This is a super-disappointing article, more the kind of clickbait I'd expect from a third-tier site than from Anandtech.
I mean, to pick one example, the Toshiba Chromebook 2 is notable precisely because it has a wonderful 1080p IPS screen (making it the third Chromebook to have an IPS screen, after the original HP 11 and Pixel), and the author apparently isn't even sure if it's true and just kinda pastes in specs from Amazon.
A real version of this article, based on something more than half-assing a handful of specs off of Amazon pages, would be great. But this kind of cheap content-farm stuff doesn't belong on Anandtech.
Agreed. Article was a waste. Maybe they should have picked someone who was actually a fan of Chromebooks to write the "Chromebook Buyer's Guide". And glossing over details on the screens in these machines when the screens are THE differentiating feature (IPS is huge!) is criminal.
How many "actual fans" of Chromebooks are there? It's a very niche market right now, and one that doesn't satisfy most power users (of which I would assume most Anandtech writers would qualify)
There's a reason Chromebooks were created, and it was not to satisfy the needs of power users or people that want a high quality IPS display. The Chromebook Pixel has an even better display, faster CPU, true SSD... and a price that's basically laughable. I've read articles that basically say, "Even if I were to get the Pixel for free, and even though it's the best possible Chromebook experience, I still want to use a different device because Chrome OS is too limiting."
The IPS panel in the Toshiba Chromebook 2 Full HD version is indeed its differentiating feature, just like the N20p's differentiating feature is the 300 degree hinge and stand mode. I'd take the IPS over the stand mode, sure, but no matter how nice the display I'm still going to want a better laptop for daily use.
If power users are the most likely candidates for buying a more expensive Chromebook with an IPS display, and yet they're also the most likely to be frustrated with Chrome OS in general... do you see the problem? The Acer C720 has been one of the best selling laptops since it launched, and it's the quintessential Chromebook experience: small, fast enough, good battery life, but above all extremely affordable. I'd wager most Chromebooks are purchased thanks to the rock-bottom price; for schools that use them the manageability aspects are also a benefit, but they're still interested in the low price. You're not going to sell either group on a $100 upgrade for a better display.
(Note: This is more for mwatter, not for Minion4Hire.)
My JOB consists of nothing more than what I can do on a chromebook - and I explicitly don't want OS X or Windows due to the overhead of managing them. So yeah, a high end chromebook is what I am looking for. High end in terms of battery life, screen, keyboard and general build quality - ARM CPU is fine (fanless!) But IPS screen & battery matter. And $500 is fine.
See, and this is what I'm talking about. You don't like ChromeOS. You don't understand ChromeOS. As far as you're concerned, if you're getting a junky old Chromebook, it doesn't matter what you get, so why not get the cheapest one.
I do like ChromeOS. I use ChromeOS. And what I want is what any sophisticated user wants: I want an elegant, clean UI with no crufty overhead (which ChromeOS delivers far, far, far, far more than Windows, and even more than OSX); I want an ultra-light fanless PC; I want battery life that goes forever; I want a bright, sharp, colorful screen with no viewing angle issues; I want a great keyboard and a great trackpad; I want speakers that provide good quality sound; I want solid build quality.
Your "buyer's guide" basically starts from the premise that nobody really wants these things, and then is like "well, here's the cheapest ones, and if you want to spend more, get something else." That's ridiculous and useless.
Comments like yours make me think you work for Google, in their Chromebook division. I didn't feel Jarred's discussion was at all out of line, and you can count me into the group of people that thinks Chromebooks are horrible.
Oh, they're great for others to use, especially people that I don't want to provide tech support for (hello mom and dad), but I cannot use Chrome OS for any real work. Chrome has a clean UI, sure... because there's nothing else behind it. That's like saying a web browser has a clean UI -- it had better, as it's an application not an operating system!
I could have summarized this whole article in a short sentence: if you use your computer for real work, don't bother with Chromebooks -- get a real laptop. If you can do what you need to do on a Chromebook, then you can do it on a smartphone or a tablet. And to the guy that has a JOB that consists of only things he can do on a Chromebook... what exactly is it you do for a living? $500 for a faux laptop that can only surf the web? Did you work on the Pixel or something?
Comments like yours make me think you work for Apple/Microsoft ;)
While I do my work on an expensive laptop, mainly due programming environments that are not available on ChromeOS. I do recommend Chromebooks to 90% of the people and they are all perfectly happy. What you get for the price is nothing short of amazing. For less than $400 you get a 1080p IPS display on a quite a snappy computer due to SSD and low resource OS, on a thin form factor and with a very good battery time. You can buy two and a half of these laptops for the price of one 13" Macbook Air (which I used to recommend for people wanting a trouble free pc). And then the Air is put to shame due to its way inferior low quality (TN), low resolution screen (1440 by 900).
I do understand why Chromebooks get so popular so quickly.
I'm one. I had to buy a laptop, money was not an issue. After researching for a while, I got the samsung ARM chromebook. Why? No moving parts (including passive cooling), which means I can be rough with it (say, while travelling), great security, automatic online backup of settings, so if it's stolen or destroyed you lose nothing, and built-in SSH. If you're a power user, you probably own a powerful desktop or server. So powerful laptop is useless if you're ssh-ing into your real machine all the time.
I almost got the Pixel, but the battery life was the problem for me.
The Verge has a excellent Chromebook roundup, and not supprisingly the Toshiba Chomebook 2 won by a big margin. The K1 from Acer was great, but the screen was absolute garbage despite it being 1080p.
The toshiba Chromebook 2 has a 1080p IPS screen that is the star of the show. It looks and feels almost like a Mac Book Air. It's a little pricy for the upgraded version tho. $350 for 4GB 1080p.
Truth be told, I was working on a budget laptop article and thought about mentioning Chromebooks, but there's so much more to be said that I split it out into a separate piece. Here's the thing: IPS on the Toshiba is worth mentioning, and I'll fix that, but does it warrant a $100 price premium? If I'm buying a Chromebook, I'd probably be going after minimum cost as the primary consideration. A better screen on a Chromebook is almost a waste. What's particularly frustrating is that the difference in BOM between the junk displays and an IPS 1080p panel is going to be $25, maybe $50 at most, but it comes with a $100+ increase in price. Not that it doesn't happen with all other laptops as well....
It is the part that you look at the most, sure, but it's still a big jump in price. If you're willing to spend $330 instead of $180, well, that opens the door to a lot of other possibilities. Here's a $310 notebook that has a full copy of Windows, a much faster A8-7100 APU (which is viable for light to moderate gaming)... and a crappy display with a larger chassis; still, $310 is hard to argue with. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K2O4QO0?tag=dosk-20
If we demand everything has to have a quality display because "it's the thing you look at the most", we also have to be prepared to increase the price of most devices by $50-$100. Unfortunately for people that care about display quality, there are droves of buyers that want the lowest price possible. Until they change their ways (hint: there will always be budget buyers that don't care about the display or build quality), we're not going to get rid of 1366x768 TN panels.
I would argue that the short battery life and bad build quality makes that 'laptop' nearly useless. I wouldn't know why anybody would want a device which is meant to be portable but actually isn't. No, a chromebook with a decent screen and battery life beats a faster but unusable device... Performance matters less than screen and build quality to me. It is in the end about user experience, not about specs. I understand you tend to forget that, as hardware reviewer, sometimes, but this is exactly why chromebooks sell so well.
Compared to the Chromebook 2, that thing is unbelievably, incredibly worse. It's gigantic and bulky (5.5 lbs compared to < 3lbs); it's got a terrible, godawful screen (1366x768 TN vs. 1080p IPS); it has a spinny disk hard drive that means you can't just toss it around; it has fans, so you have to make sure the vents are clear if you're using it in bed or whatever; it gives up 3 hours of battery life to the Chromebook; the trackpad is probably terrible; and of course, you're stuck with Windows, and all the crufty overhead that entails.
It is purely worse than the Toshiba Chromebook 2 in every way that matters, but you think it's obviously superior because... what, you can play (a few) games on it?
The Internet is full of idiots with blinders on, not to mention a healthy dose of hyperbole. I believe the statement was that $300+ "opens the doors to a lot of other possibilities" and just one example was provided that was faster and has a real OS on it. Battery life is only important if you're constantly on the go, and not everyone wants to use a tiny screen and keyboard. I even have a friend that only uses 17.3" laptops because he can't see the screen well enough on smaller options. By the way, eMMC is often slower than a hard drive, and 16GB is only sufficient if you don't want anything stored local, including movies and images.
Chromebooks work for some people I guess, but to pretend that just because a Chromebook has a decent screen that it's some panacea is a joke. I would take a lousy screen with a Windows notebook over a Chromebook with a good screen any day of the week.
Jarred, first of all thanks for the article, and especially thanks for always keeping an eye on Chromebooks (which do not have such a great rap here).
