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Google Netbook Specs Leaked
Foochee noted that specs have leaked for an alleged new Google NetBook. Coupling this with the HTC Google Phone, it really appears that Google is going to be pushing into new spaces in the next few years.
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Does anyone know why there are no ARM nettops?
Is it that it can't be made or perhaps that there's almost no profit margin left if it has to undercut something like the $200 Acer Aspire Revo?
I'd love to see something like Beagleboard that I could mount on the back of an LCD.
i played with Wave and think it sucks. it's slow, it's a resource hog and no one is on it. I joined a few public waves and now my Chrome RAM usage goes up to 600MB of RAM.
I played with Chrome OS and think it sucks as well. you can't do anything without an internet connection.
even my iphone can do a lot more without an internet connection in places like the NYC subway
Though the idea sounds cool, I'm wondering what benefit having a solid-state drive with a 10" screen will be other than for those few road warriors who have to write long proposals while on an airplane flight.
At the same time, having a bundled deal so that one gets phone service with the netbook isn't that much of a benefit, IMO. You can already do this with a HTC Hero/Android device or even an iPhone.
The Kai's Semi-Updated Website Thingy
HTML 5 supports offline caching and I think even Google will allow it. other than that 64GB SSD's are probably the smallest you will find next year
The advantages, IMHO, of ARM are all tilted for use in the mobile space.
Being 5, 15, whatever watts more efficient than an Atom is a high price to pay for breaking x86 compatibility when you're hooked to a wall outlet, considering your choice in monitor likely has as much impact on your final power bill as your ARM/Atom choice.
Will they be able to combine GPS tracking w/ browsing history to deliver the most relevant ads? Sigh.
Actually, when you take out windows margins (cost of windows software and also royalties, etc), it's not that much of a surprise what they are saying they will offer.
Okay, let's see if I've got this straight...
#1) Google will SUBSIDIZE the cost of the netbook (aka NetPC, which was hacked out of existence).
#2) Unlike NetPC, they won't be using an intel processor, locking out Windows.
--- so when joey or jane try to download and install their favorite game or chat client, it will fail.
--- so when grandma can't load in her quickbooks document for the church, it will fail.
#3) As someone who has lurked in many a netbook forum, I can tell you the number one question will be "How do I install Windows XP on it?"
#4) Someone will figure out how to install alternative OSes on it, maybe even write some kind of intel CPU emulator, or real-time recompiler, and then hack Windows into running on it, and then the lawsuits begin.
#5) As soon as people get bored with it, into the trash heap it goes.
Google will lose money on this deal. Chrome will not take hold, in fact, most early adopters will be spending their time trying to get Chrome off of it. When the masses get it they will be disappointed by it's lack of backwards compatibility, and start searching (ironically using Google) for websites to show them how to "jailbreak" the thing into running what they want. Adblocker apps will appear as will other hacks to thwart Google, so people can feel they got a "free netbook".
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
$300 price tag due to the device being subsidized.
And since Google is not a charity organization, that means there will be other costs.
Most likely a wireless contract.
unless Google is willing to promote its new OS so hard, that it intends to sell these at loss just to gain a market share. Sounds extremely unlikely but knowing Google and its wild ideas (free 1GB email with POP3 anyone?) not entirely impossible.
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For one the 64Gb SSD smells like BS to me. If you are making a "cloud" device, one that you intend to subsidize no less, WTF do you need that much storage for? Checking Newegg the cheapest SSD that size is $120, or nearly a third of the cost of the device. Even buying a metric ton of the suckers I doubt they'd get the price below...say $90 as the cost of the chips for those aren't exactly bargain basement.
It just doesn't track. Google is the "king of the cloud" and would want to encourage you to do everything in Google Land. With that much storage space it would be too easy to just do anything you wanted offline and ignore Google. More likely if Google is gonna build a device you will be looking at a max 8Gb SSD, more likely 4Gb, just enough for the OS and enough offline storage so you can do work between hotspots.
That said even if they managed to pull this little miracle of pricing off I wouldn't have it on a bet. Why would you pay $300 for a device locked down tighter than a nun's thighs and be forced to run what Google wants you to run when Netbooks start at the same price, can run what you want to run, and can even run Windows if you so desire or dual boot? This seems like a solution in search of a problem. Those that just want a "browser in a box" have the iPhone and other smartphones, and those that want "baby laptops" have Netbooks that can run their Windows apps and are cheap to boot. If they do manage to come out with this it will be interesting to see if Google can make it just on their name alone, or if the highly locked down nature of the device will turn folks away. I know the big selling point of Netbooks to my customers is the fact that most run XP so they can run all their favorite apps anywhere they want. But I think the SSD size is a giveaway that it is bullshit. Like I said it just doesn't track with Google and the cloud nature of ChromeOS.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
the subsidized price is from 3G network connectivity contracts so the device can get on that Inter web thing people keep talking about. I think Google needs that Inter web thing around. And it might not be so easy as putting another distro in it. Reports have said that Google wants this thing booting in under 10 seconds and that elimination of the standard BIOS is one way to shave a few seconds. It's not impossible but it won't be as easy as using a standard LiveCD.
I'm all for opening up the playing field to competition and seeing ARM, PPC, and others gain marketshare but we are talking about a standard computer type of device and that's not going to fly with Microsoft. Mostly because of what you stated, they don't have Microsoft Windows to put on it. We have already seen a big hardware company CEO apologize for showing an ARM based netbook at this years CompuTex trade show and he did it with Microsoft on stage with him. We also saw the head of the largest manufacturing association say that they fear Microsoft and say something like non PC stuff is ok for them but PC stuff is scary for them because of Microsoft. If you remember Netscape, they know how to kill babies before they get a chance to grow into something tougher to kill. Just look at how they took a Linux platform, the netbook, and turned it into a Windows XP platform in just over one year. Sure Linux is still on 30% of those netbooks sold worldwide but the press tells everyone Windows is _the_ netbook OS and mom and pop believe them.
There's bucket loads of potential and capabilities in ARM on netbooks but Microsoft will not let that grab hold if they have any say in it. So there's a good chance we'll see more illegal activities by them and will probably see them in court again in 5 years. But we may also see that ARM netbook start to blossom and then get mowed down by MS. Intel is no saint either so it's going to be a backroom battle once again. IMO.
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
Perhaps the SSD is so large because Google expects to make "the cloud" run on the netbooks, as well as being served to them?
I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.