Why Google Needs To Launch the Chromebook Pixel

DavidGilbert99 writes "A leaked video of the purported Google Chromebook Pixel laptop has stirred quite a lot of interest but whether or not the laptop in the video is real, Google needs to launch it in order to kickstart the Chrome OS platform." A high-res screen would be welcome, but Google seems to be doing alright with Chromebook sales right now. Warning: IB Times has ads with autoplaying videos and sound; you have been warned.

Comments

Why?

[Sockatume]

The article doesn't make a particularly good case for why ChromeOS would suddenly become attractive on a high-resolution touchscreen. Especially given that it's built around Google's not-touch-optimised web apps.

Re:Why?

[Anonymous Coward]

Um... have you seen the tablet-optimized Google sites? You touch the /screen/ on tablets.

Re:Why?

[Anonymous Coward]

I could give half a fuck about the OS that it comes loaded with, particularly since I'll end up wiping it and installing some more conventional Linux distro on day one. I just want an affordable laptop with a high-DPI panel. I don't think it's particularly unreasonable to ask that my laptop panel have a DPI that's on the same order of magnitude as my cellphone.

Re:Why?

[fast turtle]

From what I'm seeing, the problem is that Most Android and iOS devices do not have expandable memory (USB/SD/HCSD/MHCSD) ports and yes I have a Nexus 7 (32gb Nvidia Tegra) and w/o access to external media or the ability to boot the damn things from external you're not going to be able to put anything except what the OS allows on them.

This is one of the biggest reasons I'm seriously looking at a Win Pro tablet. Yes it's a stupid problem but if the only way I can get something that allows me to install an alternative OS (Linux/BSD/BeoS) then I'll have to vote with my wallet. The alternative is a locked down ecosystem as we're already seeing from Apple and Google has now decided to go the same route with their Nexus Tablet.

Re:Why?

[Anonymous Coward]

Gesundheit.

Re:Why?

[TheCRAIGGERS]

I'm not sure what you're talking about; the article and the person you were replying to are both about Chromebooks, which are laptops, not tablets.

They have plenty of ports / expandable memory and are quite easy to install your own flavor of Linux on.

Re:Why?

[Anonymous Coward]

I can see that. Meet me in HR in five minutes. - Your boss

Re:Why?

[h4rr4r]

The Acer C7 Chromebook does. RAM and HD can be changed.

The Nexus 7 can load whatever OS you like, same thing with a the Chromebook. You can download the files and flash them all you like or use USB OTG if you must have external storage.

You are either Trolling or extremely ignorant.

Re:Why?

[AmiMoJo]

They would update their apps for touch, naturally. The main attraction is the resolution though, not touch. That's why you still get a keyboard and trackpad.

Re:Why?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorry, you CANNOT put whatever OS you want on a chromebook. You sound so confident on that, but you have obviously have never lloked into it.

Currently the only thing you can boot on a chromebook is a special version of Ubuntu called chrUbuntu that is designed to work with the chrombooks special BIOS..

Re:Why?

[kllrnohj]

No, you can put whatever OS you want on a Chromebook assuming, like has always been true, the OS supports the hardware.

Ubuntu being the only one to support it isn't Chromebook's fault. Go yell at to support it, or in the spirit of open source, add it yourself. There's nothing particularly special about Chromebook's BIOS.

Well, I guess that's not entirely true. The special thing is that it uses Coreboot and U-Boot - both of which are *OPEN SOURCE PROJECTS* ( http://www.coreboot.org/Welcome_to_coreboot and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_U-Boot respectively).

Re:Why?

[ChunderDownunder]

Have they sanitized the bootloader yet?

I seem to remember reading that ChromeOS would load by default and that to boot into, say, Ubuntu one had to hold down some keys on startup and manually select an OS. i.e. it wasn't possible just to automatically load one's preferred OS on startup.

Re:Why?

[Sockatume]

Yes, I have. I invite you to try to use those on a desktop computer.

Re:Why?

[Sockatume]

I'm not sure what it accomplishes though, aside from making it more expensive. The overwhelming majority of laptops sold now - Chromebook's target audience - are not high-resolution, and I doubt that high resolution alone would attract people who currently dislike it.

Re:Why?

[h4rr4r]

No that is just the only OS yet ported. Go port fedora if you want yourself. Don't complain that others have not done your work for you.

Re:Why?

[h4rr4r]

Crtl-D or Crtl-U until you change a simple setting.

The Chrubuntu page can tell you what the command is.

I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[crazyjj]

Every now and then I see one of these ChromeOS stories, and it reminds me that ChromeOS exists. I'm not being catty there, I mean that I really do literally forget about it. That's probably not a good sign for Google. It not only hasn't made a big splash, it's barely made ANY splash at all.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[Anonymous Coward]

Except that Chrome OS has been the top selling laptop on Amazon for many months now.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[drinkypoo]

It's best for Google if they just quietly sell the things and don't get people too hooked on "ChromeOS". What google really wants to sell is "Chrome". Then one day when Chrome on Android reaches parity with Chrome on PC they can discontinue ChromeOS and play up the fact that Chrome is in their Android-based ChromeOS replacements. It's really not in Google's best interest to maintain so many Linux distributions. ChromeOS has only one reason to exist, Chrome on Android still sucks. It has improved significantly, or so I hear, it won't run on my antique tablet.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[Anonymous Coward]

Every now and then I see one of these ChromeOS stories, and it reminds me that ChromeOS exists. I'm not being catty there, I mean that I really do literally forget about it. That's probably not a good sign for Google. It not only hasn't made a big splash, it's barely made ANY splash at all.

