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Chromebooks on the rise

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  Chromebooks on the rise RS Wood  <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-05-14 09:53 +0000
    Re: Chromebooks on the rise Oregonian Haruspex <bob_davis_retired@yahoo.com> - 2014-05-19 21:36 +0000
      Re: Chromebooks on the rise RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-05-20 10:36 +0000
        Re: Chromebooks on the rise RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-05-21 13:11 +0000
          Re: Chromebooks on the rise Oregonian Haruspex <bob_davis_retired@yahoo.com> - 2014-05-22 15:08 -0700
            Re: Chromebooks on the rise RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-05-23 22:23 +0000

#2794 — Chromebooks on the rise

From the «way better than the tinbook and the leadbook» department:
Title: The Year of the Chromebook
Author: zafiro17@pipedot.org
Date: Wed, 14 May 2014 02:52:12 -0400
Link: http://pipedot.org/story/2014-05-14/the-year-of-the-chromebook

2014 just might be remembered as the year of the Chromebook[1] . It will be
to me at least. I just bought one, and I'm not alone. So have a lot of other
people. A whole lot. From the Register:

According to US market-watcher NPD, during the 11 months from January
through November 2013, the platform’s share of the computing device market
had risen to 9.6 per cent from just 0.2 per cent in the same months of the
previous year. By contrast, Apple’s laptops accounted for a mere 1.8 per
cent of the market in 2013, down from 2.6 per cent the year before.
Windows-based laptops also declined, though they remain the biggest seller:
their combined share fell from 42.9 per cent to 34.1 per cent. Do the sums,
and that means Windows laptops took 75 per cent of the US notebook market,
Chromebooks 21 per cent and Apple a measly four per cent. Some 6.6 million
laptops were shipped through commercial channels, says NPD, of which just
under 1.4 million were Chromebooks. Five Chromebooks were sold for every
MacBook.

When first released in 2011, they failed to capture the market's attention,
as the hardware remained somewhat limited and the software options weren't
appealing, but time has been kind to Chromebooks. This year Google and Intel
have partnered[2] to make sure some compelling new hardware was released,
including the ASUS Chromebox desktop[3] , the 21.5" all-in-one by LG[4] , and
20 other models by the likes of HP, ASUS, Acer, Samsung, and Lenovo. CNET is
hugely bullish[5] on Chromebooks; so is Richi Jennings[6] over at
Computerworld.As for me, I consider myself a power user and I'm not a huge
fan of Google's software ecosystem, but I like my new Chromebook. My HP14 is
pretty nice hardware, it's running great, I find the user environment hugely
useable, and hell - the price was awesome: under $300. It's hard to believe I
paid something like $1600 for a PIII laptop and Win98 in 2000.

Links:
[1]: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/01/10/2014_chromebook_surge/ (link)
[2]: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/06/intel_google_buddy_up_for_this_years_big_chromebook_push/ (link)
[3]: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/04/asus_chromebox/ (link)
[4]: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/12/18/lg_chromebase/ (link)
[5]: http://www.cnet.com/news/will-2014-be-the-year-of-the-google-chromebook/ (link)
[6]: http://blogs.computerworld.com/itbwcw/20140402/chromebook-sales-abi-research (link)

