21 ms·

$149 Chromebooks

503 points by ojn 12y ago

UUMMUU 12y ago
The ChromeBit looks pretty cool though. Entire computer in a flash drive.
- wehadfun 12y ago
  You can buy the chromebox which is somewhat similar but not as compacy as a chromebit http://www.amazon.com/Asus-CHROMEBOX-M004U-ASUS-Desktop/dp/B00IT1WJZQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1427826639&sr=1-1&keywords=chromebox http://www.amazon.com/Asus-CHROMEBOX-M004U-ASUS-Desktop/dp/B...
  - 72deluxe 12y ago
    Still has a dependency on an external mainframe though; better to buy an Intel NUC perhaps?
deleted 12y ago
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_lce0 12y ago
the said .. > More Chromebooks, for everyone but .. > The Google Store isn't available here yet. > We're working to bring it to more countries as soon as possible. :(
- exprL 12y ago
  I don't think these Chromebooks are sold in Google Store in any country. (Google Store selection varies by country, anyway. Where I live, they don't sell any Chromebooks; I might have considered the new Pixel if it weren't for the hassle.)
  - fragmede 12y ago
    FWIW, https://store.google.com/category/chromebooks https://store.google.com/category/chromebooks lists bunch of chromebooks for sale in the US, including the new Pixel.
    - 72deluxe 12y ago
      The list of chromebooks here in the UK is just one: the new Pixel. Despite all of the pictures showing Acers etc. you can only actually buy one from Google. It's silly.
- dholowiski 12y ago
  Yup, as a Canadian, apparently I'm not part of 'everyone'.
alexsop2 12y ago
I think the bigger news here is the Chromebit. A $100 device that turns any monitor into a computer? Fascinating.
- thehoff 12y ago
  Beat me to it. I agree, the Chromebit is way more interesting.
- jhardcastle 12y ago
  More details on Cnet - http://www.cnet.com/uk/products/asus-chromebit/ http://www.cnet.com/uk/products/asus-chromebit/ Bluetooth 4.0, WiFi 802.11AC, USB 2.0 for accessories, 2GB of RAM and 16GB SSD
  - jonknee 12y ago
    Amusing that it has a more useful port than the new Macbook.
  - pronoiac 12y ago
    > The Raspberry Pi is a nearly stick-like mini computer that can run Windows or Linux. What? Is this about the future version of Windows that will run on ARM?
    - exprL 12y ago
      Windows has been running on ARM since version 8 (the ARM-specific version was called Windows RT). Since then, Microsoft announced a “special” version of Windows that's intended for the new Raspberry Pi 2.
      - pconner 12y ago
        If I remember correctly, it's more of a runtime for some .NET programs with access to the Pi's GPIO pins than a full-fledged OS.
  - lewisl9029 12y ago
mintplant 12y ago
So there are two models available at $149: Haier - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00V3DYVLM http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00V3DYVLM Hisense - http://www.walmart.com/ip/44389793#about http://www.walmart.com/ip/44389793#about Which looks better?
- yellowapple 12y ago
  I personally like the Haier's appearance more than the Hisense's. I dig the whole carbon-fiber aesthetic.
- TillE 12y ago
  If the tech specs are to be believed, Haier is significantly underclocking the same SoC, presumably to extend battery life.
dpcan 12y ago
Where is the $149 Windows-Based laptop with SSD, 2-4GB RAM, and moderate graphics, that can run your usual Office to Minecraft software? The Chromebook-killer from Microsoft should be here, but all I hear about are the Surfaces. Honestly, the only reason my kids don't have Chromebooks is because they don't easily run Minecraft or downloadable games. Sure they can do their school work on them, but they also like to play, and we've already tried messing with Linux on some older desktops.
- elchief 12y ago
  Microsoft isn't as good at collecting and reselling all of your personal information, so have to charge the actual cost of the hardware.
  - daeken 12y ago
    > Microsoft isn't as good at collecting and reselling all of your personal information, so have to charge the actual cost of the hardware. Google does not sell your personal information in any way. They use it for their own advertising purposes, but they don't sell it to anyone, in any form.
    - razvanh 12y ago
      advertising is selling your information to advertisers.
      - Karunamon 12y ago
        Even that's not accurate. Advertising is selling access to people matching a certain demographic profile to advertisers. They maintain a demographic profile (arguable: how accurate and comprehensive it is) by way of this line of business, but at no point is that profile sold to advertisers. At no point has Google, or any other reputable ad network, had a system whereby you can download the information, personal or otherwise, of a few million people. This is misleading and hyperbolic. Stop it. If you want a view as to what advertising is actually like and what an advertiser can actually see, go sign up for Adwords and step through the process. I guarantee it is not as sketchy as you make it out to be.
na85 12y ago
I'd definitely consider using a Chromebook if the offline functionality works. My understanding from people I know working at Google is that the offline Docs and Gmail experience is pretty sub-par at the moment. I guess if you pop out their SSD for a larger one it'd make a decent BSD netbook. Bitrig[0] is slowly but surely getting better. [0] https://www.bitrig.org/ https://www.bitrig.org/
- mcintyre1994 12y ago
  I haven't actually used a Chromebook but I'm surprised they're struggling with offline functionality. Android does just fine on spotty connections - at least Google's apps do - I wonder why they don't have a few mobile experienced engineers help out revamping so their apps just assume a crap connection and deal with it the same way they would on mobile.
- nfoz 12y ago
  I bought a Chromebook Pixel 2015. The first thing it asks, when you turn it on, is for an Internet connection. You cannot go past the first-boot panel until you give it internet access, then agree to Google's ToS which says you'll let them auto-install updates at anytime, and then let it try to download updates from Google. Then you must log in to a Google account. I didn't bother with ChromeOS enough to see how well offline apps work. The laptop does not have any screws, and I'm told the SSD is soldered on even if I knew how to take the laptop apart without breaking it. That being said, there are magical keystrokes you can use to bypass even the intro "first boot" panels to switch the laptop into "developer mode" which you can use to wipe ChromeOS and install a real Linux. Much of the hardware isn't supported by mainline kernels, but Google has a lot of that sourcecode online, so I'm trying to compile my own module to get the touchpad to work in Debian. That's all experirence with a different product than what we're talking about here, but my anecdotal observations are that ChromeOS fundamentally expects internet access, and it might not be possible to upgrade the hardware and get a comfortable setup with a real Linux or BSD.
  - emidln 12y ago
