ARM-Based Chromebooks Ready To Battle Windows 8, Tablets 230
Nerval's Lobster writes "Google is whipping the proverbial curtain back from its new Chromebook, which will retail for $249 and up. The Samsung-built device weighs 2.5 pounds and features an 11.6-inch screen (with 1366 x 768 resolution), backed by a 1.75GHz Samsung Exynos 5 Dual Processor. Google claims it will boot up in under 10 seconds and, depending on usage, last for 6.5 hours on one battery charge. From a product perspective, Chrome OS and its associated hardware found itself fighting a two-front battle: the first against Windows PCs and Macs, both of which could claim more robust hardware for a similar cost to the old Chromebooks (which started at $449), and the second against tablets, which offered the same degree of flexibility and connectivity for a cheaper sticker-price. By setting the cost of the new Chromebook at $249, Google continues that pricing skirmish on more favorable terms." CNET got a bit of hands-on time with the new kid, and gives it a lukewarm but positive reception.
Re:Crap Resolution, Crap Specs (Score:2, Interesting)
how true it is!
book smarts (mostly what google hires for) doesn't mean shit when it comes to shipping products, designing them and not abandoning them!
so far, google used to do search right. they can do some anti-spam (less and less effective as they are gamed more and more) but not much else.
the nexus one 'flagship' was quickly abandoned and to this day you cannot use it for more than a few hours before it loses its screen touch calibration and goes crazy, needing a power cycle.
I know its not the current flagship but to abandon stuff like that and not even to have fixed a true showstopper leaves me completely unimpressed.
(and having interviewed at G, I'm also underwhelmed in everything I've seen about them, other than their highly luxurious facilities!)
Fixed the headline for you... (Score:4, Interesting)
ARM-Based Chromebooks Ready To Battle Windows 8 and Android Tablets
Sometimes I just have to sit and scratch my head wondering at some of the things these self-destructive companies do. Chromebook is for simple, inexpensive, low-end devices. Is iPad any of those things? No. Are the new Windows 8 tablets? No. The only other devices in the same category as Chromebook are eReaders like Kindle and Nook (both running a modified version of Android), and "actual" Android Tablets like the Google Nexus. Just fragment your own market there as much as possible, Google.
Re:Why? (Score:5, Interesting)
Android was Google's short-term response to the threat that a dominant mobile OS vendor would emerge that would use market power in that OS market in a way which would prevent Google from being able to profit from their online services (similar to how investment in Firefox was the short-term response in the web browser space.) Chrome OS is a piece of the longer-horizon, broader (e.g., not limited to "mobile") part of the response (much as the Chrome browser was in the browser space); I say "a piece of" because Google's announced a number of times that their long-term plan is to converge Android with Chrome OS in the long term.
No, Microsoft has three similar-but-different operating systems with partially overlapping functionality and confusingly similar names (Windows 8, Windows 8 RT, and Windows Phone 8) for, respectively, traditional PCs and some (i.e., x86-based) tablets, other (i.e., ARM-based) tablets, and phones.
Its main market is in business notebooks and PCs (Score:5, Interesting)
what non-IT office workers normally do on their notebooks? Web, outlook, and office suite. Google covers all hardware, software, and IT infra, with much less cost, compared to typical Windows environment. Moreover, this thing is easily replacable, because nothing is in there except the OS. Yours is broken? No problem. Go get a new one from a help desk. You're fired? yours will be used by your replacement the next day.
for me, i think this is the begining of the end of MS's era in their lucrative business market.
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Why? (Score:2, Interesting)
I am not a Microsoft fan (search my comments) but I am a HUGE Metro/Modern/RT/Windows Store App fan. I agree with MS that the real-world metaphors shoehorned onto computers have limited their usefulness and I LOVE the total embrace of Fitt's Law.
Windows app developers choosing closed source doesn't have anything to do with Microsoft any more than Mac app developers choosing closed source has to do with Apple. Both Microsoft and Apple contribute a large amount to open source projects themselves.
Windows RT runs on x86 and x64 in addition to ARM. ARM has everything to do with energy consumption. Intel is just not getting there with x86/x64. The future is battery powered and frankly, Intel needs the competition of ARM to get them moving even if ARM can't touch raw performance of x86/x64.
If people didn't care so deeply about MS Office there wouldn't be an OpenOffice or an iWork. It's also asinine to insist that only Office keeps people on Windows. Intensely extensive hardware support, Exchange, Active Directory and many other things that other operating systems don't even try to compete with are also MASSIVE factors.
Windows on ARM already had an "ecosystem" it's called Windows. USB has delivered on its promise. Bluetooth has delivered on its promise. This is not Android, iOS world where connecting anything other than a memory card is both frowned upon and difficult/expensive.
I will give you that Windows Phone 7 was a failure by all accounts. I have an HTC Titan that I love and I am crushed that it will not receive proper system software support but I understand why Microsoft did it. There is a level of hardware features that every WP device must have, in both WP7 and 8. This lets Microsoft declare things like taking pictures on Windows Phone is both faster and easier and not mean "just the Nexus Windows Phone". Live tiles blow notifications and most widgets away in my opinion and you can search my posts on XDA under Dragon_76 to see how long and extensively I have used Android (I had a G1 and left Android Phones at Moto Atrix).
Windows 8 is going to make everyone ask why Apple didn't do the same thing with Mac OS/iOS.
Re:Its main market is in business notebooks and PC (Score:4, Interesting)
what non-IT office workers normally do on their notebooks? Web, outlook, and office suite.
That's what I do on my Chromebook. I use my desktop to write code, but the Chromebook is what I cart around to meetings, take to the couch to work on design docs and spreadsheets, do e-mail on, do presentations, etc. Works great. Especially since it has 3G and so works lots of places a normal laptop wouldn't.
Re:ARM Linux Netbook finally arrives? (Score:2, Interesting)
Chromebooks are not "limited" to running Chrome OS. It takes only a few seconds to switch to "developer mode", and only a few minutes (mostly artificially imposed, for security concerns) for it to be ready to install any Linux OS you like.
One goal of Chrome OS is simplicity. Supporting both traditional apps and web apps is a lot of work, and adds confusion and complexity for the users. Since we don't really want to get rid of the web apps, the best path to a simpler (and more secure) system is to get rid of all the others.
(Disclaimer: I work on Chrome OS.)
Why are there no Linux netbooks? Microsoft (Score:4, Interesting)
http://blogs.computerworld.com/microsoft_strikes_back_at_linux_netbook_push [computerworld.com]
You can probably find more.
--Coder