But I have to say, I strongly disagree with you here. Have you ever actually used a Toshiba Chromebook 2 for any significant period of time? The panel is great, not only is it IPS, it is very well calibrated, good contrast, deep darks, accurate colours. These are things that AnandTech pays a lot of attention to on its tablet reviews. Why do they not matter in a Chromebook in your opinion?
Secondly, it's not just the panel. It's one of the very few Chromebooks that has a decent speaker. You might not care so much for that, but a lot of the target demographics of Chromebooks (my aging Dad for example) do. That's the one thing he cares about in a laptop, and he'd gladly pay $100 just for that.
Then there is the build quality, the very good keyboard, etc.
In all, I think right now the Toshiba Chromebook 2 is head and shoulders above others, and it well justifies its premium. But it would be great to see a review of this unit, or any of the TK1 models here on AnandTech.
I think the biggest problem here is that a better screen is a luxury. It does not change the underlying experience that users are going to have with Chrome OS. If the OS itself is suitable to their needs then a better screen is worth considering. But for those who aren't familiar with it or already have a notebook/ultrabook and are looking for a Chromebook as a supplemental device, spending more money than necessary isn't likely to happen.
But the following article should highlight the most important aspect here: http://goo.gl/Ygh64f
Chromebooks MAY grab 5% of all PC sales by 2017. And that's assuming that sales to its primary market of K-12 education continues to rise. Chromebooks and Chrome OS offer such a niche product that devoting a substantial amount of time to reviewing and testing them here is arguably a bad idea for the type of review site that Anandtech is. Their core audience isn't interested in them. If you personally are then that's grand, but you are likely the minority.
I can understand wanting more from an article that appears on Anandtech. But to be honest I was surprised to see a Chromebook article here all. The article's (relatively) short length and depth equally reflects Chrome OS's very small standing in the marketplace.
This completely misses the point of the Chromebooks.
I can't talk about marketshare (and I know from years of watching Analyst houses with their horrendous record of predicting Android and Windows Phone/Mobile marketshare never to pay any attention to what they say), but I do see that OEMs are expanding their Chromebook lineups and while initially Chromebooks started with just Samsung (and to a lesser degree Acer), now every PC OEM is on the Chromebook bandwagon. Surely they're in it because they see profits in the segment.
And I know from personal experience that Chromebooks are much more than a supplementary device. Google was wrong to position them initially as that, and now in 2014, you can pretty much do everything that an average consumer may want to do on a Chromebook. My dad, my aunt and my in-laws all now use Chromebooks as their only computing device (in addition to their smartphones). Chromebooks do everything they want, and it's been a liberating experience for me. As the family's support person, I don't have to worry about viruses and malware on their computers anymore (I tried educating them for over a decade on what to click on and never to download things from untrusted sources etc to no avail, every single holiday I spent hours cleaning their windows machines from viruses). I don't have to teach them about file management and back up and where to save things and how to save them anymore, it's all "there in the cloud" and they can get their pictures and documents without knowing where they actually are. Everything is automatically backed up, everything is automatically synced. Lost your laptop? No problem, here is a new one, just sign in and everything will be exactly how you left it off.
I'm buying two more Chromebooks for my family this holiday season, and after that, that's it. If any family member wants me to help with their computer needs, they have to have a Chromebook. I'm done supporting Windows machines.
You can argue all you want about how "real power users like the AT crowed" don't use Chromebooks, but for me, Chromebooks have been the biggest thing that happened to my family's computing experience since Windows 95. I am one of AT's core audience, I've been a sysadmin for a great part of my working life, and I care more about Chromebook reviews than I care about a lot of other stuff that AT does cover in depth.
Exact same experience here. Since recommending Chromebooks to friends and family whose computers I used to clean up twice a year. Not a bleep anymore. No virus, no bloatware, no slowdowns after a period. Just happy users who are amazed that for so little money they got a thin and portable device that also lasts hours on a battery. A thing that with Windows or Apple computers you only manage for 1000 euro's or more. Now if programming (PHPStorm, WebStorm, Android studio) worked on them, I might even consider switching.
I understand where you're coming from as I have seven siblings, and all of them have come to me for computer support at one point or another due to a virus infection (not to mention both my parents as well). The problem is that many of the infections come from doing things you can't do on a Chromebook.
One brother has had at least three infections in the last year from his son looking for "free games" or similar options, but he wants to play games on the PC. Sure a Chromebook would prevent the infection...and it would prevent playing anything other than browser-based games in the process. My dad is in the same boat -- I'd love to recommend a Chromebook, but what's he going to do with the thousands of photos he takes each year? Pxlr can do some interesting stuff, but if you're going through hundreds of photos it's a real pain in the rear.
I suspect the next time my mom needs a new PC she'll be getting a Chromebook. She's the one that does the least on her laptop right now (basically just email and web stuff), but even then I know there are some specific applications that she uses that are not currently available in a web-based form.
My question is this: you are happy to have your family members and others using Chromebooks as it means you no longer have to help them out with computer problems; but do you use a Chromebook as your primary PC? It sounds like aryonoco at least merely views them as a great way to stop family and friends from getting into trouble -- along with a lot of other things -- but he's still using a Windows system. If it's not good enough for you to use, the only way it's good enough for others is if they don't do as much on the PC. Chromebooks might suffice, but that's about as far as I'd take it right now.
Jarred, the three family members that I spoke of that have switched to Chromebooks absolutely Love their machines. They think they are fast, light, and "just so nice to use". I've heard the word "speedy" used to refer to them on more than one occasion. Go to amazon and have a look at the average rating of Chromebooks, and then compare that with average rating of similarly-priced Windows machines. There is a huge gap there, and there is a reason why users love Chromebooks.
The vast majority of people do not take thousands of photos and then edit them with Photoshop. From where I sit, most people are just taking pictures with their smartphones these days, and they actually love the G+ Photos integration between Android and Chrome OS where their pictures are backed up automatically to the cloud and when they open their laptop, it's there. My Dad did have a camera before, but he never could master the process (connect your camera to your laptop, transfer the files, now delete the originals off the camera, now back up your photos, etc). I've seen time and time how these people struggle to get their head around concepts like files and folders (which is why the Desktop becomes a dumping ground).
There was only one application that they used that they couldn't find on Chrome OS and that was Skype. But they have now switched to Hangouts and seem happy with it.
No I don't use ChromeOS as my main OS. I can't. I do Android and Web development and the tools that I need for my work aren't there yet (though surprisingly they are getting there, there are now good Web IDEs available that are more than usable, and adb and fastboot are now available too, and there are good LaTeX editors too). But I don't see the relationship between what I do, and what the average user does with their computer. My family members aren't developers, they don't need the tools I need. Sure they don't do as much with their PC as I do.
In pretty much every family, there is a computer nerd/geek type that provides tech advice and buying advice to their family. We the AT readers are generally those people. But in giving this advice, we always take the user's requirements into account. We don't recommend them the same thing we necessarily are using ourselves. I for example need at least 16GB of RAM in my machine (32GB is probably even better) to do Android dev. Does the average user need 16GB of RAM? No they don't (at this point). Do I recommend them a laptop with 16GB of RAM? No I don't. Why is the advice on what platform to use any different?
What I'm trying to say Jarred is that yes there are certain limitations that come with Chromebooks. But in my eyes, and in the eyes of many users, those limitations are actually features. You seem to think that "Chromebooks might suffice" for some users. That's not how I see it. The way I see it, Chromebooks introduce a new computing paradigm to average users, and one that I find vastly preferable to Windows or OSX or Linux. There are people that are buying Chromebooks not "in spite" of them running ChromeOS, but absolutely because they are running ChromeOS.
You seem to suggest that the only reason why anyone would buy a Chromebook is price. Sure, price had a lot to do with the initial popularity of Chromebooks, but right now, Chromebooks are a whole lot more. There are users, my Dad as an example, who are more than happy to spend $300 or $400 or even more on a quality device, but they do actually prefer Chromebooks for their usage model. For them, it's a no brainer to spend a bit more money and get a decent screen and good speakers, and that's something I think you are missing from your Chromebook coverage.
your forgetting the cost of color calibrating the display. Once at the panel factory, and again during final assembly. Now Toshiba might not be doing this, but from the sounds of the reviews, it sounds like it is calibrated.
This could add costs as well. also the Toshiba Chomebook 2 is no slouch. It has a Dual core Celeron, and 4GB Ram. What other chromebook is faster and under $350?
> If I'm buying a Chromebook, I'd probably be going after minimum cost > as the primary consideration
Well, that's the problem right there: you seemingly fail to understand that Chromebooks do what 95% of people require. It's inappropriate comments like yours that lead folks astray and keep the focus on the cheapest box.
For most people who use PC's, Chromebooks have finally delivered on the great unfulfilled promise: a PC without all the usual PC bullshit. Whoever comes out with a top-quality mid-range Chromebook will gobble market share faster than most so-called analysts would believe possible.