    I don't know about modern chromebooks, but I have an Acer C7 that I spent $199 on and then added another $240 for it to have a 128GB SSD, 16GB RAM, a working bluetooth module, and an upgraded battery. $440 total and it's been a solid dev machine running first chrubuntu and now crouton. I've mentioned before that the only issue I've had with it is lack of CPU horsepower for clojure-based work to get into the REPL, which as I understand, is slightly fixed on later iterations (or other models). All of my hardware (AFAICT) works under Linux, and I use Google Hangouts, Skype, Steam (for TFC), and vim/tmux on it routinely.
discardorama 12y ago
Can one wipe out a Chromebook and install Linux?
- pervycreeper 12y ago
  Yes, but distro and kernel maintainers don't seem to think that supporting chromebooks is a worth their time, so don't expect it to be a smooth process out of the box.
- Zikes 12y ago
  Or dual-boot, even. http://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-run-both-chrome-os-and-ubuntu-on-a-chromebook/ http://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-run-both-chrome-os-and-ubu...
  - discardorama 12y ago
    From that link: "you must download a tool known as Crouton, which will allow Ubuntu to run on top of Chrome OS" No, I don't want to run Ubuntu on top of of Chrome OS; I want to completely wipe out Chrome.
    - mattl 12y ago
      Yeah, you can. Usually you unscrew the laptop, remove a screw on the motherboard and you get SeaBIOS and you can install any distro you want.
    - rogerbinns 12y ago
      Think of it as using the ChromeOS kernel (which suits the hardware configuration perfectly) and then running the Ubuntu userspace (which co-exists with the Chrome OS userspace). Even if you don't use the Chrome OS userspace much, removing it won't save you enough to make it worth it.
    - dsl 12y ago
      Yes, there are plenty of howtos on how to do this. The only downside is you have to enable developer mode, so you lose trusted boot.
not-much-io 12y ago
I own a Acer c720p Chromebook and I have to say it is a wonderful machine. I now only use my main PC for programming, and I even do that sometimes by SSH from my chromebook. Main point: * Great battery life * Lightning fast * Small/Thin For me it is a perfect cheap laptop to use as a goto for all my less resource intensive activities. (reading, youtube, chat etc.) I might get a bigger 15 inch one so I am happy to see Chromebooks developing. I am having a hard time figuring out who would use a chromebit though..
- spb 12y ago
  I use an Acer C720P as well, for everything including programming, via Cloud9 (https://c9.io/ https://c9.io/). Cloud9 has been almost exclusively the platform for all my development since 2013. Having my entire workspace state synchronized across machines, saved whenever I'm not using it to be resumed precisely as it was, sandboxed from causing or falling victim to issues with my desktop, is invaluable. I switch off between my desktop and my Chromebook whenever I go out, or even just when I want to lie down instead of hunching over at my desk. I experience no disruptions from doing so. The only real complaint that I have is that ChromeOS's use of alt+arrows to emulate Page Up/Down keys interferes with a few important default C9 key combinations (alt+shift+down to copy a line getting converted to shift+pagedn).
- han_stimme 12y ago
  I'm using C720 with chrubuntu, a full featured ubuntu along with the native ChromeOS for dual booting. Some guys may prefer crouton and it's similar. I should say I use my C720 everyday on my train to work mostly with linux. It's with x86 CPU, just as a normal laptop. Its performance, battery and portability are great for me as well. I really love travelling with it.
Splendor 12y ago
Wow. The OLPC XO-1 launched for $188 in 2006. Now we have relatively mainstream retail laptops selling for less than that.
- BinaryIdiot 12y ago
  I completely forgot about that computer and the organization behind it. Looking at their site I guess they eventually moved on to a tablet in addition to a version of the computer; I wonder if they can even make them cheaper than these big companies anymore.
wehadfun 12y ago
I've had sub $200 chromebooks before. And upgraded to the Toshiba with intel processor and nice screen. On the sub $200 model video ran like crap, couldn't cast tabs to chromecast, and more than half dozen or so tabs killed it. Other than that is was great.
- 0x5f3759df-i 12y ago
  I bought my Acer C720 for $160 and it has been the best preforming chromebook until a couple months ago. You can still get good performance in a cheap chromebook if you do a little research.
bg0 12y ago
It's a shame they didn't put USB 3.0 slots on these chromebooks. Pretty useless with 2.0 for any external hard drive activity.
- devindotcom 12y ago
  True, but chromebooks aren't really designed to deal with lots of local storage. What do you think that AC wireless is for - they want you to stream all day long!
- happycube 12y ago
  The Samsung ARM Chromebooks have one.
S4M 12y ago
Wow, does someone know if I can wipe the hard drive, install linux on it (Arch or Debian) and use it for light development (Python with Emacs)?
- green7ea 12y ago
  You should be able to. See my previous post with more details as to how I installed linux (arch) on my chromebox. It might be as straightforward for this version since it has an ARM processor instead of the x86 processor found in my setup. For instance, normal archlinux doesn't support non x86/x86-64 architectures.
- lgleason 12y ago
  yes, you can also run it along with chrome via crouton.
superobserver 12y ago
I really enjoy my Samsung Chromebook 2. The only thing I wish it had more of is computing power, RAM and screen space. Too bad there aren't very many 15" 8GB RAM Chromebooks on the market which makes the Chromebook Pixel 2 all the more painful to lust after, despite it not being 15". TL;DR. Crouton + Chromebook FTnearW! (Would still like to keep the secure boot, though.)
- jhulla 12y ago
  I do well with the Toshiba Chromebook 2. Intel Celeron N2840 Gorgeous IPS 1920x1080 screen. It is a lovely machine.
  - superobserver 12y ago
    I've been thinking about that myself - the IPS screen is certainly more appealing.
nemexy 12y ago
The most important thing of these Chromebooks, at least for me, is the quality of the touchpad and keyboard, as if I ever get one they will be used mainly for typing stuff/chatting. There is a reason why I still us an almost decade-old Lenovo Thinkpad R61 as a reserve machine and something that I can use outside/on the go. Granted it is a big heavy but for me, it's worth it. So, is there a chromebook, that can offer me a good quality of keyboard/touchpad? Sadly I don't think there is one with a trackpoint, which would pretty much make these the perfect notebook for my use-case.
- Crito 12y ago
  The touchpad on the Chromebook Pixel (the annoyingly expensive one) is high end. Large glass multitouch touchpad. I doubt you'd be satisfied with the keyboard though. So I think the answer is probably "No." The most expensive one available doesn't have a good keyboard by 60-series era Thinkpad standards, so I would be surprised if any do.
  - pgeorgi 12y ago
    The most expensive Chromebook doesn't cater to Thinkpad users. The Lenovo Chromebook might.
    - Crito 12y ago
      I seriously doubt it. I have never seen a non-Thinkpad branded Lenovo laptop that would satisfy somebody who liked the R60's keyboard.
      - pgeorgi 12y ago
