SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
$600 Chromebooks are a dangerous development for Microsoft
Among the new hardware launched this week at IFA in Berlin are a couple of premium Chromebooks. Lenovo's $600 Yoga Chromebook brings high-end styling and materials to the Chromebook space, along with well-specced internals and a high quality screen. Dell's $600 Inspiron Chromebook 14 has slightly lower specs but is similarly offering better styling, bigger, better quality screens, and superior specs to the Chromebook space. These systems join a few other premium Chromebooks already out there. HP's Chromebook x2 is a $600 convertible hybrid launched a few months ago, and Samsung has had its Chromebook Plus and Pro systems for more than a year now. And of course, Google's Pixelbook is an astronomically expensive Chrome OS machine. These systems should cause ripples in Redmond.
[...] Lenovo reps told us that its new Chromebook was developed because the company was seeing demand for Chromebooks from users with a bit more disposable income. For example, new college students that had used Chrome OS at high school and families who wanted the robustness Chrome OS offers are looking for machines that are more attractive, use better materials, and are a bit faster and more powerful. The $600 machines fit that role.
And that's why Microsoft should be concerned. This demand shows a few things. Perhaps most significantly of all, it shows that Chrome OS's mix of Web applications, possibly extended with Android applications, is good enough for a growing slice of home and education users. Windows still has the application advantage overall, but the relevance of these applications is diminishing as Web applications continue to improve. A browser and the Web are sufficient to handle the needs of a great many users. No Windows necessary, not even to run the browser. Second, this demand makes clear that exposure to Chrome OS in school is creating sustained interest in, and even commitment to, the platform. High school students are wanting to retain that familiar environment as they move on. The ecosystem they're a part of isn't the Windows ecosystem.
Finally, it also shows that Chrome OS's relatively clean-slate approach (sure, it's Linux underneath, but it's not really being pushed as a way of running traditional Linux software) has advantages that are appealing even to home users. The locked down, highly secure Chrome OS machines require negligible maintenance while being largely immune to most extant malware. And the platform's cloud syncing means that even chores like backups can be largely avoided. Microsoft may be trying to offer the same with Windows, in particular Windows 10 S-Mode, but it's going to take a rather more radical change to Windows to really rival Chrome OS in this regard.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Snospar on Monday September 03 2018, @07:51PM (16 children)
No.
Huge thanks to all the Soylent volunteers without whom this community (and this post) would not be possible.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Monday September 03 2018, @08:22PM (8 children)
$299 Windows Laptops: A dangerous threat to $600 Chromebooks?
(Score: 2) by KiloByte on Monday September 03 2018, @09:53PM (7 children)
$89 Linux laptop. Not for big compiles, but 2GB RAM is fine for client tasks.
Ceterum censeo systemd esse delendam.
(Score: 2) by Apparition on Monday September 03 2018, @11:04PM (5 children)
Have you tried browsing the modern web with 2GB of RAM lately?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 03 2018, @11:10PM (1 child)
It's not too bad, as long as you are like my mother and don't realize that you can open multiple tabs. She literally thinks that only certain websites can do that, despite numerous attempts to explain otherwise from multiple people.
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Tuesday September 04 2018, @08:02AM
Old people don't have enough cache for a lazy garbage collectors. Sadly, forcing all new windows to open in the same window/tab would break some sites. So, have her use an eager one by opening every new link in new tab/window (but not both if you can help it) and immediately follow up by closing the previous one:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser.link.open_newwindow [mozillazine.org]
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser.link.open_newwindow.restriction [mozillazine.org]
They'll get used to open new link, close old window/tab in no time. Just don't go around calling her malloc instead of mom. They don't like that.
compiling...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by AthanasiusKircher on Tuesday September 04 2018, @12:13AM
Yes. Works fine.
Oh, but then I have almost all ads, most scripts, etc. disabled. Which means I probably use a tiny fraction of most bandwidth, processing, and RAM compared to users who allow that sort of crap.
Oh, and I run Linux on the laptop I do that with. If I were running Windows, I'd probably be going slow even with no applications running at 2 GB RAM.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday September 04 2018, @01:56AM
Works OK (using a 2 GB Chromebook to write this comment), especially with a script blocker and adblocker neutering the modern web.
However, make no mistake. 4 GB would be a lot better and tabs would reload less often. And I bet I could find a way to use 8+ GB as well.
The days of 2 GB RAM machines (including smartphones) are almost over.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Magic Oddball on Tuesday September 04 2018, @02:59AM
My computer only has 2GB of RAM, so I'm surfing the Web with it using Pale Moon (+uBlock Origin & Matrix) right now, plus almost always have at least one other non-light program running (e.g. Calibre, GIMP, Mednafen, Wine, Open Office) as well as a handful of lightweight applications. The only time I run into serious problems is if I try to run two different web browsers simultaneously; it really doesn't like that.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 04 2018, @05:44AM
Oddly enough, I have. With 1 GB of RAM, raspberry pi. It even plays utube videos.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Monday September 03 2018, @08:39PM (6 children)
I wouldn't be so sure. Obviously, there is a market for the things, at the price they are being offered at.
How did Apple and Microsoft both get their starts? By donating computers to schools. Do you remember that? A generation of students were indoctrinated on Apple products, and soon thereafter Microsoft got the hint, and donated their stuff to all the schools that Apple hadn't got to yet. All those school kids, growing up indoctrinated to believe that things should go this way, and they should work that way, eventually led to a bunch of adults who were competent on Microsoft, but nothing else.
If Chromebooks are being pushed in schools today, then yes, it is entirely possible that the next decade will see millions of buyers of Chromebooks and similar products.
Further, it must be noted that Microsoft seems to be moving in the same direction. They don't want to sell, or even license, an operating system. They want to hook you into their services in the cloud.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 03 2018, @08:42PM (2 children)
Sure there is a market, but not large enough to worry Microsoft.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday September 03 2018, @08:45PM (1 child)
Microsoft is like Mome. She worries about everything.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday September 04 2018, @01:26AM
Your mom wasn't worrying when she gave me head!
:)
Could. Not. Resist!!!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 03 2018, @08:48PM (1 child)
From what i remember, they almost gave schools machines.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday September 03 2018, @09:37PM
If any of your demographic are reading this, then you are hipster-faggots. Nobody likes you.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 04 2018, @12:26AM
Actually, Microsoft got their start selling BASIC interpreters for 8 bit computers to hobbyists.