New dirt-cheap Chromebooks: Team Google keeps jackboot on throat of PC titans While Google is trying to push Chromebooks upmarket with its flashy Pixel, its Chrome OS partners continue to target budget-conscious buyers with a new batch of devices priced at $250 and lower. Chinese electronics manufacturers are leading the latest charge, with both Haier and Hisense making new Chromebooks available for …
If not, they'd better not bother because I will certainly not buy them.
I don't think they won't bother just because you're not going to buy them. Basically, you're not the target market.
But I am. I'm an unrepentant geek, I'm running Crouton on one of my Chromebooks, which I find very useful. But I love the fact that I can pick up a Chromebook, open it and use it. And so does the rest of my family. My daughter uses hers all the time.
For 99% of users it's does all they need (web browsing, and mail and simple documents). For the 1%, it doesn't work. And you're one of the 1%. Fine.
But I am. I'm an unrepentant geek, I'm running Crouton on one of my Chromebooks, which I find very useful. But I love the fact that I can pick up a Chromebook, open it and use it. And so does the rest of my family. My daughter uses hers all the time.
I agree.
I started off very cynical about the Chromebook, its OS and its purpose in the grand scheme of devices. I was also quite reluctant to use something which wasnt a "proper" OS etc.
However, a guy at work got one and I had a play.
That afternoon I bought one. Everyone in my family loved it to the point where we ended up with three in the house and the laptop and desktop languished un-used except for occasional tasks which needed things the chromebook didn't offer (mostly Photoshop processing of huge RAW image files).
Pop into PCWorld etc and try one of these http://www.trustedreviews.com/asus-transformer-book-t100-review-performance-features-and-verdict-page-3#tr-review-summary.
An Atom with 2GB running Windows 8.1 and it feels fluid and fully functional. I was seriously tempted if it wasn't for my fat fingers and the little keyboard.
I'm keen to try the cheapy windows ones.
"An updated Atom processor and 2 Gb of RAM doesn't promise good performance for Windows."
That would run Windows just fine. Even the full version.
We already know from Android compared to Windows Phone that Windows generally requires less memory, performs better and uses less battery than Google's OSs.
Fancy operating environment shells over a hardened Linux core is what they are. A lot of people who use them scratch a hole in the veneer and expose the full power underneath.
With Microsoft going full out to win the profitless PC hardware market, their PC partners are well advised to read this list:
Lumia 1020
Lumia 1320
Lumia 1520
Lumia 520
Lumia 525
Lumia 526
Lumia 530
Lumia 530 Dual SIM
Lumia 535
Lumia 620
Lumia 625
Lumia 630
Lumia 630 Dual SIM
Lumia 635
Lumia 636
Lumia 638
Lumia 720
Lumia 730
Lumia 730 Dual SIM
Lumia 735
Lumia 810
Lumia 820
Lumia 822
Lumia 830
Lumia 920
Lumia 925
Lumia 928
Lumia ICON
Microsoft Lumia 430
Microsoft Lumia 435
Microsoft Lumia 435 Dual SIM
Microsoft Lumia 435 Dual SIM DTV
Microsoft Lumia 532
Microsoft Lumia 532 Dual SIM
Microsoft Lumia 640 Dual SIM
Microsoft Lumia 535 Dual SIM
Those are the phones in testing for Windows 10. Do you see any non-Microsoft devices on that list? No. That is what happens when your software partner competes with you in hardware.
The RK3288 looks like an interesting device. Full 4K support, I see. That will be an impressive device for the cost and size. Can't wait to see the Steam Streamer version.
"Those are the phones in testing for Windows 10. Do you see any non-Microsoft devices on that list? No. That is what happens when your software partner competes with you in hardware."
No, those are the phones in PUBLIC testing for Windows 10. Partners already have Windows 10 builds available to test with privately - and a number of new devices are expected to launch simultaneously with windows 10. That is what happens when you want to control the public preview of your OS and not rely on partners to release the updates...
Why is it worthless ?. These devices give people internet access, office, storage and email for a price tag of less than 200 dollar. Try that with even the most crappy new Wintel laptop on the market. It would cost at least $ 400,- including office and the required anti virus subscriptions. It seems these chromebooks have their place in the market, comparing them with high-end Windows or even Mac laptops is like claiming a BMW M3 is a better car then a Golf, which is obviously true.
They may well:
The price of that ASUS EeeBook X205 is good, I agree.