        Looking at http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/11e-series/11e-chrome/ http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/11e-series/11e..., the keyboard looks "too chiclet" to be what Thinkpad users expect, despite the name. Right? (I'm not a fan of those laptops, so can't tell)
- andmalc 12y ago
driverdan 12y ago
I picked up a refurb C720 a while back for $119. I've been very impressed with it at that price point. It's currently my backup laptop.
hahamrfunnyguy 12y ago
Wow that's ugly, all the bad memories of the netbook era just came flooding back....
- zer0rest 12y ago
  Agreed.
- 72deluxe 12y ago
  But even worse, these devices have practically NO local storage. At least netbooks came with 120GB hard disks!
andrepd 12y ago
The Chromebit is probably the most exciting thing in that post for me. I wonder if it'll be this time that a company gets the plug-n-play PC right. I remember the big promises Ubuntu Phone, for example, made in this department.
popper189 12y ago
Wow! That's cheap for a "Notebook".
jdietrich 12y ago
This is a colossal, market-moving play from Google. Look at the brand names. TRUE, XOLO, Nexian. Recognise them? Consumers in Thailand, India and Indonesia do - they are local smartphone brands. Look at the promo video. Notice how many Asian faces there are? This isn't about cheap Chromebooks, it's about a major strategic effort to court the global middle class. As with the Android One initiative, Google are seeking to establish an affordable but capable gateway to their services for middle-income consumers. They're working with local companies to leverage local marketing and distribution resources. In these markets, the Chromebook isn't being pitched as a cheap substitute for a 'real' laptop, but as an upgrade from a smartphone or tablet. If their strategy for Chrome OS works half as well as their Android strategy, then the industry is going to be unrecognisably transformed over the next few years. A whole generation of consumers could come to see the Chrome OS pseudo-thin-client model as the norm, with full-fat operating systems being a niche curio.
- mariusmg 12y ago
  The middle class can afford to pluck down a few more bucks and get a device with a real OS...
  - kelukelugames 12y ago
    I've never had a chromebook. How bad is it? What if I just want to browse the web and watch hulu, netflix, and youtube?
    - simonk 12y ago
      If all you need is a web browser its amazing.
    - Kevguy 12y ago
      I have a cheap Samsung Chromebook ($250 in 2013). I've never had a problem browsing with 10+ tabs open and watching hulu at the same time. It is not going to run Visual Studio of course, but it is quite capable for browsing/videos/word processing/etc.
itsbits 12y ago
it would be nice if apple does same...but then Mac is great for its UX which will be affected here.
AdmiralAsshat 12y ago
The Chromebit is actually the part that caught my eye. If the USB 2.0 hub can connect to high-capacity external hard-drives rather than just thumb-drives, I might be looking at my new Kodi/XBMC machine. The RPi is getting a little long in the tooth. I'm also curious if the Chromebit will include Chromecast-like functionality as far as screencasting goes.
bunkydoo 12y ago
I'm interested to see more about the build quality and durability of these machines. Typically chromebooks have delivered an above average experience for the price.
hawski 12y ago
There will be chrome-almost-tablets. I am waiting for Chrometabs and Chromephones (I know there is Android, but well). I am not joking really. I expect that, Chromephones would undermine Android, but Chrometabs could be good idea. Chromebit is great idea! I am in process of searching what to buy for my father. His computer is broken down Athlon machine with Linux (I maintain it). I don't have time to properly maintain it (I don't have time and energy even to do it for my own computers). I am from Poland, so these prices have for me 4x multiplier attached to them. I now consider buying used workstation and try to maintain system myself. Or buy some Chromegadget and call it a day. My father can't put more than 100 USD on this and even 100 USD is stretching a bit. I will probably add few tens of dollars to this sum and maybe buy something like Chromebit or used Chromebook. I want to buy Chromebook for myself also. I am thinking about used Pixel or Toshiba Chromebook 2. Or I will wait a bit longer for new greatness. My requirements: max 500 USD, 12-14", at least 1920p. I am not sure what I value more: performance (Pixel) or quietness and lightness (Toshiba).
- anigbrowl 12y ago
  The flip model has a touch screen, though it's probably not multipoint.
drussell 12y ago
Cell phones could only be afforded by the wealthy in the 80s. Now the cell phone market in developing countries is burgeoning. Soon, there will be a substantial laptop market in most developing countries as well as prices continue to decline.
curiously 12y ago
could you run Pycharms on this? or install ubuntu instead of chromeOS?
- tonyblundell 12y ago
  Yes - https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton Personally I develop on a Chromebook by SSH-ing into a Digital Ocean server direct from Chrome OS. I don't use it full-time as a dev box though.
guelo 12y ago
16GB storage is pathetic. I think of these as terminals connected to the giant Google mainframe in the sky. The System Administrator will be monitoring your activities.
- deleted 12y ago
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ostyn 12y ago
Just not the greatest for programmers... But cool for everyone else!
- spb 12y ago
  I disagree. If you're not doing hardware-level hacking, a cloud IDE like Cloud9 (https://c9.io https://c9.io) beats any fragile client-side workspace I've ever used.
  - ostyn 12y ago
    It doesn't just have to be hardware level hacking. c9 is great but, anywhere that you want a decent amount of control over web server(apache, tomcat) configs, graphics acceleration for games, or storage of large local files, you're going to need something more. I'd take Ubuntu any day. Given the choice, what are some reasons to actually choose Chrome OS over Ubuntu?
zer0rest 12y ago
Can I install gentoo on this?
ricardobeat 12y ago
It's netbooks all over again.
- damian2000 12y ago
  Many netbooks were under spec'd machines (typically 500mb to 1gb ram) running Windows on a small 10 inch screen and a low power single core CPU. They failed in my opinion due to running Windows which killed performance. Runing Linux on those machines generally improved the experience.
jfoster 12y ago
I wonder if there's the possibility of using a phone as the input device for the Chromebit.
kakisoop 12y ago
I was hearing about $100 laptops from the time, I joined college. Finally, I see it happen. Every developing nation should award highest civilian honour to Sundar Pichai for making this happen. Thanks Google for making this happen.
- nashashmi 12y ago
  You just reminded me about the OLPC program, or the 100$ laptop. We are getting pretty close, aren't we.
- nowey 12y ago
  also thank the component manufacturers for finally selling their chips super cheap!
  - vincentkriek 12y ago
    Yeah, I think this is more because of Rockchip than because of Google. Rockchip manages to make a potent processor for very little, which is what is powering these. Google's volumes help as well but I would give more props to Rockchip
- deleted 12y ago
