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$600 Chromebooks are a dangerous development for Microsoft

arstechnica.com

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Re: $600 Chromebooks are a dangerous development for Microsoft

#171

Post by pbhjpbhj »

adrianN wrote: post #51
osrec wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it wasn't for Office and the ecosystem around it, I don't think many firms would opt for Microsoft products. In my firm, we're purely Linux, but have Windows VMs, just for Excel. As an aside, we run a business management app called Bx ( https://usebx.com/app ) and have recently started making some money. We're putting aside some cash to fund the development of a feature-rich, cross-platform spreadsheet app (I wish…

I hope you consider funding the improvement of Libre Office instead of trying to write your own spreadsheet app. There has been an incredible amount of work poured into it, starting from scratch doesn't make much sense imho.

Haven't used it for a while but there are other FOSS options, like Calligra or Gnumeric. It might make sense to start there?

Re: $600 Chromebooks are a dangerous development for Microsoft

#172

Post by paulcarroty »

Theodores wrote: post #162
paulcarroty wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This "second-hand laptop" is much more powerful than chromebook and can be found for less money. I just use the same price range.

But you don't get the minimalist Chromebook keyboard. Plus laptop CPU thermal management has a lot of problems. I would prefer a modern and fanless Chromebook to an old laptop where the fans are whirring away the whole time for no evidence of performance gain. I am hoping that there will soon be an eight generation Pentium inside a high end Chromebook with that Chromebook running linux things like a web server native…

> Plus laptop CPU thermal management has a lot of problems.

The business class machine means no thermal problems and keyboard problems by default - probably many people who use Pentium on Acer just don't know.

Re: $600 Chromebooks are a dangerous development for Microsoft

#173

Post by pbhjpbhj »

uygihvh wrote: post #45
ericcholis wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is entirely due to backwards compatibility.

Except wine can now run more windows program then any version bof windows. Wine better at windows than windows itself.

Can WINE run on Windows eg via WSL?

Re: $600 Chromebooks are a dangerous development for Microsoft

#174

Post by tomjen3 »

pjc50 wrote: post #145
bitL wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much of a lifetime could a device with soldered on 2GB of RAM and 32GB of eMMC storage have? How much repurposed could it be? Pricier Chromebooks with HiDPI screens and Core-M or better processors are still castrated in one way or the other comparing to general computing devices, yet approaching their price levels. What's the point for a developer? "It just works"? "It's just safe!" due to mandatory secure boot a…

How many laptops are ever upgraded? You're stuck with the original processor and whatever wear and tear the thing has accumulated. I know I have a small stack of obsolete or half-dead laptops from across the years, and the only upgrade that was ever worth the hassle was hard disk -> SSD. The "just works" aspect is extremely useful for non-expert users.

I know I have put extra RAM in laptops and once brought a new battery. You are correct in that you are limited to the chipset that came with them, but HDD->SSD is not a trivial upgrade.

Re: $600 Chromebooks are a dangerous development for Microsoft

#175

Post by anoncoward111 »

80386 wrote: post #118
anoncoward111 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lubuntu is just as user friendly and comes pre-installed with all of the things one would expect, like a browser and media player and word processing software. There's an app store and browser add ons work well. The hardest thing for a casual user to learn would be "sudo apt-get install" and then guessing what the package name is that they might want to download, like vlcplayer or java

My roommate (about average technical literacy) tried getting a $100 laptop and putting Lubuntu on it, and ended up selling it because he couldn't figure out Linux and couldn't get any good games on it.

Like TF2? Yeah, a lot of games have been bloated. But there's always Nexuiz and Xonotic which have cool little communities.

Linux takes time. Life is finicky. But for the average Thai person or Vietnamese living on $300 a month, a $100 investment is more palatable than $600

Re: $600 Chromebooks are a dangerous development for Microsoft

#176

Post by donarb »

on_and_off wrote: post #154
mabbo wrote: post #5

I was an intern at Microsoft the day that ChromeOS was announced. Conveniently, a few days later the head of Windows was giving a talk to all the interns. Overall, spoke well, but during Q&A someone asked him what he thought about ChromeOS. He laughed. He said it was a joke. He made it very clear that he didn't understand what Google was even thinking. And that stuck such a sour chord on me. Here's a company well kno…

It reminds me of Microsoft organizing a burial for Android when they launched a new Windows Phone version .. Both are extremely bad reactions at face value but also show how clueless the company can be (at least if you believe it is indicative of the company's mindset)

That was actually a funeral for the iPhone. They even rented a hearse and had pallbearers walking a iPhone casket through the streets of Redmond.

https://www.cnet.com/pictures/microsofts-funeral-for-the-iph...

Re: $600 Chromebooks are a dangerous development for Microsoft

#177

Post by nutjob2 »

paulcarroty wrote: post #141
benplumley wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a listing for a second-hand laptop, if the Chromebook had been bought second-hand too it would have probably cost significantly less than this.

This "second-hand laptop" is much more powerful than chromebook and can be found for less money. I just use the same price range.

And a second hand Chromebook is cheaper than the new Chromebook price point. I guess you could then suggest stealing a non Chromebook laptop as a "better deal" to support a specious argument.

Re: $600 Chromebooks are a dangerous development for Microsoft

#178

Post by mentos »

My dream is to get a light weight laptop with just enough power to send/receive input to/from my more powerful desktop where I do Gpu intensive game development on Windows.

Sadly Remote Desktop is lacking in a lot of ways mainly the refresh rate makes it very difficult to resolve the rendered scene I’m working on.

Any suggestions?

Re: $600 Chromebooks are a dangerous development for Microsoft

#179

Post by bitL »

pjc50 wrote: post #145
bitL wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much of a lifetime could a device with soldered on 2GB of RAM and 32GB of eMMC storage have? How much repurposed could it be? Pricier Chromebooks with HiDPI screens and Core-M or better processors are still castrated in one way or the other comparing to general computing devices, yet approaching their price levels. What's the point for a developer? "It just works"? "It's just safe!" due to mandatory secure boot a…

How many laptops are ever upgraded? You're stuck with the original processor and whatever wear and tear the thing has accumulated. I know I have a small stack of obsolete or half-dead laptops from across the years, and the only upgrade that was ever worth the hassle was hard disk -> SSD. The "just works" aspect is extremely useful for non-expert users.

I keep thinking about older ThinkPads with Core processors - there is a huge aftermarket with many original parts, many of those notebooks are basically on the level of contemporary i5 notebooks with thicker body and worse screens, but with upgradeable RAM and storage. And you can have them for the price of current Chromebooks.

If a trend in the industry is towards limiting upgradeability, in the direction of rent-seeking by first subscriptions, soldering everything onto mainboard, limiting connections, later perhaps rental fee for equipment like it is with car leasing, a trend which I consider insane, can't I object to it? Chromebooks are basically a prime example of this trend, while regular notebooks didn't embrace it fully yet, but are getting there as well. Can't a company with arguably the best predictive platform in the world model and foresee the effect on environment, or is it just profit and mindshare that matters these days?

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