Is the $99 Computer a Bad Thing?
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@Dashrender said:
If the iPad was the same price (with an add-on keyboard of course) I think the Chromebook would just fail.
No, one is useful for content creation and manipulation, one is for content consumption. Fundamentally different devices. A Chromebook is a full power workstation, you use it like a computer. It is not a mobile device. The iPad is a mobile device and lacks the interface, multitasking and features necessary to be useful for non-consumption activities.
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@BMarie said:
@coliver said:
@BMarie said:
@coliver said:
@BMarie said:
Your not going to able to have much as in hardware with them, to cheap to even care about updating. Probably small in size (which isn't a height joke). Just use a few years and get rid of. I see the point and I don't. If your gonna get a computer, a good one at that your gonna pay a little bit for.
My 2 Cents.
But how many people really need a good computer? How much can't you do with these small chromebooks/boxes that you can do with a fully fledged desktop/laptop? The majority of things are being done online right now, so people are going to look at email, log into facebook, and play browser games anyway. Why would you purchase a 500$ or more computer to do what amounts to a very basic task?
Yes most people will do only that, but also what happens when it crashes on you numerous times because of the protection you have on it isn't doing it's job. And how is it made, cheaply I'm sure. What if it drops. It shatters.
Then you replace it? You can purchase 5 of these for the same price of the desktop. Not to mention that since all of your data is stored with cloud or hosted services that replacing it is as easy as logging into another unit.
But your wasting entirely to much money if your buying that many to just compare to the more expensive one. Just go ahead and spend a little extra and get a better quality computer and something that will last you a lot longer than something that's gonna break down on you in a year or more.
Who says they are going to break down in a year? Why would they break down in a year? Everything I've seen of these devices points to the opposite. They generally have excellent build quality.
What happens if you drop that expensive laptop and it shatters?
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@coliver said:
@BMarie said:
Your not going to able to have much as in hardware with them, to cheap to even care about updating. Probably small in size (which isn't a height joke). Just use a few years and get rid of. I see the point and I don't. If your gonna get a computer, a good one at that your gonna pay a little bit for.
My 2 Cents.
But how many people really need a good computer? How much can't you do with these small chromebooks/boxes that you can do with a fully fledged desktop/laptop? The majority of things are being done online right now, so people are going to look at email, log into facebook, and play browser games anyway. Why would you purchase a 500$ or more computer to do what amounts to a very basic task?
And IT work.... outside of needing special Windows tools like RSAT, we generally have the lowest desktop power needs. I can work from just about anything that has a big screen. Chromebook is mostly fine for me.
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@BMarie said:
Yes most people will do only that, but also what happens when it crashes on you numerous times because of the protection you have on it isn't doing it's job.
Protection?
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@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
If the iPad was the same price (with an add-on keyboard of course) I think the Chromebook would just fail.
No, one is useful for content creation and manipulation, one is for content consumption. Fundamentally different devices. A Chromebook is a full power workstation, you use it like a computer. It is not a mobile device. The iPad is a mobile device and lacks the interface, multitasking and features necessary to be useful for non-consumption activities.
But only as long as everything is browser based. I'll admit that I'm biased against them. But I am starting to move my own data to the cloud (OneDrive specifically). The lack of offline mode is what really just kills this device for me.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@BMarie said:
Yes most people will do only that, but also what happens when it crashes on you numerous times because of the protection you have on it isn't doing it's job.
Protection?
Virus/Malware
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@BMarie said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@BMarie said:
Yes most people will do only that, but also what happens when it crashes on you numerous times because of the protection you have on it isn't doing it's job.
Protection?
Virus/Malware
The lack of ability to install apps on it kinda make this a non issue.
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@Dashrender said:
But only as long as everything is browser based. I'll admit that I'm biased against them. But I am starting to move my own data to the cloud (OneDrive specifically). The lack of offline mode is what really just kills this device for me.
Chromebooks work fine offline. It's individual apps that might fail to take advantage of that. Chromebooks are completely useful in their own space. Same way that Windows requires a lot of presumptions to be useful.
