Chromebook • Hacker News Board

Re: Chromebook

#21

Post by ChuckMcM » Wed, May 11, 2011, 5:51 PM UTC

Heh, I was amused that on Firefox that Javascript that does that whole stupid "fade in" crap took longer than 8 seconds to load :-). Note to web designers, its not studly its worthless bling, please don't give in to the temptation to do that stuff.

From a product perspective it does have some nice benefits for the non-techies. I'd love to get my parents something that they could carry around to read email and view pictures on which wasn't waiting for them to drive by some hijacked site. The pitch about 'let your friend use it' was also clearly the other 'big complaint' about the iPad they are addressing. I hope that means the iPad will get a 'guest' mode where you can hand it to someone without them getting access to your cookies/email etc.

Re: Chromebook

#22

Post by javanix » Wed, May 11, 2011, 5:51 PM UTC

Google is still planning on making Chrome OS installable on other hardware, right?

I already have a thin and light laptop that I'm pretty happy with - hopefully I can install Chrome OS from an image onto it to tinker with.

Re: Chromebook

#23

Post by rryan » Wed, May 11, 2011, 5:52 PM UTC

eggbrain wrote: post #16

A little pricy for me to be honest. Is an all day battery and 100MB of 3G data a month worth giving up a whole lot of features over a netbook? For some, maybe. But for me, no.

Those "features" of your netbook aren't actually features (and some are even anti-features, e.g. viruses, not auto-updating) for someone like my parents, or for students at a school or employees at a business. To start, it seems this is aimed squarely in their direction.

Re: Chromebook

#24

Post by MatthewPhillips » Wed, May 11, 2011, 5:52 PM UTC

So does that $28/month/user for businesses include Apps? That's a pretty killer price, if so.

Re: Chromebook

#25

Post by yanw » Wed, May 11, 2011, 5:53 PM UTC

smackfu wrote: post #11

They don't seem to be priced any better than similar Windows machines, although it's hard to find exact comparisons since most things with Atom processors only go up to 10" screens.

I think it will be mainly distributed through the subscription model:

$28/user/month for businesses.

$20/user/month for students.

Re: Chromebook

#26

Post by MatthewPhillips » Wed, May 11, 2011, 5:54 PM UTC

ChuckMcM wrote: post #21

Heh, I was amused that on Firefox that Javascript that does that whole stupid "fade in" crap took longer than 8 seconds to load :-). Note to web designers, its not studly its worthless bling, please don't give in to the temptation to do that stuff. From a product perspective it does have some nice benefits for the non-techies. I'd love to get my parents something that they could carry around to read email and view pi…

Much more difficult for that to work on iPad. It takes Chrome seconds to sync everything for a particular user. Since iPad apps aren't served on demand ala web apps, you'd have to download every app belong to the guest. Much wasted hard drive space. The iPad will remain a personal device, like a phone.

Re: Chromebook

#27

Post by rryan » Wed, May 11, 2011, 5:54 PM UTC

digitalnalogika wrote: post #12

shrikant wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should be an SSD, as they also tout a startup time of 8 seconds.

It's probably something really small. Official video mentions external storage (USB flash drive) if you "want to work with files".

The Google I/O keynote certainly did not imply you need external storage to work with files. Others are saying it's 16GB.

Re: Chromebook

#28

Post by ChuckMcM » Wed, May 11, 2011, 5:54 PM UTC

MatthewB wrote: post #2

That samsung version looks very nice and 8.5 hours of continuous usage is killer. However, I won't be trading in my brand new Macbook Air 13" any time soon. It doesn't mention harddrive specs because this is supposed to be a "cloud computer." However, it definitely has a harddrive and I wonder if it is a SSD or regular spinning disc drive.

If I were to guess, since Google also just announced programmatic access to 'cloud' storage they are going to create your 'hard disk' in their cloud. Then will be a win for the consumer because if the device is destroyed it won't lose "your" data.

It also allows international travellers to have two of them, one at home and one abroad. They don't have to carry one through customs and subject it to an unreasonable search by border agents. For a small number of people this will be a good value. (I know it assumes you trust the Google cloud more than you trust DHS but that isn't too big of a stretch)

Re: Chromebook

#29

Post by eli » Wed, May 11, 2011, 5:55 PM UTC

naner wrote: post #17

If it is web only wouldn't it be better suited to an iPad form-factor? I would get one if it was around $30/mo and you can trade it in for a newer model every year or two. Better yet if they could figure out how to get unlimited 3G in there cheaply.

Maybe not trying to out-iPad the iPad is a good thing.

You ain't getting a netbook, an apps account, AND unlimited cell data for anywhere near $30/month though.

Re: Chromebook

#30

Post by nkassis » Wed, May 11, 2011, 5:55 PM UTC

Guess I'll have to drive down to the US to get one. Canada is somehow always excluded from new google projects. I'd like them to tell us which laws or limitation cause this. Crappy ISPs and Mobile networks?