Google ChromeBook

..Chrome browser, ChromeOS, Chromium OS... think I've got it now. :smile:

Thanks for straightening me out once again, CalDog.

Johann

 

Can you interface with Blackboard on a Chromebook? What about the one with Ubuntu pre-installed (and do you have a link to the vendor?)

 

I've been thinking about buying a Chromebook for school, specifically because I am cheap and because they really do look like the future of computing. One day we will all be laughing about "back in my day we had hard drives".

I doubt I'd get under the hood and mess with Ubuntu (even though I was a SUSE guy in the past). I'm just not that "technie" these days.

 

I mentioned this to my son yesterday since the only thing he wants for Christmas is a laptop.

That Minecraft can't be be played on it was the dealbreaker.

 

I believe I'll be buying the Samsung in the next week or two. I'll let you guys know what I think (assuming you care). I'll be using it to finish my MSMIS at Bellevue.

 

My son, who teaches computers at a high school, tells me about 25 of the Google machines have "shown up" at school - no warning. I'm sure he'll figure good uses and his students will get mileage out of them.

I like them and the Google store has great apps - but I won't be buying one soon. Here's why:

The ones with no HD and -I think- 16 gig of internal storage cost $269 in Canada. For $27 more, I can go to Wal Mart and get a full-size (15.6 in screen) HP laptop with a 500 gig drive, reasonably decent specs and Windows 8 (whether I like Win8 or not.)

If I do that, I've got a much more versatile animal and, as CalDog said, all I need is the (free) Chrome Browser and I can then run pretty well anything in the Google store as well. Doesn't make any sense for me to buy the Google machine to save $27. So...

Johann

 

I care, I am sure you will have some tips/feedback that will help me!

 

I get what you are saying, and it is true: you could buy a full-size traditional laptop for only slightly more than a Chromebook, and the laptop would be far more versatile. On the other hand, a cheap 15-inch laptop will be much heavier (more than twice the weight) and much bulkier (nearly three times the volume) of an 11-inch Chromebook. I think people are attracted to Chromebooks because of the portability, not just the low price. As stated in Post #2 above:

Now, it's true that you could get an equally portable 11-inch laptop, like a MacBook Air (also mentioned in Post #2). The MacBook would be even smaller and lighter than the Chromebook, and would be far more powerful and versatile. But it would also be far more expensive. You could get several 11-inch Chromebooks for the price of a single 11-inch MacBook, and I'm sure many people find it hard to get past that point.

 

I can understand the appeal of a small, lightweight, inexpensive laptop with a simplified operating system. However, I don't think the Chromebook is ultimately going to be the future in this direction.

The problem with the Chromebook is the lack of versatility -- it is 100% locked-in to Google services. But it doesn't have to be that way.

My prediction: in the future, people will increasingly use lightweight, inexpensive "laptops" that run mobile operating systems, like iOS or Android. Basically tablets with attached keyboards. You can already get something like this by putting your iPad or Android tablet into a third-party keyboard case. Portable, cheap, and simple to use -- and with far more software options than a Chromebook.

 

Some of them are in fact less expensive, at least on amazon. And while I admit that I haven't used one, they don't all appear to be obviously junk.

For example, the least expensive current-model Chromebook, from Acer, is $199 on amazon. But a 10-inch WolVol Android netbook is only $159. So it undercuts the cheapest Chromebook by 20%.

And the WolVol currently has a customer rating of 4.2 stars, based on 24 reviews. That compares favorably with the Acer Chromebook, which is currently at 3.9 stars, based on 23 reviews.

But even in that case, you are still using Google Chrome, right ? You can't switch to (say) Firefox, like you could on an Android device.

 

Well, that was my point. There is (I think) a lot of interest in inexpensive, lightweight "laptops" with simplified operating systems -- but Chromebooks won't necessarily be the best or only choice. I expect to see cheap "laptops" powered by ChromeOS, Android, iOS, Windows RT, lightweight Ubuntu distros, maybe Tizen.

ChromeOS may not even be the best Google OS for this purpose. Compared to ChromeOS, Android is much more open, with a far larger software ecosystem, and a vastly larger existing user base; Android is also better suited to leverage cheap phone/tablet hardware. These seem like significant advantages.