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Well, that's fine for nontechnical users, but nontechnical users aren't buying high-end laptops anyway. High-end ($800+) laptops are bought by developers, sysad

Well, that's fine for nontechnical users, but nontechnical users aren't buying high-end laptops anyway. High-end ($800+) laptops are bought by developers, sysadmins, or other people who need real native applications, which precludes Chromebooks. So these machines are in a weird market segment where they're too expensive for the vast majority of Chromebook buyers, but not capable enough to steal marketshare from, e.g. Thinkpads and Macbooks.

danans 10y ago
For what anecdata's worth, I see a huge number of non-technical people who buy high-end laptops (specifically Macs), and as far as I can tell, it maps fairly well to the individual's socioeconomic status. Everyone from baby-boomer parents to social workers. It's why you see so many Macs and iPhones as product placement ads within shows whose target markets dwarf the techie population: http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-product-placements-in-tv-and-movies-2012-8 http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-product-placements-in-t...
- gambiting 10y ago
  Yes, but I think a non-technical person who buys a $1000 macbook is extremely unlikely to buy a $1000 chromebook. The main appeal is obviously the brand and colours(my sister wants a new macbook purely because there is a rose gold one, she doesn't care about specs). A Chromebook is no different(in their eyes) from a $200 Acer - it's a "non-apple" laptop so it doesn't matter how well made it is or how great it performs.
chatmasta 10y ago
My argument is that developers do not need high end notebooks. Unless your development work requires specialized hardware (e.g. iOS development requires a Mac), there is little need to develop locally. Most of the time, you're targeting servers anyway. Why not develop on a server too? Also, when you start a new project, you can pick a cloud development box that matches exactly the specs you want, whereas you're still stuck with the same laptop from project to project. So in that sense, cloud development offers more flexibility than local development. And it saves you money on expensive laptops! There's also the self-satisfaction of knowing you can code anything with any $100 laptop and an Internet connection.
- keenerd 10y ago
  I use a Chromebook as my main dev machine these days. It is wonderful to finally have a fanless laptop, a 15 hour battery life and masses under 1kg. Except I nuked ChromeOS for real Linux and carry a few gigs of documentation to make internet optional. Some devs get it and see how it could work. They mostly get hung up on the keyboard, the lack of home/end/pgup/pgdn. (Readline keybinds are my best friend now.) Other devs are flabergasted that you can do anything of value on a machine without at least 16GB ram and multiple monitors.
- copperx 10y ago
  That's fine if you're coding without an IDE and if you can tolerate low-resolution screen. I used your extremely tolerant of such things, but now I'm 30 and thus a senior citizen in the tech world. I need my creature comforts.
- quanticle 10y ago
  How much are you spending per month on that cloud dev box? What do you do for Android development?
- icebraining 10y ago
  And it saves you money on expensive laptops! Are you accounting for the cost of the cloud dev box?
  - jessaustin 10y ago
    One can turn off e.g. EC2 instances when one isn't using them, and even the nano/micro instances are perfectly capable for most dev tasks, so "accounting" for this cost might be a waste of time.
    - icebraining 10y ago
      If I'm using a nano or micro, I might as well code directly on the Chromebook, which at least has 2GB of RAM. The point of using a cloud box, from what I understood it, was avoiding the need for an expensive/powerful laptop, and for that you need at least a t2.medium, in my opinion.
lallysingh 10y ago
Why wouldn't non-technical users buy high end laptops? Even just for a metal casing, better appearance, or performance in day to day use (e.g. gmail), battery life, screen, etc., higher end laptops have plenty of ways to appeal to non-technical users. A lot of it likely comes down to price sensitivity of the purchaser, which isn't linked to their level of technical skill.
lazylizard 10y ago
why do sysadmins need high end laptops? all they do is ssh?

danans 10y ago

For what anecdata's worth, I see a huge number of non-technical people who buy high-end laptops (specifically Macs), and as far as I can tell, it maps fairly well to the individual's socioeconomic status. Everyone from baby-boomer parents to social workers. It's why you see so many Macs and iPhones as product placement ads within shows whose target markets dwarf the techie population: http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-product-placements-in-tv-and-movies-2012-8 http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-product-placements-in-t...

gambiting 10y ago
Yes, but I think a non-technical person who buys a $1000 macbook is extremely unlikely to buy a $1000 chromebook. The main appeal is obviously the brand and colours(my sister wants a new macbook purely because there is a rose gold one, she doesn't care about specs). A Chromebook is no different(in their eyes) from a $200 Acer - it's a "non-apple" laptop so it doesn't matter how well made it is or how great it performs.

chatmasta 10y ago

My argument is that developers do not need high end notebooks. Unless your development work requires specialized hardware (e.g. iOS development requires a Mac), there is little need to develop locally. Most of the time, you're targeting servers anyway. Why not develop on a server too? Also, when you start a new project, you can pick a cloud development box that matches exactly the specs you want, whereas you're still stuck with the same laptop from project to project. So in that sense, cloud development offers more flexibility than local development. And it saves you money on expensive laptops! There's also the self-satisfaction of knowing you can code anything with any $100 laptop and an Internet connection.

keenerd 10y ago
I use a Chromebook as my main dev machine these days. It is wonderful to finally have a fanless laptop, a 15 hour battery life and masses under 1kg. Except I nuked ChromeOS for real Linux and carry a few gigs of documentation to make internet optional. Some devs get it and see how it could work. They mostly get hung up on the keyboard, the lack of home/end/pgup/pgdn. (Readline keybinds are my best friend now.) Other devs are flabergasted that you can do anything of value on a machine without at least 16GB ram and multiple monitors.
copperx 10y ago
That's fine if you're coding without an IDE and if you can tolerate low-resolution screen. I used your extremely tolerant of such things, but now I'm 30 and thus a senior citizen in the tech world. I need my creature comforts.
quanticle 10y ago
How much are you spending per month on that cloud dev box? What do you do for Android development?
icebraining 10y ago
And it saves you money on expensive laptops! Are you accounting for the cost of the cloud dev box?
- jessaustin 10y ago
  One can turn off e.g. EC2 instances when one isn't using them, and even the nano/micro instances are perfectly capable for most dev tasks, so "accounting" for this cost might be a waste of time.
  - icebraining 10y ago
    If I'm using a nano or micro, I might as well code directly on the Chromebook, which at least has 2GB of RAM. The point of using a cloud box, from what I understood it, was avoiding the need for an expensive/powerful laptop, and for that you need at least a t2.medium, in my opinion.

lallysingh 10y ago

Why wouldn't non-technical users buy high end laptops? Even just for a metal casing, better appearance, or performance in day to day use (e.g. gmail), battery life, screen, etc., higher end laptops have plenty of ways to appeal to non-technical users. A lot of it likely comes down to price sensitivity of the purchaser, which isn't linked to their level of technical skill.

lazylizard 10y ago

why do sysadmins need high end laptops? all they do is ssh?