The problem isn't that a good screen costs $100 more. The problem is that nobody makes one with a great screen, a great backlit keyboard, and a bit more storage for $200 more. We don't need another $200 cheapie. What we need is a $500 machine that puts quality where people see it with their eyes and touch it with their fingertips.
"IPS on the Toshiba is worth mentioning, and I'll fix that, but does it warrant a $100 price premium?"
Currently the Toshiba 1080p IPS is #3 on the best selling list on Amazon. Apparently some people do care. And for a device that many use to watch video's, Netflix, etc. many will be prepared to a pay $389 for. Which is still a whole lot less than what you'd pay for an Apple or Windows computer with a similar display quality.
Thanks for the article. It is definitely helpful to get a good overview of the options out there.
I am a bit disappointed in the lack of variety in the options. There are too few that come with touchscreen options, which I don't think is necessary for most users, but would be nice to have, especially if google is going to bring Android apps to ChromeOS.
I'd also really like to see more options with cellular connectivity, if nothing else to take advantage of the T-Mobile 200mb of free data per month offer. This seems like an obvious way to make a Chromebook more useful on the go, even if it is in a limited way. I really like the idea of being able to pay T-Mobile for extra data in the times when you really need it, especially when it is often much cheaper than paying an Airport or Hotel for WiFi.
I've written my own holiday Chromebook buyers guide:
There are two reasons you might want a Chromebook. The first is if you want to save money on your only computer. In that case, don't buy one. Otherwise if you're buying it to play around with and you already own several Windows computers then get an Toshiba Chromebook 2.
There you go, it's nearly as informative and will result in less disappointed people returning their Chromebooks after trying to install Word on one.
I have a HP 14 its a great machine (admittedly its not my primary work machine) but at work we're linked by Google Drive Gmail etc, so it works for me as a check my emails at home or whatever! I'm at a loss why the reviewers bang on about the fact Chromebooks don't have word or excel! You can load your Chromebook with One Drive (you get 15gb of free cloude storage too) Online Windows, Excel and Powerpoint is a free download from the web store. You can even get Outlook and synch all your emails there!
Yeah it's almost as lame an excuse as those that write "A Chromebook is useless without a internet connection!"
1. This is 2014 and not 1998 anymore. If you still live in the third world or an area with zero connectivity then move. Or perhaps buying Chromebook should not be top of your agenda?
2. Most full size desktops/laptops and tablets are pretty 'useless' for most people without an internet connection. Not just Chromebooks.
OneDrive Office apps are not at all the same as the offline versions. In fact, functionally they are far more like Google Spreadsheets (in Excel). I can't say I've had much in the way of difficulties with the online Word or Documents apps compared to local Word 2010, but for Excel (see below) there are all sorts of small things that just quickly add up to a less than stellar experience with the Google Drive / OneDrive "equivalents".
1. it costs monthly money. Tethering isn't free either even if you have a mobile phone subscription. 2. except for watching a movie or playing SP video games, or reading stuff.
1. Actually internet connectivity isn't as much of a problem in the third or industrialized world as it is in the US :). Not to mention the ridiculous pricing US has :D.
Chromebooks offer functions ordinary people need and broadminded OS independent power users can appreciate and work with :). Not all power users need to be gamers ;).
What are these "mundane" tasks you can't do in Google Sheets? I use it all the time and it's great. I haven't had Excel installed for years.
These days my Macbook is just a really expensive Chromebook with a nice native terminal. Too bad there are no Chromebooks that have the build quality, screen quality, and battery life to match.
It's not a matter of not being able to do them; it's a matter of the steps being more time consuming. Simple things like opening the file just takes longer, the user interface feels sluggish, and then try doing something like the following:
1) You have a bunch of tables (ten maybe) and you want to add one more item to each table. In Excel, you can Ctrl+Click on ten lines and then "Insert Row" and you'll get ten new lines spaced throughout the spreadsheet. In Google Spreadsheets (or OneDrive as well -- you do know that the online Office apps aren't the same functionality as a normal Office install, right?), you have to do each row separately.
2) Maybe you have some rows that you want to move around. Excel, you select the rows, hit "Cut" (CTRL+X), then go to the place you want them and right-click to "Insert Cut Rows". (You can also do this with a copy.) In Spreadsheets/OneDrive, you don't get that "Insert Cut/Copied Rows" option, so you have to manually insert the appropriate number of rows and then paste the data -- and if you're doing 15 rows, you have to count to make sure you select the correct number of rows. It's an extra, annoying step.
3) Don't forget the general sluggishness of working in Spreadsheets vs. on a local copy of Excel. Files open almost instantly when you're local (if Excel is already open), and manipulating simple data never causes odd stalls that can sometimes last 5-10 seconds. Just opening the main Google Drive / OneDrive interface and seeing your files can take 15 seconds or more (and that's on my desktop, not on a Chromebook).
I've used Spreadsheets for certain things in the past (data scraping with ImportXML is much better than anything I've managed within Excel), but functionality and performance are a far cry from my Office 2010 experience -- or even Office 2007 or 2003.
As someone who occasionally uses Google's app when I don't have access to a full copy of MS Office, the general sluggishness even with small files is the biggest pain point while using them.
There's something to be said about "Free instead of $130, and all your documents available on any Internet-connected computer or mobile device you sit down at."
Microsoft is bringing many of the benefits to Office 365, which will probably eventually reach feature parity with the desktop version, but at the moment I think Google's head start still has them ahead.
Maybe I am not reading your remarks right, but it seems you can do the things you are looking for, but it works just a little different.
1) In rows sidebar (where the row numbers are) you can select multiple rows (say 10) then right click (in the sidebar) and there are "Insert 10 Above" and "Insert 10 Below" options.
2) In Docs you can select multiple rows or columns and then drag and drop them to where you want. That is a lot quicker than manually inserting the rows.
3) Yep. Local editing on a Windows is quicker.
The way you can cooperate with multiple people in Google Docs (and other cloud solutions) is mostly what many people can not live without once they are used to it.
The fact that documents are automatically backed up and there is a history does not hurt either.
1) I mean rows that are not consecutive, hence the "ten tables". This is something I routinely have to do with AnandTech graphs -- add one more laptop at the end of each table, and then I need to manually key in the scores. There are other ways to do it -- copy the spreadsheet into Notepad++, then do a find/replace where you insert the rows -- but obviously that doesn't work on a Chromebook either. But many times I have CTRL+Clicked at the end of each table section in Excel and then when you select "Insert" you get blank lines inserted throughout the spreadsheet.
2) Drag/drop of content can work, but if you're moving things around in a large spreadsheet that happens to have 500+ rows that's really messy. So in Excel I "cut" the rows I want to move and then right-click and "insert cut rows". There are also times when I want to copy some rows and insert them, and doing CTRL+drag is again a bit cumbersome for me. Basically, my experience is that as a power user, keyboard shortcuts are extremely convenient (and they can be programmed into macros with, say, Autohotkey if you use them a lot). For normal users that's not really needed, but someone that does a lot of spreadsheet work is very likely to find the web-based versions lacking.
Your final points are definitely items that I like, which is why the other drawbacks are so frustrating. Believe me, I've tried on several occasions to give up MS Office and move to Google Docs/Drive, but without success. I do enable auto backups of course, though they're local as I'm using an old 2010 version of Office. SkyDrive helps get around that problem however.
I have the old original Samsung 11" Chromebook and to be honest it still works great today. Battery life is still pretty good and for general use its motors long nicely. When folks say "It grinds to a halt with 200 tabs open!" I think it says more about their usage patterns than any shortcoming of the little Samsung.
These Chromebooks are really limited in use and not worth-it at all. If you don't need a full windows experience, just get a iPad or Android tablet + BT keyboard (if needed). Waste of money....
Android or iOS with a keyboard is nowhere near the same experience as a laptop. Sorry. Yes it's more portable, yes it does other things better than a Chromebook, and yes there are far more apps available. But if you just want to hammer out a bunch of paragraphs of text? I'd take a Chromebook over any tablet -- and I'd get a 13.3" Chromebook just so I didn't have to squint at the screen.
Agreed. I recently tried to cope with an iPad Mini + BT Keyboard while travelling. It actually worked pretty well and was super portable. However, Safari can't seem to keep more than two tabs open in the background so I'd regularly lose any text I'd written on a webpage whenever I switched to another tab. That was frustrating.
I've actually just ordered a Toshiba Chromebook 2 to replace the iPad Mini since I rarely use the tablet much anyway. I've never owned a laptop but have always been intrigued by Chromebooks since the browser is essentially all I ever use. It'll be interesting to see what it's like.
The C720 and Acer Chromebook 13 (1080p version) both support playing 1080p60. I did see some dropped frames at times, but nothing horrible -- at least in fullscreen view. In the "normal" YouTube view, FPS is more like 35-55 on the video I checked. Interestingly, again the Celeron 2955U seems to win out on performance compared to the Tegra K1, though I'm not ready to state that definitively. Basically, the C720 locked in to 60 FPS better than the TK1, but that was also with a 1366x768 panel so it's downscaling and not playing 1080p60 natively.