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Chefkoochooloo 12y ago
I think this product will do well especially for students, start-up businesses, or even for leisure use. Google's goal is to be able to address the affordability and at the same time not sacrificing quality. It definitely isn't the best machine out there but it is sufficient for daily use of middle-income consumers and students. On their video ad, it's obvious that they are also focusing on an international market where it's not focused on first-world countries only. I think it's a great step for Google to create something very affordable that has a good quality for their product to reach all facets of the world.
- aikah 12y ago
  > Google's goal is to be able to address the affordability and at the same time not sacrificing quality. Google's goal is to sell its cloud services, not the hardware here. The specs are crappy and that laptop is basically useless if you are doing anything else than internet. Sure it cost 150$, but that's an expensive surfing machine. And Google is off course selling internet services... > I think this product will do well especially for students, start-up businesses, or even for leisure use. You know, the exact same arguments were used to sell netbooks(students,leisure), which were an horrible failure,and you're still falling for that? at least most netbooks ran on windows... You don't even get that with Chrome OS. People are not idiots, especially those who have a tight budget, they'll be even more vocal about crappy cheap products because it represents a larger share of their income. That thing with these specs... I bet most people are ready to invest $100 more to have at least a proper notebook. You can get a 11 inches Acer laptop for 50 dollars more. With a browser AND windows,with a proper Hard drive.Why would people want to pay JUST for a fucking browser? they wouldn't unless they have so much spare money they don't care.
  - moultano 12y ago
    Why do you think running Windows is an advantage?
  - Mikeb85 12y ago
    > Why would people want to pay JUST for a fucking browser? Because there's a lot you can do with a browser these days. You can even run offline apps and native code (Emscripten, NaCl, PNaCl). Also, if you turn on developer mode, you can access all the Gentoo bits that hide underneath the Chrome bits. Consider common use cases - word processing, social media, organising photos, communication - all can be done with a stock Chromebook. Once developers realise the full potential, you'll see bigger, better games that run on Chrome (check out Bastion and From Dust on the Chrome web store - pretty impressive already).
Animats 12y ago
Can you run those things as a pure Linux system, without any tie to Google? I have an application where I run a Python program that needs WiFi and a USB port, but nothing else. I'm using old EEEpc 2G Surfs now, but they're getting old.
- andmalc 12y ago
  You can in most cases but you wouldn't need to. Most people install Linux using a project called Crouton which creates a chroot running parallel to ChromeOs. The Crouton chroot can see a USB device and of course has network access.
- kps 12y ago
  If you have a forget-in-the-back-of-the-closet application, you might do well simply switching to a ChromiumOS build. http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os
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aetch 12y ago
"ARM wrestler" haha
aikah 12y ago
This thread is being totally astroturfed by Googlers, or people actually like the specs of that thing? I don't get it. People, you can buy machines that have a proper os AND a browser ... but you're ready to spend money on a glorified browser?
- jpatokal 12y ago
  So where's this proper machine of yours that sells for $150?
  - aikah 12y ago
    Go to amazon,plenty of products for a reasonable price.
- tonyblundell 12y ago
  That something does more, doesn't make it better for a given task. In fact in some cases the extras make it less suitable. When you eat a meal, do you use a knife and fork, or two Swiss-army knives?
- 72deluxe 12y ago
  Agreed!
bmurphy1976 12y ago
If they support it like my Nexus 7 (2012), thanks, but no thanks. Cheap != Good. I think we've still got a few more years to go before the price/quality ratio is right.
midnitewarrior 12y ago
Wow it's kind of like, the network is the computer...
- derekp7 12y ago
  Really makes me which that Google would have bought Sun instead of Oracle.
tracker1 12y ago
I bought an Asus chromebook for my grandmother a few months ago for $159 (via Amazon), though a few days later it jumped to $199. It was a pretty great deal. I love ChromeOS... it's grandma/mom safe, and works very well. The only limitations I've really struggled with in my own use, is VPN to work, and the lack of an IMAP mail client. Other than that, it's worked great for everyone I've given one to.
peteretep 12y ago
> TRUE, XOLO, Nexian. Recognise them? Consumers in > Thailand ... do I've never seen any of them.
anotherevan 12y ago
And when they are sold in Australia, they will cost over $350.
mtrio 12y ago
>And a lot of people love them—Chromebooks were the best selling laptops on Amazon last holiday season, and teachers and students made them the #1 device in schools last year. What does this even mean? Does it mean on Amazon all Chromebooks combined sold more than any other laptop categories, Windows or MacBook?
sjtechie 12y ago
That Chromebook Flip is an awesome answer to the overpriced surface tablets. I'm amazed at the variety of chromebooks out there. Chromebooks might still be the biggest sellers again this christmas season.
dankohn1 12y ago
Over the last month, I've moved many of our 25 customer service team from crappy, ~$200 Dell laptops to Asus Chromeboxes ($160 with 2 GB of RAM). The feedback has been universally positive, because the Chromeboxes are so much more responsive than Chrome on a low-end Windows machine. A few caveats: + We've found Chrome more responsive with 4 GB of RAM, especially when you keep open many tabs, such as large spreadsheets in Google Docs. We didn't see any improvement moving to 8 GB. + We have struggled with editing PDFs. Dochub has the rotate and delete page functions we need, but can't save in place to Google Drive (it only edits). NoteablePDF is supposed to add rotate and delete soon. + We had to buy a new scanner that can save directly to Google Drive. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EKW6JZ4 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EKW6JZ4 worked well, after the Epson required being tethered to a PC. + We found Google Cloud Print to be unreliable, so we bought a hardware print server that works great: http://www.amazon.com/Lantronix-XPS1002CP-01-S-xPrintServer-Cloud-Print/dp/B00HSMK58A http://www.amazon.com/Lantronix-XPS1002CP-01-S-xPrintServer-... We're not the market for $149 Chromebooks, but I'm glad to see Google investing to expand the market for ChromeOS.
miduil 12y ago
Nice to see that, still can't afford my food tomorrow.
songco 12y ago
It's a shame that all Google services blocked by China gov.
hyperpallium 12y ago
The Haier 11.6"'s SoC seems pretty cool for a phone. Then again, phones are ridiculously overpowered these days. It supports 4K. http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockchip_RK3288 http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockchip_RK3288

