Google Chromebook

[gingerjedi]

BBC News - Is Google's Chromebook the future of computing?

Could be very interesting if they go for <£200 (they're expected to be $199 in the US), I see PC world are straight in there offering them at £350+.

If google are serious about getting a big market share they need to be subsidised.

[doodab]

Amazon too.

Samsung Series 5 Wi-Fi Chromebook (Arctic White): Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

That is going to need to get a lot cheaper to succeed IMO.

[JamJarST]

Amazon too.

Samsung Series 5 Wi-Fi Chromebook (Arctic White): Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

That is going to need to get a lot cheaper to succeed IMO.

Absolutley agree, you can get a very reasonable netbook for much less not to mention an entry level laptop for that price. You don't need Google's operating system to already use everything in ther cloud, Microsoft's cloud based offering is very good.

[gingerjedi]

Amazon too.

Samsung Series 5 Wi-Fi Chromebook (Arctic White): Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

That is going to need to get a lot cheaper to succeed IMO.

Well they've knocked 99p off.

It's a pretty low spec lappy with a free OS.

I'd be in the market for one but not at that price.

[d000hg]

I thought Google's model was a monthly price

[TykeMerc]

$199 in the USA certainly doesn't equate to £350 in my book. I struggle to justify the $1=£1 price points (ok I've always hated them), but $1=£1.75 can get stuffed.

I've got a Samsung netbook I picked up cheaply a couple of years ago it's damn handy and gets a fairly large amount of use so I'd replace it if it died, but not at that sort of price.
Plus mine has a 60Gb drive which I do use quite a bit and runs standard MS Office with Win7 so it's bog standard, familiar and easy to get applications. Slingbox for instance is a must as I use it as a TV when in hotels.

Oh and the total internet dependency renders the Google netbook devices utterly useless to me, I doubt I connect my Android phone to wireless or 3G more than a couple of times a week and then only if I'm after something specific.

No unique or even common selling points to me at this time, I'd rate it as wildly overpriced and under featured for what I need and want.

[PAH]

I think all the recent stories of sites being hacked may make the more intelligent rethink the idea that it's good to have your personal information outsourced in such a way.

Logically these giant companies should also be less trustworthy than the small simply because if they screw up and someone steals all your info they can afford the multi million pound fines without so much as a blink of the eye.

For now I feel more secure having my info on a hard drive in my own computer, if it is computerised at all.

Though there's probably very little personal information that is truly valuable to anyone else, other than those looking to steal from you or sell you something.

[Sysman]

$199 in the USA certainly doesn't equate to £350 in my book. I struggle to justify the $1=£1 price points (ok I've always hated them), but $1=£1.75 can get stuffed.

The $1=£1 thing has always annoyed me too. This is something that Apple do better, certainly where I am living. They appear to take the exchange rate at product announcement and add a percentage to cater for currency fluctuations and then stick with that price. With the continuing decline in the USD against my currency I'm holding off buying any Apple kit at the moment in the hope I'll be able to take advantage of that currency recalculation for new models

Apple may have a reputation for higher priced kit, but as soon as I take the exchange rates used for Windows software prices out of the equation it starts to look a bit different.

I've got a Samsung netbook I picked up cheaply a couple of years ago it's damn handy and gets a fairly large amount of use so I'd replace it if it died, but not at that sort of price.

Plus mine has a 60Gb drive which I do use quite a bit and runs standard MS Office with Win7 so it's bog standard, familiar and easy to get applications. Slingbox for instance is a must as I use it as a TV when in hotels.

For that use you don't really need anything flashier.

Oh and the total internet dependency renders the Google netbook devices utterly useless to me, I doubt I connect my Android phone to wireless or 3G more than a couple of times a week and then only if I'm after something specific.

No unique or even common selling points to me at this time, I'd rate it as wildly overpriced and under featured for what I need and want.

Fortunately I haven't had to use hotels for quite a while, but I did nearly a year of them half a dozen years ago and the internet charges could get extortionate. Things have improved since then but I'm still wary of being held to ransom.

And as PAH says, the level of internet attacks going on at the moment does ring alarm bells.

[Sysman]

I think all the recent stories of sites being hacked may make the more intelligent rethink the idea that it's good to have your personal information outsourced in such a way.

Logically these giant companies should also be less trustworthy than the small simply because if they screw up and someone steals all your info they can afford the multi million pound fines without so much as a blink of the eye.

For now I feel more secure having my info on a hard drive in my own computer, if it is computerised at all.

Though there's probably very little personal information that is truly valuable to anyone else, other than those looking to steal from you or sell you something.

The other thing is that despite the free space offers we are seeing at the moment, a move to a rental model is inevitable. This implies having your credit card details lying around on one ore more servers somewhere.

Software upgrades are another potential issue with cloud based apps; you probably won't get the choice to stay with the old version which works for you, and if the app you rely on turns into bloatware you might be forced into upgrading your system before you want to (my ISP's webmail app can already slow my 1 year old desktop to a crawl).

[Peoplesoft bloke]

..... Software upgrades are another potential issue with cloud based apps; you probably won't get the choice to stay with the old version which works for you, and if the app you rely on turns into bloatware you might be forced into upgrading your system before you want to (my ISP's webmail app can already slow my 1 year old desktop to a crawl).

??? If the app is truly in the Cloud how is it slowing your machine? - this is an earnest question BTW - if all the app is doing is delivering stuff into a browser, then surely the bottleneck's in the delivery?