"Why Chromebook Pundits Are Out of Touch"

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Sregener

It's actually not very surprising to me. Apple's base hardware is significantly more expensive than Windows, which is also significantly more expensive than a Chromebook. While $200 will get you a decent Chromebook, it takes closer to $400 to get a basic Windows machine. And the cheapest MacBook Air is $1000.

Now, to get comparable performance and screen quality from a Windows laptop would actually get you close to $1000, but that's not the issue when you're looking at units sold. Cheaper units typically sell more volume. And the iPads have gotten so good that most Apple fans no longer see the need for a laptop/desktop. And at half the price.

The Chromebook has the potential to eat into iPad sales because it offers many of the same features at better than half the price. Sure, it's not a retina screen, and the battery life of most of these models is pathetic compared to an iPad, but the built-in keyboard and larger screen size probably makes up for some of these disadvantages. But the Chromebook offers snappy performance and fast start-up times, which makes it worlds better than a low-end Windows laptop for most uses.

But the question that remains to be answered is how dedicated Google will be in supporting these products long-term. Given how long they support phones and tablets (2 years or less), will they treat the Chromebook like a disposable product, or will they continue to provide software updates for older machines? I'm writing this post on a circa 2004 Powerbook that Apple hasn't officially supported for years, but I'm using a December 2013 compiled browser with the latest security patches on it. Will a Chromebook still run a relatively new browser in 10 years, even if Google stops supporting it?

If ChromeOS isn't supported in 2 years from now on older computers, and I think it is unlikely -- how much do they need to do besides ensure backward compatibility with the drivers? -- then there will undoubtedly be a supported ChromiumOS build. Or the nice folks at xda-developers will provide some unofficial support.

Besides, I believe the Nexus is supported for much longer than other devices, and it is really the device maker NOT necessarily Google that needs to handle support.

[frahse]

Originally Posted by Sregener

It's actually not very surprising to me. Apple's base hardware is significantly more expensive than Windows, which is also significantly more expensive than a Chromebook. While $200 will get you a decent Chromebook, it takes closer to $400 to get a basic Windows machine. And the cheapest MacBook Air is $1000.

Now, to get comparable performance and screen quality from a Windows laptop would actually get you close to $1000, but that's not the issue when you're looking at units sold. Cheaper units typically sell more volume. And the iPads have gotten so good that most Apple fans no longer see the need for a laptop/desktop. And at half the price.

The Chromebook has the potential to eat into iPad sales because it offers many of the same features at better than half the price. Sure, it's not a retina screen, and the battery life of most of these models is pathetic compared to an iPad, but the built-in keyboard and larger screen size probably makes up for some of these disadvantages. But the Chromebook offers snappy performance and fast start-up times, which makes it worlds better than a low-end Windows laptop for most uses.

But the question that remains to be answered is how dedicated Google will be in supporting these products long-term. Given how long they support phones and tablets (2 years or less), will they treat the Chromebook like a disposable product, or will they continue to provide software updates for older machines? I'm writing this post on a circa 2004 Powerbook that Apple hasn't officially supported for years, but I'm using a December 2013 compiled browser with the latest security patches on it. Will a Chromebook still run a relatively new browser in 10 years, even if Google stops supporting it?

Afv011 points out that many Chromebooks with Haswell have 9 hours battery life. Most all devices will soon have Haswell. The Apple Air uses Haswell, so that will be a even playing field.

For example the new Acer $199 Chromebook has Haswell and 9 hours which of course is twice as long as the original $199 Acer Chromebook.

A real interest to me is that the HP 11 Chromebook has a IPS screen which Apple typically has.
I want a Chromebook with IPS, Haswell, and more than 4GB of RAM or at least the ability to add up to say 8GB of Ram As for storage, I would like a HDD, say 320GB or so which Acer has previously offered at no extra charge over a 16GB SSD. I might be satisfied with a 32GB SSD like Acer offers on its 720P.

Give me a better CPU and the above, and I will gladly pay $400 for a Chromebook.

I expect that some enterprising tech gurus will soon come up with a solution to my other outstanding problem with Chromebooks so far. The ability to do a local off line print.

[afv011]

Acer is now listing the Chromebooks in their Canadian website, so we will hopefully start seeing these in the shops up here.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by afv011

Acer is now listing the Chromebooks in their Canadian website, so we will hopefully start seeing these in the shops up here.

How about pricing? Will it be similar to the US?

