Slashdot Mirror
Chromebooks Outsell Macs For the First Time In the US (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report on The Verge: Google's low-cost Chromebooks outsold Apple's range of Macs for the first time in the U.S. recently. IDC analyst Linn Huang confirmed the milestone to The Verge. "Chrome OS overtook Mac OS in the US in terms of shipments for the first time in 1Q16," says Huang. "Chromebooks are still largely a US K-12 story." IDC estimates Apple's U.S. Mac shipments to be around 1.76 million in the latest quarter, meaning Dell, HP, and Lenovo sold nearly 2 million Chromebooks in Q1 combined. Chromebooks have been extremely popular in US schools, and it's clear from IDC's comments the demand is driving US shipments. Outside of the US, it's still unclear exactly how well Google's low-cost laptops are doing. Most data from market research firms like IDC and Gartner focuses solely on Google's wins in the US.
Where next, the bedroom?
The low cost with touch screen tells me all the other laptops are extremely marked up. My only disappointment is the lack of apps for it. But for simple Google Docs work, it can't be beat for the dollar.
If all one needs to do is surf the Web, handle minor photo and video editing, then a Chromebook is ideal. A full-blown Mac is a complete waste of money. I'm in IT and manage everything from email servers to Wi-Fi, and now, thanks to modern computing and VPNs, can do everything from a Chromebook or actually, just any browser.
I like Chromebook because they are simple, inexpensive, and are harbingers of what's to come--namely, all of our comings and goings will be on the Web.
This is going to be bad for Apples stock price. This is a continuing indicator of their "meteoric" fall from when Steve was around.
Chomebooks compete with iPads, not Macs. Are they outselling iPads? I doubt it.
So.... Chromebooks are selling like gangbusters to a demographic that is very likely to smash their devices, and it's easier to replace a $200 computer than a $2000 one? Holy crap, stop the presses!
Is it really so hard for Verge to maintain readership, that they need to do ridiculous name drops just to get attention?
Want to know what I *really* want to see? School boards finally realizing that blindly throwing technology at a problem isn't going to result in better outcomes. First iPads, now Chromebooks. They continue to increase the burden of already razor thin IT staff, and I have yet to see one single study indicating that education quality and grades have improved.
They are cheap as hell, last forever on their batteries, and for end-users are effectively immune to malware, adware, and all the other horrible shit that makes your grandmother unable that piece of shit windows laptop. (And it's always a piece of shit windows laptop. What is it about grandmothers and their abilty to buy the very worst laptop ever made?)
And when you have physical access it's easy to put them in developer mode (Which will securely wipe any existing userdata, by design). Then you can get a root shell and install whatever OSS toys you want.
Yeah.
Why is this even a story?
Oh, I know; because it has a reference to Apple/Macs in the Headline.
This is unadulterated Click-bait, nothing more.
that common users do not want to be administrators. They dont want to think about patches or updates, or antivirus. They just want to open the product, and consume their services.
its great for sysadmins...we'll always have a job. However its a killing stroke for corporations and plutocrats hoping the "learn to code" effort is going to help drive the cost of developers or sysops down. You've spent 50 years getting Americans to consider technology a product. things like DMCA and closed-door trade agreements have all but cemented the notion that the consumer is a mindless cash cow, not to be permitted to touch the technology unless theyre to part with their identity or money. this mindset isnt about to change.
Good people go to bed earlier.
And still I have ZERO interest in having one and I don't have any gadget envy of those who do. Chrome books are more similar to kindles and ipads anyway. So the Hype engine is a fail on the claims which feels a little dishonest.
I discount that Google is subsidizing Chromebooks to enhance sales - there's no dollar discount per device; if anything, what you're really paying on other hardware is the Windows tax.
In fact, for schools, Chromebooks actually cost more thanks to the $30 management license cost to be able to enroll and administer Chromebooks within their Google domain's admin console. This is a per device fee, and if anything this is where the subsidy lies, with larger customers subsidizing the development of the Google admin console for the benefit of all. As a case in point, a small rural school with a dozen Chromebooks pays the same fee per device, net cost $360, as a large urban school district which has tens of thousands of Chromebooks - net cost > $1,000,000, but derives all the same benefits despite having considerably less skin in the game.
However, the Chromebook is a perfectly serviceable web appliance without the management console, just harder to manage or use in groups.
As a standalone device, a user with know how can put it into developer mode, install crouton, and leverage chroots to run one or more linux environments simultaneously with ChromeOS - which in turn can also be used in conjunction with Google Remote Desktop (or the Chrome VNC app...) to access a fuller-fledged desktop OS if you need that functionality but want the portability/convenience/low cost of the Chromebook hardware.
release OS X on the PC and just scrap the Mac altogether or spin the hardware business off as a separate company/subsidiary and also release OS X to the PC.. (Because there is nothing unique about a Mac anymore, it's just a PC with a DRM lock)
Kids wanted "iPads". I bought 'em $70-ish Android tablets instead. When they break? So what - buy another. Plus any app you'd want to use is probably free, and you don't even have to hook a credit card up to your account to access the Android app store, which is especially nice because it prevents people from making "in-app purchases". (The family uses probably eight Android devices at the moment, and I think the only app anyone's ever bought was the one time my son wanted a full copy of Minecraft on his tablet.)
People actually buy those things?
I always assumed they were like Zunes, or Microsoft Bob; too ridiculous to even consider.
And now they are outselling Macs? I mean, that still makes it a marginal product, but at least it's more than the two or three total items sold one would have expected.
