New Acer Chromebook C710-2055

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by WillysJeepMan

Given that consumer expectation, Microsoft cannot release a product with no track record that in the consumer's mind has a boutique pricetag. Dumb.

Well, pricing is part of marketing in my book. They went with iPad pricing for the RT as the benchmark. Which they thought would make it a success since you get an actual PC for the same money. That seemed dumb -- they would have made a big splash with a low price. Of course, their were constrained in that they had to be careful not to upset their hardware partners and customers.

[frahse]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

Well, pricing is part of marketing in my book. They went with iPad pricing for the RT as the benchmark. Which they thought would make it a success since you get an actual PC for the same money. That seemed dumb -- they would have made a big splash with a low price. Of course, their were constrained in that they had to be careful not to upset their hardware partners and customers.

Well, you can't be so staid that your partners and customers think your business has stalled.

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by frahse

Well, you can't be so staid that your partners and customers think your business has stalled.

Or have them think you are trying to commit suicide. As a photographer, I call that the Kodak model of industry leadership.

[frahse]

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

Or have them think you are trying to commit suicide. As a photographer, I call that the Kodak model of industry leadership.

Yeah, and the big guys in the company make more and more money and more and more bonuses as they "lead" the company into the future, and finally depart via golden parachute.

The demise of Kodak was a crime.

[WT Sharpe]

I got a few minutes hands on time with the Acer Chromebook yesterday. At $199.00 it's tempting. Very tempting.

[frahse]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

I got a few minutes hands on time with the Acer Chromebook yesterday. At $199.00 it's tempting. Very tempting.

I have heard this several places. For less than $16 you can drop a 2GB memory chip into the empty 2nd memory slot and double your ram.

Also you can make it a dual boot with ubuntu.

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by frahse

I have heard this several places. For less than $16 you can drop a 2GB memory chip into the empty 2nd memory slot and double your ram.

Also you can make it a dual boot with ubuntu.

Now a Dual boot with Unbutu would be Very Very cool! Canonical seems to have finally figured out how to monetize Linux, what with the Unbutu Phone OS, the Steam game site offering a Linux site (aimed at Unbutu and derivatives), and the recent agreement with the Chinese to develop a "National OS", presumably to partly address the special lingusitic issues Chinese presents, and, (I suspect the real reason) to make sure there is the kind of seamless integration between Unbutu Linux and Unbutu Phone OS, that Google enjoys with Android and Chrome. I've heard the Chinese Telecoms were very interested in Unbutu Phone OS.

So, one device that could cover both Chrome OS and Unbutu OS (will we even call it Linux in a couple of years?) would be quite a product.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

Now a Dual boot with Unbutu would be Very Very cool! Canonical seems to have finally figured out how to monetize Linux, what with the Unbutu Phone OS, the Steam game site offering a Linux site (aimed at Unbutu and derivatives), and the recent agreement with the Chinese to develop a "National OS", presumably to partly address the special lingusitic issues Chinese presents, and, (I suspect the real reason) to make sure there is the kind of seamless integration between Unbutu Linux and Unbutu Phone OS, that Google enjoys with Android and Chrome. I've heard the Chinese Telecoms were very interested in Unbutu Phone OS.

So, one device that could cover both Chrome OS and Unbutu OS (will we even call it Linux in a couple of years?) would be quite a product.

"Linguistic issues" for Chinese are covered well enough with any OS except WebOS. Now, a special Ubuntu OS just for China is, of course, ideal for the total control that it will allow the Chinese government. Everything users do on their devices will be recorded and analyzed for keywords by computers (just like they do already for SMS, IM, chats, phone calls). And if you write something like "Tibet" your writings will be subjected to personal attention. (will work for Chrome as well, of course. And don't mention encryption and VPN --- they are actively blocking these and sometimes just cut your connection off until you stop using them).

And they want something different for the local market so that they can nurse local phone and telecom equipment makers in general and put pressure on foreign companies to buy their technology (in order to be able to sell in the local market).

It is a dream-come-true for them. They already did this with 3G standards, the special standard (incompatible with international phones) has helped make Huawei what it is today.

[SeaKing]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

"Linguistic issues" for Chinese are covered well enough with any OS except WebOS. Now, a special Ubuntu OS just for China is, of course, ideal for the total control that it will allow the Chinese government. Everything users do on their devices will be recorded and analyzed for keywords by computers (just like they do already for SMS, IM, chats, phone calls). And if you write something like "Tibet" your writings will be subjected to personal attention. (will work for Chrome as well, of course. And don't mention encryption and VPN --- they are actively blocking these and sometimes just cut your connection off until you stop using them).

And they want something different for the local market so that they can nurse local phone and telecom equipment makers in general and put pressure on foreign companies to buy their technology (in order to be able to sell in the local market).

It is a dream-come-true for them. They already did this with 3G standards, the special standard (incompatible with international phones) has helped make Huawei what it is today.

The US is putting the stops to buying and utilizing Chinese made switching gear. It is a trust issue.

[hidari]

Actually, The Surface RT has finally arrived to Japan. It does look impressive and the weight is even good. But too little to late, I ordered a Nexus 10 instead. I have basically dropped Windows as my main OS and am slowly moving over to Android. Will only use Android for 90 percent of my work this year. Honestly, The Surface pro looks good but, the weight is too much... 910 grams.... I have an acer with windows 8 11.6 inches 1.2kg, 500gigs of memory, i5 ivorybridge, 3 usb, Full HDMI...etc... even the latest Airmac is lighter than the Pro and has a built in Keyboard....

Originally Posted by HansTWN

Actually the Surface RT is a great machine and the Surface Pro even more so --- however, MS just doesn't understand consumer marketing. They built the infinitely better mouse trap -- but they have no idea how to get people to buy it.

[SeaKing]

Isn't MS dropping the prices on these surface products considerably?

[wyndslash]

I'm considering buying a Chromebook myself but waiting what Google will unveil in their I/o this may

[forsooth]

Originally Posted by wyndslash

I'm considering buying a Chromebook myself but waiting what Google will unveil in their I/o this may

smart cat!

want Series 5 for C7 price

[shanghaichica]

I've got a Samsung series 3 chromebook. It's a good machine. I use it mainly for word processing, presentations and web surfing. Build quality is excellent and it's so light and thin so easy to carry around with me. Google drive is also really good. I've been abłe to start documents off on the chromebook/laptop at home and finish them off on my ipad/phone/iPod touch whilst on the train. It couldn't replace my windows laptop but its good as a second computer.

[ApK]

We just got the $199 version of the C7 this weekend, primarily for my wife to use as lightweight web browser so she could leave her main machine in her craft room.
I was quite surprised to see how limited ChromeOs really is: Can't print to my legacy network printer without CloudPrint, can't access local NAS shares without an HTML interface, not even sure if we can manage files on our Android smartphones via USB.
Still, my wife seems to like it, and we couldn't spend more on a laptop right now.
For myself, the first thing I did was install ChrUbuntu Linux on it. Took less than an hour including all the rebooting and downloading, so now that I know that works, I feel my $199 investment is protected. If we every get fed up with ChromOS, we can use Linux.
The only inconvenience in using both OSes is that the box has to be in developer mode to use Linux. In Dev mode, the boot time is greatly increased from the from the ~20 seconds it is normally, so that's less convenient for my wife.
If you switch it in or out of dev mode, you lose the local settings and data and have to reconfigure everything. Takes only a few minutes but it is an inconvenience.

So for right now, we're leaving it in normal ChromeOS mode, and I have the comfort of knowing Linux is there if a I want it.

ApK