The things that make Chromebooks not useful for you is not what features it lacks but simply that it isn't Windows. Mac, Linux, FreeBSD and other options probably don't work for you either but don't have the "limitations" of Chromebooks. It is that you have a specific Windows requirement. It's about using software that only works one place, not that Chromebooks lack power or features. The just aren't Windows.
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@Dashrender said:
The lack of ability to install apps on it kinda make this a non issue.
Chromebooks are way better without AV than Windows with AV. I thought she was just talking about $99 Windows boxes, though.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
But only as long as everything is browser based. I'll admit that I'm biased against them. But I am starting to move my own data to the cloud (OneDrive specifically). The lack of offline mode is what really just kills this device for me.
Chromebooks work fine offline. It's individual apps that might fail to take advantage of that. Chromebooks are completely useful in their own space. Same way that Windows requires a lot of presumptions to be useful.
The things that make Chromebooks not useful for you is not what features it lacks but simply that it isn't Windows. Mac, Linux, FreeBSD and other options probably don't work for you either but don't have the "limitations" of Chromebooks. It is that you have a specific Windows requirement. It's about using software that only works one place, not that Chromebooks lack power or features. The just aren't Windows.
There's a lot of truth there I'll grant you.
I haven't used a Chromebook since the beta days (they sent me one at the end of the beta phase). I hated it as there was no offline options back then... if I wasn't online It was pretty useless. -
@BMarie said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@BMarie said:
Yes most people will do only that, but also what happens when it crashes on you numerous times because of the protection you have on it isn't doing it's job.
Protection?
Virus/Malware
This doesn't make sense for a chromebook... or even a cheapy Windows device. For Windows you are going to want to have AV regardless... will it run like crap on low end hardware? Yes, but that doesn't change the fact that you will want it.
For Chromebooks they are locked down in such a way where this isn't a really big issue. Everything is working from the browser.
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@coliver said:
@BMarie said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@BMarie said:
Yes most people will do only that, but also what happens when it crashes on you numerous times because of the protection you have on it isn't doing it's job.
Protection?
Virus/Malware
This doesn't make sense for a chromebook... or even a cheapy Windows device. For Windows you are going to want to have AV regardless... will it run like crap on low end hardware? Yes, but that doesn't change the fact that you will want it.
For Chromebooks they are locked down in such a way where this isn't a really big issue. Everything is working from the browser.
It's the same reason that AV is nearly pointless on Android and iPhones - the environment is locked down - unless you root/jailbreak them.
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@coliver said:
@BMarie said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@BMarie said:
Yes most people will do only that, but also what happens when it crashes on you numerous times because of the protection you have on it isn't doing it's job.
Protection?
Virus/Malware
This doesn't make sense for a chromebook... or even a cheapy Windows device. For Windows you are going to want to have AV regardless... will it run like crap on low end hardware? Yes, but that doesn't change the fact that you will want it.
For Chromebooks they are locked down in such a way where this isn't a really big issue. Everything is working from the browser.
That's the point I was making. That AV software was gonna be crap and let more "junk" though.
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@BMarie said:
@coliver said:
@BMarie said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@BMarie said:
Yes most people will do only that, but also what happens when it crashes on you numerous times because of the protection you have on it isn't doing it's job.
Protection?
Virus/Malware
This doesn't make sense for a chromebook... or even a cheapy Windows device. For Windows you are going to want to have AV regardless... will it run like crap on low end hardware? Yes, but that doesn't change the fact that you will want it.
For Chromebooks they are locked down in such a way where this isn't a really big issue. Everything is working from the browser.
That's the point I was making. That AV software was gonna be crap and let more "junk" though.
So why buy a more expensive machine with Windows on it when you can get a viable ChromeOS box for the same price and not have to worry about malware? Especially if the only things the user is doing is on a web browser?
Like I said you can buy 5 or more of the Chromebooks for the price of a Windows laptop, so if the use case is web browsing then you really don't need the extras that Windows can "provide".
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@coliver said:
@BMarie said:
@coliver said:
@BMarie said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@BMarie said:
Yes most people will do only that, but also what happens when it crashes on you numerous times because of the protection you have on it isn't doing it's job.
Protection?
