The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    chromebook @ walmart

    Discussion in 'Notebook and Tech Bargains' started by usair, May 2, 2013.

  1. usair

    usair Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    54
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    usair, May 2, 2013
    #1
  2. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

    Reputations:
    21,580
    Messages:
    35,370
    Likes Received:
    9,878
    Trophy Points:
    931
    I still don't get the point of chromebook. You can find Windows laptops for $50 more with a lot more features and power and accessibility.
     
    HTWingNut, May 3, 2013
    #2
  3. Tuxberg

    Tuxberg Notebook Geek

    Reputations:
    17
    Messages:
    96
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    16
    Maintenance-free OS for those who simply want a browser-based experience, which is a lot more users than most people think. They also make decent linux laptops for the hobbyist who wants that sort of thing.
    Quite honestly, the "$50 more for a laptop with a lot more features," doesn't really stand up to snuff. You can find chromebooks new for between $20-300, used for $100-150 in good condition. They're no bogged down with the bloat you'll find on the cheap traditional laptops in the same price range + $100 or more. Unless you're considering very old refurbs (which no casual consumer is going to chance buying, for obvious reasons), the market in that range operates windows 8 on sickly E-series AMD processors, and the experience is utterly appalling to anyone who's ever used something more advanced that a Ti calculator.

    They're also not bogged down by a full-sized modern OS attempting to run atop a feeble processor. For the advanced user who can work around such negatives, it's a moot point. Either you like the cloud and the device as a hobby, or you don't. For the rest of the computer-illiterate public; however, some familiarity with the ever-popular chrome ecosystem means they have a cheap and efficient means to satisfy most, if not all their needs.

    It's not enough for a power-user, certainly, but Google has put a significant dent in their platform's limitations and I am not at all surprised Acer had a big hit with it's $199 model. I could go on about the plus and minus of each model specifically, but sufficed to say I think they all (sans the pixel) more or less out-perform their competition for the basic non-proprietary tasks of a given user.
     
    Tuxberg, May 3, 2013
    #3
  4. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

    Reputations:
    21,580
    Messages:
    35,370
    Likes Received:
    9,878
    Trophy Points:
    931
    Linux would make sense. But for just surfing and email it's more than adequate I guess. Just seems the storage is a bit limited then again Google just wants you to store in the cloud anyhow.
     
    HTWingNut, May 4, 2013
    #4
  5. gdansk

    gdansk Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    325
    Messages:
    728
    Likes Received:
    42
    Trophy Points:
    41
    Amazon.com: ASUS X201E-DH01 11.6-Inch Laptop (Grey Aluminum): Computers & Accessories

    Can you install Ubuntu on Chromebook? I suppose that x201e's Celeron would be faster at any rate and would run x86-64 operating systems. But then again, I've no idea how solid the hardware when compared to the Chromebook.
     
    gdansk, May 6, 2013
    #5
  6. davewm24

    davewm24 Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    40
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    16
    is it just me, or wouldn't you rather have a chromebook than a tablet? I'm surprised these aren't more popular....
     
    davewm24, May 17, 2013
    #6