Google's still trying to sell netbooks? Really? Sometimes I wonder if they are aware that the iPad has completely obliterated the market for underpowered/overpriced netbooks.
My housemate has more or less replaced his 1st-gen MacBook with a used 1st-gen iPad, and he does most of his typing on it. Notes in class, emails, word processing, etc. A case with a stand is relatively cheap, and even at $60, Apple's bluetooth keyboard has been well worth it.
Sure, cheap 1st gen iPads aren't available in infinite supply, but I would bet there are more of them available than Google will sell ChromeBooks.
My roommates are all med students, and Stanford "gives" every incoming med student an iPad. They all got a keyboard case for it, and use it for most of their note taking and reviewing.
They only use their laptop at home now, and only when they need to multitask (in which case they often have the iPad sitting on the side as a secondary display of sort) or run medical software that isn't available on the iPad.
So there's actually a market of people that don't want a fully capable laptop, and don't want a tablet + external keyboard, and want a web-only miniature laptop? I think these Chromebooks are targeted at market that actually does not exist.
I have an iPad at work and I absolutely hate it. I also have an iMac at work and I absolutely hate it (typing this on the Windows PC that sits next to the idle iMac).
My personal laptop is a Thinkpad T61 with Xubuntu 12.04 and I love it, except that it's pretty bulky. I used to have an HP netbook and it was a generally positive experience, but the touchpad was terrible.
I am seriously considering a Chromebook (have been for a couple months now) as an ultra-portable machine.
Of course there's on obvious concession I have to make: I'm clearly not "normal". First, I hate OS X (most people love it) and the iPad (most people love it). Second, I don't own a smartphone (most geeks seem to). Third, I spend nearly all my time (when I'm not at work) in a web browser or a terminal emulator so I have no need for "apps" on a Chromebook.
What, you aren't allowed to dislike iPad's now? I have one that I use for work (facetime with other coworkers), but aside from facetime and a few sporadic games I don't really use it much.
So: I don't really like my iPad. Am I a raging Google fanboy too? (Hint: I'm not, I don't like the Chromebook and I don't really like Google that much either)
Hehe, that's kinda funny since I've recently been accused of being anti-Google for defending DDG and using it as my default search provider in Chrome :)
So no, I'm not a fanboy of any kind. I have products and companies that I prefer, but not to the point of fanboy-ism.
Actually, I do own one Mac product that I enjoy quite a bit: I have a Mac Mini plugged into my TV for casual web browsing and Hulu (it's the only device hooked up to the TV in fact).
Ah, I see your point. Maybe "absolutely hate" was too strong. I wrote that pretty quickly. The sentiment I was trying to express is that I really don't find the iPad useful at all, nor do I even enjoy using it as a toy.
I have a chromebook and a MacBook Air. Both are ultraportable and I use the macbook air because I can actually do something other than just run chrome in it all day. I heavily use google apps but my MacBook Air is much more useful. My brother has a chromebook and all he did was install ubuntu on it.
It's targeted at companies that already use Google Apps. Imagine cheap laptops that do email and word processing, but never need updates and can't get viruses. And that are fully-encrypted and backed up by default, so losing a laptop doesn't leak information or lose data. That's what a Chromebook is. It makes giving employees computers simple and inexpensive.
It's also a good machine for people that don't know how to use computers. There's so little you can do with them, you can become an expert very quickly. In that sense, it is very much like an iPad, but with Chrome apps and a keyboard instead of iOS apps and a touchscreen. I personally find both unusable, but that doesn't mean they're not good devices.
The market seems to be every non-technical family member of mine. All they need is a web browser; if these "just work" for that purpose, have good battery life and they don't have to worry about anti-virus software or other updates, then these are significantly better for their needs than what they have.
Bigger screen, keyboard, better web experience, the Chrome store to fill in the gaps of what they might miss from Windows. Sure, there are overlapping use cases but they're not the same. Chrome OS gives them what they need/want from their laptop/desktop (e.g. Facebook, web browsing, YouTube, email, pictures, occasional word processing, etc.).
But you're changing the parameters.. You said "All my family needs is a web browser". Now you're saying they need other software that the might miss from Windows (plus what they might need/want from their laptop.
Given your original parameters, my point still stands. If you're looking for a laptop "replacement" then obviously a "laptop" is going to fulfill that need.
My core argument is that what Chrome OS sets out to provide is what most people need from a laptop; a web browser and somewhere to get "apps" (Chrome webstore: Netflix, picture editing, etc.). If it can do these well, the market for these is massive; that's my point to people claiming there's no market.
You might say that a current laptop can do this and more. The "and more" part is the issue because it ends up causing the average user more trouble than it's worth; seriously, talk to them. They still have issues with anti-virus software, paranoia about getting a virus, performing updates, anxiety resulting from worrying about what might happen if they do/don't update, resolving issues that result from updates, resolving issues that result from not updating, what to do when when it runs slow, drivers, handling files, dealing with the inevitable mess their system will be in after a year or two of use, etc.
First paragraph - second paragraph + fast boot + good battery life = massive market of potential happy users. Again, I don't know if Chrome OS will succeed but the market's there waiting for something better.
When tablets browsers catch up to the desktop on those two things, I'll consider using a tablet for more than just a comic reader (all I use one for now).
Travelers who want to type stuff and not want to care if their laptop gets stolen. If your documents are on the web and your laptop is literally ripped away from your hands you lose what, 30 minutes of work?
Please stop. We don’t always have to ask for data to prove one’s opinion. Opinions are opinions, you can have them without data to back them up, basing them on your own experience, they are still valid. If you have a different opinion discuss that instead of just dropping the stupid [citation needed].
I’m not saying whether I agree or not with the OP, but I certainly disagree with your way of having a discussion by not having one.
Also certainly Chromebooks are somewhat puzzling because of their overlap with Android tablets, especially ones like the Asus Transformer to which you can attach a keyboard and have basically the same thing with a slightly different OS that sync your data everywhere anyway.
Having a discussion on how they are different and why both would be useful is an interesting conversation to have, shutting it down with “where’s your data” is stupid.
So, if you want to discuss, provide your reasons why they are useful instead of trying to shut off people with petty arguments.
I'm calling out the arrogance of people to make conclusions just based on one data which is usually just their own.
In my other comment, I said I don't know anybody who watches Big Bang Theory. But I can't make a statement that nobody watches it just because I don't know anyone who does.
No... we can sit here and make predictions.. but the real market data is important, and it isn't pretty.
>"In June 2011, Acer and Samsung launched their Chromebooks ahead of other PC brand vendors, but by the end of July, Acer had reportedly only sold 5,000 units and Samsung was said to have had even lower sales than Acer, according to sources from the PC industry
That market is really tiny and it doesn't have the buzz factor of the iPad to push sales. Why not just buy a cheap laptop with Windows 7 and run Chrome browser on it instead of hobbling yourself with a Chromebook?
Google does not release Chromebook and Google TV sales numbers, but they do release number of activations for Android. That should tell you that the numbers are not very good.
What about sales figures for the Chromebooks? It's been very close to a full year since they've been lauanched. And by all the accounts sales have been really bad.
