“San Francisco (CNN) -- Google announced plans to bring out notebook computers running the company's new operating system, called Chrome OS, on June 15.
Samsung Electronics will sell a version with a 12.1-inch screen and Wi-Fi for $429, and another model with Verizon Wireless 3G connectivity for $499. Acer will also make a Chromebook with prices as low as $349.
Google will also lease the laptops to corporations and schools, a deal that includes the hardware, support services and management software, executives said at the company's annual I/O conference here on Wednesday. Monthly subscriptions will start at $28 per user for businesses and $20 per user for schools.
The new operating system is based on Google's Chrome Web browser but adds some extra features for connecting digital cameras and offline usage. Google says 160 million people actively browse the Web using Chrome, up from 70 million a year ago…”
Wow.. How out of touch with the real world is Google? I know saying Google is out of touch with the world sounds odd. But who in their right mind is going to buy one of their notebook computers running Chrome OS at those prices? Answer is no one.
You can get some kick ass real laptop computers for those prices.
It is odd to see a big smart company like Google make such an error.
Now if they sell one of their Chrome OS notebooks for at the most $250.00 they might sell a few. I think the price needs to be more like $100.00 and then they could charge a monthly fee for access to the Google cloud. I think this is a fail but we will know soon.
The video below they talk about “Rent a Chrome.”
Jim,
Is "PC World" reading your blog? Hmmm.... I think you've been plagarized.
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Chromebooks Are Doomed to Fail
By Tony Bradley, PCWorld May 15, 2011 6:49 AM
A month from today, the Chromebooks from Samsung and Acer will hit the street. Google hopes to revolutionize mobile computing and free us from the shackles of the traditional PC experience, but the Chromebook is going to fizzle.
Why? Three reasons: culture, functionality, and price.
ChromebookGoogle's Chromebooks are just glorified netbooks with limited functionality.Culture
The Web has come a long way, and Google is not wrong in suggesting that everything you want to do can be done on the Web. Well, mostly.
You can use Google Docs (or even Office Web Apps) to replace your locally-installed productivity software. You can store your files, photos, music, and more in cloud-based storage options on the Web. You can use Web-based email. It is pretty much all out there for you.
But, there are some things you can't do strictly on the Web--like play Portal 2 or Minecraft, and living completely in the cloud takes a significant culture shift. There is also a huge trust factor with storing your entire life online, and the small issue of what happens when you can't get connected to the Internet and your Chromebook is a glorified paperweight.
Functionality
The Chromebook is functional enough once you get past the culture shift issues, but it doesn't offer different functionality than you can already achieve with a laptop. Any netbook or notebook can also use Google Docs, or Webmail, or the Amazon Cloud Player. In fact, the laptop is arguably better in this area because you can choose your browser rather than being limited to Google's Chrome.
The Chromebook is not any lighter or smaller than a standard netbook. It boots up faster, and has longer battery life than a full notebook, but so do most netbooks. The difference between the Chromebook and a standard netbook is that with a netbook you can do everything you can do with a Chromebook, and you can still do all of things you normally do with a PC.
Price
Essentially, buying a Chromebook is like buying a television that is only capable of delivering some of the channels, even though there are televisions available for the same price that can give you all of the channels. The Chromebooks are going to retail from $350 to $500. Funny thing about that--at BestBuy.com there are 15 netbooks listed that range from $230 to $530.
Now, if the Chromebook was $100, or even $200, it might be easier to make a case for the value it provides. But, the Chromebook is basically a handicapped netbook that costs the same or more than some other netbooks that have much greater capabilities.
Posted by: Jeep | Monday, May 16, 2011 at 08:34