&quot;Robust&quot; is a funny word choice here.  Linux desktops in the early 2000&#x27;s were very robust in the sense that they were stable, predictable, and performed decently under high workloads.  They weren&#x27;t easy to install and set up correctly, but once you got sound and graphics working, you were good to go.  Until your next hardware upgrade.<p>A Linux desktop is a lot easier to install now, and software support isn&#x27;t as much of an issue as it used to be, largely because so much has moved to the web.  I wouldn&#x27;t say it&#x27;s more robust though.  I ran an Xubuntu laptop for several years.  Even though it was the LTS version, a few times a year, something major like sound or video would break on a system update, and I&#x27;d spend a few hours getting it working again.  This isn&#x27;t something I&#x27;d recommend to people who want something that just works.<p>My Chromebook has been <i>very</i> reliable.  I would say it&#x27;s robust, but then again, I can&#x27;t run Steam or GOG games on it, as mentioned in the article.