- May 19, 2011
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https://tech.slashdot.org/story/18/09/02/073214/is-chrome-os-threatening-windows
Commenters are talking about the Microsoft tax, however the funny thing is I googled for Chromebooks, found the official Google page showing a load for sale in various UK outlets, but I haven't yet found one for a similar price to what I usually pay for a PC laptop that is even vaguely similar in specs. For the price I'd normally get an i3 laptop with a 128GB SATA SSD, Chromebooks are Core m3s with 64GB eMMC (even then I was being generous, the Chromebook was about £80 more). Before I found specs that were worth a damn, I had to hike the price up to £750 (double the price of the Windows laptop I'd normally get) for a Google Pixelbook.
Also, there was this recent Slashdot article:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/18/08/29/016214/original-chromebook-pixel-reaches-end-of-life
$1200, 2013 laptop no longer supported?
Having said this, I could see a very low end Chromebook as an interesting choice for a teen's first laptop for school: The likelihood of them screwing it up with malware is somewhat less, battery life is probably good, the OS is probably less heavyweight, many teens aren't that careful with tech that they haven't had to scrimp and save for themselves so maybe it'll get three years of life before being consigned to the dumpster, but otherwise even if I hated Microsoft with a passion I'd still get a normal laptop and install Linux on it.
Commenters are talking about the Microsoft tax, however the funny thing is I googled for Chromebooks, found the official Google page showing a load for sale in various UK outlets, but I haven't yet found one for a similar price to what I usually pay for a PC laptop that is even vaguely similar in specs. For the price I'd normally get an i3 laptop with a 128GB SATA SSD, Chromebooks are Core m3s with 64GB eMMC (even then I was being generous, the Chromebook was about £80 more). Before I found specs that were worth a damn, I had to hike the price up to £750 (double the price of the Windows laptop I'd normally get) for a Google Pixelbook.
Also, there was this recent Slashdot article:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/18/08/29/016214/original-chromebook-pixel-reaches-end-of-life
$1200, 2013 laptop no longer supported?
Having said this, I could see a very low end Chromebook as an interesting choice for a teen's first laptop for school: The likelihood of them screwing it up with malware is somewhat less, battery life is probably good, the OS is probably less heavyweight, many teens aren't that careful with tech that they haven't had to scrimp and save for themselves so maybe it'll get three years of life before being consigned to the dumpster, but otherwise even if I hated Microsoft with a passion I'd still get a normal laptop and install Linux on it.
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