MBA Competitor $330 Chromebook 2? Or not?

[SteveO]

Well I don't really know how "newsy" this is, but i saw this article and thought I'd let those in the know here concur with its premise of "this is a good value notebook, especially vs an MBA" OR rip it apart. Have at it.

http://www.wired.com/2014/09/toshibas-sl...-the-buck/

[anonymouse1]

You're kidding right? Maximum storage of 16GB? This thing depends on constant network access.

[Black]

SteveO wrote:
Well I don't really know how "newsy" this is, but i saw this article and thought I'd let those in the know here concur with its premise of "this is a good value notebook, especially vs an MBA" OR rip it apart. Have at it.

http://www.wired.com/2014/09/toshibas-sl...-the-buck/

Not up for searching right now but there was a decent discussion not to long ago-- think Kap had bought one and decided to return.

[MGS_forgot_password]

It's a dumb terminal for Google services, not a full-fledged laptop.

[Paul F.]

MGS_forgot_password wrote:
It's a dumb terminal for Google services, not a full-fledged laptop.

As long as one keeps that FIRMLY in mind, it can be a wonderful and incredibly useful device... (we have 60 of them, and will be buying another 30 this year).
It does what it does extremely well... just don't expect it to be what it's not.

[SteveO]

Dumb terminal, I see, makes perfect sense. Yeah 16gb is nothing for onboard storage. Thanks Black for the kap mention, I will go look for that.

[silvarios]

MGS_forgot_password wrote:
It's a dumb terminal for Google services, not a full-fledged laptop.

Believe this has already been discussed on the forum (sorry for not providing a link), but you can hook into other services as well.

[silvarios]

anonymouse1 wrote:
You're kidding right? Maximum storage of 16GB? This thing depends on constant network access.

My Asus Netbook runs Lubuntu 14.04 LTS with 16GB SSD. I supplement storage with SD cards and network resources. You could run a Linux distro on that box and I would take the much better screen on this $330 notebook over the rather awful MacBook Air screen. I keep saying to anyone who will listen, I don't care as much about retina on the Air, I just want something better than a $400 screen on a $900 laptop. With these cheap notebooks shipping with higher res IPS panels, I'll amend that to $200ish notebooks.

[sekker]

The MBA has a fine screen.

Chromebooks do a great job at what they are designed to do. I think they are ideal for education labs.

[Paul F.]

Waaaaaaaahhhhhh my Chromebook only has 16gb of storage in a device that doesn't USE hardly any local storage, it uses Google's 'cloud'... Waaaaahhhhhh....

How about you do some reading about how the thing operates before complaining how inadequate it is?

They're NOT the perfect device for everyone...
But listening to people complain that their Hyundai doesn't accelerate like a Bugatti Veyron is probably equally amusing to car folks.