You can't seriously think that whether a product has made much impact on you determines its success in the wider market. That suggests a serious disconnect with reality.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[TheGratefulNet]

you mean buy a product that -needs- to always be connected to the public net, is written by the premier privacy snooper in the world and you have no true idea what's going on behind the scenes?

gee, I can't imagine why its not more popular.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[Anonymous Coward]

I kinda agree.com I've got a variety of computers including a netbook, with a ssd and Wi-Fi off I get 7.5h battery and with Wi-Fi I get around 6h. I've never needed more then 120G storageon it and I'm not required to have an internet connection if I don't want to. It imo runs fast, boots in under 15sec. Runs everything I want it too, what does chromeos offer that a netbook for the same price can't? Send chromeos actually offers significantly less in terms of applications.

UDL

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[hedwards]

No, but who is buying these things? Which is sort of the point. They don't fill any particular needs, they don't get any press either here or on regular web sites. I've never actually seen one anywhere. So, the GP is making a point that wherever they're being sold, it probably isn't in the general market. Or the owners aren't taking them outside for use.

I'm wondering if the hardware isn't just being repurposed for other things.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[Anonymous Coward]

Just because it hasn't made a splash among people who need high-tech workstations doesn't mean it hasn't made a splash. Remember it was the OS of the best selling laptop this past holiday season. The article saying that this needs to be "kickstarted" is a bit misleading.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[SJHillman]

I completely forget about Exxon unless it's in a news story, but they seem to be doing ok without me. Something about 7 billion other humans on the planet.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[Anonymous Coward]

"Chrome on Android still sucks"

"It has improved significantly, or so I hear"

Those two statements are contradictory.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[somersault]

It's the top selling laptop on both Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk right now. You've heard of Amazon, right? You know, the number 1 online retailer. Just how much more do you need before you define something as "popular", Mr Snarky?

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[Anonymous Coward]

I have a Chromebook and it's really great! My girlfriend also has one, and I use ssh to log into my servers and do work, and she uses online applications like sharelatex.com and the browser-versions of Geogebra to write worksheets for her math students.

More and more of our work can be done just as easily in a browser as not, and less and less requires a desktop or a "fully-functional" laptop. Really the only thing I have a desktop for is games and running resource-intensive programs.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[Anonymous Coward]

Your tablet - and my older Android phone - are both disposable. They're going to age out of the marketplace, if for no other reason than our changing expectations for devices. Your tablet's battery will degrade into uselessness and is doubtless not replaceable. My phone does not support LTE. In the meantime, Chrome exists and functions pretty well on ICS and Jelly Bean and will presumably work on the preponderance of hardware made since 2012 and will become dominant and common.

I actually use Firefox on Android, and it WILL run on older hardware. Many standard addons work as well. The biggest problem seems to be that a lot of mobile sites are coded with the assumption that the viewer is using Webkit, so on some sites I wind up having a better experience with the full site than the mobile one.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[crazyjj]

You can't seriously think that whether a product has made much impact on you determines its success in the wider market.

No, I just think it's probably a bad sign when a highly tech oriented person has to periodically be reminded that your tech product even exists.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[Anonymous Coward]

Not necessarily.

Let's say on the scale from 0 to 10, 5 is the threshold for "not sucking." If Chrome on Android was a 1 and is now a 4, Chrome on Android would still suck, yet it has improved significantly.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[Anonymous Coward]

It doesn't need to be connected at all times. It has offline document support, and you can browse anything you've got on the harddrive or a flash drive (including videos).

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[Anonymous Coward]

so...xbox written by facebook and built by Apple?

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[somersault]

Or the owners aren't taking them outside for use

Why would you expect them to be outside? And do you always check what laptop everyone around you is using? My mum's laptop never leaves her house, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't exist or have any uses. My Ultrabook rarely leaves my desk at work, because I already have tablets and a desktop at home. I rarely take either of my tablets outside. My phone does the job just fine then.

They don't fill any particular needs

When tablets first came out everyone (including me) said they don't really fill a particular need. But they are very popular now. They aren't "needed", but they are much more convenient than a full laptop for the majority of browsing, email and IM needs, reading books, watching YouTube, etc.

This Chromebook isn't going to be much use for reading books, but as it comes with a full sized keyboard, it nicely fills in the gap for people who want something very cheap and portable with good battery life for browsing, but still comfortable for writing large emails, doing a lot of instant messaging, writing essays, etc. That is a whole lot of people.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, I'm not trying to be snarky, but my definition of "popular" is seeing one of these beasts in the wild. It's yet to happen. And I work in prime habitat for laptop computers (university). Maybe I need to pay closer attention, because the sales certainly look good. Perhaps they blend in too easily with the other machines, or they aren't suited for the kind of activities here.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree with the OP. I didn't even know that the ChromeBook had been launched until I saw a story about sales stats. I work in IT, I own an Android phone - it's not as if I'm sitting in a hole somewhere. It doesn't really matter what Amazon manage to sell - that doesn't make something popular, it just means someone's found the right price point.

