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Good on them. In my observation, Macs have two markets: 1) Developers and power-users (graphic designers, video editors, etc.) who need a high-performance mach
by AdmiralAsshat 10y ago
Good on them. In my observation, Macs have two markets:
1) Developers and power-users (graphic designers, video editors, etc.) who need a high-performance machine.
2) People who are self-professed "not very good with computers" and don't do much other than email, browse the web, and occasionally process word documents.
The latter have traditionally gone to Macs because they're considered easier to use and have a nicer form factor than most Windows laptops. Unfortunately, they pay a pretty penny for it. I remember my undergrad university advertising their "great" discount on a Macbook for incoming students, and it was still north of $1500.
Chromebooks are great for that group, and they cost a fraction of the price of a Mac. They can cover the needs of your average student/senior citizen without breaking the bank. And they won't last as long, but even if you get four years out of a $300 Chromebook, I'd say it served its purpose. Migrating from one Chromebook to the next is pretty seamless, having done it myself.
- iNerdier 10y agoAs someone who's been involved in both groups recently I think the second seems to be their bigger market at the moment. Apple's lackadaisical approach to upgrades on the pro end of the market is starting to be noticeable to me as someone who works with a lot of design things. From people turning to making hackintoshes to others trying out software on windows because the hardware is that much cheaper/faster and they don't want to do all the fiddling required. If they're not careful they're going to loose a lot of dedicated fans because they're deeming the serious side of things of secondary importance.
- colemannerd 10y agoI think this is very apt judgement of Mac consumers. Unfortunately, with their delayed release of new chips in their laptops and lagging software support (why doesn't mac formally support a package manager like Darwin when a large part of their audience use macs for development), their focus seems to be on the non-professional market. And chrome does seem to be a much better OS for them since there is nothing to install or maintain.
- thebspatrol 10y agoWithout reading too much into it, I think they just recognise (like everyone else) that mobile devices are far more pervasive and profitable in 2016. It's also way easier to sell someone a new smartphone or tablet with gimmicky bullshit features (notice how all these shitty laptop-tablet devices are in vogue?) than new computers, at least at the rate hardware is advancing past mainstream software.
- thebspatrol 10y agoDon't forget about developers who enjoy *nix operating systems and also not being handicapped by Linux-Desktop(TM).
- shakna 10y agoLet me just hijack this, to point out Bohdi[0], who are great here. There install is painless, and turns the Chromebook into a really nice, consumer level device with all the bells and whistles for the average person. I have no affiliation: just a really pleased user, with friends and family I've set up. [0] http://www.bodhilinux.com/w/chromebook-install-instructions/ http://www.bodhilinux.com/w/chromebook-install-instructions/
- AdmiralAsshat 10y agoSeems like the supported models for this are limited at the moment. If I wanted to open up my Chromebook to a full Linux distro, I think I'd be more inclined to try GalliumOS[0], which basically keeps the ChromeOS look and feel while allowing full Linux apps to be installed. [0]https://galliumos.org/ https://galliumos.org/