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Why Google's Chrome notebook will succeed

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Re: Why Google's Chrome notebook will succeed

#11

Post by shortlived »

jamesaguilar wrote: post #2

Why it won't: - A computer does not cost as much as a car, so it's not as expensive to buy more than you need. - It can't be cheaper enough than ordinary PCs to accept the restricted functionality it offers, because ordinary PCs are already available at the bottom of the pricing barrel. - Most people need wireless connectivity not more than once or twice a year. - The cloud is overrated.

> - Most people need wireless connectivity not more than once or twice a year.

Where do you get this idea? Why in the world would I ever want to "wire" my house for the internet by running cat5 cables everywhere when I can buy a box that will do all the work for me?

Re: Why Google's Chrome notebook will succeed

#12

Post by samuel »

NumberFiveAlive wrote: post #4

I think price is the real key. If it's around the $200 mark, I'll probably even pick one up for surfing while sitting on the couch or toilet. My grandparents need/want a laptop, and literally all they'll ever use it for is to google stuff. They'll possibly want to upload pictures from their digital camera they never use, but if that's made simple via USB and some cloud based service (existing or otherwise), then this…

But, How are they going to reach that price point? Specially since they are not going to produce them, and at least this model is pretty ordinary hardware(runs an Atom, not an ARM CPU). And, why manufacturers would want to canibalize their already tight margins on netbooks?

Besides, most people I know, would pay 100$ for the ability of running a "real" OS.

Re: Why Google's Chrome notebook will succeed

#13

Post by Qz »

samuel wrote: post #12
NumberFiveAlive wrote: post #4

I think price is the real key. If it's around the $200 mark, I'll probably even pick one up for surfing while sitting on the couch or toilet. My grandparents need/want a laptop, and literally all they'll ever use it for is to google stuff. They'll possibly want to upload pictures from their digital camera they never use, but if that's made simple via USB and some cloud based service (existing or otherwise), then this…

But, How are they going to reach that price point? Specially since they are not going to produce them, and at least this model is pretty ordinary hardware(runs an Atom, not an ARM CPU). And, why manufacturers would want to canibalize their already tight margins on netbooks? Besides, most people I know, would pay 100$ for the ability of running a "real" OS.

'most people you know' aren't really ChromeOS's target market.

Re: Why Google's Chrome notebook will succeed

#14

Post by jamesaguilar »

NumberFiveAlive wrote: post #7
jamesaguilar wrote: post #2

Why it won't: - A computer does not cost as much as a car, so it's not as expensive to buy more than you need. - It can't be cheaper enough than ordinary PCs to accept the restricted functionality it offers, because ordinary PCs are already available at the bottom of the pricing barrel. - Most people need wireless connectivity not more than once or twice a year. - The cloud is overrated.

I'm not saying it will succeed (that remains to be seen) but: 1. Not if you don't have the money for a computer in the first place. My grandparents would really like to get online, and the difference between a $400 laptop and a $200 netbook is significant. 2. Not if all you need is the basic functionality this device offers. 3. This is just all sort of wrong if you don't live in a metropolitan area. 4. That's your op…

1 > I think the number of people in that position is relatively few. Specifically: the number of people who, when buying a new computer once in four years will consider a $100 difference in price significant, is small.

2 > Maybe, but there's also a question of the quality of that functionality. The cloud equivalents of almost any piece of software are significantly more limited even for non-power users.

3 > Meh? Do people in rural areas lack wifi? Do they take their laptops out of their houses to places without wifi but with 3G signal much more often than people in urban areas? I doubt it, but maybe there is something about rural people that I am not aware of. :)

4 > I think the cloud has a lot of potential, but as it is right now I believe it has been oversold. But you're right, there are many valid opinions on this one.

Re: Why Google's Chrome notebook will succeed

#15

Post by jamesaguilar »

shortlived wrote: post #11
jamesaguilar wrote: post #2

Why it won't: - A computer does not cost as much as a car, so it's not as expensive to buy more than you need. - It can't be cheaper enough than ordinary PCs to accept the restricted functionality it offers, because ordinary PCs are already available at the bottom of the pricing barrel. - Most people need wireless connectivity not more than once or twice a year. - The cloud is overrated.

> - Most people need wireless connectivity not more than once or twice a year. Where do you get this idea? Why in the world would I ever want to "wire" my house for the internet by running cat5 cables everywhere when I can buy a box that will do all the work for me?

The wireless I'm talking about is the 3G wireless. That's the wireless discussed in the article too. It obviously cannot be wifi that they are discussing because that is not a differentiating factor between this laptop and non-Chrome OS laptops.

Re: Why Google's Chrome notebook will succeed

#17

Post by redwood »

NumberFiveAlive wrote: post #4

I think price is the real key. If it's around the $200 mark, I'll probably even pick one up for surfing while sitting on the couch or toilet. My grandparents need/want a laptop, and literally all they'll ever use it for is to google stuff. They'll possibly want to upload pictures from their digital camera they never use, but if that's made simple via USB and some cloud based service (existing or otherwise), then this…

Agreed: and I think the ultimate target market is the enterprise space (rather than the grandparents) where a company wants to get a lot of employees mobile and online quick and cheap without security risk or proprietary software costs

Re: Why Google's Chrome notebook will succeed

#18

Post by tdoggette »

drivebyacct2 wrote: post #16

If they add an NX client and/or a shell, I will sell my MBP. I really, really, really like this device and concept.

It's a linux box underneath; I'm sure we're at most weeks away from a "terminal" app that you can have open in a tab that works like you'd expect.

Re: Why Google's Chrome notebook will succeed

#19

Post by richardw »

The developing world will eat this up. Sure there are connectivity issues, but those can be overcome. Many countries that never had phones now have cellphones.

I've always seen the main roadblock to computer adoption as the babysitting nightmare that is the Windows PC. 100 computers in a village or remote school are 100 headaches for somebody. Now a good percentage of those issues are irrelevant. Sure there will be other problems, but this is a huge improvement.

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