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Chromebooks on sale at Amazon for $349

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Re: Chromebooks on sale at Amazon for $349

#41

Post by lftl »

Zumzoa wrote: post #12
notatoad wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the theoretical market for chromebooks is people who only want a computer for facebook and email and want to buy something simple and cheap. in practice, i think the market is just nerds who want to play with a chromebook because it's new and cool. i appreciate what google is trying to do with chromeOS, and i think it's a good idea, but they have failed miserably at marketing it to non-techies.

In terms of providing simple email, web use and facebook, the Chromebook may be out-performed by most modern mobile phones.

And numerous modern mobile phones actually cost more than a Chromebook (especially unsubsidized by cell phone contract).

Re: Chromebooks on sale at Amazon for $349

#42

Post by MatthewPhillips »

choko wrote: post #9

Wow, that seems a little pricey for what is offered. I would think they would be able to use an "off the shelf" netbook that already costs ~300 dollars, without Windows, and sell it for ~200. Windows accounts for a nice chunk of the price of a netbook, does it not? I know they don't pay store prices for Windows, but I'm sure they are still paying a decent amount. Does anyone have an insight in to how much Windows add…

Netbooks are priced what they are because of their component parts. The 2 Chromebooks released so far are the size of a normal notebook/laptop. The parts are similar (except for the processor) to that of a notebook, which explains the price. The Series 5 cost $334.32 to make.[1]

[1]http://www.thechromesource.com/with-what-it-costs-to-make-is...

Re: Chromebooks on sale at Amazon for $349

#43

Post by nextparadigms »

lftl wrote: post #15
eggbrain wrote: post #3

When I first saw the Chromebook, I figured it would be priced around $150, so that it was a no-brainer decision (especially with it's limitations over a normal laptop). But at $349, its still $75 more than an Acer Aspire One. Make it $100-$150, and I'll buy it. As it stands though, its too much money and too little benefits.

To be fair as far as I can tell, there is no directly comparable Windows Acer Aspire One. All the 11.6" Acers I see run on a different chipset, and they're all only $20 cheaper than the Acer Chromebook. When I first tried out the Chromebook, I thought the same thing about price. But I'm pretty sure Microsoft licenses Windows for these netbooks VERY cheaply, so there's not much price to be shaved by swapping out the O…

They don't really need to skimp on hardware. They just need to use the inexpensive ARM chips over the expensive Intel chips. That should cut at least $100 from the retail price. I can't believe they did the same mistake as with Google TV.

Re: Chromebooks on sale at Amazon for $349

#44

Post by nextparadigms »

eggbrain wrote: post #11
shoota wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A couple hundred dollars more? A MacBook Air is $650 more expensive than the price listed on Amazon. For that price you could buy almost 3 Chromebooks.

The Samsung Series 5 3g is $500, the cheapest Macbook Air is $835. So, a little more than a couple hundred dollars more, but a lot less than $650 more (even the cheapest Chromebook at $350 would be tops $485 less).

Macbook Air also doesn't have 3G, does it?

Re: Chromebooks on sale at Amazon for $349

#45

Post by chc »

Ronkdar wrote: post #39
chc wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does this mean? That you designed it to be inefficient so you can speed it up and gather favor from your users? That you just stopped optimizing halfway through and pegged it 1.0? Are you a programmer? The idea that there is a finish line for optimizing a program (beyond "This seems fast enough") is weird, and not the sort of thing I'd expect to hear from anyone who's ever done it. You do just have to stop at so…

What I meant was "We know there's tons of things we can still optimize, but we're just gonna release now anyways."

Again, that's just how software goes. I'm sure anyone who has released software could give you a laundry list of things he would have liked to have done, but didn't have time. Should they slide the release a year or two so they have time to feel better about how well it's optimized for speed? Generally, no.

At any rate, unless the software has been around for many decades and the best minds in computer science have failed to improve upon it, you can generally feel confident that there are tons of things you can still optimize.

