Asus Chromebook C302 with Android Apps

I got an Asus Chromebook 302 that comes with an Intel core m3, 64Gb, 4Gb of memory.

Some problems I got on my device:

After I enabled the android app store the laptop started to reboot randomly. I tried removing the apps and switching chrome os channels, but it did not fix the problem.

So I decided to create a recovery SDCard using chrome recovery utility. I re-imaged the laptop with the SD card, using the instructions from the chrome recovery utility.

After that the laptop booted in stable channel, I update the laptop to the latest stable image.

List of Applications I am running:

Pandora, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Messenger, Hangouts, Play Newsstand, Hangouts Dialer, Calendar, Photos, Npr One, Voxer, Twilight, Firefox, Youtube, Google wifi, Hipchat, 3Dmark.

Here is a screenshot running 23 Android applications at same time.

This is screen shot running twilight, for those of us missing a blue light filter.

3DMark and Octane

The score below is running in the ChromeOS dev channel. I only able to get octane scores between 15000-17000, but the machine still feels really fast.

UnKilled

Alto

The Asus Chromebook C302

This post was written on the Asus C302. I am very impressed with it and would highly recommend it.

Pros:

• Amazing performance,
• Very good build quality, a great keyboard, very nice screen, and just a premium solid feel to it
• Android apps on
• Great backlit keyboard (Mac-book Pro feel)
• Convertible
• Some Android apps like calendar, Pandora, photos, YouTube, Firefox support bigger screen, but most apps still don't, and these apps render in landscape or portrait more like they look on a phone, but without using the extra space of the big screen.
• I like the USB C cable and being able to charge the laptop from both sides, avoids awkward cables when the charger is on the wrong side, like my other laptops.
• Fanless, silent, love that.
• Charging is fast.

Cons:

• Android apps only support 2 sizes, full screen or phone size. In full-screen mode the majority of the apps are just a large super sized version of the phone version, offering very little extra functionality.

Ubuntu 12.04 on Lenovo Q150 with OCZ vertex 2 SSD and 4Gb of Memory

See my old post about about Lenovo Q150, OCZ vertex 2, 4gb of Memory and Ubuntu 11.04 installed on a SSD and using 4Gb of mem.

For ubuntu 12.04 on the Q150, I used a usbdrive flashed using "Startup Disk Creator" from ubuntu 11.10. to save the SSD from constant writes, I did not create a swap partition. I created only one partition and rely on 4Gb of real memory for all the memory needs.

Ubuntu 12.04 Desktop

This build detects all the hardware without problems, I recommend installing the nvidia drivers for better 3D and flash performance.


This new version boots faster and feels faster on the Q150 when compared to ubuntu 11.10.
I recommend the update since the install is a breeze and all hardware is setup without any fuzz. The sound, hdmi video out, wired network, wifi, a Logitech bluetooth keyboard, a usb wireless Logitech mouse, logitech usb sound bar speakers, blue-tooth dongle for the keyboard, all works great. I didn't found time to test hdmi sound out, but it should work since it worked on 11.10.

Software

I installed flash, chromium, banshee and hplip  for my wifi hp photosmart c8180 All-in-one printer using "Ubuntu Software center".

banshee and chromium

Hulu desktop

http://www.hulu.com/labs/hulu-desktop

Hulu Desktop

DropBox

https://www.dropbox.com/install?os=lnx

Dropbox and Google Music Manager

Google Music Manager 


https://play.google.com/music/listen


Select upload music, download 64 bit version, and double click on it to install it.

Also add it to startup from shutdown menu.

You can also get Google earth, chrome, gtalk plugin:

• http://www.google.com/chat/video/download.html
• https://www.google.com/chrome
• http://www.google.com/earth/download/ge/agree.html

Skype

run command:

sudo apt-get install skype

Since this is so basic, I don't think there is much more to write about Ubuntu 12.04 installation and compatibility with the Q150, it all works great.

Older Posts

•  Lenovo Q150, OCZ vertex 2, 4gb of Memory and Ubuntu 11.04  

• Lenovo Q150 pics 

• Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick on Lenovo Q150