[Sregener]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Besides, I believe the Nexus is supported for much longer than other devices, and it is really the device maker NOT necessarily Google that needs to handle support.

I have a Sprint Galaxy Nexus. Google will not release KitKat for it. Even though the Sprint version of the Galaxy Nexus was only 18 months "new" when KitKat was announced. Because the other versions of the Galaxy Nexus were beyond 24 months, Google decided the model was beyond its support window.

Yes, I understand not much would need to be kept current with Chrome after 24 months, but if a browser vulnerability were discovered, there'd be no patch to fix it coming from Google.

If you wanted to install alternative OSs and deal with 3rd parties, doesn't that kind of negate the ChromeOS's strong point of not needing any user actions for support?

[afv011]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

How about pricing? Will it be similar to the US?

No price currently listed, but I'd expect it to be more expensive. And it comes with that terrible bilingual keyboard - when it's time for me to get one, I'll get it south of the border.

[afv011]

Originally Posted by Sregener

I have a Sprint Galaxy Nexus. Google will not release KitKat for it. Even though the Sprint version of the Galaxy Nexus was only 18 months "new" when KitKat was announced. Because the other versions of the Galaxy Nexus were beyond 24 months, Google decided the model was beyond its support window.

I'll wait and see what kind of support other Nexus devices get. The GN is a bit of a special case given that it uses the TI processor, and TI dropped all their mobile business months ago, so there is no baseport available for that processor.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Sregener

I have a Sprint Galaxy Nexus. Google will not release KitKat for it. Even though the Sprint version of the Galaxy Nexus was only 18 months "new" when KitKat was announced. Because the other versions of the Galaxy Nexus were beyond 24 months, Google decided the model was beyond its support window.

Yes, I understand not much would need to be kept current with Chrome after 24 months, but if a browser vulnerability were discovered, there'd be no patch to fix it coming from Google.

If you wanted to install alternative OSs and deal with 3rd parties, doesn't that kind of negate the ChromeOS's strong point of not needing any user actions for support?

That is only one of the strong points, but yes. I agree it would not be an optimal condition. (Although I don't think it will happen, desktop support seems more likely to me than mobile device support.)

Still, if you know what you are doing, and not everyone does, you could certainly fix the problem for yourself.


Another thing -- if the only real problem of likely impact would be security patches, is there any reason to think Google wouldn't patch it? To be clear: I am asking, since I don't know.

[frahse]

Originally Posted by afv011

No price currently listed, but I'd expect it to be more expensive. And it comes with that terrible bilingual keyboard - when it's time for me to get one, I'll get it south of the border.

I had not thought of the language requirements in Canada.

Please show us the "bilingual keyboard" you are talking about.

[afv011]

There you go.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by afv011

Absolutely horrible.
Short left shift, plus upside-down shaped Enter.
Gŕŕŕŕŕŕŕ ... Shudder

[frahse]

Originally Posted by afv011

There you go.

Though I have worked in Canada, I must have been insulated from these keyboards.
"I never knew."
"I never knew."

I shudder for a younger grand son is Canadian born.

I will repeat an actual happening.
When another grandchild who was 5 at the time, a year or so after moving to Canada, was in "French" class one day, the teacher said:

"J***, please say "Good morning, Mr Jones."
Little J said exactly "Good morning, Mr Jones."
The teacher smiled and said "Non, non, J please say "Good morning, Mr Jones "in French.""
My darling little grandchild said exactly:
"Good morning Mr Jones in French."

(They are the light of our lives.)

[frahse]

I am working to gather the info for the "coming" Chromebooks.

The smattering of new Samsung info available is very exciting.
Twice the display resolution and an Octa-core CPU.

[forsooth]

Originally Posted by frahse

I am working to gather the info for the "coming" Chromebooks.

The smattering of new Samsung info available is very exciting.
Twice the display resolution and an Octa-core CPU.

A new Pixel?

[jj2me]

Originally Posted by frahse

The smattering of new Samsung info available is very exciting.
Twice the display resolution and an Octa-core CPU.

My cheap ($130 refurbished) Acer C710 is tremendous "for the price." But boy, that screen is so netbooky. I'm always adjusting the angle, since it seems to want to be within a few degrees of perpendicular to my gaze, or it will wash out. I'll never buy a netbook-class Chromebook again without first checking out the screen and its off-angle viewing. And I'm far from fussy about such things.