ChromeOS

What hackers pick instead

• WindowsRecommended for running the software and games people depend on, day-to-day stability and solid underlying engineering, but critics widely object to Windows 11's ads, telemetry, forced accounts and UI regressions.1287recommend
• macOSRecommended for consistent keyboard shortcuts, strong security, tight Apple ecosystem integration and getting work done without fiddling, though critics cite recent bugs, CPU spikes, clunky window management and UI regressions.1041recommend
• LinuxA free, open-source OS praised for total control, stability and wide hardware and software support, especially on servers; desktop use can still take extra effort and debugging.745recommend
• HaikuA free BeOS-inspired desktop OS praised for being extremely fast and responsive with a clean, consistent UI, though many say it's not yet practical as a daily driver.115recommend
• NetBSDRecommended for running on almost any hardware, including old machines, with a clean, well-documented design, though support for modern hardware and drivers is weak.100recommend

Every quote

The 40 most detailed of 183 comments. Each links to the original.

1. The next step is just to move to security by design operating systems like ChromeOS where the user is not allowed to run any non-approved executables.

   Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “Ransomware Is Growing Three Times Faster Than the Spending Meant to Stop It”

2. ChromeOS is by default more lightweight than traditional Desktop OS's because of the relative lack of legacy cruft and the managed runtime.

   Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Google ending ChromeOS support two years early”

3. openSUSE, ChromeOS, Nix, Guix, and indeed, TinyCore all achieve the same goal with tooling that is about 1% of the size or complexity

   Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “PiCore - Raspberry Pi Port of Tiny Core Linux”

4. Switching between tabs, going forwards and backwards in history, switching virtual desktops and apps all done with a few gestures.

   Recommends · May 2026 · in “I switched from Mac to a Lenovo Chromebook, and you can too”

5. I continue to be impressed by ChromeOS. With the Linux development environment (Debian VM), it is a brilliant work environment.

   Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “John Giannandrea to retire from Apple”

6. ChromeOS has better security and performance than Ubuntu, and it automatically updates things like peripheral firmware

   Recommends · May 2026 · in “Googlebook: Designed for Gemini Intelligence – Coming Fall 2026 – Googlebook”

7. I don't like the forced expiration, and it's especially brutal when you purchase a new device late in its model life

   Mixed · Sep 2026 · in “Google ending ChromeOS support two years early”

8. constantly auto-updated against any security vulnerabilities and locked down against any type of hacking or malware

   Mixed · Sep 2026 · in “Google ending ChromeOS support two years early”

9. at least with ChromeOS, Chrome isn't installing itself like a spyware alongside any other software installer

   Recommends · Feb 2026 · in “Resizing windows on macOS Tahoe – the saga continues”

10. An up to date ChromeOS is extremly secure compared to the non-existant security model of the linux desktop.

    Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “Google's new 'Aluminium OS' project brings Android to PC”

11. the ChromeOS is so lean, and basically doesn't need to add a bunch of drivers or 3rd party software at all

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Even Microsoft couldn't make Windows 11 work well on 8GB of RAM”

12. ChromeOS works and for all its perceived flaws, it's out there on hundreds of millions of user-facing PCs.

    Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “PiCore - Raspberry Pi Port of Tiny Core Linux”

13. This is one of the things that makes surfing the web more pleasant and ChromeOS then on Windows and Mac.

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Android's full desktop interface leaks: New status bar, Chrome Extensions”

14. All of the usual Linux and open-source stuff works fine on the built-in Linux environment on it.

    Recommends · May 2026 · in “I switched from Mac to a Lenovo Chromebook, and you can too”

15. ChromeOS, followed by macOS are the closest to mobile security but are still severely lacking.

    Mixed · Mar 2026 · in “Google just gave Android power users a sideloading win”

16. I like Chrome OS's approach where you essentially choose your security level at initial setup

    Recommends · Feb 2026 · in “OpenCiv3: Open-source, cross-platform reimagining of Civilization III”

17. ChromeOS will run on any standard machine and subsystems (qndroid, linux) work decently good.

    Recommends · May 2026 · in “I switched from Mac to a Lenovo Chromebook, and you can too”

18. yes everything is given to Google but Google has one of the best security team in the world.