Re: Chromebooks on sale at Amazon for $349

#46

Post by lftl »

jasongullickson wrote: post #38
lftl wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair as far as I can tell, there is no directly comparable Windows Acer Aspire One. All the 11.6" Acers I see run on a different chipset, and they're all only $20 cheaper than the Acer Chromebook. When I first tried out the Chromebook, I thought the same thing about price. But I'm pretty sure Microsoft licenses Windows for these netbooks VERY cheaply, so there's not much price to be shaved by swapping out the O…

What does Windows have to do with it? Couldn't you achieve "Chromebook-level-functionality" with a Linux model (since you'd be living out of the browser)?

I was mostly just trying to do an apples-to-apples comparison based on price. I couldn't find any Acer linux laptops that ship with linux in a quick search.

Functionality-wise, yes there's no reason you couldn't get linux on par with Chrome from a leanness standpoint by just stripping out services and booting into the browser.

Re: Chromebooks on sale at Amazon for $349

#47

Post by courtewing »

Ronkdar wrote: post #13

> It just works. Can we stop saying this please? > "Your apps, documents, and settings are stored safely in the cloud." Until Google deletes your account for no specific reason and refuses to give it back (this has happened to more than one person) > Millions of apps. [citation needed] > Friends let friends login. Every OS ever has had this feature. It's called "Users" >Gets faster over time. What does this mean? Tha…

What is wrong with "It just works"? I have found that there are very few pieces of software out there (especially operating systems) that truly "just work" out of the box. Most software requires at least some setup, customization, and a period of futzing-around before a user becomes proficient at its use. Chrome OS does one thing, and it claims to do it very well. Until most software is incredibly easy to use, I think "it just works" is a very appropriate advertisement.

Every modern operating system that I'm aware of gains performance increases through software updates. That does not mean that every company that creates operating systems purposely makes their operating system slower to gain favor over time.

Re: Chromebooks on sale at Amazon for $349

#48

Post by nextparadigms »

kenjackson wrote: post #33
onemoreact wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it's secure, easy to use and browses "the Facebook" I could see giving them to a relative and saivng a fair amount of tech support time. Granted an iPad fills the same nitch but it costs twice as much.

The iPad is only $150 more. A great conditioned used 1st gen iPad you can get for $50 more. I'll take a 1st gen ipad over this Chromebook easy.

It depends on whether you want a keyboard, too, or not. A keyboard costs extra money for iPad, and it's not a very elegant solution either. I'd much prefer an Asus Transformer if I were to choose a tablet over a Chromebook.

Re: Chromebooks on sale at Amazon for $349

#49

Post by dstein »

shoota wrote: post #10
vnorby wrote: post #5

Don't buy one. I got the Samsung Series 5 3g Chromebook a month ago, and I definitely regret buying even at its low price point. The OS is still very unstable and not performant. The speakers are very bad (but I wouldn't watch video or listen to music anyway - YouTube/Pandora/Turntable.fm tend to crash quite a bit). The screen is not that great. The only upside is the long battery life but you're better off spending…

A couple hundred dollars more? A MacBook Air is $650 more expensive than the price listed on Amazon. For that price you could buy almost 3 Chromebooks.

I bought the refurbished iPad 1 I'm typing this on for $370 from the Apple website.

Re: Chromebooks on sale at Amazon for $349

#50

Post by mestudent »

MatthewPhillips wrote: post #29
eggbrain wrote: post #3

When I first saw the Chromebook, I figured it would be priced around $150, so that it was a no-brainer decision (especially with it's limitations over a normal laptop). But at $349, its still $75 more than an Acer Aspire One. Make it $100-$150, and I'll buy it. As it stands though, its too much money and too little benefits.

Samsung Series 5 cost $334.32 to make.[1] Your price expectations are way off. [1] http://www.thechromesource.com/with-what-it-costs-to-make-is...

To be honest I expect a chromebook to be priced similar or at the very least $200 for me to be competitive with a more powerful/portable netbook.

His expectations aren't off, the manufacturing limitations just don't meet them.

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