Why You Should Worry About the Future of Chromebooks 216
dcblogs writes "PC manufacturers may try to corral Chromebook, much like Netbooks, by setting frustratingly low hardware expectations. The systems being released from HP, Acer, Lenovo and Samsung are being built around retro Celeron processors and mostly 2 GB of RAM. By doing so, they are targeting schools and semi-impulse buyers and may be discouraging corporate buyers from considering the system. Google's Pixel is the counter-force, but at a price of $1,299 for the Wi-Fi system, reviewers, while gushing about hardware, believe it's too much, too soon. The Chromebook is a threat to everything, especially PC makers, as its apps improve. Compare Tweetdeck's HTML5 version with its native app. Can you tell the difference? It might be a year or two before Adobe delivers Web-only versions of its products, but if it doesn't it will be surrendering larger portions of its mindshare to users of Pixlr, Pixel Mixer, PicMonkey and many other interesting and increasingly capable tools."
OMG The Sky is Falling! (Score:2, Insightful)
Stop drinking the Kool Aid (Score:5, Insightful)
Just because something is new doesn't magically make it better. HTML5 isn't a silver bullet that magically makes everything better; in fact Adobe makes desktop applications because that's what makes sense to do, *not* because it's the latest fad.
At any rate, have fun uploading 20 gig videos to the cloud before editing them. I'll stick with Final Cut on my Mac, thanks.
Wait 10 Minutes (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Yes (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Yes (Score:2, Insightful)
If you think Google Reader's cancellation is in any sense a useful indicator of the future of Chrome OS or Google Drive, you're not really paying attention.
Re:ChromeOS is the problem not the hardware (Score:2, Insightful)
Ah, but we LEFT the centralized computing story- which is what in the hell this stuff IS.
Chromebooks are all but a brick without an Internet connection. Will be for Google's model of this "new" (or is it OLD with better trappings??) idea to be usable for them.
It's got "FAIL" printed all over it. Extend it so that you're less beholden to Google and tethered to the Internet and the story changes at least a little bit.
Bah, humbug... (Score:5, Insightful)
The Chromebook is a threat to everything, especially PC makers, as its apps improve. Compare Tweetdeck's HTML5 version with its native app.
It's a thin client. Chrome OS is not likely to put a dent in my plans to continue buying PCs until Google can guarantee complete network coverage everywhere and HTML5 apps are written that can replace complex native apps like Photoshop and the likes. There is a world of difference between Tweetdeck and really complex native apps. Then there is the issue of all my data residing on 3rd party data-center which might get hacked, data mined by the service provider without my permission, destroyed in an unseasonal flood disaster or just discontinued because the service failed to meet profitability goals. Nobody is going to discontinue the SSD in my laptop due to its failure to meet some corporate weasels profitability expectation any time soon and the same goes for my backup disks.
Re:ChromeOS is the problem not the hardware (Score:1, Insightful)
Install Linux. Problems solved. At least for me.
Re:history repeating (Score:4, Insightful)
The Chromebook isn't intended to be a "crippled terminal type computer", and its concept is new.
The reason people keep getting this wrong is that they think of it as an OS that is "just a browser", but refer to an outdated concept of what a web browser does that misses the entire point of Chrome (not just ChromeOS, but Chrome more generally.)
Re:Yes (Score:4, Insightful)
Because android isn't that nice at providing a good desktop environment.
the chromebook with normal nix running on it would allow much better interaction.
I say this as someone with a very nice nexus 7 and an android phone.
Though take the arm chip out of the nexus 10 and give me a linux laptop with the chromebook pixels monitor\keyboard and most importantly battery :)
Re:Time Travel (Score:4, Insightful)
Your argument only works so long as you completely ignore any thing that isn't a DOS clone. Once you allow consideration of things that weren't DOS clones, the price situation doesn't seem nearly a grim.
It was the PC that dragged it's feet with a GUI, a real OS, and even reasonable pricing.
My first non-PC cost me 1/3rd what a cut rate and inferior clone of the time would have cost.
Once you stop fixating on secretary terminals, the history isn't quite so grim.
Re:Yes (Score:5, Insightful)
Comparing Google's Chromebooks to Reader is silly.
For one thing, Chrome and Chromebooks are central to Google's future.
And for all the fuss about Reader (i'm a heavy user myself) switching away from Reader has been dead simple since it is just a viewer based around a standard protocol. Google turfing it was annoying at most, and no indication that they will kill off their core initiatives.
Re:OMG The Sky is Falling! (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Who's pushing these articles? (Score:4, Insightful)
I got a Nexus 7 with 16GB memory. Half a year of daily, even constant use, and several large apps and games (Final Fantasy III for instance; and Dungeon Defenders) and I've used up all of 4.5GB.
Storage is important, I agree, and we all use our devices differently. But don't make the mistake of blindly believing that you always need more. I've noticed on my desktop too, that storage has actually outgrown my needs for it for years now. It surprises me now to remember a time when I'd actually have to uninstall a large game or app in order to install another one; have to actually select what Linux packages to install or choose one desktop over another in order to save space.
You are not the target market (Score:5, Insightful)
Chromebooks are awesome for non tech folks. Buy one for your parents and you'll never get another tech support call. I'd call the $249 Chromebook a deal for what you get. Yes they do have slots for more storage including USB. Stop trying to cram Linux on something just because you can. Great you installed Linux, now what? Meanwhile people are using them for their intended purpose. If you want a real laptop then buy one. I'll never understand the Chromebook hate on here.