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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

#391

Post by draw_down »

edent wrote: post #389
sdegutis wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> $600 Windows laptops are still are a mess of preloaded bullshit put there by the vendor Honestly this is one of the biggest things I liked about Apple computers since switching to them in 2007. They're so clean and pure compared to Windows which always comes with bloatware. Even the basic drivers you actually need for the computer to work usually come with some sort of bloatware awful UI programs that need to be in…

My MacBook Air has a DVD player app preloaded - despite having no DVD slot. It also has a chess game. And iTunes. And I can't remove any of them.

Yes you can

Re: $600 Chromebooks are a dangerous development for Microsoft

#392

Post by [deleted] »

benplumley wrote: post #131
skymt wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I suspect one reason for $600 devices, other than Google itself trying to reposition Chromebooks as more upmarket, is because $600 Windows laptops are still are a mess of preloaded bullshit put there by the vendor. Microsoft has tried various ways to fix this but it only tends to protect high-end models. In the current version of Windows 10 there's a feature called "fresh start" that makes it trivial to reset to a…

As well as the bloatware added deliberately by Microsoft that's already mentioned, this method can't touch spyware and bloatware that's automatically reinstalled by the BIOS after reinstalling Windows. Unsurprisingly, the only company I could find evidence of actually having done this is Lenovo: https://betanews.com/2015/08/13/lenovo-bios-tool-prevents-cl...

[deleted]

Re: $600 Chromebooks are a dangerous development for Microsoft

#393

Post by annabellish »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #251
sarcasmic wrote: post #24

Any Chromebook more than $400 right now is just there to absorb even more disposable income from the market, because they ship with nicer finishes and faster processors, but they are anemic on memory and storage, making them subpar for intense multitasking, or getting certain types of work done. The situations in which they excel can be reliably hit by Chromebooks around a $400 price point, and even cheaper Chromeboo…

To my way of thinking, this is exactly the blind spot: ... they are anemic on memory and storage, making them subpar for intense multitasking, or getting certain types of work done. Look at the iPad Pro, 2GB of memory, not a "laptop" class CPU. etc. It is eating into Microsoft's market for the same reason. The "big" part of the laptop wedge is people who aren't gamers, or intense multitaskers, or intense local storag…

The Surface Go is, on that note, a wonderful machine, though I feel one with too many compromises to hit mainstream right now. At 10" it hits the portability of a tablet, while the keyboard is good enough for real usage, not just in a pinch.

The Surface Go 2 will be a thing to watch. If they can get it running on ARM with flawless x86-64 translation, roll the price point down a hundred dollars (or just bundle the keyboard - come on, Microsoft, selling that separately makes _no_ sense here) and ship it with a dongle that turns one USB-c port into 2 usb ports, charging, and a displayport, and what you'll have is a 10" laptop that's fully functional, runs _everything_, trivially integrates into a desktop-like environment for home use, is a passable tablet, and gets all day battery life.

Right now it's _close_ to being able to achieve that, but the battery life is a bit too short and the price a bunch too high, and a switch to ARM could alleviate both of those issues.

Re: $600 Chromebooks are a dangerous development for Microsoft

#394

Post by binmanthrowaway »

krn wrote: post #280
binmanthrowaway wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't see 4k screen. Come on it is 2018 I don't want to see pixels.

This is a budget ThinkPad model, design for small businesses, where 4k display would be an overkill. I actually find FHD to be a better option for a development machine, because of the lower energy consumption and extended battery life.

It is like preferring dried beans over a calculator to do sums...

Re: $600 Chromebooks are a dangerous development for Microsoft

#396

Post by scarface74 »

jodrellblank wrote: post #346
scarface74 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The “growing discontent” is mostly within the Internet bubble. Mac sales declines are happening more because of the lack of new compelling hardware until recently. Microsoft rewriting the operating system from scratch wouldn’t help. The only compelling advantage that Windows had was backwards compatibility. Once you take that away they have nothing left - evidenced by thier complete failure on mobile.

The only compelling advantage that Windows had was backwards compatibility. and games, and popular software, and domain administration, and office, and tons of users and books and training and repair people available everywhere, and hardware compatibility, and ubiquity from home to work to places like library computers, and a tidy enough GUI, and thorough accessibility options, and ..

And half of what you said just proved my point. If Microsoft moved to a new OS they would lose the compatibility with games, popular software, and hardware support. They would also lose the advNtagd of ubiquity.

Re: $600 Chromebooks are a dangerous development for Microsoft

#397

Post by beerlord »

mavhc wrote: post #23
beerlord wrote: post #4

Chromebooks have one fatal flaw: Microsoft Office on them sucks. You're stuck with side-loading in the Android edition, which is an app with a simplified UI and requiring always-online connection. All of this might be OK for a schoolkid, but for anyone else you might as well stick with a Windows laptop for real work, or an iPad for real consumption.

Or the web version, or just use any number of alternatives, not like a word processor is a unique product

There are times when you want to use a laptop without an internet connection.

GSuite is not comparable because it is not a standalone, 'desktop' application. I don't want to have to use a version stuffed into a browser.

Re: $600 Chromebooks are a dangerous development for Microsoft

#399

Post by SmellyGeekBoy »

adventured wrote: post #331
johncolanduoni wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since Chromebooks are very internet-forward, they get plenty of advertising opportunities without installing banner ads or something similar into the OS. Are you expecting them to start advertising on the Android home screen too?

They already do something better for their ad business moat. They just push their Google Apps bloatware collection on the Android ecosystem at every possible chance they get. I use none of it, yet it still comes with my Samsung phone whether I like it or not. I would expect them to continue that approach with any operating systems they control.

Seems counterintuitive that you take such a strong stance against bloatware and yet use a Samsung phone. The preinstalled (and non-removable) mountain of crap was the reason I gave up on them after my Galaxy S3.

Not that other vendors are much better, mind. But I'm quite happy with my OnePlus for now.

Re: $600 Chromebooks are a dangerous development for Microsoft

#400

Post by paulie_a »

riffraff wrote: post #355
013a wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Microsoft has tried various ways to fix this but it only tends to protect high-end models. Try again. Microsoft is complicit in all of this. If you go buy an OEM version of Windows 10 today, even Pro, what you get is a ridiculous set of preloaded games and apps, like Candy Crush, Bubble Witch 3 Saga, Disney Magic Kingdoms, etc. Its disgusting, and everyone who works at Microsoft should be ashamed of it.

Is it really problematic if there are preinstalled games? My Huawei phone came with some, I didn't care much. I mean, they take up some space but don't affect system behaviour, like some old windows OEM bloatware did.

Yes, Huawei shouldn't even be trusted anyways. but second a vendor shouldn't add a ton of crapware to my phone. There is absolutely no value added to the end user. It's garbage and does effect performance. It takes up space and data usage. I will never buy a phone that isn't 100 percent Android anymore. And again anything Huawei is entirely out of the question.
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