Comments on: who is the chromebook for? a review for senior citizens, kids and students

By: getting started with the chromebook – part 1 | Down Home Country Coding With Scott Selikoff and Jeanne Boyarsky

Sun, 05 Aug 2012 22:13:25 +0000

[…] 1 August 5th, 2012 by Jeanne Boyarsky When the Chromebook came out last year, I blogged about the target audience; one of which was people who literally just use the internet. My mother does four things with her […]

By: Jeanne Boyarsky

Jeanne Boyarsky — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 03:35:40 +0000

Nice to see Google marketing it to consumers for the holidays http://www.google.com/chromebook/index.html#utm_campaign=en&utm_source=en-ntp-holidays-na-us-bkws&utm_medium=ntp-holidays

By: running chromium os on the mac on virtualbox | Down Home Country Coding With Scott Selikoff and Jeanne Boyarsky

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 23:43:49 +0000

[…] who is the chromebook for? a review for senior citizens, kids and students […]

By: Derek

Derek — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 03:32:09 +0000

The title’s question is spot on, “who is the chromebook for?” Really, Who is it for? At the moment Google seems to “feel” like they know who it is for, but is it the right audience? I agree with Nicholas above that people are going to be wondering, how do I install this application? Why can’t I do this?

If my grandmother hears about an easy to use tool to send photos, what will she think when I try to tell her that her “chromebook” is not a PC, so you can’t?

The chromebooks is going to need a new way of thinking, that will only serve a niche market. If they can break into the classrooms, then things might change.

By: Nicolas

Nicolas — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 12:20:53 +0000

The key point for me is more will it sell?

Geeks? No of course. To children? No an iPad or tablet fit more or a game console. To a teenager? That thoses that like 3D game (so desktop with windows) or skype/msn to talk with friends. They need to make some work with the computer and thus having hability to use standard office applications is key. And this is MS Office, not google docs, sorry.

To a retired person? Well lack of software is still a problem. And they’ll ask computer vendor or their child to help make choices. Both will say that a google computer is like a normal computer… But can’t do many things a standard computer can like writing documents, printing/scanning (with drivers) edit photos, play games (for the childs when they go to the grand father home).

Google computer as is it now is a for a niche market.

By: Jeanne Boyarsky

Jeanne Boyarsky — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 02:25:36 +0000

In reply to Doug. Doug, Thanks for the comments. I agree connecting a mouse would be important.

By: Doug

Doug — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 20:24:25 +0000

Each type of device has its strengths and weaknesses.

The chromebook is probably better than the ipad or android tablets for most casual users. Because it has a keyboard, it can run flash, and you can use google docs and other web apps more easily than on a tablet. Also it has the integration with google stuff unlike an ipad. No need to connect it to itunes or whatever to sync. Everything is synced to the cloud.

As the the comparison with a netbook or a low cost laptop, yes, price is the main downside. But the chromebook has much longer battery life (over 8 hours), is much much lighter and thinner, and for schools and the like there is no need to deal with updates and maintenance. The chromebook automatically updates, and everything is synced with the cloud, so you could log into any chromebook and have the same exact experience, or of course the chrome browser on a regular computer.

One other drawback of the chromebook is the clickpad, which, like other new laptops and netbooks, has no buttons. If you need to drag something it is very tricky to do. Of course you can connect a mouse (unlike most tablets except very recent android tablets).