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It's hard to over-estimate the convenience of a laptop you never fear losing, breaking or seeing die some horrible way. Just take another Chromebook, login, pos
by eliben 13y ago
It's hard to over-estimate the convenience of a laptop you never fear losing, breaking or seeing die some horrible way. Just take another Chromebook, login, possibly wait a minute for all your apps to sync (if you use large apps) and viola - welcome back to your computer. Viruses? hah.
And all that for half the price of an iPad.
This is the laptop parents can give kids and folks can give their elderly parents without worrying about spending too much time fixing it and removing viruses.
- jmduke 13y agoI think the Chromebook paradigm is going to take some time to catch on, but once it does it's going to be terrific for everyone. I can't wait til it spreads to other platforms (namely smartphones and gaming consoles) as well. "Hey, my phone's out of battery. Can I check my texts on yours real quick?"
- mehrzad 13y agoOnly if it's on my personal, secure, and private cloud.
- eliben 13y agoFeel free to build that cloud and provide web access to it - that's possible today from any phone, I guess.
- jiggy2011 13y agoYep, ubiquitous laptops with centralised control from a single entity and fine grained tracking built right in. This is terrific for everyone!
- VikingCoder 13y agoA) many people use Crouton, so there's no centralized control AT ALL. Even if they don't, the only centralized control is over what version of Chrome you're running, and OPTIONALLY whether you're allowed to log in to the device, what your preferences were, and what windows you have open. B) there's no fine-grained tracking built right in. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. You have the source code to Chromium available to you, please provide evidence. If you believe the visible source code was augmented to add tracking, prior to being installed on the device, then it should be relatively easy to show a Wireshark log demonstrating the fine-grained tracking you speak of.
- Wingman4l7 13y agoWho said tracking had to be client-side?
- VikingCoder 13y agoPlease offer a shred of evidence that buying a Chromebook exposes you to client-side or server-side tracking, other than ChromeOS updates, and the OPTIONAL log-in system with preferences and opened web pages.
- jiggy2011 13y agoIf you're just going to install a Linux distro doesn't that defeat the point? I thought the whole idea of chromebook was that you used google services rather than locally installed apps. So yes, inherently more tracking since they want to monetise ads.
- dragonwriter 13y ago> If you're just going to install a Linux distro doesn't that defeat the point? It doesn't defeat the point for the buyer, since its often the most cost-effective way to get basic hardware for a linux laptop. It doesn't defeat the point for the hardware vendor. Heck, it doesn't really even defeat the point for Google. Sure, it may not be as good for them as you using ChromeOS, but its better for them than you either using Windows or MacOS (or paying for Windows or MacOS to get a Linux box.)
- jiggy2011 13y agoThe intended method of use is Chrome OS, there will be geeks who buy it as a cheap Linux laptop but that's not really the target market or how they are mostly used.
- VikingCoder 13y agoIf someone buys a computer and uses the internet, Google gets to sell more ads. The Chromebook is literally no different, in this respect. So your argument about "inherently more tracking" is fatally flawed.
- ghswa 13y agoI'm looking forward to it spreading between platforms. If I'm watching a movie on my linux laptop and the battery dies I want to continue watching from the same spot on my wife's ipad.
- jiggy2011 13y agoI'm fairly sure netflix allows you to do this already.
- ghswa 13y agoNot if I don't know my wife's login credentials and not if I'm watching a home video or a DVD that I've ripped.
- jiggy2011 13y agoWouldn't you just sign into the same netflix account on both computers? The only other way I can imagine to do it would be to pair accounts together somehow, but that could be awkward if you and your wife are at different points of watching the same thing since you would lose each others places. I think Plex media server might do some of that for normal video formats, though I can't see Google and the MPAA being excited about building software to make playing ripped DVDs easier..
- hnriot 13y agoin those scenarios you wouldn't be able to pick up on another device either.
- micampe 13y agoWell, in that aspect you actually have a very close experience with an iPad: except for the device material value, you can toss it and get a new one to be identical just by signing in and waiting for it to restore the automated backup from last night.
- throwaway1979 13y agoOne other exception: I gave my mom a Samsung chromebook and an iPad. The touch interface of the iPad is very intuitive for her and she uses it. The chomebook is being used as a paper weight. Btw ... I don't want to be an Apple fanboy here. I gave my wife's niece a cheap Android tablet and she loves it and uses it (mainly games, email and Internet surfing). I suspect a Chromebook would not be the right solution for her as well. I think tablets hit the sweetspot when it comes to content consumption devices. The question then is the following: are chromebooks appropriate for content creation? I suspect the answer will be yes someday soon. However, the elderly and children market will not be the right audience for such devices.
- jessaustin 13y agoYeah, I've always sort of made fun of my father's hunt-and-peck typing technique, but one advantage is that it works just as well on a tablet with an on-screen keyboard. So, his iPad is better for him than any laptop would be.
- eliben 13y agoYes, the difference being the difference between an ipad an a laptop (full keyboard, larger screen, etc) and the price. Tablets are great but they can't replace laptops for all use cases IMHO.