5 ms·

Why doesn't anyone buy them then?

mehrdada 11y ago
In the last couple years at least, Chromebooks have often topped Amazon best-sellers. Technically, a lot of people buy them. It's just that compared to mobile devices, laptops as a whole are a small category. Admittedly, most Chromebooks are bought because they are inexpensive (what virtually no one buys is Chromebook Pixel, which I have never seen outside Google except the ones folks got for free at I/O).
- scholia 11y ago
  I suspect that's a factor of there being very few models. A Windows laptop that sells millions is probably available in 20 versions, each of which is counted separately. Try searching for the current Amazon.com best seller in laptops, the Toshiba Satellite C55.
- pjmlp 11y ago
  That is an US phenomenon. The only place I saw them in Europe was garage/discount sales trying to get rid of them.
yoran 11y ago
They're very popular in education (http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/marketplacek12/2015/05/sixty_percent_of_us_chromebook_sales_are_for_education.html http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/marketplacek12/2015/05/sixty_...). Mainly because they are inexpensive, a lot more versatile and better suited than iPads, the previous hype in education (see for instance the LA iPad debacle http://www.wired.com/2015/05/los-angeles-edtech/ http://www.wired.com/2015/05/los-angeles-edtech/). Also, many schools are already using Google services: Gmail, Drive, Calendar, and now Google Classroom is becoming huge.
- MattSteelblade 11y ago
  Not that I agree with their use in education, but "a lot more versatile"? I can't think of anything that a chromebook can do that the iPad can't but I can vice versa. The only advantage I see to a chromebook is a built-in keyboard (and price)
  - kps 11y ago
    Apparently (I don't work in that space) it's very useful to system administrators that Chromebooks are essentially stateless and fungible.
  - mintplant 11y ago
    A built-in keyboard is huge for the classroom. Chromebooks in classrooms end up being used largely for written work (typing long essays, creating presentations, etc.) that an iPad is less amenable to than a laptop.
    - nsgi 11y ago
      iPads can use external keyboards, though.
      - npunt 11y ago
        Another thing to break or to lose, and to charge, and it adds to the cost. A $200 chromebook blows away a $600 ipad+keyboard combo for majority of education purposes. Google also has much better deployment & operations for devices & apps. Source: I know lots of people who deploy and manage these in schools.
irascible 11y ago
I have a 150$ chrome book and it fucking rocks. Does everything I need to do on the web, and I can do javascript/webgl dev on the road.. battery lasts FORever... really amazing machines. I made a computer illiterate friend get one because I was sick of doing tech support for his windows Lappie and he loves it, and has had zero probs with it.. the only time he's called me with a problem with it was when he was trying to some fucking exe to win a free ipod. CHROME os rocks.
- ohitsdom 11y ago
  What application(s) do you use for development on the Chromebook?
  - jessaustin 11y ago
    This is all you need: https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton
  - geofft 11y ago
    For me? SSH and a VPS. I don't need whatever random crap I decide to `wget && tar x && ./configure` to have any risk of infecting my browser session. And I can keep my VPS up-to-date just by getting a new one from The Cloud every so often, and it comes out way cheaper than buying a beefy developer laptop periodically. I've had the same, low-end Chromebook for almost two years now and barely feel any need to upgrade it.
    - voltagex_ 11y ago
      I did this for a while, except my thin client was an X1 Carbon (!) Have you calculated how much it's costing you? I ended up scripting up a way to find the cheapest Spot Instance price from Amazon for whatever workload I needed - if I was doing builds I wanted the 8 core machines (c4.2xlarge?). They're ~11c an hour as a Spot Instance, although it's 3x the amount for a Windows instance, and I'd be pushed out of the market if everyone started doing this. I think I was averaging a couple of dollars a day, so I suppose it comes out in favour of using AWS all the time.
irascible 11y ago
People don't buy them because people are fucking stupid. Hell, in honor of this thread I'm gonna go buy another chrome book TODAY.
joosters 11y ago
Amazon's best-selling laptop is currently a chromebook.
- cwyers 11y ago
  I think most of what that means is that Amazon isn't a first-party seller of MacBooks. (You can buy MacBooks on Amazon but I believe those are all third-party sellers.)
  - h1940624 11y ago
    And other laptop companies release tons of slightly differing models.

