sfbloodbrother
Extreme Android User
That's probably what I'll have to do if I work at best buy. Nome of them even know what a chromebook it.
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I Finally Tried out a Chromebook and...
- Thread starter sfbloodbrother
- Start date
That's probably what I'll have to do if I work at best buy. Nome of them even know what a chromebook it.
nickdalzell
Extreme Android User
the Chromebook stand is GONE around here, they have replaced it with the new iPad and iOS 7 displays.
With what I saw at Currys, Oxford in June, it could very well be the same there now. I think unless they really know how to sell and want to market them. Trying to sell something that really is just a browser in the same space as all those iPads, Androids, Macs and PCs, it is a very hard sell IMO. The prices of the Samsung ones in UK seemed to be around
sfbloodbrother
Extreme Android User
Not necessarily their own stores immediately, but I certainly think they should do something to market them better and soon. Otherwise Samsung or HP or Acer might say, OK we're not selling many of these, costing us too much money, stop making them. Obviously the OEMs should play their part in marketing them better as well.
You're in the States SF, have you seen any or much mention of Chromebooks outside of techie sites like Engadget or Cnet or forums like AF? If you ask your mother or something, would she know what a Chromebook is? Because I knew mine wouldn't. Not unless it was in the popular press or on TV or was an active in store promotion.
Even a person who regularly uses a laptop, well we got these Chromebook laptops, but there's no office suite on there or anything and you can't install anything on them, so you have to convince them to use Google Docs and other Google service and to always be on-line. I really do think they can be a hard sell to the general public.
I can only go on what I saw for few weeks in the UK last summer. They don't sell them in the PRC of course.
sfbloodbrother
Extreme Android User
Not necessarily their own stores immediately, but I certainly think they should do something to market them better and soon. Otherwise Samsung or HP or Acer might say, OK we're not selling many of these, costing us too much money, stop making them. Obviously the OEMs should play their part in marketing them better as well.
You're in the States SF, have you seen any or much mention of Chromebooks outside of techie sites like Engadget or Cnet or forums like AF? If you ask your mother or something, would she know what a Chromebook is? Because I knew mine wouldn't. Not unless it was in the popular press or on TV or was an active in store promotion.
Even a person who regularly uses a laptop, well we got these Chromebook laptops, but there's no office suite on there or anything and you can't install anything on them, so you have to convince them to use Google Docs and other Google service and to always be on-line. I really do think they can be a hard sell to the general public.
I can only go on what I saw for few weeks in the UK last summer. They don't sell them in the PRC of course.
But the Chromebook is so MASS advertised everywhere. On TV, on the Web, on the radio, everywhere. How do people not notice them? Unless they are blind.
Dngrsone
Android Expert
... not really. I see them advertised only as really inexpensive computers. Or netbooks. It's like going down to your local grocery store or factory discounter and buying a 7" tablet for $50-- sure, it's like an i-pad, except it has no power and you can't really do anything except surf the internet... if you have a wifi connection...
Think the main problem is, in the UK at least, they're not exactly inexpensive, Currys lists the Samsung ones at
nickdalzell
Extreme Android User
My opinion is they'd be far more utilized and popular running some Linux distribution rather than ChromeOS. They make excellent budget Linux computers.
sfbloodbrother
Extreme Android User
I like to believe that Chrome is all that we will need in the future.
saptech
Android Expert
And choose one with some good support, such as Red Hat, Debian or even Ubuntu, to name a few.
Not like when the first netbooks came out with those crippled versions of Linux that turned people off and chose the Windows version.
I still think that was a Micro$oft conspiracy.
BRAINZ2013
Extreme Android User
You feel the same way i see
out of ideas
Android Enthusiast
google has been running ads like crazy for chromebooks for a while on tv over here in the us. kind of tapered off recently, but i still see them randomly.
going with a "$249 laptop for everyone" campaign.
here's one of the ads, but there are others that are similar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S95J5BowMmk
i almost thought about getting one, but then i remembered i could get a real laptop for almost the same price.
wyndslash
Android Expert
Which laptop is that?
nickdalzell
Extreme Android User
Probably the bottom of the barrel Windows 8 machine, which goes for around $299 here
Buy it, wipe it, put Linux on it, and then you can make your computer look exactly how you want it.
