Converting a Chromebook to run Linux - any snags?

fwor

I'm hoping to get a laptop for a family member who is a typical day-to-day Linux user (i.e. not a technical Linux user). Her typical use is mainly browsers - Firefox and Chrome both open with (usually) lots of concurrent tabs, plus Google Earth and the occasional spreadsheet or two.

At the moment the best value for money 14" laptops almost all seem to be Chromebooks rather than Windows based, so I'm thinking that rather than my previous route of buying a Windows based machine and ditching the Win install I could just convert a Chromebook instead.

Should I expect there to be any snags in doing it? I don't have any need to dual-boot into ChromeOS - neither she nor I have any previous experience of that, so there doesn't seem to be any point.

The thing I have slight doubts about is that some of the Chromebooks are based on MediaTek Kompanio chipsets. Would it be best to avoid those? Intel hardware has always (for me) worked best under Linux, with typically no driver issues at all.

rollingmoon

Chromebooks are hopeless devices, if you want something to put Linux on that's actually usable I recommend an Intel Mac. Apple are great at obsoleting perfectly good computers by withdrawing security updates in an attempt to force the gullible buy the latest model, which means that there are bargains aplenty to be had out there.

I'm typing this on a 2013 iMac 27" running Linux Mint; it runs two external monitors with no problem and does everything else I need. My laptop is a 2009 Macbook Pro running the same OS. These are both worlds away from Chromebooks and probably cheaper too - I paid £180 for the iMac and £50 for the Macbook (admittedly I spent £15 on a charger and another £20 getting the RAM to 16Gb, but still hardly breaking the bank).

There's loads of info out there on running Linux on Intel Macs... check it out and see how you can save some money and end up with something that'll blow a Chromebook out of the water.