Thanks for that, I'm considering the Toshiba Chromebook 2. Interestingly, the video playback on Baytrail via IE11 is pretty amazing in Windows 8 - I tested it on a T100. The old YouTube 60fps hack (selecting 2x speed on a standard 30fps video) produced better playback than my MacBook Air in Safari and Chrome. In fact, it was flawless at 1080p.
I bought a Chromebook (HP 14 4gb) to use as a cheap linux notebook. It seems like an absolute no-brainer to get a reasonably priced box on to which I'll throw my distro of choice on it. It might not be anywhere near the intended use-case, but it's something computer enthusiasts on a budget should always consider.
I haven't looked lately, but if someone makes an i3 with 11-14 inch IPS screen CB, I'll buy one immediately. Well, as long as it's not priced absurdly.
Unless you're going to completely wipe the thing, you're better off sticking to Crouton, which means Ubuntu. You're going to get a better experience with web browsing in ChromeOS natively than you'll get with anything on Linux (if only due to Google targetting a limited platform, with ChromeOS having had stuff like Netflix playback for ages), so that way you get the best of both worlds: ChromeOS for web browsing, an Ubuntu desktop for anything else.
echoing the many comments here, this was a horrible article. jarred seems like that reluctant child in school who had been told to write an essay he had no interest in, but had to write it anyway just to appease his parents and teachers.
Interestingly, I wrote this article because I felt it was worth doing, not because I was asked to do it. Chromebooks are fine for some users, but you're insane if you think a power user can do everything they need with Chrome OS. In another year or two, Chromebooks could be truly useful, but the early version of Chrome OS was beyond horrible and even with a lot of worthwhile updates the platform is still very niche. If you like that niche, great -- but I'll be shocked if I ever see someone with a Chromebook that costs more than $300 in the wild (outside of hardware reviewers).
A power user installs Linux on a laptop anyway. No serious person would use Windows to get work done. Chromebooks are thus perfect - no Windows tax.
See, I can make sweeping statements about what people need, based on what people around me use (in my 70+ ppl company we have less than ten Windows users and I haven't used it in 5+ years at work, or privately in over 10. And no, I am not a programmer, not technical at all - just a bit geeky).
Glad to know that 90% of the work force doesn't do any serious work. The only people who use Linux are IT admins or longbeards that have no social skills. And where is it you work that has 70+ people and hardly any Windows users -- and I assume not OS X either? I have never seen any place outside of anti-Microsoft companies and IT departments where Windows or OS X isn't the standard OS.
First of all, the point of a buyer's guide (or any kind of review, really) is to talk about what's actually good, not just what people buy. Anandtech writes giant long reviews of $600 videocards; I guarantee that more people buy Chromebooks than buy $600 videocards.
Secondly, your big problem is that you're not thinking about Chromebooks sensibly. Quit thinking of them as cheap laptops that are super-limited compared to Windows PCs. Think about what people actually do with computers, and what devices make sense to do them with -- it'll quickly become clear that portability, long battery life, great displays, foolproof security, and minimal UI cruft are a lot more important to most people's home usage than being able to play some old PC games and run Office.
Irony: DosBox has an NaCL port, so a Chromebook can play "old PC games" just fine, if you define "old PC games" as "old enough to run in an emulator at full speed" :P
People forget that ChromeOS does support native apps. Think of NaCL as just a heavily sandboxed executable container.
Sorry, but I cannot live without Microsoft Office support. I've tried various alternatives over the years, including Corel and OpenOffice, and they just don't cut it. And those are far more potent than the limited features supported by browser based office applications. Give them a few more years and maybe they can start to actually replace MS Office for certain users, but Office is the standard and I receive emails every day with Office attachments that don't look right if opened in an alternative product.
I feel like there's a group of anti-establishment people trying to promote Chromebooks and other alternatives for whatever reason, just because it's not Microsoft. To beat MS you have to be better, not just different, and where Android is a viable OS I don't think Chrome is anywhere near what it needs to be to function as an OS.
Ironically, the support for Android apps coming to Chrome OS just emphasizes the fact that Google doesn't know what exactly their pet project is supposed to do. They're throwing mud at a wall and seeing what sticks!
If a Chromebook doesn't work for you, don't buy one. Also, if you can't look past your personal needs and imagine what other people might want, don't write tech articles about things that don't personally interest you.
Meanwhile, though, Gizmodo wrote an actually really good Chromebook roundup. I won't link to it here, because that seems a bit gauche, but among the things that make it better than this one are that they 1) actually used all the Chromebooks, so could speak in an informed way about them rather than just skimming spec pages, and 2) looked at the different things that would matter to different types of users, so that while they picked out an overall winner, they also recommended one for price-sensitive buyers, and one for people who really want a great keyboard.
It's a weird world where Gizmodo is writing in-depth, well-researched, on-point articles and Anandtech is churning out this sort of slapdash filler.
The Gizmodo article essentially boils everything down to one thing: typing on the Chromebook (with bonus points for the screen, plus a brief mention of battery life). I don't necessarily disagree with that assessment of what Chromebooks are good for, and I don't necessarily disagree that the Acer TK1 version is perhaps the best Chromebook in terms of typing experience.
What's interesting is that the keyboard layout (and key size) is identical between the C720 and the CB13 from Acer; the difference isn't even in key travel or -- as far as I can tell -- the surface of the keys. The only change (other than the larger screen and chassis) is that the springs under the keys are quieter on the CB13 than on the C720. As far as typing speed goes, I was marginally faster on the CB13 than on the C720 (78 vs. 74 WPM), but there's variability in typing tests and I may have just been a bit "lucky" with the CB13. Anyway, he can't stand the C720 keyboard but I don't mind it. This is the problem with keyboards and such: they're highly subjective. YMMV.
I need to get my hands on one of the Bay Trail models, just to see what they're like in practice. The C720 is noticeably faster than the CB13 in so many areas -- loading multiple tabs in a browser, scrolling through Facebook or other social media sites, just loading web pages in general -- that I prefer it to the CB13 in every way other than typing and battery life. I'm surprised that the N2830 isn't generally faster than the TK1, as it has pretty high clocks and I thought its architecture might be a bit faster than ARM, but maybe not. Celeron 2955U still wins though, except in battery life.
Well, what it focused on was the actual experience of using them, which is I think the important thing. Because Chromebooks are one of those areas where specs are important, but they're important insofar as they affect the lived experience of using the thing.
So for instance, my first Chromebook was the original HP 11 (the one they made in conjunction with Google). It did so much right -- the keyboard and trackpad were amazing (better than my MBP, and far, far better than any Windows laptop I'd used), the bright IPS screen was great, the portability of it was wonderful... but the performance was bad enough that in the end, it felt frustrating to use.
Whereas the Toshiba Chromebook 2 doesn't quite have that same amazing keyboard/trackpad (though they're still fine), but has an even better screen, and performance that crosses the Good Enough threshold (from benchmarks I've seen, N2840 is about 2-3x the performance of Cortex A15; that feels about right), and still maintains the easy portability, and the upshot is that when the MBP and the Chromebook are sitting next to each other, if I'm not actively doing work stuff, I will pick up the Chromebook every time, because it's more pleasant to use.
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mkozlows - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
This is a super-disappointing article, more the kind of clickbait I'd expect from a third-tier site than from Anandtech.I mean, to pick one example, the Toshiba Chromebook 2 is notable precisely because it has a wonderful 1080p IPS screen (making it the third Chromebook to have an IPS screen, after the original HP 11 and Pixel), and the author apparently isn't even sure if it's true and just kinda pastes in specs from Amazon.
A real version of this article, based on something more than half-assing a handful of specs off of Amazon pages, would be great. But this kind of cheap content-farm stuff doesn't belong on Anandtech.
telejohn - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
Actually there's a 4th chromebook with an IPS screen: The Lenovo Yoga 11e chromebook.mwatter - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
Agreed. Article was a waste. Maybe they should have picked someone who was actually a fan of Chromebooks to write the "Chromebook Buyer's Guide". And glossing over details on the screens in these machines when the screens are THE differentiating feature (IPS is huge!) is criminal.Minion4Hire - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
How many "actual fans" of Chromebooks are there? It's a very niche market right now, and one that doesn't satisfy most power users (of which I would assume most Anandtech writers would qualify)JarredWalton - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
There's a reason Chromebooks were created, and it was not to satisfy the needs of power users or people that want a high quality IPS display. The Chromebook Pixel has an even better display, faster CPU, true SSD... and a price that's basically laughable. I've read articles that basically say, "Even if I were to get the Pixel for free, and even though it's the best possible Chromebook experience, I still want to use a different device because Chrome OS is too limiting."The IPS panel in the Toshiba Chromebook 2 Full HD version is indeed its differentiating feature, just like the N20p's differentiating feature is the 300 degree hinge and stand mode. I'd take the IPS over the stand mode, sure, but no matter how nice the display I'm still going to want a better laptop for daily use.
