Our Chrome OS trial comes to an end

For the last 2 years Chrome OS on a Pixelbook has been my primary setup for work. At Snapp Mobile we have been trialling Chrome OS as a potential option for developers.

Towards the end of 2019 I decided to leave the world of Chrome OS. Our hopes that we could move to Chrome OS as a platform for developers has been shelved. Here are some parting thoughts of my experience and hopes for the its future.

The state of Chrome OS

Over the last two years of using Chrome OS, I have seen some significant changes come to the OS. These have teased a promise of Chrome OS that goes beyond “just a browser”.

These are some highlights:

• Linux VM with the ability to install Linux desktop apps.
• Virtual desks (aka workspaces).
• Android Studio running on Chrome OS with Android apps deploying directly on the Pixelbook or on a device (without developer mode enabled).
• Better support in tablet mode (meaningful for 2-in-1 devices like the Pixelbook).

On top of that, Chrome OS also gets some other things very right.

• HDPI scaling and monitor support are excellent. (Given Chrome OS is Linux under the hood, they are ahead of the game compared to most Linux Desktop offerings.)
• Security is one of the hallmark features of Chrome OS with very limited access to the underlying Linux environment. Release 79 also include checking your password against a DB of stolen credentials.
• Stability has been good, almost excellent. There have been system crashes in the last 2 years, but not many — especially given the last year has been running in developer mode with Linux VM in Beta.
• Simplicity is perhaps the crowning feature. Chrome OS was initially ridiculed for just being a browser. However I think that creates a simplicity that makes Chrome OS very easy for most people.
• The Pixelbook device is fantastic. One of the best laptops I have owned.

There are also some blemishes, such as a raft of inconsistencies throughout the OS and the still rather awkward way that the Chrome Browser works as the primary UI (Tabs vs Windows, Drive vs File Manager, App vs Web etc).

Cause for Optimism

By mid 2019 it started to look like Crome OS could become a viable OS for technical folk like developers and admins. At Snapp we started to trial Chrome OS as an alternative to expensive unreliable Mac Book Pros. We were feeling bullish about the possibilities.

The ability to run a simple secure OS, Linux VMs and Android apps all on the same device was potentially a fantastic combination. It felt very natural to be able to build Android apps directly onto the computer. The ability to simply resize the window for an app was ideal when building fluid layouts.

Android Studio was becoming more stable . Linux Apps were generally running well. Beyond Android, the Flutter toolchain also ran well under Chrome OS. I wrote an article about how to setup Flutter tools on the Pixelbook.

What changed our minds?

The bubble of optimism burst with the release of the Pixelbook Go. If Chrome OS was to be a real option for developers, then there had to be suitable hardware. Today’s hardware choices are just not up to supporting daily tech work.

A developer on Chrome OS will be running up to 3 operating systems on their machine. The CPU will be pushed during code compilation. RAM is consumed by each OS. The Chrome browser itself is resource hungry. Add on top tools like Android Studio and you can start to see the problem.

Dell used to offer an “Enterprise Chromebook” with 32GB of RAM, the Latitude 5400. It looks like this is no longer available.

I was running the high-end Pixelbook and that was struggling. To be fair, that device was not intended for this sort of developer use-case, despite it’s very high price and good specs. Its strengths were being a small, a lightweight 2-in-1 machine with a touchscreen and pen support.

That being said, Juhani Lehtimäki has been using the Chromebox for his home-office with good results. Sadly nothing compares in the laptop form factor.

One option we haven’t explored is installing Chrome OS on the hardware of our choosing. This is an options offered by https://www.neverware.com which is essentially a fork of Chrome OS.

Where is Chrome OS headed?

On top of the lack of hardware we could not see a clear path for Chrome OS to be seriously pushed as a developer friendly OS.

The last two years of Google’s own hardware releases seem to be suggest a dissonance between the direction of the software and the direction of the hardware. A tablet (the Slate in 2018) and a mid-range laptop (the Go in 2019) do not indicate that Google is thinking about a developer-grade machine.

Personally I think the tablet form factor with Chrome OS makes no sense. I have never enjoyed using the Pixelbook in tablet mode — it just doesn’t seem to work.

However, without Google’s lead, others don’t seem to be heading towards more powerful hardware either. For example, Samsung’s CES 2020 announcement of the Galaxy Chromebook is encouraging for the Chrome OS ecosystem https://bit.ly/2Qu2SGK, but with a starting price of $999 with only 8GB of RAM. This puts it in the same price bracket as the amazing looking new Dell XPS 13!

On the other hand, Chrome OS is looking increasingly developer friendly. The Linux VM capabilities keep improving — although not yet out of beta, there is already talk of supporting different distributions https://bit.ly/36yBgGo.

Furthermore, it doesn’t sound like there has been a significant uptake of Chrome OS for development within Google. If the intent was to seriously target developers, Google would probably start at home (like it does with many of it’s software products and projects).

What’s next?

The options for life after Chrome OS are either going back to a Mac, trying Windows or diving into Linux.

Windows is the least likely option. I am still hoping that Microsoft get’s it act together and overhauls the OS — we need a healthy set of options and innovators in the OS space. Unfortunately today, Windows is just a mess.

Outside the world of Apple there is a ton of great hardware at great prices. However, Apple look to have done a really great job with their 16" Macbook Pro — at high-end pricing of course.

In the end I am still hopeful that Google puts its weight behind a developer-grade offering for Chrome OS. The elephant in the room is of course Fuchsia — maybe we will get to see more of Google’s intentions later this year.

TL;DR

At Snapp Mobile, we have been trialling Chrome OS as an alternative to expensive and unreliable Macbook Pros.

There are clear signs that Chrome OS has the potential to be a good option for developers. Unfortunately we have decided to pause our experiment for two reasons.

Firstly there are no developer-grade laptops available for Chrome OS. Even the high-end Pixelbook (or the newly launched Galaxy Laptop) aren’t intended for developers. It works but can be pretty sluggish.

Secondly it isn’t clear where Google is headed with Chrome OS. How deep and far their commitment to supporting development scenarios is not clear. The features to support education (it’s most successful market) and developers don’t have significant overlap.

We will keep an eye on the progress of Chrome OS and hopefully return to it in the future.