$149 Chromebooks

503 points by ojn 12y ago

UUMMUU 12y ago

The ChromeBit looks pretty cool though. Entire computer in a flash drive.

wehadfun 12y ago
You can buy the chromebox which is somewhat similar but not as compacy as a chromebit http://www.amazon.com/Asus-CHROMEBOX-M004U-ASUS-Desktop/dp/B00IT1WJZQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1427826639&sr=1-1&keywords=chromebox http://www.amazon.com/Asus-CHROMEBOX-M004U-ASUS-Desktop/dp/B...
- 72deluxe 12y ago
  Still has a dependency on an external mainframe though; better to buy an Intel NUC perhaps?

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_lce0 12y ago

the said .. > More Chromebooks, for everyone but .. > The Google Store isn't available here yet. > We're working to bring it to more countries as soon as possible. :(

exprL 12y ago
I don't think these Chromebooks are sold in Google Store in any country. (Google Store selection varies by country, anyway. Where I live, they don't sell any Chromebooks; I might have considered the new Pixel if it weren't for the hassle.)
- fragmede 12y ago
  FWIW, https://store.google.com/category/chromebooks https://store.google.com/category/chromebooks lists bunch of chromebooks for sale in the US, including the new Pixel.
  - 72deluxe 12y ago
    The list of chromebooks here in the UK is just one: the new Pixel. Despite all of the pictures showing Acers etc. you can only actually buy one from Google. It's silly.
dholowiski 12y ago
Yup, as a Canadian, apparently I'm not part of 'everyone'.

alexsop2 12y ago

I think the bigger news here is the Chromebit. A $100 device that turns any monitor into a computer? Fascinating.

thehoff 12y ago
Beat me to it. I agree, the Chromebit is way more interesting.
jhardcastle 12y ago
More details on Cnet - http://www.cnet.com/uk/products/asus-chromebit/ http://www.cnet.com/uk/products/asus-chromebit/ Bluetooth 4.0, WiFi 802.11AC, USB 2.0 for accessories, 2GB of RAM and 16GB SSD
- jonknee 12y ago
  Amusing that it has a more useful port than the new Macbook.
- pronoiac 12y ago
  > The Raspberry Pi is a nearly stick-like mini computer that can run Windows or Linux. What? Is this about the future version of Windows that will run on ARM?
  - exprL 12y ago
    Windows has been running on ARM since version 8 (the ARM-specific version was called Windows RT). Since then, Microsoft announced a “special” version of Windows that's intended for the new Raspberry Pi 2.
    - pconner 12y ago
      If I remember correctly, it's more of a runtime for some .NET programs with access to the Pi's GPIO pins than a full-fledged OS.
- lewisl9029 12y ago

mintplant 12y ago

So there are two models available at $149: Haier - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00V3DYVLM http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00V3DYVLM Hisense - http://www.walmart.com/ip/44389793#about http://www.walmart.com/ip/44389793#about Which looks better?

yellowapple 12y ago
I personally like the Haier's appearance more than the Hisense's. I dig the whole carbon-fiber aesthetic.
TillE 12y ago
If the tech specs are to be believed, Haier is significantly underclocking the same SoC, presumably to extend battery life.

dpcan 12y ago

Where is the $149 Windows-Based laptop with SSD, 2-4GB RAM, and moderate graphics, that can run your usual Office to Minecraft software? The Chromebook-killer from Microsoft should be here, but all I hear about are the Surfaces. Honestly, the only reason my kids don't have Chromebooks is because they don't easily run Minecraft or downloadable games. Sure they can do their school work on them, but they also like to play, and we've already tried messing with Linux on some older desktops.

elchief 12y ago
Microsoft isn't as good at collecting and reselling all of your personal information, so have to charge the actual cost of the hardware.
- daeken 12y ago
  > Microsoft isn't as good at collecting and reselling all of your personal information, so have to charge the actual cost of the hardware. Google does not sell your personal information in any way. They use it for their own advertising purposes, but they don't sell it to anyone, in any form.
  - razvanh 12y ago
    advertising is selling your information to advertisers.
    - Karunamon 12y ago
      Even that's not accurate. Advertising is selling access to people matching a certain demographic profile to advertisers. They maintain a demographic profile (arguable: how accurate and comprehensive it is) by way of this line of business, but at no point is that profile sold to advertisers. At no point has Google, or any other reputable ad network, had a system whereby you can download the information, personal or otherwise, of a few million people. This is misleading and hyperbolic. Stop it. If you want a view as to what advertising is actually like and what an advertiser can actually see, go sign up for Adwords and step through the process. I guarantee it is not as sketchy as you make it out to be.

na85 12y ago

I'd definitely consider using a Chromebook if the offline functionality works. My understanding from people I know working at Google is that the offline Docs and Gmail experience is pretty sub-par at the moment. I guess if you pop out their SSD for a larger one it'd make a decent BSD netbook. Bitrig[0] is slowly but surely getting better. [0] https://www.bitrig.org/ https://www.bitrig.org/

mcintyre1994 12y ago
I haven't actually used a Chromebook but I'm surprised they're struggling with offline functionality. Android does just fine on spotty connections - at least Google's apps do - I wonder why they don't have a few mobile experienced engineers help out revamping so their apps just assume a crap connection and deal with it the same way they would on mobile.
nfoz 12y ago
I bought a Chromebook Pixel 2015. The first thing it asks, when you turn it on, is for an Internet connection. You cannot go past the first-boot panel until you give it internet access, then agree to Google's ToS which says you'll let them auto-install updates at anytime, and then let it try to download updates from Google. Then you must log in to a Google account. I didn't bother with ChromeOS enough to see how well offline apps work. The laptop does not have any screws, and I'm told the SSD is soldered on even if I knew how to take the laptop apart without breaking it. That being said, there are magical keystrokes you can use to bypass even the intro "first boot" panels to switch the laptop into "developer mode" which you can use to wipe ChromeOS and install a real Linux. Much of the hardware isn't supported by mainline kernels, but Google has a lot of that sourcecode online, so I'm trying to compile my own module to get the touchpad to work in Debian. That's all experirence with a different product than what we're talking about here, but my anecdotal observations are that ChromeOS fundamentally expects internet access, and it might not be possible to upgrade the hardware and get a comfortable setup with a real Linux or BSD.
- emidln 12y ago
  I don't know about modern chromebooks, but I have an Acer C7 that I spent $199 on and then added another $240 for it to have a 128GB SSD, 16GB RAM, a working bluetooth module, and an upgraded battery. $440 total and it's been a solid dev machine running first chrubuntu and now crouton. I've mentioned before that the only issue I've had with it is lack of CPU horsepower for clojure-based work to get into the REPL, which as I understand, is slightly fixed on later iterations (or other models). All of my hardware (AFAICT) works under Linux, and I use Google Hangouts, Skype, Steam (for TFC), and vim/tmux on it routinely.

