Google Releases $1299 Chromebook

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by wizwor

Bill Gates and Tim Cook are both smiling. Meanwhile Jeff Bezos is scouring mainland China for facilities to build a $199.99 version of this -- with Special Offers.

I wonder if Apple owns the trademark for "Pixel"?

[SCION]

Originally Posted by wizwor

Bill Gates and Tim Cook are both smiling. Meanwhile Jeff Bezos is scouring mainland China for facilities to build a $199.99 version of this -- with Special Offers.

[WillysJeepMan]

I have a history of not being overly impressed with Google-branded devices. They're solid, but IMO not worthy of the gushing praise their devices receive.

This Chromebook however, I find exciting. I don't expect the commodity-mindset of most Windows users to see the value in fit-n-finish, quality construction, material, and design (and the added cost that goes along with those things), but I think that Google nailed it.

I'm not a fan of Chrome OS. If this was running Android, I'd be seriously considering it, and if it can run Windows (even if it is Win8) I'd definitely buy it.

It'll be interesting to see how well this does.

[pl001]

Yeah I'm with you guys, I just don't get this at all. I didn't have much interest in the cheap chromebooks, but at least I understood their purpose and value.

The only thing spec'd good on this thing is the screen, and even then it's an odd non-standard aspect ratio (for PCs anyway). The big selling point the Google diehards are claiming is the 3 years of free 1TB cloud storage, which is an $1800 value. I guess if you need that it's a good deal. But very few people need or want that. Otherwise it's basically an expensive web browser with a pretty screen.

[silasgreenback]

Originally Posted by din155

Did you not read the "brings together the best in hardware, software, and design to inspire future innovation" part?

Saw that and then read the specs. Scroll to bottom and look for "Full Specs" button for more detail.

The Core i5 is nice and it has a small SSD, but USB 2.0 & 4GB RAM? Cloud backups are swell but offering a TB of Gdrive space to complement an equivalent physical disk would come closer to the asking price being acceptable.

For the cost and what is offered, the whole to inspire future innovation bit is something like a bad omen, especially if every other vendor takes the cloud-only philosophy and runs with it.

[pl001]

Originally Posted by WillysJeepMan

I don't expect the commodity-mindset of most Windows users to see the value in fit-n-finish, quality construction, material, and design (and the added cost that goes along with those things), but I think that Google nailed it.

That's an ironic statement, considering how Microsoft's Surface compares to Android devices and previous Chromebooks in those areas.

[tubemonkey]

Meanwhile, Google's shares crossed the $800 mark last Tuesday. The first tech company to ever do so. Even Apple never got that high; peaking at $705.07.

Google stock hits new record, closes above $800

The sky-high stock price comes amid rumors the search giant is planning to build retail stores.

Google's stock closed at an all-time high of $806.85 today, becoming the first tech firm to pass the $800 mark and signaling that Wall Street approves of the company's rumored move into retail stores.

[afv011]

It's a nice device, but it's too much dosh for what ultimately is a machine running a glorified browser. The lack of apps is its Achilles heel.

[DreamWriter]

The Google Pixel is a gorgeous machine, but overpriced. The screen is beautiful and I love the idea of a backlit keyboard for nighttime use, but it won't run MS Word, which I use a lot.

When I win the lottery (yeah, right), I'll buy one...but not until then.

[QuantumIguana]

Originally Posted by pl001

Yeah I'm with you guys, I just don't get this at all. I didn't have much interest in the cheap chromebooks, but at least I understood their purpose and value.

The only thing spec'd good on this thing is the screen, and even then it's an odd non-standard aspect ratio (for PCs anyway). The big selling point the Google diehards are claiming is the 3 years of free 1TB cloud storage, which is an $1800 value. I guess if you need that it's a good deal. But very few people need or want that. Otherwise it's basically an expensive web browser with a pretty screen.

I like my Chromebook, but it was the $249 Chromebook. It's hard to see what the target market is for this device at this price. I don't mind the screen resolution, the 3x2 is a good compromise between 16x9 which is good for movies and TV and 4x3 which is good for documents. I've been impressed with some of the web based apps, but there is still a ways to go before they are fully practical.

[CWatkinsNash]

They didn't make this thing because they thought they'd sell millions of $1300 Chromebooks. They did it because they knew it would blow up the internet (figuratively speaking, of course). I've been hearing about the $1300 Chromebook since I got out of bed this morning. That's what this is about - getting everyone talking about Chromebooks. The Pixel is the attention getter so that people will notice the cheaper ones.

And from what I can tell, it's working.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

I like my Chromebook, but it was the $249 Chromebook. It's hard to see what the target market is for this device at this price. I don't mind the screen resolution, the 3x2 is a good compromise between 16x9 which is good for movies and TV and 4x3 which is good for documents. I've been impressed with some of the web based apps, but there is still a ways to go before they are fully practical.

I still want a Chromebook. Does the Samsung support Netflix yet?

[pl001]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

They didn't make this thing because they thought they'd sell millions of $1300 Chromebooks. They did it because they knew it would blow up the internet (figuratively speaking, of course). I've been hearing about the $1300 Chromebook since I got out of bed this morning. That's what this is about - getting everyone talking about Chromebooks. The Pixel is the attention getter so that people will notice the cheaper ones.

And from what I can tell, it's working.

Could be. Or it could be a lesson from the Nexus 4. I don't think they ever had any intention of that being a huge seller even though it could have been if they kept up with demand. Instead it was a source of frustration for people unable to get one and probably hurt Android sales overall to some extent as people waited for it to become available.

So if they overprice this one out of the ballpark they still have a benchmark showing what Chromebook can be without squeezing their OEM partners.

But that flies in the face of what they did with the Nexus 7. So who knows.

[DianNC]

The U.S. government will probably buy them. The USDA bought a bunch of Nook Colors for their field agents a few years ago, ostensibly for the reading of .pdfs (uh huh).

[QuantumIguana]

Tablet computers do have practical uses besides playing Angry Birds. If the Government buys the Nook instead of the iPad, that's just choosing a cheaper tablet.