    Mixed · Nov 2025 · in “Comparing Android Alternatives: Lineage OS, ∕E∕OS, and Graphene OS”

19. Chromebooks are easy to administer but very limited (you can't run much outside the browser)

    Mixed · May 2026 · in “Googlebook: Designed for Gemini Intelligence – Coming Fall 2026 – Googlebook”

20. Most people just want get stuff done in a competent, fast and easy-to-use operating system.

    Recommends · May 2026 · in “Googlebook: Designed for Gemini Intelligence – Coming Fall 2026 – Googlebook”

21. At least with ChromeOS you can enable the Linux VM which makes it an Okish Linux machine

    Mixed · Nov 2025 · in “Google's new 'Aluminium OS' project brings Android to PC”

22. With the Linux development environment (Debian VM), it is a brilliant work environment.

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “John Giannandrea to retire from Apple”

23. your data on ChromeOS is automatically copied to a server run by Google, who are legally compelled to provide a copy to the government

    Criticizes · Jan 2026 · in “Lennart Poettering, Christian Brauner founded a new company”

24. They purchased based on a promise of ten years support. Now Google is retroactively clawing back two years of that support.

    Criticizes · Sep 2026 · in “Google ending ChromeOS support two years early”

25. Heavily sandboxed and restricted to limited hardware access, that is not software compatible by any reasonable measure.

    Criticizes · May 2026 · in “Googlebook: Designed for Gemini Intelligence – Coming Fall 2026 – Googlebook”

26. seems like it’s not delivering on one of the main points I thought it was useful for, which is resource efficiency.

    Criticizes · Oct 2026 · in “Google breaks promise to provide 10 years of updates to Chromebooks”

27. Chrome tabs taking up gigs of RAM would make me think ChromeOS isn't going to be very light on memory.

    Criticizes · May 2026 · in “Googlebook: Designed for Gemini Intelligence – Coming Fall 2026 – Googlebook”

28. It also locks you into the cloud services of an advertising company that loves harvesting your data

    Criticizes · May 2026 · in “Googlebook: Designed for Gemini Intelligence – Coming Fall 2026 – Googlebook”

29. gigantic corporations that constantly spy on us. I know the solution, let's use a Google product!

    Criticizes · Mar 2026 · in “Microsoft's "Fix" for Windows 11: Flowers After the Beating”

30. I'm not super into ChromeOS (only used it once or twice) but until they're 10% of market share I'll support them against Windows to keep the OS landscape diverse.

    Mixed · Mar 2026 · in “Microsoft's "Fix" for Windows 11: Flowers After the Beating”

31. a computer that can do nothing whatsoever except run the absolute latest version of production Chrome is better than any other device

    Recommends · May 2026 · in “Googlebook: Designed for Gemini Intelligence – Coming Fall 2026 – Googlebook”

32. support open source initiative such as LineageOS, ChromeOS or lightweight Linux distributions allow to keep devices for longer

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “CO2 overload, detected in human blood, suggests toxic atmosphere within 50 years”

33. It's a Linux distro that works correctly out of the box, setting it apart quite strongly from all other Linux distros.

    Recommends · May 2026 · in “Googlebook: Designed for Gemini Intelligence – Coming Fall 2026 – Googlebook”

34. Google and Valve have managed to meaningfully move things forward with chromeos, android, and steam OS.

    Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “Omarchy: Any User Process Can Escalate to Root”

35. it's objectively (sadly) true that the ChromeOS machine would do a better job handling my daily tasks

    Recommends · May 2026 · in “I switched from Mac to a Lenovo Chromebook, and you can too”

36. I still either buy Chromebook or install chromeosFlex (without playstore) for some of my relatives.

    Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “Setting Up a New Windows Laptop in 2026”

37. it's a useful product! a lot of users just need a browser; but it's not a platform of empowerment

    Mixed · Mar 2026 · in “Microsoft's "Fix" for Windows 11: Flowers After the Beating”

38. I would likely steer them towards those computer appliances so as to avoid Microsoft's nonsense.

    Mixed · May 2026 · in “Windows quality update: Progress we've made since March”

39. ChromeOS will update (silently, without user intervention or notice) everything in a Chromebook

    Recommends · May 2026 · in “Googlebook: Designed for Gemini Intelligence – Coming Fall 2026 – Googlebook”

40. Companies with cloud-based IT are deploying ChromeOS Flex as a response to ransomware attach.

    Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “Ubuntu 26.04 LTS Released”