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Chromebook

google.com

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Re: Chromebook

#151

Post by kenjackson »

cryptoz wrote: post #103
kenjackson wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me be clear. I'd love this device for free. Or like I said, even $100 I could see it being a fair price. But when you price at the same price of a netbook that performs really well (the new ASUS Eee Pcs are pretty darn impressive beasts for a $289 machine), with all of its limitations, it just doesn't make sense. This needs to be more like a Kindle. A device you get even if you already have a laptop and an iPad.…

sigh Look, it's not about the hardware. What software is that $289 machine going to run? Windows? Right, so you'll be removing viruses for years after people continue to watch seedy porn sites? Sounds like fun. This device is intriguing and useful because of the software; it stays out of your way and keeps you safe. That's worth the price to nearly everyone who isn't a nerd.

I guess our experiences are just fundamentally different. With the plethora of free good antivirus programs that you can download, I find viruses are largely a thing of the past.

In the old days you had to pay $50/year for virus protection. And you had to go to a brick and mortar store or order it from Amazon. Cost and effort made it less common for end users to have antivirus.

Now, I install it on every box I maintain. I don't even ask them (as before, I'd have to ask, do you want to pay $50/year and many friends would say "no thanks").

I just don't get malware/virus calls anymore.

For the most part I don't get many calls at all anymore. The ones I do are generally usability questions like how do I get my pictures properly downloaded and tagged. Or what's the password to my password manager again (yes, I keep a collection to other people's password managers in my password manager, because I've gotten this call often enough) :-)

Re: Chromebook

#152

Post by aj700 »

far33d wrote: post #102
hammock wrote: post #34

It took me a long time of exploring to realize they were talking about a laptop. I was like "Chromebook?" Is it a kindle? Is it an online scrapbook? Is it online literature? edit: why am i being downvoted? because i don't read tech blogs 24/7? because nowhere on the website does it actually say what a chromebook is?

I too thought this would be a kindle or ipad-like device that browsed the web for cheap. I was excited. Then I saw it was a crappy netbook and was disappointed. The form-factor makes a big difference for me, since I already need a full-featured laptop for my work.

1280x800 12.1" display. Netbooks are smaller than that. It doesn't need a bigger screen because it doesn't need more horiz pixels. Most web pages fit into 1280 minus the scrollbar.

Re: Chromebook

#153

Post by rudiger »

runjake wrote: post #123

- browses web? check. - runs the latest fad games, like Angry Birds (and more soon thanks to WebGL)? check. - can connect digital camera and upload photos? check. - can browse facebook, twitter, youtube, gmail, hotmail, etc? check - can play flash games & netflix, hulu, & other crap? check. This will satisfy the needs of all my immediate non-techy family members. And I won't get the monthly calls about malware anymor…

If that's all they're doing, how are they getting malware?

Re: Chromebook

#154

Post by siglesias »

scott_s wrote: post #150
siglesias wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally find the Angry Birds-Facebook-Netflix picture of the future of computing extremely depressing. Where's Google's suite of content creation apps that "non-techy" people can explore to express their creativity?

Most people don't create. You must be depressed by the wasted potential, because we're going from a world where most people don't create to a world where most people don't create.

Is that a cause or an effect?

Re: Chromebook

#155

Post by pw »

"3G-enabled Chromebooks connect to the web using blazing-fast mobile data networks"

Eh, "blazing-fast" might overselling things a bit.

Re: Chromebook

#156

Post by kiba »

scott_s wrote: post #150
siglesias wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally find the Angry Birds-Facebook-Netflix picture of the future of computing extremely depressing. Where's Google's suite of content creation apps that "non-techy" people can explore to express their creativity?

Most people don't create. You must be depressed by the wasted potential, because we're going from a world where most people don't create to a world where most people don't create.

People created too much stuff for us to enjoy anyway. All the books in the world on average probably got read several times, but all human beings never hope to read all the books.

Re: Chromebook

#157

Post by mxavier »

runjake wrote: post #123

- browses web? check. - runs the latest fad games, like Angry Birds (and more soon thanks to WebGL)? check. - can connect digital camera and upload photos? check. - can browse facebook, twitter, youtube, gmail, hotmail, etc? check - can play flash games & netflix, hulu, & other crap? check. This will satisfy the needs of all my immediate non-techy family members. And I won't get the monthly calls about malware anymor…

Not so fast on netflix. As far as I know (and I have a vested interest so I try to stay up-to-date), Netflix doesn't work on Linux nor Android because of silverlight's DRM stack not being available on those platforms.

The rest are good but lack of Netflix support has definitely prevented me from purchasing a product in the past. This is not necessarily a problem that Google can fix right now, but hopefully it expedites Netflix' efforts to do so.

Re: Chromebook

#158

Post by scott_s »

kenjackson wrote: post #45

I can't imagine anyone buying this and being happy unless they are already intimately familiar with the device ahead of time. Too many limitations, with virtually no big upside functionality or user experience (unlike the iPad that makes up for limitations with some huge upside). As I'd mentioned before I can buy an ASUS Eee PC with an AMD C30 processor for $289 and be able to use the browser of my choice, sync my iP…

You skipped right over the fact that you have an iPad. Your iPad can't run WoW, Skype, Office, Visual Studio, Emacs, Vim, etc. And it's crazy popular.

Re: Chromebook

#159

Post by Jun8 »

I am frustrated by the fact that I have to buy it in a hardware-packaged form, why can't I just download Chrome OS to an older laptop to experiment (like I do with Linux distros)? I guess at this stage the OS is flimsy enough that they need to control all aspects of hardware.

Also, the support & distribution thing from Google doesn't work, we have already seen it with G1. Why do they want to repeat the mistake?

Re: Chromebook

#160

Post by scott_s »

siglesias wrote: post #154
scott_s wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people don't create. You must be depressed by the wasted potential, because we're going from a world where most people don't create to a world where most people don't create.

Is that a cause or an effect?

I think it's probably an independent variable. Most people work, and would have to create in their free time - but that takes sincere effort during a period most people want to unwind.
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