Found this Samsung Chromebook Book as part of HN 25% off deal. I think its quite the bargain considering JB still have it for $376!
Samsung Chromebook Only $256.50
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This isn't a proper 'laptop'.
For one, it runs on the Samsung Exynos ARM CPU (same as the one found in tablets), it has no hard drives (only EMMC memory) and has no fan. The operating system it runs is also pretty basic — it behaves like a web browser more than anything else.
Despite that, it doesn't feel that sluggish in normal everyday usage. It will lag if you open more than 10 tabs though, and you can also forget about app multitasking.
I'm guessing they're planning to drop the price soon now that Microsoft Surface RT is getting cheaper and cheaper.
Downside is that Chrome OS is very cloud based, whereas Win 8.1 RT is not, and comes with proper office preinstalled.
I guess it's more to do with the new chromebooks being released. Acer and HP have already announced their new models.
Bought my cheapo Samsung lappy for $396 at JB Hi-Fi. Considering Win 8 is $120 on its own, I paid $276 for a laptop which is almost the price of a Chromebook
Buy only if you need it. This laptopish product is only for web browsing and online documenting. It requires wifi connection for most of the software it runs. This is not a normal PC.
Also on the pricing, this is not a real bargain as we are expecting next generation chromebooks on holiday season.
Cheers.
Interestingly, all Chromebooks come with 100GB of Google Drive space, for 2 years - approx $120 of value. If you're a big user of cloud storage, might make the laptop a bit more desirable.
It'll probably take 2 years to upload 100Gb onto google drive…
At my rate of 2mbps with HFC, it ends up being about 5 days. Obviously its not always uploading at full speed (occaionally drops to 1.5mbps), but it still shouldn't take more than 2 weeks of constant uploading. Much faster if you had NBN!
I don't care how righteous you are, why anyone would want to entrust contents of their hard drive to a mob like Google is beyond me.
^Probably one of the most sensible comments made here in a long time. Google no longer sings their original mantra of "don't be evil".
Also you get your 2 years cloud storage, after that they're basically ransoming your data to you. You either pay their annual fee, or potentially get locked out of your data. (that or not be lazy and move your data elsewhere.)
I have a Chromebook Pixel, I have not even replaced ChromeOS as the Chrome browser is essentially enough for me to do anything I need. For rare occasions I need to use Windows for some reason, there is a very nice RealVNC client for ChromeOS which I use to connect to my Windows PC, so I don't even need to change environments.
Woah! Did you ship that in from America or from someone off ebay? Mind if I asked you roughly how much that set you back?
$1000 second hand but new condition. This was at a time when it was hard to find a 1080p laptop under $1000 let alone 2560x1700 glory. The let down is that ChromeOS handles DPI scaling so well that it doesn't really need all those pixels for the UI itself.
I have not even replaced ChromeOS as the Chrome browser is essentially enough for me to do anything I need.
I'm guessing that's the reason they made it, it's what most people would ever need.(even though it's much more limited than OSX or Windows)
A review here, including how to add a full Linux environment (using chroot, not dual boot)
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/exploring-samsung-arm-ch…
The specs are reasonable, but something ARM-based with full-HD and a bit more RAM would be nice.
The pixel is good, but not cheap.Not trying to purposefully start an Apple vs. Google war here, but why would I spend so much on a Pixel for web browsing, when I could buy a MBP Retina 13" for roughly about the same price +/- a few green notes, that comes with a full fledged OS?
I ask because I recently bought a MBP Retina and the Chrome Pixel looks so sweeeet, except I adhered to the MBP Retina due to restrictions in with just having a web browser.
Serious question guys, I really want to know what are the upsides of having a Chrome Pixel at that price tag.
Serious question guys, I really want to know what are the upsides of having a Chrome Pixel at that price tag.
None. I'm not a Mac OS fan but there are no advantages of having a Chromebook over a MBP which ships a full-fledged OS or a laptop (with a decent screen) and Windows 7/8. Chrome OS is great for non-tech people. For my grand father who likes to read news on the Internet or check email, it's a great device. Long battery life. Great screen. Simple OS. But when all's said and done, it's a web browser of an OS.
Moreover, I don't think Chromebook Pixel was made for end users. Google knows this. It was made for developers and basically to show what a Chromebook can be instead of being just a cheap web browser like the Chomebooks shipped by Samsung. It can be a premium device.
Hell, if someone offered me a ChromeBook Pixel over a Dell Inspiron 15" with a 1366x768, I'd take the Pixel. The screen is undeniably beautiful. But over a retina screen MBP or a decent 1080p screen like the HP Envy 17, I'd that the non-Chromebook option any day. If you want to know more about the Pixel, watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d0lEMp8Vtk <— It's by a guy called Marques Brownlee (MKBHD). He's a well-known and trusted reviewer.
chrubuntu full boot:
http://chromeos-cr48.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/chrubuntu-one-s…
I'm typing this from chrubuntu on my chromebook arm now.
I typically get 6 hours.
NB, I've also run qemu kvm on my chromebook and had android running without graphic acceleration:
www.virtualopensystems.com/media/chromebook/chromebook.pdf
Good discount on RRP. Not a product that would suite my needs.
Very happy with Mac and having the ability to run windows in native or virtual mode when needed.
Tried VM ChromeOS. Productivity would take a major dive.
My 2nd hand $120 HP Gateway laptop has more grunt and power than this machine. These low-powered netbooks are overpriced.
Of course it does. But is it 1.1kg and 6hrs battery?
I enjoy lugging my big bertha around for that matter. She is big and heavy but that's how I like 'em ;)
Chrimebook 11 is out by HP. I will get that one instead.
Chrimebook 11
Careful using that one. With it being cloud-based you'll have the cops on you in an instant.
Our local Harveys managed to sell one of these to an elderly friend of my wife. I got the phone call from her. She is a complete noob user. Holy hell was she upset.
Why? I'd think a chromebook would be better for a noob than a standard crapware-laden windows lappy.
That's exactly why. A noob user would think the Chromebook would behave like a Windows or OSX laptop… but no, it has quite severe limitations. One being it's that it's cloud based and has hardly any storage, and the operating system is really just a juiced up Chrome web browser.
So before buying said laptop for the noob user, make sure you inform them of these limitations beforehand.
I was thinking a real noob like my MIL who would not know windows from Linux, but just needs buttons to start a web browser and photo/video player.
One being it's that it's cloud based and has hardly any storage
This Acer chromebook comes with 320GB hard drive. http://www.harveynorman.com.au/acer-chromebook.html
A shame the Acer is so much heavier, and poor battery life (due to the celeron processor?).
A shame the Acer is so much heavier, and poor battery life (due to the celeron processor?).
Good thing is, it's upgradable. You can throw in an SSD and more RAM, and performance wise it'll beat the Sammy.
If fhd screen then I'll buy.
These things are so 2012, now days ppl it's all about the tablets baby!
I would expect my new laptop to have a better CPU than my phone..