
Chromebooks outsell Macs for the first time - nreece
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/may/23/chromebook-mac-google-pc-sales
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AdmiralAsshat
Good on them. In my observation, Macs have two markets:

1) Developers and power-users (graphic designers, video editors, etc.) who
need a high-performance machine.

2) People who are self-professed "not very good with computers" and don't do
much other than email, browse the web, and occasionally process word
documents.

The latter have traditionally gone to Macs because they're considered easier
to use and have a nicer form factor than most Windows laptops. Unfortunately,
they pay a pretty penny for it. I remember my undergrad university advertising
their "great" discount on a Macbook for incoming students, and it was still
north of $1500.

Chromebooks are great for that group, and they cost a fraction of the price of
a Mac. They can cover the needs of your average student/senior citizen without
breaking the bank. And they won't last as long, but even if you get four years
out of a $300 Chromebook, I'd say it served its purpose. Migrating from one
Chromebook to the next is pretty seamless, having done it myself.

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colemannerd
I think this is very apt judgement of Mac consumers. Unfortunately, with their
delayed release of new chips in their laptops and lagging software support
(why doesn't mac formally support a package manager like Darwin when a large
part of their audience use macs for development), their focus seems to be on
the non-professional market. And chrome does seem to be a much better OS for
them since there is nothing to install or maintain.

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thebspatrol
Without reading too much into it, I think they just recognise (like everyone
else) that mobile devices are far more pervasive and profitable in 2016.

It's also way easier to sell someone a new smartphone or tablet with gimmicky
bullshit features (notice how all these shitty laptop-tablet devices are in
vogue?) than new computers, at least at the rate hardware is advancing past
mainstream software.

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mark_l_watson
When non-tech friends need a new computer I always try to talk them into
getting either a Chromebook or an iPad. Easy to use and fairly secure. I use
each myself a lot.

I don't know what is up with Apple as far as their laptops go. They make money
from laptops, so I doubt they consciously are transitioning to an iPhone +
iPad company. Although both of my MacBook Airs are very old (and currently
running Ubuntu), in the last 5 years I have had three customers loan me nicely
tricked out new MacBook Pros while I did work for them, and I am unimpressed.

Apple, I am going to help you out here: build a 13" MacBook Air with a 1080p
screen, and make it a little thicker for awesome battery life, and sell it for
$1000. You are welcome.

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jrnichols
Just like with Android, when you flood the market with bargain basement
devices (they're showing up at Walmart for $179) this kind of stuff happens.

Initial sales are one thing, though. Retention is another. Most everyone I
know that has purchased a Chromebook has hated it for a variety of reasons.
The one that loves it is a friend that is firmly wrapped up in the
Googlesphere.

I almost think it's scary how well Google is doing in the education market.
They've done a frighteningly good job at getting younger kids to equate "the
internet" with Google products. Kids don't know about email - they know Gmail.
They know YouTube. They know a little about Google Docs and Google Drive,
since that's what their schools are using. And more so, they know that they
need a Google account to get into some apps. Like Pokemon Go. (although you
can make a trainer club account, kids just want to click and have it work.)

The next few years should be interesting.

~~~
mark_l_watson
I didn't know that retention for Chromebooks was poor. Surprising. I suppose
that it depends strongly for what Chromebooks are used for. As a developer, I
work largely on a large memory, multi-core remote server so if I like the SSH
shell support, then I am happy. I really like my 1080p screen Chromebook, and
my iPad Pro - so much so that I don't need to reach for a Linux laptop very
often.

I agree with you about Google's grip on the education market. I would like to
see kids using Raspberry Pis, learning to code, doing electronics experiments,
etc.

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jrnichols
At least among the group I know, it's mostly the one guy that's a huge Google
product fan that loves his Chromebook. The rest of them have felt that the
novelty has worn off. They're great if you're wrapped up in Google-everything.

The others have also realized that they can pick up a fairly recent refurb
MacBook Air for just a little bit more than they'd find a decent PC laptop
for.

I still have an old 13" 2011 macbook pro that feels almost like a new machine
now that I threw an SSD in the thing. add Xcode and maybe macports I have all
of the command line love that I can shake a stick at. I'm still a hobby
sysadmin and have always been happy with Terminal in OS X. Add Transmit for
when I'm lazy and need to move files, and I'm happy too. :)

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matt_wulfeck
I'm surprised this wasn't always the case. Good Chromebooks can be had for
$200. They should be everywhere by now. I can't imagine very good margins for
anyone in that price range.

Meanwhile macs are expensive and currently stale, however they make Apple a
lot of money.

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c2the3rd
Not surprising since both Macbook Pro and Air lines have gone >15 months
without a hardware upgrade.

The current mac owners have no real reason to buy newer versions.

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thebspatrol
I wonder if the Ford Fiesta is also outselling the 911.

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na85
The 911 gets you pretty good performance per dollar, unlike a mac.

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thebspatrol
Try to put a price on UX.

macOS is the choice * nix desktop operating system as far as I'm concerned.
All the * nix utilities, POSIX compliance, all of the proprietary software,
none of the virtualization bullshit.

I'm a hackintosh guy so I can't say I 100% disagree, but there's also
something to be said for build quality and look-and-feel(TM).

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abritinthebay
"Basic laptops that cost as little as $150 outsell $1700 laptop" was less sexy
a headline I guess.

Nothing to see here folks.

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nameless912
> Basic laptops

Hey now, I went through two years of college on an Acer C720 that I ripped
ChromeOS off of and ran Arch on. It was a great fucking laptop; even after
putting a 250 gig SSD int it, the little thing flew far higher and faster than
anything else in its price bracket (all told, around 300 bucks). And the
battery life was honestly obscene, I managed to get 10 hours of a bus ride
into a combination of reading papers for school, playing nethack, and doing
homework before it finally crapped out on me.

~~~
abritinthebay
Not saying it's a bad thing - cheap computers are great.

It's just a silly comparison: different market segments

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spriggan3
Most Chromebooks don't cost the same price as macs.