Heck, for $299 *I* would buy a window$ laptop in a heartbeat. And then IMMEDIATELY wipe all traces of micro$oft off its drive! :laugh:
wyndslash
Android Expert
Buy it, wipe it, put Linux on it, and then you can make your computer look exactly how you want it.
Heck, for $299 *I* would buy a window$ laptop in a heartbeat. And then IMMEDIATELY wipe all traces of micro$oft off its drive! :laugh:
I've been looking at the windows 8 Samsung ultrabooks
nickdalzell
Extreme Android User
They gets difficult with each revision to the UEFI BIOS designed to block other OSs besides Windows.
Dngrsone
Android Expert
I can only hope there will be a backlash against Microsoft's clever little plot-- they are really drifting into an anti-trust lawsuit with this...
I am in a discussion on another forum where I found out that the serial number for Win 8 being encoded into the UEFI firmware.
This means a) no need to enter a serial number to reinstall Windows on your device, and b) if you change motherboards (or maybe flash an unsupported firmware change), then you are SOL and will have to buy another license for Win 8.
I am in a discussion on another forum where I found out that the serial number for Win 8 being encoded into the UEFI firmware.
This means a) no need to enter a serial number to reinstall Windows on your device, and b) if you change motherboards (or maybe flash an unsupported firmware change), then you are SOL and will have to buy another license for Win 8.
I've been anti-micro$oft forever--first because of its inferior [compared to *nix] operating systems and then because of what I found out along the way about their business practices. I really thought after their assorted legal troubles they'd learn something and change their ways. Okay, I did't actually think they would, but I HOPED they would.
This latest thing, however, has blown me away. I'm literally flabbergasted that they're not only doing this crap, but that they're getting away with it! :dontknow:
When I first started hearing about this, I assumed that for me, as a Linux only user, it would be perhaps a minor inconvenience. After all, I've been buying computers for eons that came pre-installed with window$--which I'd promptly wipe off their drives and replace with Linux--and I had to deal with minor irritations, like those stupid, ubiquitous window$ keys on my keyboards.
But THIS? I'm actually shocked.
I refuse to believe that they're going to continue getting away with this. As someone else said, it's like buying a great TV but only being allowed to watch one channel on it. The TV, or computer, manufacturer should stick to manufacturing their products, and letting us, the consumers who PAY them, use those products as we see fit.
This latest thing, however, has blown me away. I'm literally flabbergasted that they're not only doing this crap, but that they're getting away with it! :dontknow:
When I first started hearing about this, I assumed that for me, as a Linux only user, it would be perhaps a minor inconvenience. After all, I've been buying computers for eons that came pre-installed with window$--which I'd promptly wipe off their drives and replace with Linux--and I had to deal with minor irritations, like those stupid, ubiquitous window$ keys on my keyboards.
But THIS? I'm actually shocked.I refuse to believe that they're going to continue getting away with this. As someone else said, it's like buying a great TV but only being allowed to watch one channel on it. The TV, or computer, manufacturer should stick to manufacturing their products, and letting us, the consumers who PAY them, use those products as we see fit.
Dngrsone
Android Expert
Keep in mind, Moody, that we-- that is, you, me, the old lady down the street-- are not Microsoft's target consumer.
Microsoft's customers are big business and government. Individual buyers are nice, but they are ultimately a means to an end-- the individuals will buy whatever will let them do their work at home (because you can't leave work at work... it's not the American way); so as long as work buys into the Wintel empire, the peons will continue to support it as well.
So, MS is trying to keep Linux from making further forays into the business market, and that is why they have corrupted UEFI the way they have.
... and a long as big government is hanging off the MS teat (taxes, people!), they have little incentive to interfere with the aforementioned empire.
Microsoft's customers are big business and government. Individual buyers are nice, but they are ultimately a means to an end-- the individuals will buy whatever will let them do their work at home (because you can't leave work at work... it's not the American way); so as long as work buys into the Wintel empire, the peons will continue to support it as well.
So, MS is trying to keep Linux from making further forays into the business market, and that is why they have corrupted UEFI the way they have.
... and a long as big government is hanging off the MS teat (taxes, people!), they have little incentive to interfere with the aforementioned empire.