If power users are the most likely candidates for buying a more expensive Chromebook with an IPS display, and yet they're also the most likely to be frustrated with Chrome OS in general... do you see the problem? The Acer C720 has been one of the best selling laptops since it launched, and it's the quintessential Chromebook experience: small, fast enough, good battery life, but above all extremely affordable. I'd wager most Chromebooks are purchased thanks to the rock-bottom price; for schools that use them the manageability aspects are also a benefit, but they're still interested in the low price. You're not going to sell either group on a $100 upgrade for a better display.
(Note: This is more for mwatter, not for Minion4Hire.)
jospoortvliet - Thursday, November 27, 2014 - link
My JOB consists of nothing more than what I can do on a chromebook - and I explicitly don't want OS X or Windows due to the overhead of managing them. So yeah, a high end chromebook is what I am looking for. High end in terms of battery life, screen, keyboard and general build quality - ARM CPU is fine (fanless!) But IPS screen & battery matter. And $500 is fine.mkozlows - Thursday, November 27, 2014 - link
See, and this is what I'm talking about. You don't like ChromeOS. You don't understand ChromeOS. As far as you're concerned, if you're getting a junky old Chromebook, it doesn't matter what you get, so why not get the cheapest one.I do like ChromeOS. I use ChromeOS. And what I want is what any sophisticated user wants: I want an elegant, clean UI with no crufty overhead (which ChromeOS delivers far, far, far, far more than Windows, and even more than OSX); I want an ultra-light fanless PC; I want battery life that goes forever; I want a bright, sharp, colorful screen with no viewing angle issues; I want a great keyboard and a great trackpad; I want speakers that provide good quality sound; I want solid build quality.
Your "buyer's guide" basically starts from the premise that nobody really wants these things, and then is like "well, here's the cheapest ones, and if you want to spend more, get something else." That's ridiculous and useless.
Techinator - Thursday, November 27, 2014 - link
Comments like yours make me think you work for Google, in their Chromebook division. I didn't feel Jarred's discussion was at all out of line, and you can count me into the group of people that thinks Chromebooks are horrible.Oh, they're great for others to use, especially people that I don't want to provide tech support for (hello mom and dad), but I cannot use Chrome OS for any real work. Chrome has a clean UI, sure... because there's nothing else behind it. That's like saying a web browser has a clean UI -- it had better, as it's an application not an operating system!
I could have summarized this whole article in a short sentence: if you use your computer for real work, don't bother with Chromebooks -- get a real laptop. If you can do what you need to do on a Chromebook, then you can do it on a smartphone or a tablet. And to the guy that has a JOB that consists of only things he can do on a Chromebook... what exactly is it you do for a living? $500 for a faux laptop that can only surf the web? Did you work on the Pixel or something?
janderk - Friday, November 28, 2014 - link
Comments like yours make me think you work for Apple/Microsoft ;)While I do my work on an expensive laptop, mainly due programming environments that are not available on ChromeOS. I do recommend Chromebooks to 90% of the people and they are all perfectly happy. What you get for the price is nothing short of amazing. For less than $400 you get a 1080p IPS display on a quite a snappy computer due to SSD and low resource OS, on a thin form factor and with a very good battery time. You can buy two and a half of these laptops for the price of one 13" Macbook Air (which I used to recommend for people wanting a trouble free pc). And then the Air is put to shame due to its way inferior low quality (TN), low resolution screen (1440 by 900).
I do understand why Chromebooks get so popular so quickly.
andychow - Saturday, December 6, 2014 - link
I'm one. I had to buy a laptop, money was not an issue. After researching for a while, I got the samsung ARM chromebook. Why? No moving parts (including passive cooling), which means I can be rough with it (say, while travelling), great security, automatic online backup of settings, so if it's stolen or destroyed you lose nothing, and built-in SSH. If you're a power user, you probably own a powerful desktop or server. So powerful laptop is useless if you're ssh-ing into your real machine all the time.I almost got the Pixel, but the battery life was the problem for me.
Morawka - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
The Verge has a excellent Chromebook roundup, and not supprisingly the Toshiba Chomebook 2 won by a big margin. The K1 from Acer was great, but the screen was absolute garbage despite it being 1080p.The toshiba Chromebook 2 has a 1080p IPS screen that is the star of the show. It looks and feels almost like a Mac Book Air. It's a little pricy for the upgraded version tho. $350 for 4GB 1080p.
Egg - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
Agreed, I can't believe they missed the fact that the Toshiba has a 1080p IPS screen.JarredWalton - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
Truth be told, I was working on a budget laptop article and thought about mentioning Chromebooks, but there's so much more to be said that I split it out into a separate piece. Here's the thing: IPS on the Toshiba is worth mentioning, and I'll fix that, but does it warrant a $100 price premium? If I'm buying a Chromebook, I'd probably be going after minimum cost as the primary consideration. A better screen on a Chromebook is almost a waste. What's particularly frustrating is that the difference in BOM between the junk displays and an IPS 1080p panel is going to be $25, maybe $50 at most, but it comes with a $100+ increase in price. Not that it doesn't happen with all other laptops as well....A5 - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
If you're looking for any input on the budget laptop article, *please* try to find models that aren't 1366x768 in the 14" or 15" size.Stuff like the Lenovo Z40/50 is intriguing just because they offer 1080p for a decent price, but I have no idea if it otherwise any good.
Qwertilot - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
Isn't a better screen almost the only thing which isn't a waste of money on a Chromebook?You spend quite a while looking at it :)
JarredWalton - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
It is the part that you look at the most, sure, but it's still a big jump in price. If you're willing to spend $330 instead of $180, well, that opens the door to a lot of other possibilities. Here's a $310 notebook that has a full copy of Windows, a much faster A8-7100 APU (which is viable for light to moderate gaming)... and a crappy display with a larger chassis; still, $310 is hard to argue with. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K2O4QO0?tag=dosk-20If we demand everything has to have a quality display because "it's the thing you look at the most", we also have to be prepared to increase the price of most devices by $50-$100. Unfortunately for people that care about display quality, there are droves of buyers that want the lowest price possible. Until they change their ways (hint: there will always be budget buyers that don't care about the display or build quality), we're not going to get rid of 1366x768 TN panels.
jospoortvliet - Thursday, November 27, 2014 - link
I would argue that the short battery life and bad build quality makes that 'laptop' nearly useless. I wouldn't know why anybody would want a device which is meant to be portable but actually isn't. No, a chromebook with a decent screen and battery life beats a faster but unusable device... Performance matters less than screen and build quality to me. It is in the end about user experience, not about specs. I understand you tend to forget that, as hardware reviewer, sometimes, but this is exactly why chromebooks sell so well.mkozlows - Thursday, November 27, 2014 - link
I am just boggling at this.Compared to the Chromebook 2, that thing is unbelievably, incredibly worse. It's gigantic and bulky (5.5 lbs compared to < 3lbs); it's got a terrible, godawful screen (1366x768 TN vs. 1080p IPS); it has a spinny disk hard drive that means you can't just toss it around; it has fans, so you have to make sure the vents are clear if you're using it in bed or whatever; it gives up 3 hours of battery life to the Chromebook; the trackpad is probably terrible; and of course, you're stuck with Windows, and all the crufty overhead that entails.
It is purely worse than the Toshiba Chromebook 2 in every way that matters, but you think it's obviously superior because... what, you can play (a few) games on it?
Techinator - Thursday, November 27, 2014 - link
The Internet is full of idiots with blinders on, not to mention a healthy dose of hyperbole. I believe the statement was that $300+ "opens the doors to a lot of other possibilities" and just one example was provided that was faster and has a real OS on it. Battery life is only important if you're constantly on the go, and not everyone wants to use a tiny screen and keyboard. I even have a friend that only uses 17.3" laptops because he can't see the screen well enough on smaller options. By the way, eMMC is often slower than a hard drive, and 16GB is only sufficient if you don't want anything stored local, including movies and images.Chromebooks work for some people I guess, but to pretend that just because a Chromebook has a decent screen that it's some panacea is a joke. I would take a lousy screen with a Windows notebook over a Chromebook with a good screen any day of the week.
ImSpartacus - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
I appreciate the explanation. That's reasonable.aryonoco - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
Jarred, first of all thanks for the article, and especially thanks for always keeping an eye on Chromebooks (which do not have such a great rap here).But I have to say, I strongly disagree with you here. Have you ever actually used a Toshiba Chromebook 2 for any significant period of time? The panel is great, not only is it IPS, it is very well calibrated, good contrast, deep darks, accurate colours. These are things that AnandTech pays a lot of attention to on its tablet reviews. Why do they not matter in a Chromebook in your opinion?