(BTW - do you work for Amazon?)

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[Petaris]

Schools are buying them. More and more all the time as they are a good, affordable, and managed solution for a lot of uses.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[FatdogHaiku]

While it may have had good sales during the Christmas shopping season, I'd like to know the return rate after people found out it was not a $150 laptop but a internet dependent device. I know people that returned Kindle Fire units when they found it was more of a sales portal for Amazon than an actual tablet. I know people that bought e-book readers when they did not even have WiFi in the home... Damn... I need to meet smarter people... But my point is most of the sales are made to people that don't actually understand what they bought. While Chrome the browser is doing great, ChromeOS has not even warranted a label in the stats tables I'm seeing.
http://www.w3counter.com/globalstats.php

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[Anonymous Coward]

A friend picked one up a couple of days ago and likes it. He's having a better experience than I am on an Android Transformer which is a landscape device running an OS that displays some key OS screens in portrait-only.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[hedwards]

If they're selling well, you would expect for at least some of them to be taken outside. If you just want something to check email and stuff like that, you're better off buying something that's used.

And yes, the fact that I'm not seeing them is a problem for them. Windows laptop manufacturers can get away with that because Windows is a commonly used OS and they're just competing with other Windows laptop manufacturers. Apple can't as much because they need people to know that they're product is being used. ChromeOS OTOH, isn't getting any attention and adding the Pixel isn't going to change that if it isn't clear that people are using it.

And yes, when tablets first came out they didn't fill any particular needs. Many years later, Apple figured out how to make them useful and convince people to pay for them. At which point many more uses came into existence. In large part because there was money to justify creating applications just for it. ChromeOS doesn't look to be going that way because nobody knows where these machines are or what they're doing.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[Albanach]

No, but who is buying these things?

Well, you've probably heard of the iPad. I'm pretty sure there are now millions of folk using tablets as their primary computing device.

Some folk have probably noticed the lack of a keyboard can be an issue. For anyone using an android tablet, a chromebook would probably be a pretty decent complement and between the two devices you would have a nice complete package. Everything you work on is automagically on both devices, there's next to no management required. It just works.

If my parents need a new computer in the future, I'd have little hesitation in recommending one to them.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[Anonymous Coward]

Inside sources have also revealed that it's the number one returned product on amazon.com. You won't hear THAT on the the evening news. Why are videos critical of Amazon.com or the Chromebook taken down almost immediately from youtube? Both Google and Amazon deny any wrongdoing. Do you trust them?

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[mcspoo]

Chromebooks are actually quite good for newbs. As long as they have "one of us" to set it up, connect to their wireless (home or public), they are absolutely perfect for people who use computers for nothing for than web browsing, facebooking and email. The price point works for lower income users, and there is a growing movement to bring them into public/community service like libraries and schools. That's probably where the majority of sales are coming from.

The touch enable is probably just a "MS did it, so did we." type thing. The Chromebook is probably more usable than a Surface anyhow...

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[Anonymous Coward]

Chromeos is open source. You can download and build it yourself.

Rooting a chromebook entails flipping a switch or holding down a special key while it boots. At which point you can replace the entire OS yourself, or not.

People run these dual boot, two separate OS images running on two separate X servers and hot key switch between them. I currently have mine set up to switch fvwm displays between Chrome and a chrooted gentoo.

And the chromebook also has local storage, or you can store things in the cloud if you prefer.

So you do know what is going on. You don't need to always be connected and Google can't snoop on you if you don't want them to.

Are you just ignorant and having a knee-jerk reaction, or are you being paid by Microsoft? Slashdot seems to consist of 50% of each these days. I miss the days when it was 100% ignorant knee jerk reactions.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[h4rr4r]

Not replaceable?

For a slashdotter? You open the damn thing and solder in a new one. Kids these days.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[Anonymous Coward]

I actually use my Chromebook pretty often! I use it mostly for college work, having a night lightweight machine that is dedicated towards web stuff is actually a nice supplement. For me there are two things that a laptop needs to get right: 1) be light weight, 2) have extremely good battery life. The Samsung Chromebook does both of those pretty nicely.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[swillden]

Well, I'm not trying to be snarky, but my definition of "popular" is seeing one of these beasts in the wild. It's yet to happen.

Are you sure you haven't? The Acer doesn't look much different from a typical netbook, and the new Samsung looks a lot like a MacBook Air. There are a lot of both (Airs and Chromebooks) around my office (I work for Google) and it takes more than a quick glance to distinguish them if you can't see the Apple logo.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[Sheik Yerbouti]

I am calling bullshit on that number one thing I think it's outright fake. I think they are paying Amazon for that to make it appear popular I don't think it's real. I work in IT everyone I know is seriously in to technology and gadgets and I have seen zero of these in the wild anywhere and no one I know is talking about them at all. I think this is all a bullshit PR campaign thought up by an ad agency in fact the suspicious number of slashdot stories around the chrome book makes me think they are getting paid as part of this deal in other words this story is a BS slashvertisement and a good percentage of the people here and perhaps even you are paid astroturfers.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[Sepodati]

I don't know about Youtube, but there are 140-odd 1 or 2-star reviews just on a Samsung model on Amazon. I'm sure other models are similar. Certainly enough to make an educated decision.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[ichthyoboy]

I actually use Firefox on Android, and it WILL run on older hardware. Many standard addons work as well. The biggest problem seems to be that a lot of mobile sites are coded with the assumption that the viewer is using Webkit, so on some sites I wind up having a better experience with the full site than the mobile one.

