How do Chromebooks work so well with insanely low specs

[Dreamer758]

I just bought a cromebook to web browse and watch movies when im not my PC and I just found out it only has a dual core cpu at 1.1 GHZ 4GB DDR4 INTEL HD500 no deticated vram 1080p display. This replaced my old 06 macbook with a core 2 duo at 2.33GHZ 4GB DDR2 ATI x1600m  256mb dedicated GDDR3 1050p 16:10 display and the cromebook runs wayyy smoother when web browsing and loading apps yet the macbook has deticated gpu and faster cpu i mean 1.1 Ghz how does that even work?????

[NunoLava1998]

It's Android changed to make a desktop experience.

[Sauron]

6 minutes ago, Dreamer344 said:

the macbook has deticated gpu and faster cpu i mean 1.1 Ghz how does that even work?????

Your macbook has worse specs than the chromebook in every way. CPU frequency is just one parameter, by itself it means nothing and the core 2 in your macbook is over 13 years old. The dedicated GPU also doesn't mean much, it's still most likely slower than the iGPU in the chromebook. Your macbook also probably has a hard disk whereas your chromebook has a much faster ssd, which helps load things much faster.

 

On top of that, the OS is very light, which helps - but the main reason it's better than your macbook is that it has better hardware.

[GoodBytes]

Chromebook "cheats". That is the reason.

 

• GPU rendering interface. Windows is transitioning to this, but most programs are CPU rendered. This is not a limitation of Windows; this is developer chose. GPU rendered framework exists even from Microsoft, but things aren’t simple. A LOT of work needs to be done, and these newer frameworks might not YET fit the needs of some complex program’s requirements. And many programs choose to have its own look, and make its own in house GUI framework, which is CPU based as it is much easier to make, and has guaranteed support with all systems. Now if you wonder why interfaces where made in using the CPU since day1, well GPUs where, for a massive amount of years way to expensive let alone exists. Many computers only has a video output card of sorts, where the CPU would do all the work, and the card could accelerate some things, liek videos, but mostly was dumb and just outputing what it gets, especially on the typical computer grade computer. Heck, when Vista was released in 2006, if you didnt' have a gaming card, the interface could not be rendered by the basic GPU used on most systems, and if it could, it was very demanding for it. Of course, hardware quickly catched up, luckally, and by the time Win7 was out, I think everyone was and could use Aero, even on an Intel integrated graphics. 
   
• No legacy stuff to carry. ChromeOS doesn't have legacy systems for backward compatibility that it needs to carry with it. If Windows does this, the end of the world will ensue online, and people will reject the OS because their 90's program stop working. This is a big issue in Windows world, and to some extent MacOS. ChromeOS doesn't care. It doesn't need to load old driver models, translation layers for these legacy systems, old framework for programs, etc... so things are slim and light for ChromeOS. But run Android apps on it... and that experience will fall apart. Android apps are slow and jerky, things feel like... well... if you installed Windows on it, as now it needs to load that old legacy crap with it fro Android. And it is also a reason why this feature is only on some Chromebooks... Not all can run Android apps, you are just blocked. So yea, you could get a Core i5 or whatever ChromeBook, and now Android app will run great! But now you are spending just as much as a Windows system... might as well get Windows and you can do more, and have the same fast and responsive experience.
   
• We have lots of RAM. These days, RAM is cheap and in large quality. So, the more things are loaded in RAM, the faster things get. Many years ago, you were spending over $200 just to get some typical specs 64MB RAM module. Today, you can get some massive amount, and nice and fast ones too, and still have money aside, and that is not even considering inflation. The result is that the OS loads pretty much itself into RAM. So, you don't care about the slow HDD or eMMC the Chromebook might be using.  And there is nothing to compare with. In modern Windows, Microosft has to pull a balance act. The more RAM you have, the more it will load things into it. But it won't load itself completely because people will freak out on where their RAM went, and how WIndows is bloated.
   
• Select hardware support and embedded drivers. Chromebook doesn't run on anything and everything. Like Android, it is picky with its hardware. Windows runs on any of the billions of combinations of hardware possible. To show the flexibility of of Windows 10: People got it running on Raspberry Pi, Pixel Phone, Nintendo Switch, Lumia 950 (even setup a dual screen setup with 2 phones), OnePlus 6T and more, despite the complete lack of any drivers. ChromeOS... not so much. And ChromeOS, like Android, it's drivers are baked in into the OS. You can't just go to some web site, download driver updates and install it... you are stuck with the manufacture embedding the newer version of the drivers in the OS, and deliver that update to you as a firmware, or wait for Google to release its new version of the OS which contains newer version of drivers for the supported hardware baked in. Sadly, having what Windows offers means, layers, means complex and demanding system resources, and that translate to performance losses.
  