In the last couple years at least, Chromebooks have often topped Amazon best-sellers. Technically, a lot of people buy them. It's just that compared to mobile devices, laptops as a whole are a small category. Admittedly, most Chromebooks are bought because they are inexpensive (what virtually no one buys is Chromebook Pixel, which I have never seen outside Google except the ones folks got for free at I/O).

scholia 11y ago
I suspect that's a factor of there being very few models. A Windows laptop that sells millions is probably available in 20 versions, each of which is counted separately. Try searching for the current Amazon.com best seller in laptops, the Toshiba Satellite C55.
pjmlp 11y ago
That is an US phenomenon. The only place I saw them in Europe was garage/discount sales trying to get rid of them.

yoran 11y ago

They're very popular in education (http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/marketplacek12/2015/05/sixty_percent_of_us_chromebook_sales_are_for_education.html http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/marketplacek12/2015/05/sixty_...). Mainly because they are inexpensive, a lot more versatile and better suited than iPads, the previous hype in education (see for instance the LA iPad debacle http://www.wired.com/2015/05/los-angeles-edtech/ http://www.wired.com/2015/05/los-angeles-edtech/). Also, many schools are already using Google services: Gmail, Drive, Calendar, and now Google Classroom is becoming huge.

MattSteelblade 11y ago
Not that I agree with their use in education, but "a lot more versatile"? I can't think of anything that a chromebook can do that the iPad can't but I can vice versa. The only advantage I see to a chromebook is a built-in keyboard (and price)
- kps 11y ago
  Apparently (I don't work in that space) it's very useful to system administrators that Chromebooks are essentially stateless and fungible.
- mintplant 11y ago
  A built-in keyboard is huge for the classroom. Chromebooks in classrooms end up being used largely for written work (typing long essays, creating presentations, etc.) that an iPad is less amenable to than a laptop.
  - nsgi 11y ago
    iPads can use external keyboards, though.
    - npunt 11y ago
      Another thing to break or to lose, and to charge, and it adds to the cost. A $200 chromebook blows away a $600 ipad+keyboard combo for majority of education purposes. Google also has much better deployment & operations for devices & apps. Source: I know lots of people who deploy and manage these in schools.

irascible 11y ago

I have a 150$ chrome book and it fucking rocks. Does everything I need to do on the web, and I can do javascript/webgl dev on the road.. battery lasts FORever... really amazing machines. I made a computer illiterate friend get one because I was sick of doing tech support for his windows Lappie and he loves it, and has had zero probs with it.. the only time he's called me with a problem with it was when he was trying to some fucking exe to win a free ipod. CHROME os rocks.

ohitsdom 11y ago
What application(s) do you use for development on the Chromebook?
- jessaustin 11y ago
  This is all you need: https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton
- geofft 11y ago
  For me? SSH and a VPS. I don't need whatever random crap I decide to `wget && tar x && ./configure` to have any risk of infecting my browser session. And I can keep my VPS up-to-date just by getting a new one from The Cloud every so often, and it comes out way cheaper than buying a beefy developer laptop periodically. I've had the same, low-end Chromebook for almost two years now and barely feel any need to upgrade it.
  - voltagex_ 11y ago
    I did this for a while, except my thin client was an X1 Carbon (!) Have you calculated how much it's costing you? I ended up scripting up a way to find the cheapest Spot Instance price from Amazon for whatever workload I needed - if I was doing builds I wanted the 8 core machines (c4.2xlarge?). They're ~11c an hour as a Spot Instance, although it's 3x the amount for a Windows instance, and I'd be pushed out of the market if everyone started doing this. I think I was averaging a couple of dollars a day, so I suppose it comes out in favour of using AWS all the time.

irascible 11y ago

People don't buy them because people are fucking stupid. Hell, in honor of this thread I'm gonna go buy another chrome book TODAY.

joosters 11y ago

Amazon's best-selling laptop is currently a chromebook.

cwyers 11y ago
I think most of what that means is that Amazon isn't a first-party seller of MacBooks. (You can buy MacBooks on Amazon but I believe those are all third-party sellers.)
- h1940624 11y ago
  And other laptop companies release tons of slightly differing models.