Like Slashdot? The mobile site is terrible...

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[BitwizeGHC]

That's pretty much grounds for trademark and patent litigation right there.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[AmiMoJo]

Not true, you can do offline tasks like responding to email or writing documents without an internet connection. It will simply re-sync next time you are online, much like a phone.

Chromebooks are popular because people want a simple laptop that "just works" and has all the services they use (browsing, Skype, document editing, email). No anti-virus to worry about, low cost, good hardware and long battery life. They are what Netbooks should have been, except that they shipped with Windows XP or a terrible custom Linux distro. I know ChromeOS is a custom Linux distro, the difference is that it isn't terrible.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[Anonymous Coward]

I had this notion of web apps being very inconvenient "because you need to be connected at all times". With HTML5 localStorage and caching, it's just not true. Apps are loaded through the browser and saved, just like a native app. The difference is that when you are connected you can connect to the back end of the app, automatically update to the newest version of the software etc. As long as developers develop with offline mode in mind, there's no reason why you should need to always be connected.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[symbolset]

The popover to try the new mobile format is delightful, as it can't remember that you said no the last thousand times. It just merrily pops up to ask again EVERY FREAKING TIME.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[swillden]

Because it's thin, silver and small?

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[starcraftsicko]

I work in K-12 education. We are considering a large deployment in our 5-12 student space. Rationale is as follows:
  --District already has "free" Google Apps for EDU; chromeOS 'just works' in this environment
  --Hardware is mostly low maintenance
  --Devices are at least as durable as ipads and similar devices
  --Devices cost same or less than laptops, ipads, etc
  --Devices have keyboards and so will be more useful for testing
  --Google is a sturdy enough organization that it'd take years for them to fail if they did - probably longer than our hardware cycle.

These devices do not meet every need in every space, but if you want to put a browser, keyboard, office apps and internet literally into the hands of a large number of people, it may well be the best option.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[Anonymous Coward]

So much stupid stuffed into so few words. Masterful! I love the "if I haven't seen it it doesn't exist" theory. Sure, Amazon is doing favors for Google, even though they're effectively competitors. Still I *MAY* be a paid astroturfer. Read this with and without the tinfoil hat on to see if there's a difference.

I know it's hard to accept, but your work in IT (and the view from your basement I guess) probably doesn't expose you to a representative cross section of the computer market. I have one (they're the perfect machine for in-bed web browsing - light, always charged, not a problem if I fall asleep and it drops to the floor) but I never take it outside - a smartphone takes care of my mobile internet access needs. Maybe that's why you haven't seen mine?

If my parents wanted a machine for internet-related activities this is the machine I'd recommend. They're not seriously into technology and gadgets so I guess they don't fit into your worldview.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[ChunderDownunder]

Which is fine if you're a yank or a pom. Amazon is often more expensive than other book retailers since, last I checked, they charge for international shipping. Nor did they even process overseas orders for electronics.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[Anonymous Coward]

OT: Hey thanks, I was happy hearing about m.slashdot.org because, surfing without logging in (since the last 8 years for me, never bothered creating an account) slashdot's been one of the most awful sites on any mobile device since forever. That's curious as it's a site supposed to be for techies/nerds. Anyway... It doesn't bloody work, I am posting this from my desktop computer.

First impressions:
I just tried the site on a Razr i, Jelly Bean.
1. Layout looks good
2. I cannot easilly scroll up or down - I need to drag with my finger up/down four times before it registers and even then it only scrolls 5-6 lines of text.
3. Clicking on a story side scrolls from left to right into the story quite nicely but once there, see 2.

Sigh...

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[knarf]

...is written by the premier privacy snooper in the world...

I did not realise Facebook created an operating system.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[somersault]

I work in IT, have an Android phone and 2 tablets.

Haha, no I don't work for Amazon, and I wouldn't want to. Jeff Bezos sounds like an awful boss. I do however think they provide really good service, and use them almost exclusively for buying stuff online (occasionally I'll check play.com too for blu-rays, since they sometimes beat out Amazon).

I often feel like I'm sitting in a hole when it comes to new laptops, netbooks and phones. I usually only pay attention to that stuff when I actually need a new one myself, or when I see a story on Slashdot. I have more interesting things to do the rest of the time.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[somersault]

Lamest. Shill. Ever.

I did actually wonder about the returns thing, but for people that actually read the reviews, they can see that it won't run Windows applications etc. As long as it does Flash it's fine (though apparently there are problems with the ARM build of Flash on it right now).

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[Stuarticus]

The problem is you work in IT and these actually work so no-one needs to bring them to you.

Re:I really keep forgetting about ChromeOS

[ichthyoboy]

Seriously...this is crazy annoying.

So?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why do videos like this generate so much interest? It's just another laptop. Looks like every laptop that came before it. Throw in a touchscreen, whatever. It's still just a big hinged rectangle. Nothing new here.

Re:So?

