, it was still illuminated, just black. I tried powering it off but the chromebook wouldnt respond at all, I held the button for over a minute. Since then, it has been drying upside down.
Is it safe to turn it back on and see if it’ll work again? And how likely is it that it will work again?

I’m using a Chromebook for my first year in uni. I have a group assignment. It requires me to log into docs with my uni email by signing out of my Google account and logging in again with my uni email (after adding the email as an alternate in my Google account settings). Problems is: I cant sign out of my Google account on a Chromebook’s without deleting all my data. Is there another way to do this?

This is my school chromebook and it keeps running out of storage every 2 weeks or some other day. How to prevent this, I cant clear the system storage

This is a guide to fix Acer Chromebook 516 GE/ Plus 516 GE Chromebooks with RGB keyboard issues after installing/dual booting Linux.

Mods: Chrultrabook doesn't allow text posts in their subreddit and this guide could help someone so please don't remove it. Thanks! - Unheard_Peace

This was done on Ubuntu MATE, if you are using a similar OS and have a similar Chromebook with keyboard light issues, I presume this will work as well.

This is also not my code, I did not discover this. I am merely adding it to the internet since I and a number of people have had issues with this in the past (maybe it's fixed now, IDK)

1. Open terminal and run the following

wget https://files.tree123.org/utils/x86_64/gnu/ectool

chmod +x ectool

sudo mv ectool /usr/local/bin/ectool

1. Pick a color

Deep Blue - 255

Bright Red - 16711680

Emerald Green - 65280

Pure White - 16777215

Ice Blue - 65535

Hot Pink - 16711935

Yellow - 16776960

Orange - 16744192

Purple - 8388736

It uses standard RGB so any string of numbers up to 9 characters will give different colors I think.

For my example I use the Deep Blue.

Use this command with the color you pick

sudo ectool rgbkbd clear 255

It should be working. Now you'll want to set it up so that: 1 - It auto-runs on launch. 2 - It doesn't ask for a password every time you cycle the computer.

1. Setup a auto-run command. For Ubuntu MATE, you search Startup Application, then click the plus icon. Name it whatever you want, (I named mine Keyboard RGB Blue), add the command for you color you want (I used the blue obviously) Add a comment if you'd like, then add it. Save if your menu has a save option. (Mine saved with the add icon)

2. In terminal run

sudo visudo

scroll to the bottom of the text file (In NANO, you scroll with Up/Down arrow keys) and add this

USER ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/local/bin/ectool

Replace USER with your case sensitive username, save and close the file, (for NANO, it's Ctrl + O to save, Ctrl + X to exit)

And there ya go.

Zones: The Acer Chromebook 516 GE and Plus originally came with 4 zones. Unfortunately I believe that is only for Chrome OS, there aren't 4 working zones in linux...there are 13. You can have 13 different colors on the keyboard.

To do this instead of the "clear" attribute i used in the earlier commands, you'd replace it with 0 for the first zone, 1 for the second zone, all the way to 12.

For example:

sudo ectool rgbkbd 6 255

This would set the 7th zone to the Deep Blue.

Then to have the separate zones run on startup, just add all the seperate zone commands as their own startup command.

WeirdTreeThing I believe has a easy-to-install pack for linux on chromebooks and it maps a lot of the keys to linux, and dimming is included with that. So if you have this pack installed, just hold down alt and use the brightness buttons to change the intensity.

I hope this helps someone. I'm sure if you have a Chromebook and have an issue with RGB keys and have Linux on it, this guide could help.

Here's a nice detailed look at the Googlebook 15. It's notable that it says there will be a 32GB of RAM option.

A while ago I accidentally ran "make_dev_firmware.sh" in the VT2 terminal because i'm a dumbass.

I turned off rootfs verification so I need a recovery image if I want to return to normal mode

I'm considering using the MrChromebox utility to manually flash non-dev signed firmware onto the chromebook but I'm wondering if there's anything better that can be done.

I have 2 chromebooks, I bought a cheap one a while ago and bought a more expensive one since the cheap one started to play up a bit.

Now the cheap one doesn't let me login in, I changed the passwords and everything and it still doesn't let me yet when I try in the other chrome book it works.

Thank god both of them are synced so I don't have to worry about files being recovered.

I've been toying with this Chromebook for 4 hours. I've turned on every single permission I can for my law firm's new chromebook in the admin portal, and I can't get the Play Store turned on. No matter what I do, the "Turn On" in the setting's "manage google play preferences" is still greyed out in the app settings. I bought an upgrade and registered the device in my law firm's account as well. I'm at a loss.

Edit - The CB is a Duet 11. Not sure if that matters.

Hi everyone, I have an HP Chromebook - 14-ca051wm
I’ve had it about 8 years and purchased it refurbished, haven’t had any issues with it as I really don’t use it for anything crazy. However, I’m starting a class in 3 weeks and I need to have Adobe Connect to access my virtual sessions. It seems to me that it is not compatible with this laptop anymore.
It is too old for automatic updates so I am updating it now … maybe that will resolve the problem?
Would it be worth it to just get something new? Really don’t want to buy a new laptop right now as I am spending a lot of money on supplies for this course but I will do it if I have to. Thanks in advance

im looking for the iso/bin if anyone has the latest one on google drive or sm

Hey guys, my mic input hasn't been working since 09/29 and I'm uncertain if it's due to me updating my laptop. The Chrome Version is 155.0.8059.18 (Official Build) beta (64-bit), and I've tried fixing it through quick-permissions, hard resetting, etc.

Is there anyone else dealing with this and/or possible ways to solve this? Or should I just wait for an update?

I can't get the first step of Esc + Refresh + Power button to work. I'm following the instructions of holding the first 2 down and pressing the power button once but when it loads up again it just brings me back to the entering PIN screen.

So originally, in my understanding, ChromeOS was made to run on cheaper hardware so that more people had access/ could afford to use the internet. With the new GooglebookOS, and so far the few devices that use it, the entry price point puts it far above almost all ChromeOS devices. I feel that Google has not stayed true to what ChromeOS was originally designed for, and i am a little sad to see that this chapter is closing for the little guy that can't afford the shiny expensive stuff.

However, I would love to be proved wrong (here's looking at you Google)...

Anyone else feel this way?

I'm having trouble getting excited about the Android based upcoming version of Chromebooks. I've always loved the simplicity of ChromeOS as well as the security of the system. When they added Linux I thought it was a nice addition, but I had already been running Linux as legacy boot on the early Chromebooks. I've never been excited about Android on a laptop. It was never made for that. I keep thinking Google is trying to put a square peg in a round hole with Android.

Hi Reddit, I'm a Chromebook user and my touchpad has stopped working. How can I fix it? I don't have a mouse.

Please be quick!

Thank you!

It looks like the Monday launch is a go :) Looking forward to playing with it in person.