However, "much better product" is far from the truth. It is painful to use and Win 8.1 crushes the device. You think you have a real laptop but you actually have something so underpowered it makes you want to cry.
If it wasnt for the fact it doesnt perform as well as a Chromebook for "everyday computing tasks", it would be an excellent purchase.
"Try that with even the most crappy new Wintel laptop on the market. It would cost at least $ 400,- "
You are about a year out of date. Thanks to Intel's new Atom processors and Microsoft's licensing policy changes, actually you can now get a similarly priced Windows tablet with a full OS version that performs better and runs more software for about the same price as a Chromebook these days...
So unless you particularly like the hardware spec. and want to wipe it and install Linux, I can't see why anyone would buy a Chromebook.
Thanks to Intel's new Atom processors and Microsoft's licensing policy changes, actually you can now get a similarly priced Windows tablet with a full OS version that performs better and runs more software for about the same price as a Chromebook these days...
Examples?
And even so, it'll still need regular patching which will mean a reboot cycle measured in minutes, rather than the less than 15 seconds which is the norm on a Chromebook.
Not forgetting standard Windows cruft, which slows your system down over time....which also doesn't happen on a Chromebook. My 4-year-old Samsung still zips along.
"...Thanks to Intel's new Atom processors and Microsoft's licensing policy changes, actually you can now get a similarly priced Windows tablet with a full OS version that performs better and runs more software for about the same price as a Chromebook these days...
Examples?..."
Just on price and doing a very quick search so I make no direct comparison to spec or performance, etc:
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/ipad-tablets-and-ereaders/tablets/hp-stream-7-tablet-32-gb-black-10075694-pdt.html#cat-0
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/ipad-tablets-and-ereaders/tablets/linx-10-tablet-black-32-gb-10100243-pdt.html
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/ipad-tablets-and-ereaders/tablets/linx-7-tablet-32-gb-black-10100242-pdt.html
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/ipad-tablets-and-ereaders/tablets/linx-8-tablet-16-gb-black-10100241-pdt.html#cat-0
Just to check - cos these are tablets so not directly comparable with a chromebook. I've tried a LINX 7" and it isnt worth £79:
Can you find a windows laptop style device which runs as well as a chromebook (check out the time from power on to doing stuff) for about the same price as a chromebook?
The reason I ask is that the Chromebook replaced all the laptops and desktops in my family as it is significantly easier to use for the tasks people wanted to do - writing emails, letters, websurfing - than the more powerful devices and the form factor is more suitable for this sort of thing than the tablets. (Which remain as the main content "consumption" devices for things like YouTube and Minecraft).
No one in my family - and none of my work colleagues - particularly like the tablet interface for messages much longer than a tweet, so I dont think they would enjoy writing documents on a 7" screen.
Ah. Silly me. I'd misread your original post.
You're comparing a tablet (with no keyboard) with a Chromebook (with a reasonable keyboard attached). Not quite what I'd call like-for-like.
Call me and my family old fashioned, but we like keyboards. I really don't think my daughter would be able to do her school essays on a tablet.
As Charles Babbage once said:
"Propose to an Englishman any principle, or any instrument, however admirable, and you will observe that the whole effort of the English mind is directed to find a difficulty, a defect, or an impossibility in it. If you speak to him of a machine for peeling a potato, he will pronounce it impossible: if you peel a potato with it before his eyes, he will declare it useless, because it will not slice a pineapple."
Of course, even Babbage needs updating. Replace potato peeler with Chromebook, and you have the gist of it.
but plenty of Android phones are very amenable to having their OS replaced, so it's not a huge jump to expect similar behaviour from Chromebooks.
The Register attracts the sort of person who likes to fiddle with their IT kit, so the authors recognising this and addressing it in the articles isn't really a big ask.
If they could get the UK price down to around £70-80 (I can dream... but go with it), I think the Chromebit could be a winner.
I imagine it being handy for the hotel room (as long as the wifi there is affordable, not dodgy, etc.), and if you can hook up a powered hub to the full-sized USB port, I guess that opens up the option of local USB storage for videos and the like (at the expense of flexibility). I have a couple of Logitech 2.4GHz keyboards - including the K400 with built-in trackpad - and Bluetooth input devices cost chump-change these days on Amazon.
I missed how the Chromebit is powered - would it be over USB, HDMI, internal battery or some/all of these?
Also, I hope someone figures out how to give the CB Chromecast functionality, as that really WOULD make it attractive to myself, and maybe a few others too. I'll be keeping watch on this little fella...
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