[partyguerrilla]

Malibu Stacy with new hat!

What?

[Anonymous Coward]

Best buy advertises and sells Chromebooks. My mom has one and loves it compared to her slow netbook.

Re:What?

[zoid.com]

I agree... Chromebooks are great for parents :) They just work and tech support is nil.

Re:What?

[Anonymous Coward]

Best buy is on the verge of bankruptcy. They're no more relevant than a Microsoft Store.

Re:What?

[swillden]

I agree... Chromebooks are great for parents :) They just work and tech support is nil.

The one downside is that they're small, which makes them difficult for older people. I'd buy one for my father-in-law in a heartbeat if they were larger; I'm actually considering installing ChromiumOS on the 15" Acer that I gave him last year. Right now it's running Ubuntu in a fairly locked-down configuration, but he still manages to mess it up from time to time (most recently he made the Chrome window larger than the screen and moved it so all the controls were off the screen). If there were a cheap 15" Chromebook with a low-to-moderate resolution screen, I'd order one for him right now.

Re:What?

[Zaiff Urgulbunger]

Dunno if it'll be cheap, but HP are releasing a ChromeBook with a 14" screen.

Android apps

[Anonymous Coward]

Perhaps it would be more useful if it could load and run Android apps?

Only one thing I find interesting about it

[Anonymous Coward]

It is a laptop that doesn't come with an os from Apple or Microsoft.
Yes, I know there are others, but every time I see a new non-AppleSoft machine being sold it makes me glad.

Other than that- yeah, nothing that seems all that compelling to me.

Screw this

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey remember when /. didn't link to sites that seem to be obvious linkbate?

Re:Screw this

[Anarchduke]

not really

Reason for Chrome OS

[parallel_prankster]

I always thought that Android was more of a project by Google just to make sure Apple has some competition in the market. Android was extremely sh*tty for a long time. Over time Android is no longer going to be supported by Google. I think Google does not care so much about open source. Its main goal is to gravitate people towards Linux-like OSes and ultimately make them use Chrome OS. That is the OS that they are going to put their heart and soul in. Think about it, whatever category you put Chrome OS in - mobile (Android), desktop/tablet(linux variants), there is always some other open-source non-Windows, non-MAC OS. Why would they need to make a new one?

Re:Reason for Chrome OS

[JonBoy47]

Android was the product of an "Oh $#!+" moment when Google realized the world was migrating to mobile access of the internet, and they had no presence in that space. They did not want to be beholden to Apple for access to their mobile user-base. Google's effort in the mobile space is to generate a user-base more or less locked into Google's family of services. They're much more able to get their fingers into a platform that they control, and are thus better able to monetize the user-base's interaction with their services. Google will eventually and inevitably merge Android and ChromeOS into a single product line. Similarly, Apple will ultimately merge OS X and iOS. Just like Micro$0ft has basically already done with Windows 8.

Re: Reason for Chrome OS

[Anonymous Coward]

Careful, statements like that make micro$oft sound like an innovator, we've burned people at the stake for less.

Chromebooks outselling Windows 8 PCs

[Enderandrew]

Google doesn't need new hardware for Chrome OS. They just need more marketing, because they're already doing well.

Imagine for a moment that you're a small business, such as a plumbing company. You don't have a full-time IT staff. You have maybe 10-30 computers.

You're probably buying your PCs retail. Then you have to buy a Windows server, and pay someone to set it up. You buy CALs for users and computers. A second back-up server is probably out of your budget. Off-site data back-ups are probably out of the question.

Who administers your network to keep it safe and secure? How to do you prevent malware and viruses? Administer your email?

You pay a bunch upfront, and then never know when you need to bring in an IT company to fix things. Your IT budget is completely unknown.

Or, you get Chromebooks. Google used to offer packages to lease them for $25/$30 a month. Not sure if they still do, but you can get them for $250 if not. You don't have to have your own server, unless you need Citrix for proprietary Windows apps. Your data is in the cloud. You don't have to run a mail server. Anyone can sit at any PC and instantly have their work. You don't pay an IT staff. You can budget easily for IT costs.

http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/business/devices/

Re:Chromebooks outselling Windows 8 PCs

[Anonymous Coward]

Really? Are they out selling Windows 8 PCs?

I'd love to see a citation for that, as neither company has revealed sales figures.

Re:Chromebooks outselling Windows 8 PCs

[Squash]

the Chromebook has been Amazon's best selling laptop for a while now. That doesn't mean its outselling all Windows 8 PCs, but at least on Amazon its outselling any particular Windows 8 PC. Take that as you will, since the Apple TV is also on that page. http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Electronics/zgbs/electronics/ref=zg_bs_electronics_home_all

Re:Chromebooks outselling Windows 8 PCs

[squiggleslash]

I suspect the OP's comment is a combination of wishful thinking combined with misreading headlines. What is true is that:

1. The ChromeBook is doing well on Amazon. The fact it's topping the list of laptops shouldn't be seen as meaning that ChromeBooks in general are doing better than Windows 8 laptops because there are many, many, of the latter, and very few of the former.