  So, you pick. New game out, get the latest Nvidia/AMD drivers with specific game optimization and enjoy a great experience. Or, get a game, wait several months, and now you have the OS update to enjoy the game with the best experience.

 

• And lastly, ChromeOS, can't do much... it is a very basic, barebone OS. It might do what you need, and that is fine... that is the point of it. But asking to do what you can in Windows, or Linux based OS like Ubuntu, or even OSX, you just can't...

 

In the end, there is no magic. If you extract a large ZIP file, it will be just as slow (more or less) than on Windows for the same hardware. Slow CPUs doesn't magically go faster. Any other CPU centric tasks will be limited by it. Same for GPUs.. you can't play AAA games at max setting (let alone any games beside mobile ones, and even then... good luck running Fortnight for example) under ChromOS with the mentioned specs. Same story if you installed Windows.

[GoodBytes]

1 hour ago, NunoLava1998 said:

It's Android changed to make a desktop experience.

Incorrect, it i a new completly different OS.

[Trik'Stari]

Just wait until the system board and battery decide they don't like each other anymore.

 

Battery will work in another of the same model, and the systemboard will accept a new battery, but put the old battery back in and it will just not see it lol.

 

At least tell me it isn't a Dell chromebook.

[Sauron]

10 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

Incorrect, it i a new OS from the round up.

Isn't ChromeOS based on Gentoo?

[Tamesh16]

13 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

ChromeOS, can't do much

this is the main thing if we are being honest 

[GoodBytes]

6 minutes ago, Sauron said:

Isn't ChromeOS based on Gentoo?

Highly modified? It is actually based on ChromiumOS, and that is based on Gentoo distro, which is a Linux distro, yes.

But you can't do what you can on Gento in ChromeOS.

 

[Sauron]

1 hour ago, GoodBytes said:

But you can't do what you can on Gento in ChromeOS.

Of course, I'm just saying it's not really built from scratch

[mr moose]

7 hours ago, WikiForce said:

Because it's not bloated like Windows

That's like saying a sports car is faster because it isn't a truck.

 

Different OS with different capabilities and approaches to their usage.

[SenKa]

Writing this from a Chromebook:

 

ChromeOS is very limited in what it can do natively. I am on build 73, and it does not appear like I'm getting 75, so I cannot pledge to the Android apps compatibility or the Linux apps compatibility/usage.

 

In all simpleness, as @GoodBytes, ChromeOS has the same benefit macOS has. Neither OS has over 30 years of backwards compatibility to carry on its back. Because of this fact, it's easier and simply more possible to optimize.

 

ChromeOS is still relatively young, and still has bugs, but I could see it being the future of office and educational computing. The latter is already true.

[Teddy07]

@GoodBytes

Just wanted to say great posts! You know your stuff!

[MrFixitBlankFace]

My problem is the storage.

 

The usual is only 32GB of storage (tablet level)

[Mbowen]

L I N U X

[Sauron]

2 hours ago, comander said:

I don't believe so.

My understanding (which is likely off and based on public knowledge), which is likely off is as follows:
Goobuntu = Ubuntu Based Google Linux (deprecated)
GLinux = Debian based Google Linux
Android = Android
ChromeOS = Its own thing with influences from Ubuntu (Google contracted people from Canonical to contribute) and Android

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrome_OS

 

Well, the gentoo wiki says it's built using portage and the gentoo chroot utility, which considering how gentoo works makes it pretty close to being a gentoo fork and the wikipedia article you linked seems to agree:

Quote

Chrome OS is built on top of the Linux kernel. Originally based on Ubuntu, its base was changed to Gentoo Linux in February 2010.^[93]. In preliminary design documents for the Chromium OS open source project, Google described a three-tier architecture: firmware, browser and window manager, and system-level software and userland services.^[94]

 

[Dreamer758]

On 4/14/2019 at 9:00 AM, GoodBytes said:

Chromebook "cheats". That is the reason.

