Marginally relevant - are ARM Chromebooks any good for development? I've been considering getting a Samsung Chromebook 2 when it comes out, but I'm concerned that important software won't be available for ARM.

Anyone running crouton on an ARM Chromebook care to comment?

Not everyone in non-Western countries wants to leave...

When you fear for your life your decisions may be different than if you didn't.

Are you suggesting that all non-Western countries civilians are living in fear for their life? This is a new level of ignorance. Even if you just meant Vietnam, believe or not, a lot of things have changed in the last few decades.

He's clearly not saying that, but talking about this one specific individual.

My Point:

No. Not everyone in "non-Western countries" wants to move to a "Western country." That being said, someone that may not normally want to relocate to a "Western country" may have a desire to do so if they have significant fear of their life in their own country.

I don't think he really feared for his life, what seems much more likely, especially given his statements about the media, is that he thought that people were being complete dicks, so he took his ball and left.

Works for me.

It was easier for him to kill a hobby project than to relocate to another country.

Does using crouton have any impact on battery life?

I've been looking into buying a Chromebook for some backpacking I'll be doing in Southeast Asia this summer. The portability and battery life are a big plus, and I like that the devices are cheap enough that I wouldn't have to worry about it getting damaged. However, I've also been considering getting an iPad mini instead.

Anyone with experience traveling with these devices care to share some input? Specifically, would a Chromebook still be useful (and worth the weight) if I might only have WiFi a couple times per week?

That is another big plus for the Chromebook. They steal it and you're out $249, though in dev mode you're unsecured.

But...

My Samsung charger is a brick. Not sure about Asus. Battery life on ARM is 4-5 hrs, Intel better at 5-7hrs, but still no match against the tablets.

For portability, you may be better off with a smaller tablet: Nexus 7 or iPad mini plus keyboard.

I would give the edge to Android for easy access to the filesystem unless you jailbreak iOS.

My Nexus 7 also runs vim with plugins: https://github.com/momodalo/vimtouch_fullruntime, Firefox and BitTorrent Sync same as the chromebook.

Running vim on a Nexus 7 is a dream; the only hassle is pairing the bluetooth keyboard (another thing to carry with AAA batteries) and a OTG cable dongle if you transfer files to usb flash.

It sends/receives files with NFC, bluetooth, BTSync and USB flash drives via Nexus Media Importer http://nexususb.blogspot.com/2012/08/welcome.html

My iPad can't do that.

It all depends what you want to do with the device.

One thing i like about tablets though is they are quick data capture devices: secondary camera, Swype like virtual keyboard faster that typing and paint/sketching.

Imagine trying to swivel a Chromebook's stanky front facing VGA cam to take a picture if your camera lost power.

If you're travelling that may be a consideration.

Thanks for the thoughtful response! You bring up some good points - I hadn't considered the weight of the charger.

The HP Chromebook takes a microusb charger.