2. Acer is saying that their ChromeBook is selling better than their Windows 8 machines. Again, that has to be balanced by context, Acer is one manufacturer, there are many more manufacturers of Windows laptops than ChromeBook laptops (and as such sales of ChromeBooks are split across fewer manufacturers)

There's no doubt the ChromeBook is doing extraodinarily well for a device that nobody has ever heard of. Actually, it'd be doing well even if it was well heard of. It's clearly a major threat to Microsoft and Apple right now. It may well be out-performing Apple's laptop sales already. But it's certainly not the top selling platform, even if some individual devices are top selling laptops.

Re:Chromebooks outselling Windows 8 PCs

[Enderandrew]

A combination of three things.

1. Amazon lists Chromebooks outselling Windows 8 PCs.As the largest online retailer, they reflect larger trends.
2. Acer outright says Chromebooks are outselling Windows 8 PCs.
3. HP said in response to these sales trends they're cutting back Windows 8 models and putting forth a Chromebook model suddenly.

Re:Chromebooks outselling Windows 8 PCs

[mystikkman]

A combination of three things.

1. Amazon lists Chromebooks outselling Windows 8 PCs.As the largest online retailer, they reflect larger trends.
2. Acer outright says Chromebooks are outselling Windows 8 PCs.
3. HP said in response to these sales trends they're cutting back Windows 8 models and putting forth a Chromebook model suddenly.

1) Amazon doesn't really reflect anything in the broader market. For example, in the past Nokia Lumia windows phones were leading Amazon. Also, being the bestseller is way different from outselling others.
2) Acer did not say anything even close to that. 5% of 10% of their Acer sales is nowhere close to "Chromebooks are outselling Windows 8 PCs" Please stop making up things.
3)Yes, it takes a few weeks to manufacture and put a new OS model on shelves. Really?

Re:Chromebooks outselling Windows 8 PCs

[guises]

Arr... but the hardware's the only appealing part of this. Google has been great for hardware with their Nexus line, providing some really excellent devices at really good prices. This laptop would probably cost around half of what Apple charges (based on the price differentiation that they've managed with iDevices) for hardware that's at least as good. Put SUSE on it (or the flavor of your choice) and you have something really great.

Re:Chromebooks outselling Windows 8 PCs

[Anonymous Coward]

What's a good fast and efficient accounting package for web based businesses?

Something as good as Quickbooks?

Re:Chromebooks outselling Windows 8 PCs

[Art3x]

I think Google invented GMail, Calendar, and even Chromebooks for its own employees, to simplify its own IT and also to lean less on competitors like Microsoft.

Now that they can sell it to the rest of the world, great, but if those products never made any money, they still would be saving Google money or at least headaches. My company uses Microsoft Office and I daily envy users of Google Apps for email, chat, etc.

Interesting, yet lacking in details..

[Squash]

Sure, the high res screen would be nice. If I could ask for a single upgrade for my Samsung Chromebook, that would be it.. But the last few Chromebooks released have been disappointing to me, and I'm skeptical that this would be any better.

I'd say Samsung got it right with the Exynos CPU, and ChromeOS runs very, very well on ARM. Between my home and business we've replaced 3 laptops with Chromebooks, but it seems like the Samsung model is the only one that I would even consider. If you want a cheap feeling, heavy, loud, low battery life laptop, there's plenty of those to choose from. If you want something that runs cool, runs for long time, doesn't annoy you with fans, and doesn't burn your lap, then the Samsung is your only pick.

Google, if you want to release a "powerhouse" chromebook, try the Exynos quad core, and throw in some more memory. Exynos supports 40 bit memory addressing, so the 4G barrier doesn't really exist in a practical sense (32 bit address space exposed to each processes, chrome is multi-process).

Re:Interesting, yet lacking in details..

[darjen]

I've been seriously considering getting a Chromebook as a second general purpose device for my wife. She's always on my home desktop doing facebook, gmail, pinterest, etc. I also have an iPad, and the number one thing I like about it is the high resolution. I use it mostly for reading, maybe a game now and then, and it's hard to go back to reading text on a regular computer screen after using it for a while. I think a higher res screen would be great.

The samsung one looks nice, but I'm kind of leaning towards the Acer model. From the reviews I've read it is faster, and you can easily swap in 4gb memory and a big ssd.

Re:Interesting, yet lacking in details..

[Squash]

If you're leaving it as ChromeOS, you'll regret buying the Acer. Its a lot heavier, requires active cooling, and the battery life is ass. Basically, its a cheap x86 laptop, with the normal issues of a cheap x86 laptop. The little bit of speed you pick up will pale in comparison to how much nicer the Samsung is to use in the real world. She won't notice that Facebook loads .001 seconds quicker, but she will notice her lap getting warm, the fan running constantly, and having to take her power cord with her every time she brings it somewhere.

Re:Interesting, yet lacking in details..

[Anonymous Coward]

Get the $250 samsung. At 2gb you do run into issues quicker if you're the sort of person to have 10 pages of flash going or a shiteton of tabs. While you *could* go get the $200 acer and swap a new ssd in, frankly whats' the point? If you're that concerned about performance and are already eyeing spending some cash on an upgrade, the samsung series 550 (at $450) is currently the most performant Chromebook out there in my view and precludes having to dick around with that sort of thing.

This isn't necessarily to rip on Acer; it's more that their $200/$300 models are basically just repurposed crappy laptops. Fairly annoying they're shipping those w/ rotational disks (it makes a difference) and trying to sell people on having >=300G of local storage (you don't need it in chromeos)... is what it is.