discardorama 12y ago

Can one wipe out a Chromebook and install Linux?

pervycreeper 12y ago
Yes, but distro and kernel maintainers don't seem to think that supporting chromebooks is a worth their time, so don't expect it to be a smooth process out of the box.
Zikes 12y ago
Or dual-boot, even. http://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-run-both-chrome-os-and-ubuntu-on-a-chromebook/ http://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-run-both-chrome-os-and-ubu...
- discardorama 12y ago
  From that link: "you must download a tool known as Crouton, which will allow Ubuntu to run on top of Chrome OS" No, I don't want to run Ubuntu on top of of Chrome OS; I want to completely wipe out Chrome.
  - mattl 12y ago
    Yeah, you can. Usually you unscrew the laptop, remove a screw on the motherboard and you get SeaBIOS and you can install any distro you want.
  - rogerbinns 12y ago
    Think of it as using the ChromeOS kernel (which suits the hardware configuration perfectly) and then running the Ubuntu userspace (which co-exists with the Chrome OS userspace). Even if you don't use the Chrome OS userspace much, removing it won't save you enough to make it worth it.
  - dsl 12y ago
    Yes, there are plenty of howtos on how to do this. The only downside is you have to enable developer mode, so you lose trusted boot.

not-much-io 12y ago

I own a Acer c720p Chromebook and I have to say it is a wonderful machine. I now only use my main PC for programming, and I even do that sometimes by SSH from my chromebook. Main point: * Great battery life * Lightning fast * Small/Thin For me it is a perfect cheap laptop to use as a goto for all my less resource intensive activities. (reading, youtube, chat etc.) I might get a bigger 15 inch one so I am happy to see Chromebooks developing. I am having a hard time figuring out who would use a chromebit though..

spb 12y ago
I use an Acer C720P as well, for everything including programming, via Cloud9 (https://c9.io/ https://c9.io/). Cloud9 has been almost exclusively the platform for all my development since 2013. Having my entire workspace state synchronized across machines, saved whenever I'm not using it to be resumed precisely as it was, sandboxed from causing or falling victim to issues with my desktop, is invaluable. I switch off between my desktop and my Chromebook whenever I go out, or even just when I want to lie down instead of hunching over at my desk. I experience no disruptions from doing so. The only real complaint that I have is that ChromeOS's use of alt+arrows to emulate Page Up/Down keys interferes with a few important default C9 key combinations (alt+shift+down to copy a line getting converted to shift+pagedn).
han_stimme 12y ago
I'm using C720 with chrubuntu, a full featured ubuntu along with the native ChromeOS for dual booting. Some guys may prefer crouton and it's similar. I should say I use my C720 everyday on my train to work mostly with linux. It's with x86 CPU, just as a normal laptop. Its performance, battery and portability are great for me as well. I really love travelling with it.

Splendor 12y ago

Wow. The OLPC XO-1 launched for $188 in 2006. Now we have relatively mainstream retail laptops selling for less than that.

BinaryIdiot 12y ago
I completely forgot about that computer and the organization behind it. Looking at their site I guess they eventually moved on to a tablet in addition to a version of the computer; I wonder if they can even make them cheaper than these big companies anymore.

wehadfun 12y ago

I've had sub $200 chromebooks before. And upgraded to the Toshiba with intel processor and nice screen. On the sub $200 model video ran like crap, couldn't cast tabs to chromecast, and more than half dozen or so tabs killed it. Other than that is was great.

0x5f3759df-i 12y ago
I bought my Acer C720 for $160 and it has been the best preforming chromebook until a couple months ago. You can still get good performance in a cheap chromebook if you do a little research.

bg0 12y ago

It's a shame they didn't put USB 3.0 slots on these chromebooks. Pretty useless with 2.0 for any external hard drive activity.

devindotcom 12y ago
True, but chromebooks aren't really designed to deal with lots of local storage. What do you think that AC wireless is for - they want you to stream all day long!
happycube 12y ago
The Samsung ARM Chromebooks have one.

S4M 12y ago

Wow, does someone know if I can wipe the hard drive, install linux on it (Arch or Debian) and use it for light development (Python with Emacs)?

green7ea 12y ago
You should be able to. See my previous post with more details as to how I installed linux (arch) on my chromebox. It might be as straightforward for this version since it has an ARM processor instead of the x86 processor found in my setup. For instance, normal archlinux doesn't support non x86/x86-64 architectures.
lgleason 12y ago
yes, you can also run it along with chrome via crouton.

superobserver 12y ago

I really enjoy my Samsung Chromebook 2. The only thing I wish it had more of is computing power, RAM and screen space. Too bad there aren't very many 15" 8GB RAM Chromebooks on the market which makes the Chromebook Pixel 2 all the more painful to lust after, despite it not being 15". TL;DR. Crouton + Chromebook FTnearW! (Would still like to keep the secure boot, though.)

jhulla 12y ago
I do well with the Toshiba Chromebook 2. Intel Celeron N2840 Gorgeous IPS 1920x1080 screen. It is a lovely machine.
- superobserver 12y ago
  I've been thinking about that myself - the IPS screen is certainly more appealing.

nemexy 12y ago

The most important thing of these Chromebooks, at least for me, is the quality of the touchpad and keyboard, as if I ever get one they will be used mainly for typing stuff/chatting. There is a reason why I still us an almost decade-old Lenovo Thinkpad R61 as a reserve machine and something that I can use outside/on the go. Granted it is a big heavy but for me, it's worth it. So, is there a chromebook, that can offer me a good quality of keyboard/touchpad? Sadly I don't think there is one with a trackpoint, which would pretty much make these the perfect notebook for my use-case.