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#2889

RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> wrote:
> From the «way better than the tinbook and the leadbook» department:
> Title: The Year of the Chromebook
> Author: zafiro17@pipedot.org
> Date: Wed, 14 May 2014 02:52:12 -0400
> Link: http://pipedot.org/story/2014-05-14/the-year-of-the-chromebook
> 
> 2014 just might be remembered as the year of the Chromebook[1] . It will be
> to me at least. I just bought one, and I'm not alone. So have a lot of other
> people. A whole lot. From the Register:
> 
> According to US market-watcher NPD, during the 11 months from January
> through November 2013, the platform’s share of the computing device market
> had risen to 9.6 per cent from just 0.2 per cent in the same months of the
> previous year. By contrast, Apple’s laptops accounted for a mere 1.8 per
> cent of the market in 2013, down from 2.6 per cent the year before.
> Windows-based laptops also declined, though they remain the biggest seller:
> their combined share fell from 42.9 per cent to 34.1 per cent. Do the sums,
> and that means Windows laptops took 75 per cent of the US notebook market,
> Chromebooks 21 per cent and Apple a measly four per cent. Some 6.6 million
> laptops were shipped through commercial channels, says NPD, of which just
> under 1.4 million were Chromebooks. Five Chromebooks were sold for every
> MacBook.
> 
> When first released in 2011, they failed to capture the market's attention,
> as the hardware remained somewhat limited and the software options weren't
> appealing, but time has been kind to Chromebooks. This year Google and Intel
> have partnered[2] to make sure some compelling new hardware was released,
> including the ASUS Chromebox desktop[3] , the 21.5" all-in-one by LG[4] , and
> 20 other models by the likes of HP, ASUS, Acer, Samsung, and Lenovo. CNET is
> hugely bullish[5] on Chromebooks; so is Richi Jennings[6] over at
> Computerworld.As for me, I consider myself a power user and I'm not a huge
> fan of Google's software ecosystem, but I like my new Chromebook. My HP14 is
> pretty nice hardware, it's running great, I find the user environment hugely
> useable, and hell - the price was awesome: under $300. It's hard to believe I
> paid something like $1600 for a PIII laptop and Win98 in 2000.
> 
> Links:
> [1]: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/01/10/2014_chromebook_surge/ (link)
> [2]:
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/06/intel_google_buddy_up_for_this_years_big_chromebook_push/
> (link)
> [3]: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/04/asus_chromebox/ (link)
> [4]: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/12/18/lg_chromebase/ (link)
> [5]: http://www.cnet.com/news/will-2014-be-the-year-of-the-google-chromebook/ (link)
> [6]: http://blogs.computerworld.com/itbwcw/20140402/chromebook-sales-abi-research (link)

If this is true then why do I see about 50 / 50 Apple and PC laptops?  I
have never seen a chromebook in the wild.

Anyway don't feel bad - in about 2001 I paid over $3000 for a PowerBook G4.
 It was my only computer until 2008.  Still works great, too.

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#2899

> 
> If this is true then why do I see about 50 / 50 Apple and PC laptops?  I
> have never seen a chromebook in the wild.
> 
> Anyway don't feel bad - in about 2001 I paid over $3000 for a PowerBook G4.
>  It was my only computer until 2008.  Still works great, too.


A couple months ago I would've agreed with you.  But suddenly I'm
starting to see them around.  Several friends have bought one and one
colleague bought one thinking he'd gotten a great deal on a Win
laptop.  He was disappointed his chromebook wouldn't run Microsoft
Office.  Then a couple of weeks later he discovered he didn't even need
Microsoft office - Google docs and the web were all he needed.  Wish I
could say "boo ya Balmer" like in the good old days.  Taunting Satya
isn't nearly as much fun.

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#2950

On Tue, 20 May 2014 10:36:52 +0000
RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> wrote:

> > 
> > If this is true then why do I see about 50 / 50 Apple and PC laptops?  I
> > have never seen a chromebook in the wild.
> > 
> > Anyway don't feel bad - in about 2001 I paid over $3000 for a PowerBook G4.
> >  It was my only computer until 2008.  Still works great, too.
> 
> 
> A couple months ago I would've agreed with you.  But suddenly I'm
> starting to see them around.  Several friends have bought one and one
> colleague bought one thinking he'd gotten a great deal on a Win
> laptop.  He was disappointed his chromebook wouldn't run Microsoft
> Office.  Then a couple of weeks later he discovered he didn't even need
> Microsoft office - Google docs and the web were all he needed.  Wish I
> could say "boo ya Balmer" like in the good old days.  Taunting Satya
> isn't nearly as much fun.