Screw ChromeOS

[DF5JT]

I want that screen in a shiny, non-Apple laptop and load it with Linux.

Re:Screw ChromeOS

[Anonymous Coward]

What a waste that would be. Linux is for low lifes. ChromeOS FTW!!

Re:Screw ChromeOS

[Lazere]

Uhm... Obvious troll is obvious?

Re:Screw ChromeOS

[blind biker]

Screw ChromeOS
I want that screen in a shiny, non-Apple laptop and load it with Linux.

Not trolling but 100% serious: that is exactly why Google is reluctant to release it.

Re:Screw ChromeOS

[Anonymous Coward]

This is my greatest hope for a high rez laptop on the cheap. I'm never gonna buy a macbook pro and equip it with a retina display just to rip osx off of it, but at the right price point I will buy a chromebook and put whatever flavor of linux suits me best.

Re:Screw ChromeOS

[loufoque]

Last I checked none of the Linux desktops have good support for very high-definition displays.
You'll either end up with very small unreadable text or badly engrossed text looking like shit.

Re:Screw ChromeOS

[riflemann]

Um...you *can* install Linux on most Chromebooks. A hardware switch unlocks the bootloader to do just that.

Re:Screw ChromeOS

[rdnetto]

Try something KDE-based - they've had resolution independence for a while.

Re:Screw ChromeOS

[loufoque]

Did you actually try it?

Still sussing out Chrome OS

[obarthelemy]

I installed a Chrome OS VM just yesterday to see what all the fuss was about.

It seems nice enough to surf and use web apps. I haven't really tried offline yet, but if they say it works, it probably does.

Were it does come apart is in any old-school scenario: I could find no way to access my network shares, to play non-local media content (except running a web server and presenting the content as Flash or HTML5), no DLNA client nor server.

I don't really see how Chrome OS is superior to Android. Is there anything Chrome OS does that Android doesn't ? 'coz there's sure plenty that Android does but Chrome OS doesn't !

Re:Still sussing out Chrome OS

[Squash]

You do need to expose your shares as HTTP, but you probably don't need to wrap them in a flash player. The built-in media player supports several formats, h264 included. I use FreeNAS as my file server and a few minutes with that got me a nice web accessible, directory-indexed media share. It isn't perfect but it does the job with minimal fuss.

And what Chromebooks can do that tablets can't do: Replace traditional laptops. You can actually do real work with these things.

Re:Still sussing out Chrome OS

[Anonymous Coward]

Chrome OS is designed for desktop devices, Android for touch devices. Google is under the assumption that most people who have used Windows 7 and Chrome and just want a laptop with a keyboard for web browsing would be better served by a desktop OS. Since the sales are taking off and Windows 8 seems flat, that strategy appears to be working.

Re:Still sussing out Chrome OS

[Anonymous Coward]

Is there anything Chrome OS does that Android doesn't ?

One word: updates.

Re:Still sussing out Chrome OS

[Anonymous Coward]

ChromeOS gets updates, Android doesn't.

Re:Still sussing out Chrome OS

[loufoque]

Android is a mess based on Java that their acquired from another company.
ChromeOS is an innovative operative system built by the research division at Google, using the same technology as Google Chrome, the world's most popular web browser.

Re:Still sussing out Chrome OS

[ChunderDownunder]

If you read through the recent /. discussion about MS Surface, many (myself included) like the concept of one device that functions as a tablet AND a netbook but aren't sold on MS' vision because of
(a) Complaints about the kickstand and robustness
(b) Heat and noise from using a Core i5 instead of an ARM/Atom
(c) Price
(d) Queasiness about Windows 8 and the metro interface.

If Google came out with a Asus Transformer clone in place of Chromebooks, these would sell arguably *better* than a neutered version of Gentoo that only runs Google services and lacks the app ecosystem of Android. This is not to say that Android is perfect for laptop use but Samsung were addressing the L&F aspect with their window manager concept.

Foiled again, auto-playing ads!

[Anonymous Coward]

Warning: IB Times has ads with autoplaying videos and sound; you have been warned.

Not if you've got a properly-equipped web browser!

By which I mean "a browser where Flash promptly crashes for some reason as soon as it tries to play video". Damnit, Flash works on my home computer...

Re:Foiled again, auto-playing ads!

[cyber-vandal]

Adblock and Flashblock are your best friends.

See my works ye mighty and despair

[elysiuan]

One of them is some sort of television feed. This plays right along with the ad videos! I feel like Ozymandias in Watchmen with my wall of a hundreds of video screens on that page.

Don't want

[thetoadwarrior]

I'm sure I'm not the person they want to sell to but last time looked it offered nothing for doing development. Excluding that they live in a magical world where you always have a net connection. Even in a well connected city that's not always the case. I'll stick with OS X or Linux which does everything chrome os does and more.

