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At $250, New Chromebook Means Competition For Tablets, Netbooks, Ultrabooks

Posted by timothy on from the very-cute dept.

Google's new ARM-powered Chromebook isn't a lot of things: it isn't a full-fledged laptop, it's not a tablet (doesn't even have a touch screen); and by design it's not very good as a stand-alone device. Eric Lai at ZDNet, though, thinks Chromebooks are (with the price drop that accompanies the newest version) a good fit for business customers, at least "for white-collar employees and other workers who rarely stray away from their corporate campus and its Wi-Fi network." Lai lists some interesting large-scale rollouts with Chromebooks, including 19,000 of them in a South Carolina school district. Schools probably especially like the control that ChromeOS means for the laptops they administer. For those who'd like to have a more conventional but still lightweight ARM laptop, I wonder how quickly the ARM variant of Ubuntu will land on the new version. (Looks like I'm not the only one to leap to that thought.)

4 of 283 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I don't get it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    This is incorrect. The boot loader isn't locked down - it still allows developer mode where you can put whatever software you want on it.

  2. Re:three questions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    > Can it mount an external USB drive?
    Yes

    > Can it play flac audio?
    Yes
    https://sites.google.com/a/chromium.org/dev/audio-video
    " When build Google Chrome OS, the following codecs/containers are also included:
    FLAC audio codec"

    > Can it route audio to a USB DAC?
    http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/21/chrome-os-update-includes-custom-wallpapers/
    "audio can now play through either HDMI or USB."

  3. Re:I don't get it by hawguy · · Score: 5, Informative

    So it's slightly cheaper than an older iPad, but gets worse battery life. It has a fraction of the software of an iPad, and isn't as easy to whip out and use since you have to fold out the keyboard. It's less features than an netbook (which you could restrict down to be malware free) but at the same cost.

    I'm just not sure about the value on these things.

    iPad2: $399 ($529 with 3G). 9.2" 1024x768 screen. No keyboard

    Samsung Chromebook: $249 ($329 with 3G) 11.6" 1366x768 screen, keyboard, touchpad, USB 3.0/2.0 ports, SD Card slot

    I'm not sure I'd say that $150 - $200 is "slightly cheaper".

  4. Re:I don't get it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    And you can even open it up and unlock the firmware to install your own boot loader, as stated by Google engineers at https://plus.google.com/u/0/109993695638569781190/posts/3EoeZU8QnNG