I think the bigger news here is the Chromebit. A $100 device that turns any monitor into a computer? Fascinating.
Any monitor? Not mine. HDMI required.
$149 Chromebooks
111–120 of 425 posts
Re: $149 Chromebooks
#112This is a colossal, market-moving play from Google. Look at the brand names. TRUE, XOLO, Nexian. Recognise them? Consumers in Thailand, India and Indonesia do - they are local smartphone brands. Look at the promo video. Notice how many Asian faces there are? This isn't about cheap Chromebooks, it's about a major strategic effort to court the global middle class. As with the Android One initiative, Google are seeking…
The middle class can afford to pluck down a few more bucks and get a device with a real OS...
An awful lot of people pluck down premium-level bucks for iOS, which is even more neutered than ChromeOS. Consumers have spoken, they do not care.
Re: $149 Chromebooks
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is a derivitative product, you're just splitting hairs. As squeaky clean as everyone in the valley believes Google to be, even most Googlers would be surprised with the type of work and contacts taken on by Google Federal (hint: it's not just Google Apps for the military). Here is a list of their current unclassified military contracts: https://www.fpds.gov/ezsearch/fpdsportal?indexName=awardfull...
Found something called Robogator in there
Re: $149 Chromebooks
#114I'd definitely consider using a Chromebook if the offline functionality works. My understanding from people I know working at Google is that the offline Docs and Gmail experience is pretty sub-par at the moment. I guess if you pop out their SSD for a larger one it'd make a decent BSD netbook. Bitrig[0] is slowly but surely getting better. [0] https://www.bitrig.org/
I bought a Chromebook Pixel 2015. The first thing it asks, when you turn it on, is for an Internet connection. You cannot go past the first-boot panel until you give it internet access, then agree to Google's ToS which says you'll let them auto-install updates at anytime, and then let it try to download updates from Google. Then you must log in to a Google account. I didn't bother with ChromeOS enough to see how well…
> ChromeOS fundamentally expects internet access
ChromeOS devices are less "surprising" in this sense, if you think of them not as computers per se, but as (the fat-client equivalent to) thin client appliances that boot into a Citrix session connected to a machine-instance running within the Google cloud.
It's not a perfect analogy—you can use [some carefully-written apps on] the device without internet access once you've set it up, and so forth—but thinking in those terms lets you predict what ChromeOS will tend to do in a given situation quite well.
Re: $149 Chromebooks
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
The middle class can afford to pluck down a few more bucks and get a device with a real OS...
I've never had a chromebook. How bad is it? What if I just want to browse the web and watch hulu, netflix, and youtube?
I have a cheap Samsung Chromebook ($250 in 2013). I've never had a problem browsing with 10+ tabs open and watching hulu at the same time.
It is not going to run Visual Studio of course, but it is quite capable for browsing/videos/word processing/etc.
Re: $149 Chromebooks
#116Can one wipe out a Chromebook and install Linux?
Yes, if you put the Chromebook into "Developer Mode" first; searching for "chromebook linux" should do the trick (skip the stuff about Crouton). Note that the selection of Linux distros for ARM Chromebooks (like both of the $149 models) will be quite a bit slimmer.
Re: $149 Chromebooks
#117Cell phones could only be afforded by the wealthy in the 80s. Now the cell phone market in developing countries is burgeoning. Soon, there will be a substantial laptop market in most developing countries as well as prices continue to decline.
Re: $149 Chromebooks
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
The middle class can afford to pluck down a few more bucks and get a device with a real OS...
I've never had a chromebook. How bad is it? What if I just want to browse the web and watch hulu, netflix, and youtube?
It isn't. Even the first ones ran at a decent clip.
Re: $149 Chromebooks
#119This is a colossal, market-moving play from Google. Look at the brand names. TRUE, XOLO, Nexian. Recognise them? Consumers in Thailand, India and Indonesia do - they are local smartphone brands. Look at the promo video. Notice how many Asian faces there are? This isn't about cheap Chromebooks, it's about a major strategic effort to court the global middle class. As with the Android One initiative, Google are seeking…
The middle class can afford to pluck down a few more bucks and get a device with a real OS...
The middle class in first world countries, maybe. Try spending some time in the developing world. Lower cost of living means that "middle income" families can live comfortably on less income. But the costs of large capital goods, e.g. computers and cars, is not lower.
Imagine your average laptop cost $5k - $15k. Would you consider it a big deal if you could get a decent <$1k laptop? That's the equivalent situation.
Re: $149 Chromebooks
#120Where is the $149 Windows-Based laptop with SSD, 2-4GB RAM, and moderate graphics, that can run your usual Office to Minecraft software? The Chromebook-killer from Microsoft should be here, but all I hear about are the Surfaces. Honestly, the only reason my kids don't have Chromebooks is because they don't easily run Minecraft or downloadable games. Sure they can do their school work on them, but they also like to pl…
> Honestly, the only reason my kids don't have Chromebooks is because they don't easily run Minecraft or downloadable games.
Some parents would consider this a good thing.