 

• GPU rendering interface. Windows is transitioning to this, but most programs are CPU rendered. This is not a limitation of Windows; this is developer chose. GPU rendered framework exists even from Microsoft, but things aren’t simple. A LOT of work needs to be done, and these newer frameworks might not YET fit the needs of some complex program’s requirements. And many programs choose to have its own look, and make its own in house GUI framework, which is CPU based as it is much easier to make, and has guaranteed support with all systems. Now if you wonder why interfaces where made in using the CPU since day1, well GPUs where, for a massive amount of years way to expensive let alone exists. Many computers only has a video output card of sorts, where the CPU would do all the work, and the card could accelerate some things, liek videos, but mostly was dumb and just outputing what it gets, especially on the typical computer grade computer. Heck, when Vista was released in 2006, if you didnt' have a gaming card, the interface could not be rendered by the basic GPU used on most systems, and if it could, it was very demanding for it. Of course, hardware quickly catched up, luckally, and by the time Win7 was out, I think everyone was and could use Aero, even on an Intel integrated graphics. 
   
• No legacy stuff to carry. ChromeOS doesn't have legacy systems for backward compatibility that it needs to carry with it. If Windows does this, the end of the world will ensue online, and people will reject the OS because their 90's program stop working. This is a big issue in Windows world, and to some extent MacOS. ChromeOS doesn't care. It doesn't need to load old driver models, translation layers for these legacy systems, old framework for programs, etc... so things are slim and light for ChromeOS. But run Android apps on it... and that experience will fall apart. Android apps are slow and jerky, things feel like... well... if you installed Windows on it, as now it needs to load that old legacy crap with it fro Android. And it is also a reason why this feature is only on some Chromebooks... Not all can run Android apps, you are just blocked. So yea, you could get a Core i5 or whatever ChromeBook, and now Android app will run great! But now you are spending just as much as a Windows system... might as well get Windows and you can do more, and have the same fast and responsive experience.
   
• We have lots of RAM. These days, RAM is cheap and in large quality. So, the more things are loaded in RAM, the faster things get. Many years ago, you were spending over $200 just to get some typical specs 64MB RAM module. Today, you can get some massive amount, and nice and fast ones too, and still have money aside, and that is not even considering inflation. The result is that the OS loads pretty much itself into RAM. So, you don't care about the slow HDD or eMMC the Chromebook might be using.  And there is nothing to compare with. In modern Windows, Microosft has to pull a balance act. The more RAM you have, the more it will load things into it. But it won't load itself completely because people will freak out on where their RAM went, and how WIndows is bloated.
   
• Select hardware support and embedded drivers. Chromebook doesn't run on anything and everything. Like Android, it is picky with its hardware. Windows runs on any of the billions of combinations of hardware possible. To show the flexibility of of Windows 10: People got it running on Raspberry Pi, Pixel Phone, Nintendo Switch, Lumia 950 (even setup a dual screen setup with 2 phones), OnePlus 6T and more, despite the complete lack of any drivers. ChromeOS... not so much. And ChromeOS, like Android, it's drivers are baked in into the OS. You can't just go to some web site, download driver updates and install it... you are stuck with the manufacture embedding the newer version of the drivers in the OS, and deliver that update to you as a firmware, or wait for Google to release its new version of the OS which contains newer version of drivers for the supported hardware baked in. Sadly, having what Windows offers means, layers, means complex and demanding system resources, and that translate to performance losses.
  
  So, you pick. New game out, get the latest Nvidia/AMD drivers with specific game optimization and enjoy a great experience. Or, get a game, wait several months, and now you have the OS update to enjoy the game with the best experience.

 

• And lastly, ChromeOS, can't do much... it is a very basic, barebone OS. It might do what you need, and that is fine... that is the point of it. But asking to do what you can in Windows, or Linux based OS like Ubuntu, or even OSX, you just can't...

 

In the end, there is no magic. If you extract a large ZIP file, it will be just as slow (more or less) than on Windows for the same hardware. Slow CPUs doesn't magically go faster. Any other CPU centric tasks will be limited by it. Same for GPUs.. you can't play AAA games at max setting (let alone any games beside mobile ones, and even then... good luck running Fortnight for example) under ChromOS with the mentioned specs. Same story if you installed Windows.

Very imformative and it actually makes a lot of sense combined with what @Sauron said the hardware is a lot newer. In terms of gameing yea i agree i tried pubg for shits and giggles not great but i already have a gaming PC bought the cromebook for web browsing HULU HBO ect (becuase 720p youtube was already a struggle for my old mac)  and ordering stuff at family members house because they dont get computers. New macbook $1,299 New metal cromebook $299 so i went with the cromebook build quality oviously not the same but the 1080p ips display and aluminum frame is great for the price

[Dreamer758]

On 4/14/2019 at 9:06 AM, Trik'Stari said:

Just wait until the system board and battery decide they don't like each other anymore.

 

Battery will work in another of the same model, and the systemboard will accept a new battery, but put the old battery back in and it will just not see it lol.

 

At least tell me it isn't a Dell chromebook.

no I got an acer cromebook 15 the aluminum one