"Why Chromebook Pundits Are Out of Touch"

[afv011]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Obviously they are tapping into some sort of hitherto unknown demand. I wonder what the main argument for the consumer is. Price or lack of maintenance?

I'd say it's a combination of simplicity of use, no maintenance and price.

[John F]

Sales of Chromebooks exploded from basically nothing in 2012 to more than 20 percent of the U.S. commercial PC market, analyst firm NPD reported on Monday, while Windows PCs and Macs remained flat at best.

Originally Posted by afv011

Source

Where did the 20% number come from? It looks more like 15%?

[forsooth]

Originally Posted by John F

Where did the 20% number come from? It looks more like 15%?

Maybe this is way:

ADD ONLY LAPTOP NUMBERS:
34.1% Windows
1.8 % Apple
9.6 % Chrome
--------
45.5 %

To make 100% multiply 45.5% by 2.19

SO AT SAME RATIO:
9.6% (Chrome) x 2.19= 21% approx (more than 20%)

[forsooth]

Originally Posted by ApK

Tubemonkey (and others who like wysiwyg mode),
I did a little Googling, and discovered that the reason wysiwyg mode does not work in Chrome is that the forum software only enables it for certain browser user agents.

For the sake of Chromebook completeness, you might want to try a user-agent switcher from the Chrome store, like this one:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/d...jiklpkjnoahfmg

I'm trying it now on my Chromebook, with my user agent set to Firefox 15, and wysiwyg mode is working fine.
You can see the user agent switcher button to the right of the address bar:

EUREKA!

[forsooth]

Originally Posted by afv011

I'd say it's a combination of simplicity of use, no maintenance and price.

Correct.

[WillysJeepMan]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I made some changes:

• I got a new Windows PC today
• I'm giving the netbook back
• I'm moving the Chromebook to the living room

As much as I wanted to make Chrome my primary PC, I couldn't. For me, it's not ready for prime time. Library books and WYSIWYG editing were the deal breakers. Other than that, I had no other major issues with Chrome.

Except for the major issues with Chrome I had no other major issues.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by WillysJeepMan

Except for the major issues with Chrome I had no other major issues.

Yep; other than audiobooks, it's a great device (an extension solved the WYSIWYG editing)

ps: I'm sure glad my Windows PC boots fast and doesn't get viruses; heaven forbid it would ever have major issues

[frahse]

OK.

I have a question.
I was trying out my wife's 710.

I streamed a movie.

Actuated the volume control at the top of the 710 chromebook all the way up.
Tweaked the screen volume control of the movie all the way up.

===>>> sound too low for comfort.

Looked in help. Found only reference to control on keyboard.

Is there something else? I just don't believe I have maxed out the amplifier on the chromebook.

[Graham]

Originally Posted by frahse

Tweaked the screen volume control of the movie all the way up.

===>>> sound too low for comfort.

Just to confirm: you set both the sound in the tab/app playing the movie and the hardware sound via the keyboard/settings all the way up?

On my Samsung the volume goes up beyond where I'm comfortable watching a movie with the Chromebook screen a few feet away, but obviously the Acer device may be different.

I assume you've tried other sources to see if it was an issue with that movie or site?

I've been trying to find the wattage of the Acer 710 vs Samsung ARM Chromebook speakers but failing, however, I have found this review of the 710 that also mentions that the volume is low:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2419670,00.asp

Graham

[tubemonkey]

FTR, the speakers on the C720 are very loud and I keep them below max.

[Kumabjorn]

It might not be the speakers, it could be the sampling of the movie file. Higher resolution movies had lower sampling rates for sound.

[frahse]

I did a little more testing.
Put 3 songs on a flash drive.
They came out nice and loud on the Chromebook though nowhere near the window rattling volume that my desktop with the big woofer gets.

Must be something about the movie. Still I used to have a program that would adjust normal volume of mp3 files up or down. Is there an Add on for ChromeOS to do that? i.e. a "post-amp"

[forsooth]

Sighting of Toshiba Chomebook is reported on Chrome blog.

Only brief sighing until removed.
Only brief information available.
Jan 6 is date for unveiling.

The screen was 13.3 inches!

[Graham]

There's also a rumoured update to the Samsung ARM coming later in 2014, with a faster processor, more RAM and a very sweet 2560×1600 12" screen.

http://www.omgchrome.com/samsung-arm...h-slated-2014/

Hopefully the rumour proves true, as that looks like very nice to me. Not quite as long battery life as the Haswell devices, but lighter, and hopefully with a matte screen at that high resolution.

Graham

[Kumabjorn]

Can someone please explain to me the benefit of that kind of high resolution on a Chromebook? I can only see a benefit if you're doing graphic work and tools for that aren't available as far as I know.