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Chromebooks outsold Macs for the first time in the US

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Re: Chromebooks outsold Macs for the first time in the US

#11
post #6

Not surprised ... Apple hasn't put out a laptop with up-to-date specs for years. I'm a lifelong Mac user and I'm unhappy with their current specs.

Somehow I don't think that their hardware is as much an issue as their price point. As a developer you'd still be a fool (or just loaded with elbow grease) to attempt developing with a chrome book.

Whats wrong with Pixel? 16GB RAM, i7 CPU... I was seriously considering it as my primary dev machine.

Re: Chromebooks outsold Macs for the first time in the US

#12
post #6

Not surprised ... Apple hasn't put out a laptop with up-to-date specs for years. I'm a lifelong Mac user and I'm unhappy with their current specs.

Somehow I don't think that their hardware is as much an issue as their price point. As a developer you'd still be a fool (or just loaded with elbow grease) to attempt developing with a chrome book.

[deleted]

Re: Chromebooks outsold Macs for the first time in the US

#13
post #6

Not surprised ... Apple hasn't put out a laptop with up-to-date specs for years. I'm a lifelong Mac user and I'm unhappy with their current specs.

Somehow I don't think that their hardware is as much an issue as their price point. As a developer you'd still be a fool (or just loaded with elbow grease) to attempt developing with a chrome book.

Why? I've developed 100% on a cloud VM for years. All I need locally is a browser. Obviously wouldn't work for some things, but as a full stack developer: no problem.

Re: Chromebooks outsold Macs for the first time in the US

#14
post #6

Not surprised ... Apple hasn't put out a laptop with up-to-date specs for years. I'm a lifelong Mac user and I'm unhappy with their current specs.

Somehow I don't think that their hardware is as much an issue as their price point. As a developer you'd still be a fool (or just loaded with elbow grease) to attempt developing with a chrome book.

As a developer you'd still be a fool (or just loaded with elbow grease) to attempt developing with a chrome book

The Chromebook Pixel running Fedora is a lovely development platform.

Re: Chromebooks outsold Macs for the first time in the US

#15

I wonder how much cheaper macs would be if their primary purpose was tracking users to deliver ads

I gather that you're implying the primary purpose of Chromebooks is tracking users to deliver ads?

Are users tracked any more on a Chromebook than a) a MacBook Air running Chrome b) a MacBook Air running Safari?

Re: Chromebooks outsold Macs for the first time in the US

#16
That's hard to believe (I believe it, but it struck me as incredible at first). I don't know anyone with a Chromebook, and it's such a different way of computing that it's hard to believe it's taken off so much in such a short time.

I think it is reflective of a new generation whose first computing experience was with phones and tablets. The idea that nothing of importance lives on the device is a huge paradigm shift, and I don't know that old folks are comfortable making the shift yet (I'm not entirely there, and, despite being middle aged, I like to think I'm way out front on the technology curve). The mention of Chromebooks in schools lends some credence to this notion.

Anyway, I think it's great. A Chromebook is so much more empowering than an iPad or tablet (which is what I think this is actually mostly replacing for folks, rather than high end laptops). A keyboard opens up the door to really building and creating, USB ports allow expansion, and Chrome OS is hackable in ways tablets are not.

Re: Chromebooks outsold Macs for the first time in the US

#17

I wonder how much cheaper macs would be if their primary purpose was tracking users to deliver ads

I haven't seen any suggestion that Chromebooks are somehow directly subsidized by Google - are Samsung, Toshiba, etc. getting some kind of kickbacks for making and selling the hardware? ChromeOS itself is free to license for vendors [1] But most have fairly low-end CPUs, not much RAM, and small SSDs, so I don't think they compete with Apple for features, per se. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromebook#Sales_and_m…

I think you answered your own question:

  > ChromeOS itself is free to license for vendors
If it's free, it's for a reason.

Re: Chromebooks outsold Macs for the first time in the US

#18
post #5

Reddit[0] attributes this largely to Chromebooks snatching up most of the K-12 education market from iPads, with Google vaulting ahead while Apple was under-prioritizing that market. Motivations school districts might have for switching: (1) Cheaper, (2) Keyboards are nice for typing, (3), More resilient over time due to easy software updates, and (4) Easier to debug (similar to prior point; nothing is stored locally…

reddit comments are a source now?

Yes, of course. The poster is sharing information that shaped their opinion. The location is irrelevant.

In such an informal setting, the quality and worth of the source are up to the consumer; particularly when it is such a simple investigation. Do you trust or distrust the source? That belief guides your consumption of the poster's opinion.

Re: Chromebooks outsold Macs for the first time in the US

#19
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Somehow I don't think that their hardware is as much an issue as their price point. As a developer you'd still be a fool (or just loaded with elbow grease) to attempt developing with a chrome book.

Why? I've developed 100% on a cloud VM for years. All I need locally is a browser. Obviously wouldn't work for some things, but as a full stack developer: no problem.

How is the web ssh client experience, do you miss anything from a real terminal? I would imagine there would be some keybindings conflicts when using vim or emacs.

Re: Chromebooks outsold Macs for the first time in the US

#20
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't seen any suggestion that Chromebooks are somehow directly subsidized by Google - are Samsung, Toshiba, etc. getting some kind of kickbacks for making and selling the hardware? ChromeOS itself is free to license for vendors [1] But most have fairly low-end CPUs, not much RAM, and small SSDs, so I don't think they compete with Apple for features, per se. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromebook#Sales_and_m…

I think you answered your own question: > ChromeOS itself is free to license for vendors If it's free, it's for a reason.

That same logic applies to the Linux kernel, right?
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