Chromebook Pixel

[ekim04tteckaz]

This device looks great, with the sweet screen, that means there is a need for a decent CPU + GPU combination, also hopefully it means that this device will support more, and hopefully higher speed memory. Up to 8 gigs of Ram, a great touch-enabled screen, a moderately powerful CPU + GPU, an SSD, backlit keyboard, and very stylish look and size, sign me up! If Google can squeeze some good battery life out of this machine, between 4-6 hours, this product will be a slam dunk. Everyone arguing about ChromeOS, who cares? If you don't like ChromeOS, load something else. If you are not a technical person and do not like ChromeOS, look for something else. Google is hardly struggling, but this flagship device looks great. Personally, I love Android, it's a great mobile operating system, and if blending ChromeOS with Android brings more functionality I am all for it. I am a Fedora fan on laptops, and would likely dual boot Fedora on this machine, but if I could get all my developer tools to run in ChromeOS, I could see myself just running ChromeOS.

Re:Chromebook Pixel

[loufoque]

What is more ram or more powerful hardware going to help you with?
The set of things you can do with this device is limited. The hardware they provide is enough to do whatever they provide.

No more eating in at your desk...

[kimgkimg]

I don't want cheesy-poof grease on my screen.

CHROMEBOOK PIXEL???

[Anonymous Coward]

Hehehe! You mean the laptop with a resolution of 1x1 ?? YAY for the ChromBook Pixel! :)

If they sell a $200 USD laptop I'll buy it

[jphamlore]

I'm not impressed with Chromebook sales considering fairly similar PC laptop models at that price point also sell like hotcakes. I bought an Acer Aspire One 725-0687 from Walmart for under $200 USD and it works fine in Debian unstable. That sounds like a better price than say 199 British pounds. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Acer-Red-11.6-AO725-0687-Laptop-PC-with-AMD-Dual-Core-C-70-Accelerated-Processor-and-Windows-8-Operating-System/21853455 I did have to swap out the hard drive for an SSD but I would have had to have done that with an Acer Chromebook as well. And unlike an Acer Chromebook, I would not have had to have been forced to use Ubuntu 12.04 or whatever has been hacked to work on the Chromebook, but instead I can use any Linux distribution I want once I set the bios to legacy bios. Apparently Walmart can sell whatever number of $200 11.6 inch laptops they want, just like Google can sell however many sub $250 USD Chromebooks they want. The question of course is whether the respective companies feel like keeping these products in stock, which is not always the case for either.

Re:If they sell a $200 USD laptop I'll buy it

[loufoque]

You're seriously buying computers from Acer? You should know better.

MacBook

[Lazere]

Hasn't anybody else noticed that this video is just showing a MacBook with a stupid image fullscreen? I very highly doubt there is something like that in the works...

First look it looks like an Apple product

[Anonymous Coward]

Why can't Google and its cronies do its own thing and stop copying Apple? At first look I could swear it was a MacBook Pro!

Re:First look it looks like an Apple product

[Lazere]

I'm pretty sure it is a MacBook Pro. Some idiot conspiracy theorists probably put this video together and now everybody is believing it.

Re:First look it looks like an Apple product

[loufoque]

It looks like a laptop.
Any laptop looks like any other, except from Thinkpads which are functional rather than shiny.

Re:First look it looks like an Apple product

[Anonymous Coward]

not an idiot but a bright mind that know what the market needs.

(R)

[nightfury]

Did anyone else notice the lack of a registered trademark symbol on "Google" at the end of the video?

Nexus 7 supports external USB

[Anonymous Coward]

Get a $3 USB OTG (On The Go) cable. You can read from a USB drive with a $2 app and read/write if you root/jailbreak it.

if it never leaves your desk at work

[Chirs]

why are you paying extra for an ultrabook, where the emphasis is on portability?

Re:if it never leaves your desk at work

[somersault]

It's a work machine, so I didn't pay for it. At the time (late 2011) I wanted a machine that I could take home and use to connect in to work and chat to friends when typing on my tablet got annoying. I ended up buying a desktop machine at home for gaming though (had been using consoles for a few years prior), and it takes care of when I need a real keyboard.

Who are you to tell Google what to do?

[wonkey_monkey]

Google needs to launch it in order to kickstart the Chrome OS platform.

I've got a feeling Google already has a pretty good idea of what they need to do.

googles new OS

[Anonymous Coward]

in my opinion they already failed the OS market with android, sure its "successful" but as the only other real alternative to iOS. is it really any good? sure writing non-native code for android is easier, but that virtual machine surely sucks the life force out of anything i write.

now here is the real question i propose. is your data more secure in googles hands who turns massive profits selling your information to its clients. all of googles products outside of the realm of web applications seem to have been completely mediocre, and i doubt this will change anything about that observation of mine.

Chromebook != tablet, dude.

[rocket rancher]

(I know, I'm feeding this obTroll, but hey, it's 3am here, and I'm waiting for a render to complete!) Chromebook is a laptop, not a tablet. And why do you need "external media" to boot (indeed, you seem to think "booting" is something all devices do in the same way.) I'm getting the impression you really don't understand the differences between a laptop and a tablet. Fwiw, my Nexus 10 is a tablet, but it is not "locked down." Unlocking it and reflashing it with cyanogen's excellent mod took all of five minutes. I spent US $5 to get an adapter that lets me have "access" to external media. Finding a convenient way to store that dongle, though, has proven to be almost more trouble than it was worth. Almost. Damn you, Google, for annoying me like that.

ultimate computer

[Anonymous Coward]

This is what I am waiting for! And please put there 802.11ac wifi so I can remote desktop. I'll be in heaven!