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> Chromebooks are now outselling MacBooks in the crucial education market, where long-term preferences tend to be established. Apple has historically held a do

by rwc 10y ago

> Chromebooks are now outselling MacBooks in the crucial education market, where long-term preferences tend to be established. Apple has historically held a dominant position in the education market, so how does one square the "long-term preferences tend to be established" portion of that sentence with the 8% marketshare MacOS commands?

nix0n 10y ago
Even if people would prefer macs and perceive them to be superior (regardless of whether this is true), most aren't willing to shell out the cash for one.
trendia 10y ago
Unfortunately, Chromebooks will struggle with the engineering crowd, where software like ANSYS, Matlab, AutoCAD, etc. are required.
- protomyth 10y ago
  Plus the crowd who cannot have data go to external servers. I would love to use something like Chromebooks but the lack of a local storage server and user management kill it. I got to follow the rules after all. If I could get a group of Chromebooks that sync with an on-site server then do my backups to someone like Tarsnap, I would be happy and following the local rules.
- bmon 10y ago
  My experience too. My chromebook has easily been the best value for money computer I've ever purchased, but it's just not the right device for development outside of the web browser. Maybe sometime soon browser based cad tools will become more widely adopted but there are some serious limitations imposed by web browsers that make that difficult to see happening anytime soon.
- tonyedgecombe 10y ago
  Personally I'd be quite happy if the market for PC's bifurcated into thin clients on one side and powerful workstations on the other. The user experience for professionals has been compromised by the need to support 'normal' users on both Windows and OS/X.
bb611 10y ago
In my experience (4 years in ed orgs with 15-5,000 employees), chromebooks dramatically changed the ed market. Instead of $1000+/unit, you can buy chromebooks and their support infrastructure (9-5 support, networking, charging) for about $350/unit. For a fair number of schools, that allowed them to transition from a few roaming computer labs (carts of laptops) to a cart of chromebooks for every room. They also came along as there was a significant political and financial push for more access to technology in classrooms. This is abundantly apparent in the bay area, but it happened along both coasts and in most cities. I think that "long-term preferences tend to be established" mantra is defensible in light of this, absent large market changes people tend to stick to what they're doing. The chromebook was a major market change for the ed space.
deleted 10y ago
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by rwc 10y ago

nix0n 10y ago

Even if people would prefer macs and perceive them to be superior (regardless of whether this is true), most aren't willing to shell out the cash for one.

trendia 10y ago

Unfortunately, Chromebooks will struggle with the engineering crowd, where software like ANSYS, Matlab, AutoCAD, etc. are required.

protomyth 10y ago
Plus the crowd who cannot have data go to external servers. I would love to use something like Chromebooks but the lack of a local storage server and user management kill it. I got to follow the rules after all. If I could get a group of Chromebooks that sync with an on-site server then do my backups to someone like Tarsnap, I would be happy and following the local rules.
bmon 10y ago
My experience too. My chromebook has easily been the best value for money computer I've ever purchased, but it's just not the right device for development outside of the web browser. Maybe sometime soon browser based cad tools will become more widely adopted but there are some serious limitations imposed by web browsers that make that difficult to see happening anytime soon.
tonyedgecombe 10y ago
Personally I'd be quite happy if the market for PC's bifurcated into thin clients on one side and powerful workstations on the other. The user experience for professionals has been compromised by the need to support 'normal' users on both Windows and OS/X.

bb611 10y ago

In my experience (4 years in ed orgs with 15-5,000 employees), chromebooks dramatically changed the ed market. Instead of $1000+/unit, you can buy chromebooks and their support infrastructure (9-5 support, networking, charging) for about $350/unit. For a fair number of schools, that allowed them to transition from a few roaming computer labs (carts of laptops) to a cart of chromebooks for every room. They also came along as there was a significant political and financial push for more access to technology in classrooms. This is abundantly apparent in the bay area, but it happened along both coasts and in most cities. I think that "long-term preferences tend to be established" mantra is defensible in light of this, absent large market changes people tend to stick to what they're doing. The chromebook was a major market change for the ed space.

deleted 10y ago

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