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$149 Chromebooks

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Re: $149 Chromebooks

#261

Post by Nursie »

pjmlp wrote: post #197
glenstein wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was going to post this if somebody else didn't. To add one important detail: the HP Stream you linked doesn't just exist as a proof of concept or whatever, which would be one thing, but it's currently outselling all the Chromebooks (and every other laptop for that matter) on Amazon. Chromebooks dominated in 2014, but they've been bumped and I'm not sure they'll ever be back at the top. Rather than a sea change, it…

Actually that was a USA only phenomenon, I never saw Chromebooks live in Europe. Here in Germany, some chain stores do have a few of them at their little corner being ignored by everyone.

Pretty sure Chromebooks dominated amazon.co.uk for a while too...

Re: $149 Chromebooks

#262

Post by geofft »

ntakasaki wrote: post #190
TheTaO wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is a colossal, market-moving play from Google. Is it that or is it just an effort to stay relevant? If you can get a laptop/tablet that can do the same thing that this Chromebook does and has a full OS for a few bucks more, would you do it? There are tons of tablets from HP/Dell that cost 100-200$ and run full windows OS and have comparable specs to the Chromebooks. As far as I know they are selling quite well…

It's sad to see folks celebrating computing devices that are more extremely locked down than even the iDevices. A Windows PC/laptop is much more open than a Chromebook. Can Mozilla even make a Firefox browser for ChromeOS? Only Google can make system and native apps, unlike the iDevices where you can access most of the native functionality even if you have to go through Apple's approval and you're not forced to uploa…

> Can Mozilla even make a Firefox browser for ChromeOS?

Sure, Native Client's there and should have all the functionality you need. It'll technically be running inside Chrome, but so is everything else like the settings dialog.

Re: $149 Chromebooks

#263

Post by aikah »

This thread is being totally astroturfed by Googlers, or people actually like the specs of that thing? I don't get it. People, you can buy machines that have a proper os AND a browser ... but you're ready to spend money on a glorified browser?

Re: $149 Chromebooks

#264

Post by KeytarHero »

ntakasaki wrote: post #190
TheTaO wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is a colossal, market-moving play from Google. Is it that or is it just an effort to stay relevant? If you can get a laptop/tablet that can do the same thing that this Chromebook does and has a full OS for a few bucks more, would you do it? There are tons of tablets from HP/Dell that cost 100-200$ and run full windows OS and have comparable specs to the Chromebooks. As far as I know they are selling quite well…

It's sad to see folks celebrating computing devices that are more extremely locked down than even the iDevices. A Windows PC/laptop is much more open than a Chromebook. Can Mozilla even make a Firefox browser for ChromeOS? Only Google can make system and native apps, unlike the iDevices where you can access most of the native functionality even if you have to go through Apple's approval and you're not forced to uploa…

> Can Mozilla even make a Firefox browser for ChromeOS?

Apparently they can: https://github.com/mozilla/browser.html

Re: $149 Chromebooks

#265

Post by Zikes »

geofft wrote: post #262
ntakasaki wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's sad to see folks celebrating computing devices that are more extremely locked down than even the iDevices. A Windows PC/laptop is much more open than a Chromebook. Can Mozilla even make a Firefox browser for ChromeOS? Only Google can make system and native apps, unlike the iDevices where you can access most of the native functionality even if you have to go through Apple's approval and you're not forced to uploa…

> Can Mozilla even make a Firefox browser for ChromeOS? Sure, Native Client's there and should have all the functionality you need. It'll technically be running inside Chrome, but so is everything else like the settings dialog.

https://github.com/mozilla/browser.html

Re: $149 Chromebooks

#266

Post by KeytarHero »

nightpool wrote: post #222
ntakasaki wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's sad to see folks celebrating computing devices that are more extremely locked down than even the iDevices. A Windows PC/laptop is much more open than a Chromebook. Can Mozilla even make a Firefox browser for ChromeOS? Only Google can make system and native apps, unlike the iDevices where you can access most of the native functionality even if you have to go through Apple's approval and you're not forced to uploa…

Actually, I upvoted this, but on reflection I think this is wrong. Here's why: - Most Chromebooks are freely bootloader unlocked, allowing any operating system to be loaded on them. - ChromeOS follows the same open source model as Chrome—Most core features open, with things like Flash/Wildvine/API keys held secret. - There are no native apps on ChromeOS—the correct question is not "Can Mozilla write a browser for Chr…

> There are no native apps on ChromeOS—the correct question is not "Can Mozilla write a browser for ChromeOS", its "Can Mozilla write an app for ChromeOS"

Exactly - ChromeOS is a browser. "Can Mozilla write a browser for ChromeOS" makes about as much sense as "Can Mozilla write a browser for Chrome" or "Can Google write a browser for Internet Explorer".

...or it would have made that little sense before Mozilla wrote a browser in html: https://github.com/mozilla/browser.html

Re: $149 Chromebooks

#267

Post by bane »

raesene9 wrote: post #12
dpcan wrote: post #6

Where 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…

http://www.amazon.com/HP-Stream-Laptop-Personal-Horizon/dp/B... HP Stream 11 is likely the closest to what you're looking for $199 so slightly more expensive, but a year of Office365 included...

A bit more expensive

http://www.costco.com/ASUS-T100TAR-Transformer-Book-2-in-1-T...

detachable Touchscreen tablet, quad core, 2GB RAM, 32GB Storage

Re: $149 Chromebooks

#268

Post by nl »

aikah wrote: post #251
eertami wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you can get a laptop/tablet that can do the same thing that this Chromebook does and has a full OS for a few bucks more, would you do it? Are there really any sub-200$ Windows laptops that have 10 hour battery life on an 8 second boot? I find that pretty hard to believe. Maybe they have similarly specced components but the experience will be much worse.

> 10 hour battery life on an 8 second boot? 8 second boot ,frankly who cares ? my windows machine takes 40 second to boot sure, but I boot it like 2 times a week. 10 hour battery life ? maybe on idle, I bet this thing doesn't last 10 hours with 50 tabs opened or when playing youtube videos ... I can't believe there are still people defending that stuff, it's netbooks all over again but worse cause it's only a browser…

10 hour battery life ? maybe on idle, I bet this thing doesn't last 10 hours with 50 tabs opened or when playing youtube videos ...

You are right - it's probably more like 8 hours. The older Acer c720 got between 6 and 7 hours streaming Netflix[1]. The Chromebook 13 got 10 hours[2].

[1] http://www.trustedreviews.com/acer-c720-chromebook-review-ba...

[2] http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/23/acer-chromebook-13-review...

Re: $149 Chromebooks

#270

Post by akhilcacharya »

bluedino wrote: post #221
emidln wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know about modern chromebooks, but I have an Acer C7 that I spent $199 on and then added another $240 for it to have a 128GB SSD, 16GB RAM, a working bluetooth module, and an upgraded battery. $440 total and it's been a solid dev machine running first chrubuntu and now crouton. I've mentioned before that the only issue I've had with it is lack of CPU horsepower for clojure-based work to get into the REPL, whi…

$440? You could get a Lenovo T440 for a few bucks more in the Lenovo outlet

It could end up being better in terms of battery life and portability if OP had bought a C720.
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