Virus/Malware
This doesn't make sense for a chromebook... or even a cheapy Windows device. For Windows you are going to want to have AV regardless... will it run like crap on low end hardware? Yes, but that doesn't change the fact that you will want it.
For Chromebooks they are locked down in such a way where this isn't a really big issue. Everything is working from the browser.
That's the point I was making. That AV software was gonna be crap and let more "junk" though.
So why buy a more expensive machine with Windows on it when you can get a viable ChromeOS box for the same price and not have to worry about malware? Especially if the only things the user is doing is on a web browser?
Like I said you can buy 5 or more of the Chromebooks for the price of a Windows laptop, so if the use case is web browsing then you really don't need the extras that Windows can "provide".
It really just depends on what the user wants out of there machine and what they want/capable of paying.
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@BMarie said:
@coliver said:
@BMarie said:
@coliver said:
@BMarie said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@BMarie said:
Yes most people will do only that, but also what happens when it crashes on you numerous times because of the protection you have on it isn't doing it's job.
Protection?
Virus/Malware
This doesn't make sense for a chromebook... or even a cheapy Windows device. For Windows you are going to want to have AV regardless... will it run like crap on low end hardware? Yes, but that doesn't change the fact that you will want it.
For Chromebooks they are locked down in such a way where this isn't a really big issue. Everything is working from the browser.
That's the point I was making. That AV software was gonna be crap and let more "junk" though.
So why buy a more expensive machine with Windows on it when you can get a viable ChromeOS box for the same price and not have to worry about malware? Especially if the only things the user is doing is on a web browser?
Like I said you can buy 5 or more of the Chromebooks for the price of a Windows laptop, so if the use case is web browsing then you really don't need the extras that Windows can "provide".
It really just depends on what the user wants out of there machine and what they want/capable of paying.
Agreed. that was the point I was trying to make.
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@coliver said:
@BMarie said:
@coliver said:
@BMarie said:
@coliver said:
@BMarie said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@BMarie said:
Yes most people will do only that, but also what happens when it crashes on you numerous times because of the protection you have on it isn't doing it's job.
Protection?
Virus/Malware
This doesn't make sense for a chromebook... or even a cheapy Windows device. For Windows you are going to want to have AV regardless... will it run like crap on low end hardware? Yes, but that doesn't change the fact that you will want it.
For Chromebooks they are locked down in such a way where this isn't a really big issue. Everything is working from the browser.
That's the point I was making. That AV software was gonna be crap and let more "junk" though.
So why buy a more expensive machine with Windows on it when you can get a viable ChromeOS box for the same price and not have to worry about malware? Especially if the only things the user is doing is on a web browser?
Like I said you can buy 5 or more of the Chromebooks for the price of a Windows laptop, so if the use case is web browsing then you really don't need the extras that Windows can "provide".
It really just depends on what the user wants out of there machine and what they want/capable of paying.
Agreed. that was the point I was trying to make.
Agreed
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@coliver said:
Like I said you can buy 5 or more of the Chromebooks for the price of a Windows laptop, so if the use case is web browsing then you really don't need the extras that Windows can "provide".
Sure you can buy 5 or more laptops - and I guess since all data is now stored in the cloud swapping machines is much less painful - so even if you have to swap machines every 2 years - who cares because it's not like the old days of installing 10's of apps, configuring them, etc.. it's all in the cloud.
But cheap devices do seem (from my experience) to have a 2-4 year use life before it ends up broken. Just look at cell phones.
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@Dashrender said:
@coliver said:
Like I said you can buy 5 or more of the Chromebooks for the price of a Windows laptop, so if the use case is web browsing then you really don't need the extras that Windows can "provide".
Sure you can buy 5 or more laptops - and I guess since all data is now stored in the cloud swapping machines is much less painful - so even if you have to swap machines every 2 years - who cares because it's not like the old days of installing 10's of apps, configuring them, etc.. it's all in the cloud.
But cheap devices do seem (from my experience) to have a 2-4 year use life before it ends up broken. Just look at cell phones.
You can pay 500$ for a laptop that will last you 5-7 years... or 100$ for a laptop that will last you 2-4 years. Even if we take the long 7 years and the short 2 years. You are still looking at saving 100$ overall. Again depending on the use case....
