Consumers Flock to Purchase New $249 Google Chromebook

News
By Zak Islam
published

Analysts had expressed doubts regarding the recently unveiled device.

Despite criticism from analysts regarding its potential performance in the market, Google's newly announced Samsung-developed Chromebook has been sitting atop the Amazon best seller list for several days.

The $249 device achieved the position by knocking off the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2.0 into second place, while the Samsung Series 3 Windows notebook made its debut in third. Google's Series 3 Chromebook boasts a Samsung Exynos 5 dual-core processor, 16GB of internal storage, 2GB RAM, six hours-plus battery life and an 11.6-inch display that features a resolution of 1366 x 768.

"I don't see any benefit of getting a Chromebook," Jack Gold, an analyst at J. Gold Associates, stated. "It's "basically a netbook with a Web-based OS on it. Why not just buy an Android device and actually be able to use plenty of apps?" The laptop is "basically a netbook with a Web-based OS on it. Why not just buy an Android device and actually be able to use plenty of apps?" For "another $100 or so, you can get a full laptop running Windows. That's a much better deal," he added.

Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi, meanwhile, also chimed in with her thoughts: "Consumers do not want to choose between apps and Internet; they want both. The $249 is certainly an interesting price point, but consumers have been burned with netbooks and will be cautious and look beyond the price tag."

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Zak Islam
33 Comments Comment from the forums
  • clubsaucekiller
    Seems to me they're just flocking to buy what they think is a new Macbook Air. Samesung strikes again.
    http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/508573fe69bedddd2c00000b-2352-1568/apple-vs-samsung.jpg?maxX=620
    Reply
  • hotroderx
    clubsaucekillerSeems to me they're just flocking to buy what they think is a new Macbook Air. Samesung strikes again. http://static2.businessinsider.com g?maxX=620
    if you cant tell the difference between the two please don't touch computers. The fact it has a GIANT SAMSUNG LOGO on it should be a indication its not a Apple.

    I am starting to wonder if the average apple consumer can read.... Since they seem to have issues with reading Logo's
    Reply
  • christarp
    HotRoderxif you cant tell the difference between the two please don't touch computers. The fact it has a GIANT SAMSUNG LOGO on it should be a indication its not a Apple. I am starting to wonder if the average apple consumer can read.... Since they seem to have issues with reading Logo's
    This just in!!!!!

    Slapping your logo on something makes it yours!
    Reply
  • mrAB
    Slapping your logo on something makes it yours!

    well yah isnt that what Apple did with "rectangular glass screens" and "touch on a mobile device"
    Reply
  • itsnotmeitsyou
    i rely like apls. im prety avrage aple yuser too. Wurds wer nevr mi favrit,so i startd usin the aple ituch caus its butuns are sqwer weth rouded cornurs. But ican defully say i NEVUR hav a harde tyme findn my aple ituch thas jus tarded. It got unaple on it duh! geze ur dums.
    Reply
  • assasin32
    Actually did a bit of research on the Chrome OS and that chromebook in particular. It's a nice setup if it meets your needs, which will have to be Chrome and very little besides that.

    What I honestly liked about it was the security of it, 128bit encyption for all your data, the main partition of the OS is not encypted and to my understanding it has two identical partitions and checks against eachother for tampering. Updates are done regularly to patch the OS for security holes and fixes, etc and all the other neat little tricks chrome OS has for security (lots of sandboxing, etc)

    Hardware wise, lets be honest it's a striped down OS running what is basically tablet specs with a SSD. Which is more than capable these days especially when the company only makes a few products and has the OS tailored for it.

    Biggest gripe I have with the thing is you can't do much outside of chrome. For me I would be using it for school in which I probably end up using Google Docs (fortunately they can offline edit now, took them long enough to implement it, large oversight in my opinion). And internet, this is the part where I think the Chromebook fails spectacularly since it is purposed built to pretty much do everything in chrome online and it doesn't even support Java. May not sound like that big of a deal for some of you but for students who use things such as Blackboard for assignments which requires Java this is the deal breaker.I know it is for me, I practically had cash in hand telling Google to take my money till I found that out.

    (I know there are ways to get Java to work but to be honest, I don't want to jump through 50 billion hoops just to get something to work that should take a minute or two to download and instal on any other OS)
    Reply
  • zybch
    "Consumer Flock to Purchase New $249 Google Chromebook"

    There, I fixed the title of the article for you.
    Reply
  • bebangs
    this makes absolutely no sense in the 3rd world countries, horrible & capped internets (note this laptop have only 16GB internal storage). Even with first world countries like US, i'd imagine most americans could not or would not buy a lifetime 3g internet. not everyone would even have access to a high speed or unlimited internet.

    Galaxy Nexus 7 tab (or any tab - android or ipad) has way more value than this.

    Imho, This tiny internal storage idea is stupid. Both laptops and tabs.
    Reply
  • damianrobertjones
    "Consumers Flock to Purchase New $249 Google Chromebook" - I simply do not believe this statement. I need the cold hard facts and to actually SEE people buying this device. Every tech site has run at least 3/4 articles on this device and it's as if someone, somewhere, is paying quite a nice sum to push this item more than it should be... as it it's pants. Sure, for the cash, it's not that bad but still... .
    Reply
  • house70
    itsnotmeitsyoui rely like apls. im prety avrage aple yuser too. Wurds wer nevr mi favrit,so i startd usin the aple ituch caus its butuns are sqwer weth rouded cornurs. But ican defully say i NEVUR hav a harde tyme findn my aple ituch thas jus tarded. It got unaple on it duh! geze ur dums.The sarcasm is strong with this one...
    Reply