Crito 12y ago
The touchpad on the Chromebook Pixel (the annoyingly expensive one) is high end. Large glass multitouch touchpad. I doubt you'd be satisfied with the keyboard though. So I think the answer is probably "No." The most expensive one available doesn't have a good keyboard by 60-series era Thinkpad standards, so I would be surprised if any do.
- pgeorgi 12y ago
  The most expensive Chromebook doesn't cater to Thinkpad users. The Lenovo Chromebook might.
  - Crito 12y ago
    I seriously doubt it. I have never seen a non-Thinkpad branded Lenovo laptop that would satisfy somebody who liked the R60's keyboard.
    - pgeorgi 12y ago
      Looking at http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/11e-series/11e-chrome/ http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/11e-series/11e..., the keyboard looks "too chiclet" to be what Thinkpad users expect, despite the name. Right? (I'm not a fan of those laptops, so can't tell)
andmalc 12y ago

driverdan 12y ago

I picked up a refurb C720 a while back for $119. I've been very impressed with it at that price point. It's currently my backup laptop.

hahamrfunnyguy 12y ago

Wow that's ugly, all the bad memories of the netbook era just came flooding back....

zer0rest 12y ago
Agreed.
72deluxe 12y ago
But even worse, these devices have practically NO local storage. At least netbooks came with 120GB hard disks!

andrepd 12y ago

The Chromebit is probably the most exciting thing in that post for me. I wonder if it'll be this time that a company gets the plug-n-play PC right. I remember the big promises Ubuntu Phone, for example, made in this department.

popper189 12y ago

Wow! That's cheap for a "Notebook".

jdietrich 12y ago

This is a colossal, market-moving play from Google. Look at the brand names. TRUE, XOLO, Nexian. Recognise them? Consumers in Thailand, India and Indonesia do - they are local smartphone brands. Look at the promo video. Notice how many Asian faces there are? This isn't about cheap Chromebooks, it's about a major strategic effort to court the global middle class. As with the Android One initiative, Google are seeking to establish an affordable but capable gateway to their services for middle-income consumers. They're working with local companies to leverage local marketing and distribution resources. In these markets, the Chromebook isn't being pitched as a cheap substitute for a 'real' laptop, but as an upgrade from a smartphone or tablet. If their strategy for Chrome OS works half as well as their Android strategy, then the industry is going to be unrecognisably transformed over the next few years. A whole generation of consumers could come to see the Chrome OS pseudo-thin-client model as the norm, with full-fat operating systems being a niche curio.

mariusmg 12y ago
The middle class can afford to pluck down a few more bucks and get a device with a real OS...
- kelukelugames 12y ago
  I've never had a chromebook. How bad is it? What if I just want to browse the web and watch hulu, netflix, and youtube?
  - simonk 12y ago
    If all you need is a web browser its amazing.
  - Kevguy 12y ago
    I have a cheap Samsung Chromebook ($250 in 2013). I've never had a problem browsing with 10+ tabs open and watching hulu at the same time. It is not going to run Visual Studio of course, but it is quite capable for browsing/videos/word processing/etc.

itsbits 12y ago

it would be nice if apple does same...but then Mac is great for its UX which will be affected here.

AdmiralAsshat 12y ago

The Chromebit is actually the part that caught my eye. If the USB 2.0 hub can connect to high-capacity external hard-drives rather than just thumb-drives, I might be looking at my new Kodi/XBMC machine. The RPi is getting a little long in the tooth. I'm also curious if the Chromebit will include Chromecast-like functionality as far as screencasting goes.

bunkydoo 12y ago

I'm interested to see more about the build quality and durability of these machines. Typically chromebooks have delivered an above average experience for the price.

hawski 12y ago

There will be chrome-almost-tablets. I am waiting for Chrometabs and Chromephones (I know there is Android, but well). I am not joking really. I expect that, Chromephones would undermine Android, but Chrometabs could be good idea. Chromebit is great idea! I am in process of searching what to buy for my father. His computer is broken down Athlon machine with Linux (I maintain it). I don't have time to properly maintain it (I don't have time and energy even to do it for my own computers). I am from Poland, so these prices have for me 4x multiplier attached to them. I now consider buying used workstation and try to maintain system myself. Or buy some Chromegadget and call it a day. My father can't put more than 100 USD on this and even 100 USD is stretching a bit. I will probably add few tens of dollars to this sum and maybe buy something like Chromebit or used Chromebook. I want to buy Chromebook for myself also. I am thinking about used Pixel or Toshiba Chromebook 2. Or I will wait a bit longer for new greatness. My requirements: max 500 USD, 12-14", at least 1920p. I am not sure what I value more: performance (Pixel) or quietness and lightness (Toshiba).

anigbrowl 12y ago
The flip model has a touch screen, though it's probably not multipoint.

drussell 12y ago

Cell phones could only be afforded by the wealthy in the 80s. Now the cell phone market in developing countries is burgeoning. Soon, there will be a substantial laptop market in most developing countries as well as prices continue to decline.

curiously 12y ago

could you run Pycharms on this? or install ubuntu instead of chromeOS?

tonyblundell 12y ago
Yes - https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton Personally I develop on a Chromebook by SSH-ing into a Digital Ocean server direct from Chrome OS. I don't use it full-time as a dev box though.

guelo 12y ago

16GB storage is pathetic. I think of these as terminals connected to the giant Google mainframe in the sky. The System Administrator will be monitoring your activities.

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ostyn 12y ago

Just not the greatest for programmers... But cool for everyone else!

spb 12y ago
I disagree. If you're not doing hardware-level hacking, a cloud IDE like Cloud9 (https://c9.io https://c9.io) beats any fragile client-side workspace I've ever used.
- ostyn 12y ago
  It doesn't just have to be hardware level hacking. c9 is great but, anywhere that you want a decent amount of control over web server(apache, tomcat) configs, graphics acceleration for games, or storage of large local files, you're going to need something more. I'd take Ubuntu any day. Given the choice, what are some reasons to actually choose Chrome OS over Ubuntu?

zer0rest 12y ago

Can I install gentoo on this?

ricardobeat 12y ago

It's netbooks all over again.

damian2000 12y ago
Many netbooks were under spec'd machines (typically 500mb to 1gb ram) running Windows on a small 10 inch screen and a low power single core CPU. They failed in my opinion due to running Windows which killed performance. Runing Linux on those machines generally improved the experience.

jfoster 12y ago

I wonder if there's the possibility of using a phone as the input device for the Chromebit.

kakisoop 12y ago

I was hearing about $100 laptops from the time, I joined college. Finally, I see it happen. Every developing nation should award highest civilian honour to Sundar Pichai for making this happen. Thanks Google for making this happen.