Secondly, it's not just the panel. It's one of the very few Chromebooks that has a decent speaker. You might not care so much for that, but a lot of the target demographics of Chromebooks (my aging Dad for example) do. That's the one thing he cares about in a laptop, and he'd gladly pay $100 just for that.
Then there is the build quality, the very good keyboard, etc.
In all, I think right now the Toshiba Chromebook 2 is head and shoulders above others, and it well justifies its premium. But it would be great to see a review of this unit, or any of the TK1 models here on AnandTech.
Minion4Hire - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
I think the biggest problem here is that a better screen is a luxury. It does not change the underlying experience that users are going to have with Chrome OS. If the OS itself is suitable to their needs then a better screen is worth considering. But for those who aren't familiar with it or already have a notebook/ultrabook and are looking for a Chromebook as a supplemental device, spending more money than necessary isn't likely to happen.But the following article should highlight the most important aspect here: http://goo.gl/Ygh64f
Chromebooks MAY grab 5% of all PC sales by 2017. And that's assuming that sales to its primary market of K-12 education continues to rise. Chromebooks and Chrome OS offer such a niche product that devoting a substantial amount of time to reviewing and testing them here is arguably a bad idea for the type of review site that Anandtech is. Their core audience isn't interested in them. If you personally are then that's grand, but you are likely the minority.
I can understand wanting more from an article that appears on Anandtech. But to be honest I was surprised to see a Chromebook article here all. The article's (relatively) short length and depth equally reflects Chrome OS's very small standing in the marketplace.
aryonoco - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
This completely misses the point of the Chromebooks.I can't talk about marketshare (and I know from years of watching Analyst houses with their horrendous record of predicting Android and Windows Phone/Mobile marketshare never to pay any attention to what they say), but I do see that OEMs are expanding their Chromebook lineups and while initially Chromebooks started with just Samsung (and to a lesser degree Acer), now every PC OEM is on the Chromebook bandwagon. Surely they're in it because they see profits in the segment.
And I know from personal experience that Chromebooks are much more than a supplementary device. Google was wrong to position them initially as that, and now in 2014, you can pretty much do everything that an average consumer may want to do on a Chromebook. My dad, my aunt and my in-laws all now use Chromebooks as their only computing device (in addition to their smartphones). Chromebooks do everything they want, and it's been a liberating experience for me. As the family's support person, I don't have to worry about viruses and malware on their computers anymore (I tried educating them for over a decade on what to click on and never to download things from untrusted sources etc to no avail, every single holiday I spent hours cleaning their windows machines from viruses). I don't have to teach them about file management and back up and where to save things and how to save them anymore, it's all "there in the cloud" and they can get their pictures and documents without knowing where they actually are. Everything is automatically backed up, everything is automatically synced. Lost your laptop? No problem, here is a new one, just sign in and everything will be exactly how you left it off.
I'm buying two more Chromebooks for my family this holiday season, and after that, that's it. If any family member wants me to help with their computer needs, they have to have a Chromebook. I'm done supporting Windows machines.
You can argue all you want about how "real power users like the AT crowed" don't use Chromebooks, but for me, Chromebooks have been the biggest thing that happened to my family's computing experience since Windows 95. I am one of AT's core audience, I've been a sysadmin for a great part of my working life, and I care more about Chromebook reviews than I care about a lot of other stuff that AT does cover in depth.
janderk - Thursday, November 27, 2014 - link
Exact same experience here. Since recommending Chromebooks to friends and family whose computers I used to clean up twice a year. Not a bleep anymore. No virus, no bloatware, no slowdowns after a period. Just happy users who are amazed that for so little money they got a thin and portable device that also lasts hours on a battery. A thing that with Windows or Apple computers you only manage for 1000 euro's or more. Now if programming (PHPStorm, WebStorm, Android studio) worked on them, I might even consider switching.JarredWalton - Thursday, November 27, 2014 - link
I understand where you're coming from as I have seven siblings, and all of them have come to me for computer support at one point or another due to a virus infection (not to mention both my parents as well). The problem is that many of the infections come from doing things you can't do on a Chromebook.One brother has had at least three infections in the last year from his son looking for "free games" or similar options, but he wants to play games on the PC. Sure a Chromebook would prevent the infection...and it would prevent playing anything other than browser-based games in the process. My dad is in the same boat -- I'd love to recommend a Chromebook, but what's he going to do with the thousands of photos he takes each year? Pxlr can do some interesting stuff, but if you're going through hundreds of photos it's a real pain in the rear.
I suspect the next time my mom needs a new PC she'll be getting a Chromebook. She's the one that does the least on her laptop right now (basically just email and web stuff), but even then I know there are some specific applications that she uses that are not currently available in a web-based form.
My question is this: you are happy to have your family members and others using Chromebooks as it means you no longer have to help them out with computer problems; but do you use a Chromebook as your primary PC? It sounds like aryonoco at least merely views them as a great way to stop family and friends from getting into trouble -- along with a lot of other things -- but he's still using a Windows system. If it's not good enough for you to use, the only way it's good enough for others is if they don't do as much on the PC. Chromebooks might suffice, but that's about as far as I'd take it right now.
aryonoco - Friday, November 28, 2014 - link
Jarred, the three family members that I spoke of that have switched to Chromebooks absolutely Love their machines. They think they are fast, light, and "just so nice to use". I've heard the word "speedy" used to refer to them on more than one occasion. Go to amazon and have a look at the average rating of Chromebooks, and then compare that with average rating of similarly-priced Windows machines. There is a huge gap there, and there is a reason why users love Chromebooks.The vast majority of people do not take thousands of photos and then edit them with Photoshop. From where I sit, most people are just taking pictures with their smartphones these days, and they actually love the G+ Photos integration between Android and Chrome OS where their pictures are backed up automatically to the cloud and when they open their laptop, it's there. My Dad did have a camera before, but he never could master the process (connect your camera to your laptop, transfer the files, now delete the originals off the camera, now back up your photos, etc). I've seen time and time how these people struggle to get their head around concepts like files and folders (which is why the Desktop becomes a dumping ground).
There was only one application that they used that they couldn't find on Chrome OS and that was Skype. But they have now switched to Hangouts and seem happy with it.
No I don't use ChromeOS as my main OS. I can't. I do Android and Web development and the tools that I need for my work aren't there yet (though surprisingly they are getting there, there are now good Web IDEs available that are more than usable, and adb and fastboot are now available too, and there are good LaTeX editors too). But I don't see the relationship between what I do, and what the average user does with their computer. My family members aren't developers, they don't need the tools I need. Sure they don't do as much with their PC as I do.
In pretty much every family, there is a computer nerd/geek type that provides tech advice and buying advice to their family. We the AT readers are generally those people. But in giving this advice, we always take the user's requirements into account. We don't recommend them the same thing we necessarily are using ourselves. I for example need at least 16GB of RAM in my machine (32GB is probably even better) to do Android dev. Does the average user need 16GB of RAM? No they don't (at this point). Do I recommend them a laptop with 16GB of RAM? No I don't. Why is the advice on what platform to use any different?
What I'm trying to say Jarred is that yes there are certain limitations that come with Chromebooks. But in my eyes, and in the eyes of many users, those limitations are actually features. You seem to think that "Chromebooks might suffice" for some users. That's not how I see it. The way I see it, Chromebooks introduce a new computing paradigm to average users, and one that I find vastly preferable to Windows or OSX or Linux. There are people that are buying Chromebooks not "in spite" of them running ChromeOS, but absolutely because they are running ChromeOS.
You seem to suggest that the only reason why anyone would buy a Chromebook is price. Sure, price had a lot to do with the initial popularity of Chromebooks, but right now, Chromebooks are a whole lot more. There are users, my Dad as an example, who are more than happy to spend $300 or $400 or even more on a quality device, but they do actually prefer Chromebooks for their usage model. For them, it's a no brainer to spend a bit more money and get a decent screen and good speakers, and that's something I think you are missing from your Chromebook coverage.
Morawka - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
your forgetting the cost of color calibrating the display. Once at the panel factory, and again during final assembly. Now Toshiba might not be doing this, but from the sounds of the reviews, it sounds like it is calibrated.This could add costs as well. also the Toshiba Chomebook 2 is no slouch. It has a Dual core Celeron, and 4GB Ram. What other chromebook is faster and under $350?
RShack - Thursday, November 27, 2014 - link
> If I'm buying a Chromebook, I'd probably be going after minimum cost> as the primary consideration
Well, that's the problem right there: you seemingly fail to understand that Chromebooks do what 95% of people require. It's inappropriate comments like yours that lead folks astray and keep the focus on the cheapest box.
For most people who use PC's, Chromebooks have finally delivered on the great unfulfilled promise: a PC without all the usual PC bullshit. Whoever comes out with a top-quality mid-range Chromebook will gobble market share faster than most so-called analysts would believe possible.
