| nanarchy said: I really don't understand your reasoning Chromebook fails on all ends of the market. On the low end it lacks the features of similiarly priced items but has ZERO advantages over any of them, It doesn't compete with any of the tablet offerings as it is not a tablet, it doesn't compete with any of the hybrid stuff. I get it that chromebook would work fine for many people, a cardboard box to live in would also work fine for many people, doesn't mean it is something you would ever choose given a choice and at the moment there is choice, chromebook is the worst of all worlds without an advantage of any. The chromebook is the cardboard box of laptops. |
I think you've never used one, used Chrome and its app store, or really even considered how you or say your mom/grandma/etc uses a laptop.
Netbooks at the $250 range pale in comparison to this Chromebook. Their Windows installation is slow, buggy, lacks multitasking, and is plain out the worst choice for a laptop ever. There so gimped hardware wise, any software that would work on them would be available through ChromeOS. I have no clue what you've used that would make you think these are even viable laptop choices. My phone is better.
Compared to a laptop, which starts at a higher price point around $500 (double the price or so), is where you get to the point that they start to compare cpu/gpu wise. But even in this low-end of laptops the chromeOS would be overall faster due to its lower OS footprint and resource use. You would still get zero gaming advantages and hardly any other software advantage. Seriously, check the Chrome app store.
Compared to a $800+ laptop, then yes you are getting to the point where there is a lot of software choices you simply could not due on ChromeOS. Easily. But you're also paying 3x the price or more.
Really list out the things that you can do on a $250, $300 Windows laptop that ChromeOS can't do.
Office stuff? ChromeOS has Drive and GoogleDocs along with apps that give you full MSOffice 2010. No difference.
Gaming? In this range, you'll only get the same low-end casual, web-based / mobile games. I haven't went through all of chromeOS, but anything that is new is there. Unless you're playing an ancient low-end windows game from 2000, netbooks won't do anything else. None of their GPUs are any good or even comparable to what's listed in the OP. DX11? only on Chromebook in that price range.
Photoshop/video/pic editing? Not on either so no win.
Off line usage? Quite a bit of ChromeOS / apps can be offline, but this may be the only part a netbook can win... maybe.
Basically anyone considering a netbook doesn't even need the features of full windows. They won't be using it or anything like that anyways. Everything else is mirrored by Google's own services or via the web anyways. People buy these and web tools and media players. Not gaming or business or anything major.
As for advantages. ChromeOS is faster, lighter, quicker start, safer, no viruses, more stable, and in almost any case far cheaper to buy. Free upgrades of the OS for life.