nashashmi 12y ago
You just reminded me about the OLPC program, or the 100$ laptop. We are getting pretty close, aren't we.
nowey 12y ago
also thank the component manufacturers for finally selling their chips super cheap!
- vincentkriek 12y ago
  Yeah, I think this is more because of Rockchip than because of Google. Rockchip manages to make a potent processor for very little, which is what is powering these. Google's volumes help as well but I would give more props to Rockchip
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Chefkoochooloo 12y ago

I think this product will do well especially for students, start-up businesses, or even for leisure use. Google's goal is to be able to address the affordability and at the same time not sacrificing quality. It definitely isn't the best machine out there but it is sufficient for daily use of middle-income consumers and students. On their video ad, it's obvious that they are also focusing on an international market where it's not focused on first-world countries only. I think it's a great step for Google to create something very affordable that has a good quality for their product to reach all facets of the world.

aikah 12y ago
> Google's goal is to be able to address the affordability and at the same time not sacrificing quality. Google's goal is to sell its cloud services, not the hardware here. The specs are crappy and that laptop is basically useless if you are doing anything else than internet. Sure it cost 150$, but that's an expensive surfing machine. And Google is off course selling internet services... > I think this product will do well especially for students, start-up businesses, or even for leisure use. You know, the exact same arguments were used to sell netbooks(students,leisure), which were an horrible failure,and you're still falling for that? at least most netbooks ran on windows... You don't even get that with Chrome OS. People are not idiots, especially those who have a tight budget, they'll be even more vocal about crappy cheap products because it represents a larger share of their income. That thing with these specs... I bet most people are ready to invest $100 more to have at least a proper notebook. You can get a 11 inches Acer laptop for 50 dollars more. With a browser AND windows,with a proper Hard drive.Why would people want to pay JUST for a fucking browser? they wouldn't unless they have so much spare money they don't care.
- moultano 12y ago
  Why do you think running Windows is an advantage?
- Mikeb85 12y ago
  > Why would people want to pay JUST for a fucking browser? Because there's a lot you can do with a browser these days. You can even run offline apps and native code (Emscripten, NaCl, PNaCl). Also, if you turn on developer mode, you can access all the Gentoo bits that hide underneath the Chrome bits. Consider common use cases - word processing, social media, organising photos, communication - all can be done with a stock Chromebook. Once developers realise the full potential, you'll see bigger, better games that run on Chrome (check out Bastion and From Dust on the Chrome web store - pretty impressive already).

Animats 12y ago

Can you run those things as a pure Linux system, without any tie to Google? I have an application where I run a Python program that needs WiFi and a USB port, but nothing else. I'm using old EEEpc 2G Surfs now, but they're getting old.

andmalc 12y ago
You can in most cases but you wouldn't need to. Most people install Linux using a project called Crouton which creates a chroot running parallel to ChromeOs. The Crouton chroot can see a USB device and of course has network access.
kps 12y ago
If you have a forget-in-the-back-of-the-closet application, you might do well simply switching to a ChromiumOS build. http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os

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aetch 12y ago

"ARM wrestler" haha

aikah 12y ago

This thread is being totally astroturfed by Googlers, or people actually like the specs of that thing? I don't get it. People, you can buy machines that have a proper os AND a browser ... but you're ready to spend money on a glorified browser?

jpatokal 12y ago
So where's this proper machine of yours that sells for $150?
- aikah 12y ago
  Go to amazon,plenty of products for a reasonable price.
tonyblundell 12y ago
That something does more, doesn't make it better for a given task. In fact in some cases the extras make it less suitable. When you eat a meal, do you use a knife and fork, or two Swiss-army knives?
72deluxe 12y ago
Agreed!

bmurphy1976 12y ago

If they support it like my Nexus 7 (2012), thanks, but no thanks. Cheap != Good. I think we've still got a few more years to go before the price/quality ratio is right.

midnitewarrior 12y ago

Wow it's kind of like, the network is the computer...

derekp7 12y ago
Really makes me which that Google would have bought Sun instead of Oracle.

tracker1 12y ago

I bought an Asus chromebook for my grandmother a few months ago for $159 (via Amazon), though a few days later it jumped to $199. It was a pretty great deal. I love ChromeOS... it's grandma/mom safe, and works very well. The only limitations I've really struggled with in my own use, is VPN to work, and the lack of an IMAP mail client. Other than that, it's worked great for everyone I've given one to.

peteretep 12y ago

> TRUE, XOLO, Nexian. Recognise them? Consumers in > Thailand ... do I've never seen any of them.

anotherevan 12y ago

And when they are sold in Australia, they will cost over $350.

mtrio 12y ago

>And a lot of people love them—Chromebooks were the best selling laptops on Amazon last holiday season, and teachers and students made them the #1 device in schools last year. What does this even mean? Does it mean on Amazon all Chromebooks combined sold more than any other laptop categories, Windows or MacBook?

sjtechie 12y ago

That Chromebook Flip is an awesome answer to the overpriced surface tablets. I'm amazed at the variety of chromebooks out there. Chromebooks might still be the biggest sellers again this christmas season.

dankohn1 12y ago

Over the last month, I've moved many of our 25 customer service team from crappy, ~$200 Dell laptops to Asus Chromeboxes ($160 with 2 GB of RAM). The feedback has been universally positive, because the Chromeboxes are so much more responsive than Chrome on a low-end Windows machine. A few caveats: + We've found Chrome more responsive with 4 GB of RAM, especially when you keep open many tabs, such as large spreadsheets in Google Docs. We didn't see any improvement moving to 8 GB. + We have struggled with editing PDFs. Dochub has the rotate and delete page functions we need, but can't save in place to Google Drive (it only edits). NoteablePDF is supposed to add rotate and delete soon. + We had to buy a new scanner that can save directly to Google Drive. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EKW6JZ4 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EKW6JZ4 worked well, after the Epson required being tethered to a PC. + We found Google Cloud Print to be unreliable, so we bought a hardware print server that works great: http://www.amazon.com/Lantronix-XPS1002CP-01-S-xPrintServer-Cloud-Print/dp/B00HSMK58A http://www.amazon.com/Lantronix-XPS1002CP-01-S-xPrintServer-... We're not the market for $149 Chromebooks, but I'm glad to see Google investing to expand the market for ChromeOS.

miduil 12y ago

Nice to see that, still can't afford my food tomorrow.

songco 12y ago

It's a shame that all Google services blocked by China gov.

hyperpallium 12y ago

The Haier 11.6"'s SoC seems pretty cool for a phone. Then again, phones are ridiculously overpowered these days. It supports 4K. http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockchip_RK3288 http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockchip_RK3288