Hey folks,
On top of my desktop I currently own a 15" Late 2011 MacBook Pro, and I never use it. Too heavy... I no longer need portable performance to that extent. I have been thinking of giving it to my parents as they're currently using a 2007 MacBook, which is getting rather long in the tooth (Core 2 Duo, DDR2). The Pro would probably last them 5+ years.
Due to the annoyance of carrying the MBP (2.6kg + charger) at uni I normally just carry an iPad mini (can't take notes on a computer for astrophysics anyway). The thing that I *need* to be able to do on my portable device is access our campus' servers. The iPad does this fine and I can get all the PDFs. However the iPad is a terrible LaTeX editor (which I use for all my lab reports and papers etc.) and its programming capabilities are downright nonexistent.
I was therefore thinking of getting Google to subsidise a cheap laptop for me and then put Bodhi or Chrubuntu on it. Websites would probably run better than on my iPad, I can have a full TexLive installation and I see no reason why I couldn't run C++ and Python. (of course I wouldn't be using it for hardcore computational stuff. I can just use it to fiddle with programs when I'm on the move, test them and then run them on my desktop later).
For ~£240 (for the 4GB model) this seems like a pretty good deal, what do you guys think? (Part of the value is the fact that my parents would end up buying another mac probably this year (I can't convince them to buy a 'desktop' either, even though the laptop gets used in one place). As it currently stands the only real reason why I won't let go of my MacBook is the fact that I can't stand only having one computer in case one blows up - I haven't even turned it on for ~3 weeks!).
TL;DR Anyone have experience with this Chromebook when running linux for web, LaTeX and writing/testing code (C++ and Python)? Or just opinions on how it'd run?
Cheers,
Chris