> TRUE, XOLO, Nexian. Recognise them? Consumers in
> Thailand ... do
$149 Chromebooks
281–290 of 425 posts
Re: $149 Chromebooks
#282Wow it's kind of like, the network is the computer...
Really makes me which that Google would have bought Sun instead of Oracle.
Re: $149 Chromebooks
#283Earlier quoted context omitted.
I liken it to techies running out and buying a Tesla. You can't put your own turbo on it, you can't do much to improve the performance or customize it, you can't repair the engine in your garage, you can't drop in a new transmission when yours goes out, and it's not a manual transmission, so you're giving up a lot of control in driving it. That's what an automotive-minded person might believe. Why would you buy an el…
>I liken it to techies running out and buying a Tesla. You can't put your own turbo on it, you can't do much to improve the performance or customize it, you can't repair the engine in your garage, you can't drop in a new transmission when yours goes out, and it's not a manual transmission, so you're giving up a lot of control in driving it. That is an interesting analogy, but it's pretty misleading. Tesla happens to…
Well obviously turbo is just an example. Analogies can only ever approximate their subject, they can never be perfect. The idea is, that's the antithesis of what the guy down at your local garage might look for. It's not terribly moddable, you have less control over the inner workings, it's really expensive, the manufacturer holds tight control over the software, and yours is exactly the same as the one next to it. Those are all the criticisms aimed at iOS when people are saying they like Android better.
What I'm saying is it's not that customers don't understand these points, it's that these points are exactly why some customers don't choose a more open system.
Re: $149 Chromebooks
#284Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
If you have a windows desktop on your lan, using RDP via the chromebook does okay in a pinch... when I used mine, I'd typically have several SSH windows, and an RDP connection open. Worked really well for me. Though I really wanted VPN, and the ability to run VMs, so broke down and bought a new MBP (my prior one was stolen).
Re: $149 Chromebooks
#285Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Chromebook sales are constantly rising Where are the real shipping numbers from Google then? Surely they must know the numbers? Why won't they release it then? The only reason I can think of could be that they aren't all that great.
"Chromebooks in Q3 2013 had at best a 1.2 percent share of the PC market and a 0.76 percent share of the combined PC-tablet market." Latest IDC figures show Chromebooks continue to struggle http://www.zdnet.com/article/latest-idc-figures-show-chromeb...
Q3 2013 is a long time ago. According to NPD, Chromebooks had 14% market share in 2014, counting retail and commercial (read: education) channels. Growth was up 85% year over year, too, which is amazing in the context of a stagnant/declining laptop market.
http://betanews.com/2015/02/24/2015-is-year-of-the-chromeboo...
Re: $149 Chromebooks
#286Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If you can get a laptop/tablet that can do the same thing that this Chromebook does That's not remotely true. When my grandparents and parents ask me what computer they should get, or my in-laws ask what they should get their kids, I'm going to seriously consider Chromebooks. If they need to run Office, or Minecraft, clearly it's not a fit. But for the tweeting / facebooking / gmailing universe, a Chromebook is a v…
One of the problems I run into when recommending Chromebooks (I tried to convince my 75 year old mother, for example) is that almost every user turns out to have a need for something you can't do on a Chromebook. It ends up being a 90% solution for 90% of people, rather than a 100% solution for 80% of the people.
The thing is, most people are replacing a junky old Windows laptop that's just too slow/malware-ridden to use anymore, right? Keep that thing around, drag it out when you need that 5% app, and use the Chromebook the rest of the time.
I mean, if you buy a tablet, you don't worry that it can't print out Excel documents, right? It's still the best device for doing what you're doing with it. So with a Chromebook -- it's a better general-web-use device than a Windows laptop, particularly at the price points that Chromebooks live at.
Re: $149 Chromebooks
#287Earlier quoted context omitted.
The offline experience is going to be pretty much what you'd get with the offline experience of those apps in Chrome on a Windows or OSX computer, so you can try it out pretty easily.
I guess my point is that people don't always have wifi. I want to use my laptop on the plane (though some airlines now offer super-exorbitantly-priced wifi, I still refuse to pay for it) or in the back seat of a car. I should be able to tap away at a document or use a Thunderbird-style "send emails when you next have connectivity" mail client. My understanding is that the Google apps don't currently offer this.
Try it out on your Windows laptop, if you want, and you'll see how it works. My understanding is that this functionality is there to some extent, but I haven't used a laptop without wifi in long enough that I have no real idea.
Re: $149 Chromebooks
#288Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Chromebook sales are constantly rising Where are the real shipping numbers from Google then? Surely they must know the numbers? Why won't they release it then? The only reason I can think of could be that they aren't all that great.
"Chromebooks in Q3 2013 had at best a 1.2 percent share of the PC market and a 0.76 percent share of the combined PC-tablet market." Latest IDC figures show Chromebooks continue to struggle http://www.zdnet.com/article/latest-idc-figures-show-chromeb...
You can spin it all sorts of ways. Keep in mind the 'PC' market includes all those legacy Windows XP computers which are languishing in peoples homes, businesses, corporations, etc...
Chromebook sales are a much bigger part of current PC sales. And vendors do keep expanding their Chromebook lines. If it was a failure they wouldn't.
Re: $149 Chromebooks
#289Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not necessarily. I do virtually all my work split between my home office and an actual workplace office. Currently I drag a laptop back and forth between the two, but having a monitor/keyboard/mouse at both (which I already do and dock the laptop into) and just bringing a small stick literally in my pocket that I can plug in to either place and get my full, familiar, always-up-to-date development environment is very…
For this workflow (where you already have most of a computer at two locations), wouldn't having a diskless workstation at work and home also work out, and just carry around a USB thumbdrive? That way you still have the same environment in both locations.
I've actually considered USB before in years past and discounted it because the speed of USB sticks was very bad (in the context of keeping all your files on one, compiling from one, etc).
Thinking about it again in light of your comment made me realize there very well could be USB 3.0 thumbdrives with suitable speed (based on some Googling around it looks like there are some that are quite fast, but you have to be really careful with brand/model since it appears there is a very wide spread between the performance of different USB3.0 thumbdrives). But, yeah, I suppose using a fast USB3.0 thumbdrive would be another way to achieve this sort of setup.
Re: $149 Chromebooks
#290Earlier quoted context omitted.
One of the problems I run into when recommending Chromebooks (I tried to convince my 75 year old mother, for example) is that almost every user turns out to have a need for something you can't do on a Chromebook. It ends up being a 90% solution for 90% of people, rather than a 100% solution for 80% of the people.
The thing is, most people are replacing a junky old Windows laptop that's just too slow/malware-ridden to use anymore, right? Keep that thing around, drag it out when you need that 5% app, and use the Chromebook the rest of the time. I mean, if you buy a tablet, you don't worry that it can't print out Excel documents, right? It's still the best device for doing what you're doing with it. So with a Chromebook -- it's…
I think most people want one device not two, and they want to improve their experience with everything, not just most things. While a Chromebook met 90% of my mother's needs, the 10% of functionality it lacked was 75% of her usage.