The problem isn't that a good screen costs $100 more. The problem is that nobody makes one with a great screen, a great backlit keyboard, and a bit more storage for $200 more. We don't need another $200 cheapie. What we need is a $500 machine that puts quality where people see it with their eyes and touch it with their fingertips.
janderk - Thursday, November 27, 2014 - link
"IPS on the Toshiba is worth mentioning, and I'll fix that, but does it warrant a $100 price premium?"Currently the Toshiba 1080p IPS is #3 on the best selling list on Amazon. Apparently some people do care. And for a device that many use to watch video's, Netflix, etc. many will be prepared to a pay $389 for. Which is still a whole lot less than what you'd pay for an Apple or Windows computer with a similar display quality.
jgstew - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
Thanks for the article. It is definitely helpful to get a good overview of the options out there.I am a bit disappointed in the lack of variety in the options. There are too few that come with touchscreen options, which I don't think is necessary for most users, but would be nice to have, especially if google is going to bring Android apps to ChromeOS.
I'd also really like to see more options with cellular connectivity, if nothing else to take advantage of the T-Mobile 200mb of free data per month offer. This seems like an obvious way to make a Chromebook more useful on the go, even if it is in a limited way. I really like the idea of being able to pay T-Mobile for extra data in the times when you really need it, especially when it is often much cheaper than paying an Airport or Hotel for WiFi.
jgstew - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
In addition, It would be very nice to know which of these Chromebooks, if any, have upgradable RAM.Flunk - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
I've written my own holiday Chromebook buyers guide:There are two reasons you might want a Chromebook. The first is if you want to save money on your only computer. In that case, don't buy one. Otherwise if you're buying it to play around with and you already own several Windows computers then get an Toshiba Chromebook 2.
There you go, it's nearly as informative and will result in less disappointed people returning their Chromebooks after trying to install Word on one.
Johnstone1961 - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
I have a HP 14 its a great machine (admittedly its not my primary work machine) but at work we're linked by Google Drive Gmail etc, so it works for me as a check my emails at home or whatever!I'm at a loss why the reviewers bang on about the fact Chromebooks don't have word or excel! You can load your Chromebook with One Drive (you get 15gb of free cloude storage too) Online Windows, Excel and Powerpoint is a free download from the web store. You can even get Outlook and synch all your emails there!
jabber - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
Yeah it's almost as lame an excuse as those that write "A Chromebook is useless without a internet connection!"1. This is 2014 and not 1998 anymore. If you still live in the third world or an area with zero connectivity then move. Or perhaps buying Chromebook should not be top of your agenda?
2. Most full size desktops/laptops and tablets are pretty 'useless' for most people without an internet connection. Not just Chromebooks.
JarredWalton - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
OneDrive Office apps are not at all the same as the offline versions. In fact, functionally they are far more like Google Spreadsheets (in Excel). I can't say I've had much in the way of difficulties with the online Word or Documents apps compared to local Word 2010, but for Excel (see below) there are all sorts of small things that just quickly add up to a less than stellar experience with the Google Drive / OneDrive "equivalents".Murloc - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
1. it costs monthly money. Tethering isn't free either even if you have a mobile phone subscription.2. except for watching a movie or playing SP video games, or reading stuff.
Badelk - Friday, December 5, 2014 - link
1. Actually internet connectivity isn't as much of a problem in the third or industrialized world as it is in the US :). Not to mention the ridiculous pricing US has :D.Chromebooks offer functions ordinary people need and broadminded OS independent power users can appreciate and work with :). Not all power users need to be gamers ;).
wffurr - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
What are these "mundane" tasks you can't do in Google Sheets? I use it all the time and it's great. I haven't had Excel installed for years.These days my Macbook is just a really expensive Chromebook with a nice native terminal. Too bad there are no Chromebooks that have the build quality, screen quality, and battery life to match.
JarredWalton - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
It's not a matter of not being able to do them; it's a matter of the steps being more time consuming. Simple things like opening the file just takes longer, the user interface feels sluggish, and then try doing something like the following:1) You have a bunch of tables (ten maybe) and you want to add one more item to each table. In Excel, you can Ctrl+Click on ten lines and then "Insert Row" and you'll get ten new lines spaced throughout the spreadsheet. In Google Spreadsheets (or OneDrive as well -- you do know that the online Office apps aren't the same functionality as a normal Office install, right?), you have to do each row separately.
2) Maybe you have some rows that you want to move around. Excel, you select the rows, hit "Cut" (CTRL+X), then go to the place you want them and right-click to "Insert Cut Rows". (You can also do this with a copy.) In Spreadsheets/OneDrive, you don't get that "Insert Cut/Copied Rows" option, so you have to manually insert the appropriate number of rows and then paste the data -- and if you're doing 15 rows, you have to count to make sure you select the correct number of rows. It's an extra, annoying step.
3) Don't forget the general sluggishness of working in Spreadsheets vs. on a local copy of Excel. Files open almost instantly when you're local (if Excel is already open), and manipulating simple data never causes odd stalls that can sometimes last 5-10 seconds. Just opening the main Google Drive / OneDrive interface and seeing your files can take 15 seconds or more (and that's on my desktop, not on a Chromebook).
I've used Spreadsheets for certain things in the past (data scraping with ImportXML is much better than anything I've managed within Excel), but functionality and performance are a far cry from my Office 2010 experience -- or even Office 2007 or 2003.
DanNeely - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
As someone who occasionally uses Google's app when I don't have access to a full copy of MS Office, the general sluggishness even with small files is the biggest pain point while using them.Guspaz - Thursday, November 27, 2014 - link
There's something to be said about "Free instead of $130, and all your documents available on any Internet-connected computer or mobile device you sit down at."Microsoft is bringing many of the benefits to Office 365, which will probably eventually reach feature parity with the desktop version, but at the moment I think Google's head start still has them ahead.
janderk - Friday, November 28, 2014 - link
Maybe I am not reading your remarks right, but it seems you can do the things you are looking for, but it works just a little different.1) In rows sidebar (where the row numbers are) you can select multiple rows (say 10) then right click (in the sidebar) and there are "Insert 10 Above" and "Insert 10 Below" options.
2) In Docs you can select multiple rows or columns and then drag and drop them to where you want. That is a lot quicker than manually inserting the rows.
3) Yep. Local editing on a Windows is quicker.
The way you can cooperate with multiple people in Google Docs (and other cloud solutions) is mostly what many people can not live without once they are used to it.
The fact that documents are automatically backed up and there is a history does not hurt either.
JarredWalton - Friday, November 28, 2014 - link
1) I mean rows that are not consecutive, hence the "ten tables". This is something I routinely have to do with AnandTech graphs -- add one more laptop at the end of each table, and then I need to manually key in the scores. There are other ways to do it -- copy the spreadsheet into Notepad++, then do a find/replace where you insert the rows -- but obviously that doesn't work on a Chromebook either. But many times I have CTRL+Clicked at the end of each table section in Excel and then when you select "Insert" you get blank lines inserted throughout the spreadsheet.2) Drag/drop of content can work, but if you're moving things around in a large spreadsheet that happens to have 500+ rows that's really messy. So in Excel I "cut" the rows I want to move and then right-click and "insert cut rows". There are also times when I want to copy some rows and insert them, and doing CTRL+drag is again a bit cumbersome for me. Basically, my experience is that as a power user, keyboard shortcuts are extremely convenient (and they can be programmed into macros with, say, Autohotkey if you use them a lot). For normal users that's not really needed, but someone that does a lot of spreadsheet work is very likely to find the web-based versions lacking.
Your final points are definitely items that I like, which is why the other drawbacks are so frustrating. Believe me, I've tried on several occasions to give up MS Office and move to Google Docs/Drive, but without success. I do enable auto backups of course, though they're local as I'm using an old 2010 version of Office. SkyDrive helps get around that problem however.
jabber - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
I have the old original Samsung 11" Chromebook and to be honest it still works great today. Battery life is still pretty good and for general use its motors long nicely. When folks say "It grinds to a halt with 200 tabs open!" I think it says more about their usage patterns than any shortcoming of the little Samsung.ExarKun333 - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
These Chromebooks are really limited in use and not worth-it at all. If you don't need a full windows experience, just get a iPad or Android tablet + BT keyboard (if needed). Waste of money....JarredWalton - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
Android or iOS with a keyboard is nowhere near the same experience as a laptop. Sorry. Yes it's more portable, yes it does other things better than a Chromebook, and yes there are far more apps available. But if you just want to hammer out a bunch of paragraphs of text? I'd take a Chromebook over any tablet -- and I'd get a 13.3" Chromebook just so I didn't have to squint at the screen.WakaMole - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
Agreed. I recently tried to cope with an iPad Mini + BT Keyboard while travelling. It actually worked pretty well and was super portable. However, Safari can't seem to keep more than two tabs open in the background so I'd regularly lose any text I'd written on a webpage whenever I switched to another tab. That was frustrating.I've actually just ordered a Toshiba Chromebook 2 to replace the iPad Mini since I rarely use the tablet much anyway. I've never owned a laptop but have always been intrigued by Chromebooks since the browser is essentially all I ever use. It'll be interesting to see what it's like.