Currently, my mom doesn't have a computer. She's happy to have me do any online stuff that she wants done. But if she ever decides she wants her own computer, I would NOT recommend a Windows box, or even a Mac. I suspect she'd be more comfortable with a keyboard than a touchscreen, so that means a Chromebook. Easier for her than a Windows machine, and MUCH easier for me to support.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
Why compare Chromebooks to Macs? That's like comparing Fiats to Ferraris. A better comparison would be Chromebook sales to Windows sales. I highly doubt many of those Chromebook owners ever seriously considered buying a Mac. So, it's not Apple that's loosing out here, it's Microsoft. Plus, Apple, a single company, in the US sold almost as many computers as 3 other computer companies - COMBINED! Also, do any of those other companies sale phones & tablets in any significant volume? No. So in reality, Apple is kicking the shit out of all these other companies, but Tom Warren and the Verge would rather be dishonest and sell Doom & Gloom. Better luck next time.
pardon the pun. But a Chromebook is nothing near a Macbook. Chromebooks have very little in the way of memory and storage. The $200 versions have terrible screens. The utility, when not connected to the internet, is quite limited. The Macbook is a full fledged workstation.
I'm not saying that it's a bad choice for schools who are putting them in the hands of teenagers that have yet to develop, shall we say, a sense of responsibility.
Probably a fairer comparison would be to the Surface but even then the Surface has a lot more going for it than a Chromebook. The Chromebook is a low end internet appliance. For very basic tasks its great. Which is to say, for most students it is just fine. But to compare a Chromebook to a Macbook is like comparing a Chevy to a Ferrari.
I'm pretty sure the original rainbow Apple Computer Logo was intentionally a reference to the Bible, where taking a bite out of the magic mushroom of enlightenment made you gay. But then again, that might be wrong, seeing as I just made that up.
Is this another one of those cases where they're trying to convince people that "shipments" == "sales"? I remember game companies were doing this for a while, before people started to wise up to the fact that they were just talking about games on shelves in stores, not actual sales.
It's okay. It's all balanced because elsewhere for the first time, apples are outselling oranges.
Chelloveck
I give up on debugging. From now on, SIGSEGV is a feature.
It's not the first time. We had this discussion years ago...
In 2013...
http://www.ibtimes.com/googles...
A year later they outsell the iPad in schools...
http://www.businessinsider.com...
Chromebook sales may exceed those of the Mac but did they factor in returns? Take a look in any BestBuy B&M store and you'll see about a dozen or so for sale marked as returned. It seems that people buy them thinking they are cheap laptops but are really just glorified NetBooks.
Don't get me wrong - I like the idea of the Chromebook, but for what you get I'd rather spend the extra money and get a non-Mac laptop and replace Windows with Debian or CentOS.
Yeah.... makes perfect sense. One thing even my own daughter noticed in middle school though is, all Chromebooks are far from equal. One district she attended school in for a while had really flimsy, cheap Chromebooks that were often breaking down. Another had very nice, solid feeling variants. The main difference between those districts was the tax base in each. The wealthier district had the higher-end Chromebooks in use.
With a Macbook Air, at least you know pretty much what you're getting. Very arguably more than what's needed in a school setting these days -- but it "is what it is". (For our medium sized business, it's a pretty solid all around notebook option for our staff. But we're using Office/Outlook all day long, among other things. Not just web based apps.)
Bing Is Not Google = BING
Web printing sucks. When Google finally puts out a Chrome OS with local USB printing, without having to go through the web and back again, the product will find a larger audience. Windows 10 has pissed off enough people to open up their minds to using Chromebooks as long as they don't need to also buy another printer. People are weird that way.
As a former IT Tech, buying a Chromebook for my wife was one of the most liberating experiences ever. Not to mention she loves it for the simplicity too.
Have you ever fallen asleep at the keybhanusdiog?
...doesn't mean Mercedes is in danger.
Dog is my co-pilot.
of course you can build a PC from parts for much less than a prebuilt machine such as a mac. ho hum. companies assemble components and mark finished items up for profit, news at eleven.
find me a PREBUILT computer, from a sizable vendor, with equivalent hardware AND EQUIVALENT BUILD QUALITY, that is significantly cheaper than a comparable mac. not as easy, eh?
I would have thought this would be the case years ago, give the price disparity.
Peace, or Not?
That is a true statement for any value of X.
As I've discovered recently, there really is no better alternative for the educational market, and certainly not for middle school. Those kids are merciless when it comes to hardware and software, and they will most certainly fuck it up even if it's locked down tight. To give you an example, my kid has found a bug in Windows 7 whereby you could make Windows treat _any_ file (even *.exe) as if it was a text file and open it in Notepad. Laptop was locked down with administrative policy, so this is not something I could fix. If he had a Chromebook, it literally wouldn't even be possible to have this problem.
Wow amazing a $199 product outsells a $999 to $1499 product?
ZOMG Apple is DYING!
Tomorrow on Slashdot, The Honda Civic is the worlds best Sports car because it outsells alone every single Ferrari model made.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Centrino didn't come out until like 2005. It was a packaging of the Pentium-M (Which was the Israeli rework of the Pentium 3 core with a slightly longer pipeline, P4 FSB and better reclocking support) with an Intel motherboard chipset and Intel wifi. The badging continued to be used on the core/core2 generation of hardware, then either was discontinued or faded in popularity.
Mid 90s pentium era was 486, Pentium, Pentium Pro, K5, Pentium-MMX, K6, P2, P3, Athlon (Might have been post-millenium)
Apple is a ghost ship now.
Tim is the worst.
Please fire him.
For ages, there have been less problems with malware on Macs than on Windows PCs.
For ages, one main excuse for this has been "more people use Windows, so it's naturally a bigger target". Technical arguments about vulnerability are dismissed by people who make this argument.
OK, so now in Chromebook we have a new malware target which may be both bigger than the Mac market AND theoretically less vulnerable.
This could be amusing...
To a Lisp hacker, XML is S-expressions in drag.