Google Chromebooks get a holiday price cut, minor UI tweak

[Jos]

Five months in from their official launch, Chromebooks haven't exactly taken the market by storm, but Google is hoping to make the web-centric laptops more "giftable" this holiday season with a few tweaks to the underlying operating system and discounted prices. According to a post at Google’s official blog, Chromebooks from both Acer and Samsung will be available starting at $299 "beginning this week."

Samsung dropped the price of its Series 5 Chromebook from $429 to $349, and added a black model -- it was previously only available in white. The device features a 12.1-inch widescreen (1280x800) display, a dual-core Intel Atom N570 processor and 16GB of solid-state storage.

Meanwhile the other Chromebook maker, Acer, now sells the Wi-Fi version of its Cromia (AC700) Chromebook for $299 and the Verizon 3G variant for $399. The Cromia has pretty much the same hardware as Samsung's Series 5 with exeption of an HDMI port and a slightly smaller, 11.6-inch (1366x768) display.

Besides the price cuts, Google also made some cosmetic tweaks to Chrome OS by introducing a fresh, clean login experience and moving the New Tab page items around a bit for the purpose of making it easier to manage apps, bookmarks and most visited sites. The company also gave the Chrome Web Store a new look, so that it's easier for people to scan the wall of images and discover useful apps and extensions.

It's a step forward for Google's fledgling operating system project but I doubt it will be enough to push Chromebooks ahead of the other $250-$300 netbooks on the market, which generally sport similar specs and won't limit you to a browser for all your computing needs.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/46348-google-chromebooks-get-a-holiday-price-cut-minor-ui-tweak.html

 

[spydercanopus]

Why would anyone wants a laptop that ONLY surfs the web? Before the hard drive crisis, i could get a windows 7 laptop with google chrome for the same price.

At least give us slick hardware if you're going to skimp on the software. This can't last much longer...

 

[zmktwzd]

I am currently trying to decide if I want some Chromebooks for my business. The last thing on my mind in this case is price. I am interested in return on investment. As a bright poster pointed out on another forum (with conservative math) "the average Windows laptop user spends approximately a full work week per year waiting for their computer to boot up!" What's an additional week per year (or significantly more) worth to you? Chrome OS is reportedly "extremely" stable and "almost never crashes".....Whats that worth? Have you ever spent the day (or more) trying to fix your Outlook email (or whatever Windows program you want to pick), How many hours have you cumulatively spent on customer support lines, or installing a new operating system or program, or being forced to reboot because of a Windows update, system change or program installation, or looking at the blue screen of death (ad infinitum) The favorable economics of "the cloud" are irrefutable. The question is, who has the best value proposition or solution when it comes to the cloud? Of course the answer for this can be different for different users.

On the surface I seem like the least likely person to want one of these because I am highly dependent on many proprietary resource hungry desktop applications. I use so many desktop applications that when I click on start I can't even see them all because they vanish off of the right edge of the screen!

However, this is EXACTLY why I want one. I am screwed without access to my desktops. Trying to synchronize my 3 active work desktops and 2 active home desktops with files AND applications is a nightmare. When I travel, a Windows laptop is completely useless to me unless I first take at least several days installing and updating all the various files and applications I need. As a result, I DON'T travel because it is such an incredible pain in the ***! I am a prisoner to my desktops, a beached whale that can't move! My lifestyle sucks as a result. Sometimes just going to Starbucks for coffee to get a break for an hour is stressful because of my lack of access.

My understanding is that ChromeBook comes pre-configured to run AccesNow software which will allow me to easily run out the door without ANY preparation time and allow me to remotely access and run my desktop applications and files (with boot-up time a fraction of a Windows machine)

If this is true, and works well, I would pay $10,000 for a Chromebook! (unless there is a better solution) I have tried applications like go-to-my-pc and logmein.com and they were clunky and messy and VERY unreliable. I once had an automatic Windows update kill the ability to connect to my PC after I was out of town! So the next time I turned that off and then there was a freaking power outage and my PC hung on the reboot and once again I was already out of town and screwed! (yes I have battery power backup's now, in addition to a gas powered generator!)

What I am wondering is whether or not my understanding of the Chromebook- AccessNow combination is correct? (I only started looking into it today).

Or would I be better off buying a server and running Microsoft Windows Server software etc?

Again, my needs are remote access to all my desktop applications and computers, and allowing approximately 3-5 service providers (policy limited) remote access to certain applications and files on my desktops.

Any advice here would be greatly appreciated. I need this solution in place within a week or two at the most and don't have the time to completely research it myself. Even if your advice is to contact a TOP OF THE LINE EXPERT that you know in this area (I'm willing to pay them) this is appreciated too.

I need good (not cheap) answers quick! I usually become a walking encyclopedia on hardware/software solutions before I implement them, but a sudden and unexpected industry bankruptcy (MF Global) affecting roughly 50,000 clients (including many of mine) has given me an idea about helping them, but I need to implement it quickly....

Thank you!

 

[Guest]

Agreed. I am still hoping they'll eventually drop the WiFi only models completely and sell just 3G units for $299.

 

[Guest]

Why don't you shell out the $299 and find out for yourself?

If that wasn't you first step, you are already lost...

 

[Guest]

If you're a Google Apps user or G-Mail Chief then a Chrome Book is perfect for not having to fuss and muss with traditional OSes, Viruses, loading Office, Anti-Spyware, Anti-Malware, Installing 1GB of Security Updates and Flash Plugins and well you get the drift! Imagine doing this for 50 employees! As an IT admin I can't say I love spending countless hours on initial desktop setup and maintenance. This allows one to focus on getting work done plain and simple. Sure its not for everyone and its not an Auto-CAD or Gaming Workstation but it is what it is. Take it or leave it.

 

[Guest]

i am happy to see a new operating system for laptops...

but u can give the Chrome Book for free : nobody wants a laptop, if it can not Office.

iPhone, iPad, iPod are very nice new devices... but they don't need Office, because they are too little for that.

but for laptops, this is mandatory ! and Office is missing on the Chrome book !​

chrome-book without professional office can not be a success.

office is the king application in companies. laptop in companies are becoming more and more the standard desktop : and no linux laptop, as i know...

office is a also a must for home-user.

with the online-google-office, it is not a possible at all to write a simple good formatted table in document : it can not compete with openoffice.