Chromebooks still vying with Apple on Amazon charts
updated 03:25 pm EDT, Fri July 15, 2011
Two Chromebooks are in Amazon Top 10 list
Notebooks preloaded with Google's Chrome OS are still doing quite well on Amazon's top 10 notebook sales list, when compared to Apple's MacBook Pros and Windows 7-powered notebooks. On Thursday evening, Acer's $349 11.6-inch AC700 Chromebook with Wi-Fi sat at number four on the e-retailer's notebook bestseller list, with Samsung's $499, 12.1-inch Series 5 3G Chromebook rounding out the top ten. Topping the list is Toshiba's Portege R835-P56x powered by Windows 7.
Chrome is cloud-based, however, so it needs a constant Internet connection, unlike the competitors. This scheme does have some inherent benefits, however, such as constant updates and the need for minimal hardware. As such, costs can be kept lower in this case as well.
The Acer and Samsung Chromebooks have Intel's dual-core 1.66GHz Intel Atom processor, 2GB of RAM, a 16GB solid-state drive, a webcam, and USB 2.0 ports in common. They also get Wi-Fi but can be had with built-in 3G as well. [via CNET]
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jul 2007
Niiiiiiiiiice!
if you always have wi-fi. Otherwise welcome to the Google Brick! My
friggin' iPad 2 is a better deal. Wonder how many of these will get returned
by clueless non-tech grandmas and uncles dazzled by the Google name
who did not realize they need to be constantly connected to the Internet to
get anything done. I am amazed how much work I can do comfortably on
the iPad--even sans wi-fi connection (compared to the frustrating Samsung N150 netbook we also have). I find myself firing up the MBPro quite a bit
less these days.
As for Chromebooks? I think P.T. Barnum said it best.
Zoinks!