Interesting followup at the Register today:
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2014/05/20/chromebooks_first_quarter_2014_context/?_ga=1.126211339.703641510.1358243142

So, only 40,000 chromebooks sold in the UK, even fewer elsewhere in
Europe, but 2.1 million sold in the USA over 2013.  

(PS: my G4 Powerbook - one of the best laptop keyboards I've ever had -
was running fine from 2004-2013 but was destroyed when it fell to the
floor and smashed.  Boy did I feel bad; that was a nice little laptop
whose only flaw was the PPC architecture that meant I no longer had a
flash player plug in, a flaw I scarcely cared about in any way.)

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#3004

On 2014-05-21 13:11:10 +0000, RS Wood said:

> On Tue, 20 May 2014 10:36:52 +0000
> RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> wrote:
> 
>>> 
>>> If this is true then why do I see about 50 / 50 Apple and PC laptops?  I
>>> have never seen a chromebook in the wild.
>>> 
>>> Anyway don't feel bad - in about 2001 I paid over $3000 for a PowerBook G4.
>>> It was my only computer until 2008.  Still works great, too.
>> 
>> 
>> A couple months ago I would've agreed with you.  But suddenly I'm
>> starting to see them around.  Several friends have bought one and one
>> colleague bought one thinking he'd gotten a great deal on a Win
>> laptop.  He was disappointed his chromebook wouldn't run Microsoft
>> Office.  Then a couple of weeks later he discovered he didn't even need
>> Microsoft office - Google docs and the web were all he needed.  Wish I
>> could say "boo ya Balmer" like in the good old days.  Taunting Satya
>> isn't nearly as much fun.
> 
> 
> Interesting followup at the Register today:
> http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2014/05/20/chromebooks_first_quarter_2014_context/?_ga=1.126211339.703641510.1358243142 
> 
> 
> So, only 40,000 chromebooks sold in the UK, even fewer elsewhere in
> Europe, but 2.1 million sold in the USA over 2013.
> 
> (PS: my G4 Powerbook - one of the best laptop keyboards I've ever had -
> was running fine from 2004-2013 but was destroyed when it fell to the
> floor and smashed.  Boy did I feel bad; that was a nice little laptop
> whose only flaw was the PPC architecture that meant I no longer had a
> flash player plug in, a flaw I scarcely cared about in any way.)

Chromebooks "sold" but how many are in use?  This is similar to the 
doublespeak around Android phones, where it's impossible to get an 
accurate count of sales from pretty much anybody.  You have "sales" 
which is probably best interpreted as sales to retailers, not sales to 
consumers, and you have "activations" which could mean any number of 
things, including a flash n wipe of a phone that's been activated 30x 
already.

I feel bad that you smashed your Powerbook.  The upsides are that they 
are absolutely dirt cheap now, and they lack the built in NSA mandated 
backdoors that all Intel machines now have (iAMT and vPro).  If I can 
ever locate a 13" G4 in great shape I will get it for sure.

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#3049

On 2014-05-22, Oregonian Haruspex <bob_davis_retired@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Chromebooks "sold" but how many are in use?  This is similar to the
> doublespeak around Android phones, where it's impossible to get an
> accurate count of sales from pretty much anybody.  You have "sales"
> which is probably best interpreted as sales to retailers, not sales to
> consumers, and you have "activations" which could mean any number of
> things, including a flash n wipe of a phone that's been activated 30x
> already.
>
> I feel bad that you smashed your Powerbook.  The upsides are that they
> are absolutely dirt cheap now, and they lack the built in NSA mandated
> backdoors that all Intel machines now have (iAMT and vPro).  If I can
> ever locate a 13" G4 in great shape I will get it for sure.
>

You may be on to something.  Interesting: just looked it up and a
refurbished PPC powerbook running 10.4.11 is $289, the same price as the
Chromebook I just picked up.  I'm tempted to buy one and run NetBSD on
it or something - they've got a halfway decent PPC port.

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