
‘Tis the season for Chromebooks - Uncle_Sam
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/tis-season-for-chromebooks.html
======
MatthewPhillips
They need to ditch the atom processors. They should be embarrassed that their
new hotness flagship product, Google+, is unusably slow on the Chromebooks.
Even an individual post, which only contains the header bar and some text, is
unusably slow.

~~~
runningdogx
The Asus Transformer Prime might be disqualified because it's not chromeos and
it doesn't have a built in hardware keyboard, but it's a quad-core tegra
tablet running gingerbread and soon ICS (keyboard optional).

[http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/09/transformer-prime-
detaile...](http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/09/transformer-prime-
detailed-10-inch-super-ips-display-12-hour/)

I don't have a chromebook but I'm not sure what chromeos offers that android
doesn't.

~~~
htilford
Chromeos isn't about offering more features. It's about offering less
problems.

~~~
msh
But when a iPad offers better browsing speed it's a big problem for a web
browser only OS....

------
finisterre
The price drop - from $500 to $300 - is the most significant new 'feature'
here. These devices just aren't ready to replace a conventional laptop yet for
most people. I've got a Samsung one and it struggles with complex websites and
sometimes hangs, too. I wonder if even $300 is too much.

~~~
esutton
the drop was from 350 to 300.

------
Yhippa
So is the architecture killing this thing? My Galaxy Tab 10.1 has no problem
with video, Google+, or 3D gaming. It sounds that by anchoring this product to
cheap netbook architecture they're shooting themselves in the foot.

------
hyzl
I have a Cr-48, which should be substantially slower than those with the
Samsung Series 5's, and I have no real issue with laggy scrolling. Biggest tip
I can give is to disable extensions, I do that and the Chromebook flies. Then
just slowly add back in the most necessary ones. This might solve your video
issues too, as video works perfectly smooth for me. If you doubt this, just
hop into guest mode and see how ridiculously fast such meager hardware moves
when your own bloat isn't slowing it down.

On Google+ you should really scroll with the "j" and "k" keys, problem solved.
:P

------
weekendlogic
When do we get ARM chromebooks?

They have been 'coming soon' since May.

~~~
r00fus
This would be a killer feature for me. If a notebook can have a similar
battery life as an iPad, that's a huge feature.

If I have a keyboard/track(pad|point) combo, I don't need/want a touchscreen.
Thus I'd prefer a halfway-decent ARM chromebook over, say, a Transformer
Prime, or an iPad+bt-keyboard-case (otherwise you're spending half your time
with your arm raised, messing with the touchscreen)

~~~
lucian1900
I've been waiting for that for a while, and even bought an Efika MX Smartbook.

It's not worth it.Just buy an AMD fusion laptop. I got the Thinkpad E325 and
it's much more powerful than either Atom or all current ARM chips and battery
lasts for 7h+.

~~~
msh
Is it possible to get a small review of the smartbook? It appears that you
don't like it but I am curious.

------
pixie_
These are way too expensive. For $350 you get a laptop that runs a web browser
only. For the same price you can buy a laptop with better cpu, graphics,
battery life, memory, and operating system.

For instance, <http://amzn.com/B0067U9VUC> vs <http://amzn.com/B004Q7LHVE>

------
esutton
Just want to throw it out there I'be been using a chromebook for the past
three months and love it.

------
kevinpet
Isn't it a bit early to start your April Fool's shopping?

------
recoiledsnake
It looks like the simplicity is not enough of a selling point for this type of
OS, which seems to be way ahead of it's time.

Google needs to make them way cheaper to get over the limiting factor of no
native apps.People may not use native apps so much, but they like the feeling
that they _can_ , if they need to.

~~~
MatthewPhillips
They messed up by not making any killer apps specifically for the Chromebook.
Unfortunately choosing Atom means they can't really make any killer apps even
if they wanted.

------
podperson
"We’ve heard from many of you that one of the things you enjoy most about the
Chromebook is its hassle-free simplicity."

I wonder what "many" in this context means.