OrphanageExplosion - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
Quick question: do Chromebooks support YouTube's new 720p and 1080p 60fps playback format?JarredWalton - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
The C720 and Acer Chromebook 13 (1080p version) both support playing 1080p60. I did see some dropped frames at times, but nothing horrible -- at least in fullscreen view. In the "normal" YouTube view, FPS is more like 35-55 on the video I checked. Interestingly, again the Celeron 2955U seems to win out on performance compared to the Tegra K1, though I'm not ready to state that definitively. Basically, the C720 locked in to 60 FPS better than the TK1, but that was also with a 1366x768 panel so it's downscaling and not playing 1080p60 natively.OrphanageExplosion - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
Thanks for that, I'm considering the Toshiba Chromebook 2. Interestingly, the video playback on Baytrail via IE11 is pretty amazing in Windows 8 - I tested it on a T100. The old YouTube 60fps hack (selecting 2x speed on a standard 30fps video) produced better playback than my MacBook Air in Safari and Chrome. In fact, it was flawless at 1080p.Murloc - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
I have yet to see a Chromebook, anywhere.SunburstLP - Thursday, November 27, 2014 - link
I bought a Chromebook (HP 14 4gb) to use as a cheap linux notebook. It seems like an absolute no-brainer to get a reasonably priced box on to which I'll throw my distro of choice on it. It might not be anywhere near the intended use-case, but it's something computer enthusiasts on a budget should always consider.I haven't looked lately, but if someone makes an i3 with 11-14 inch IPS screen CB, I'll buy one immediately. Well, as long as it's not priced absurdly.
Guspaz - Thursday, November 27, 2014 - link
Unless you're going to completely wipe the thing, you're better off sticking to Crouton, which means Ubuntu. You're going to get a better experience with web browsing in ChromeOS natively than you'll get with anything on Linux (if only due to Google targetting a limited platform, with ChromeOS having had stuff like Netflix playback for ages), so that way you get the best of both worlds: ChromeOS for web browsing, an Ubuntu desktop for anything else.thetrystero - Thursday, November 27, 2014 - link
echoing the many comments here, this was a horrible article. jarred seems like that reluctant child in school who had been told to write an essay he had no interest in, but had to write it anyway just to appease his parents and teachers.JarredWalton - Thursday, November 27, 2014 - link
Interestingly, I wrote this article because I felt it was worth doing, not because I was asked to do it. Chromebooks are fine for some users, but you're insane if you think a power user can do everything they need with Chrome OS. In another year or two, Chromebooks could be truly useful, but the early version of Chrome OS was beyond horrible and even with a lot of worthwhile updates the platform is still very niche. If you like that niche, great -- but I'll be shocked if I ever see someone with a Chromebook that costs more than $300 in the wild (outside of hardware reviewers).jospoortvliet - Thursday, November 27, 2014 - link
A power user installs Linux on a laptop anyway. No serious person would use Windows to get work done. Chromebooks are thus perfect - no Windows tax.See, I can make sweeping statements about what people need, based on what people around me use (in my 70+ ppl company we have less than ten Windows users and I haven't used it in 5+ years at work, or privately in over 10. And no, I am not a programmer, not technical at all - just a bit geeky).
Techinator - Thursday, November 27, 2014 - link
Glad to know that 90% of the work force doesn't do any serious work. The only people who use Linux are IT admins or longbeards that have no social skills. And where is it you work that has 70+ people and hardly any Windows users -- and I assume not OS X either? I have never seen any place outside of anti-Microsoft companies and IT departments where Windows or OS X isn't the standard OS.mkozlows - Thursday, November 27, 2014 - link
First of all, the point of a buyer's guide (or any kind of review, really) is to talk about what's actually good, not just what people buy. Anandtech writes giant long reviews of $600 videocards; I guarantee that more people buy Chromebooks than buy $600 videocards.Secondly, your big problem is that you're not thinking about Chromebooks sensibly. Quit thinking of them as cheap laptops that are super-limited compared to Windows PCs. Think about what people actually do with computers, and what devices make sense to do them with -- it'll quickly become clear that portability, long battery life, great displays, foolproof security, and minimal UI cruft are a lot more important to most people's home usage than being able to play some old PC games and run Office.
Guspaz - Thursday, November 27, 2014 - link
Irony: DosBox has an NaCL port, so a Chromebook can play "old PC games" just fine, if you define "old PC games" as "old enough to run in an emulator at full speed" :PPeople forget that ChromeOS does support native apps. Think of NaCL as just a heavily sandboxed executable container.
Techinator - Thursday, November 27, 2014 - link
Sorry, but I cannot live without Microsoft Office support. I've tried various alternatives over the years, including Corel and OpenOffice, and they just don't cut it. And those are far more potent than the limited features supported by browser based office applications. Give them a few more years and maybe they can start to actually replace MS Office for certain users, but Office is the standard and I receive emails every day with Office attachments that don't look right if opened in an alternative product.I feel like there's a group of anti-establishment people trying to promote Chromebooks and other alternatives for whatever reason, just because it's not Microsoft. To beat MS you have to be better, not just different, and where Android is a viable OS I don't think Chrome is anywhere near what it needs to be to function as an OS.
Ironically, the support for Android apps coming to Chrome OS just emphasizes the fact that Google doesn't know what exactly their pet project is supposed to do. They're throwing mud at a wall and seeing what sticks!
mkozlows - Friday, November 28, 2014 - link
If a Chromebook doesn't work for you, don't buy one. Also, if you can't look past your personal needs and imagine what other people might want, don't write tech articles about things that don't personally interest you.Meanwhile, though, Gizmodo wrote an actually really good Chromebook roundup. I won't link to it here, because that seems a bit gauche, but among the things that make it better than this one are that they 1) actually used all the Chromebooks, so could speak in an informed way about them rather than just skimming spec pages, and 2) looked at the different things that would matter to different types of users, so that while they picked out an overall winner, they also recommended one for price-sensitive buyers, and one for people who really want a great keyboard.
It's a weird world where Gizmodo is writing in-depth, well-researched, on-point articles and Anandtech is churning out this sort of slapdash filler.
JarredWalton - Friday, November 28, 2014 - link
The Gizmodo article essentially boils everything down to one thing: typing on the Chromebook (with bonus points for the screen, plus a brief mention of battery life). I don't necessarily disagree with that assessment of what Chromebooks are good for, and I don't necessarily disagree that the Acer TK1 version is perhaps the best Chromebook in terms of typing experience.What's interesting is that the keyboard layout (and key size) is identical between the C720 and the CB13 from Acer; the difference isn't even in key travel or -- as far as I can tell -- the surface of the keys. The only change (other than the larger screen and chassis) is that the springs under the keys are quieter on the CB13 than on the C720. As far as typing speed goes, I was marginally faster on the CB13 than on the C720 (78 vs. 74 WPM), but there's variability in typing tests and I may have just been a bit "lucky" with the CB13. Anyway, he can't stand the C720 keyboard but I don't mind it. This is the problem with keyboards and such: they're highly subjective. YMMV.
I need to get my hands on one of the Bay Trail models, just to see what they're like in practice. The C720 is noticeably faster than the CB13 in so many areas -- loading multiple tabs in a browser, scrolling through Facebook or other social media sites, just loading web pages in general -- that I prefer it to the CB13 in every way other than typing and battery life. I'm surprised that the N2830 isn't generally faster than the TK1, as it has pretty high clocks and I thought its architecture might be a bit faster than ARM, but maybe not. Celeron 2955U still wins though, except in battery life.
mkozlows - Friday, November 28, 2014 - link
Well, what it focused on was the actual experience of using them, which is I think the important thing. Because Chromebooks are one of those areas where specs are important, but they're important insofar as they affect the lived experience of using the thing.So for instance, my first Chromebook was the original HP 11 (the one they made in conjunction with Google). It did so much right -- the keyboard and trackpad were amazing (better than my MBP, and far, far better than any Windows laptop I'd used), the bright IPS screen was great, the portability of it was wonderful... but the performance was bad enough that in the end, it felt frustrating to use.
Whereas the Toshiba Chromebook 2 doesn't quite have that same amazing keyboard/trackpad (though they're still fine), but has an even better screen, and performance that crosses the Good Enough threshold (from benchmarks I've seen, N2840 is about 2-3x the performance of Cortex A15; that feels about right), and still maintains the easy portability, and the upshot is that when the MBP and the Chromebook are sitting next to each other, if I'm not actively doing work stuff, I will pick up the Chromebook every time, because it's more pleasant to use.
Antronman - Sunday, December 7, 2014 - link
Chromebook Buyer's Guide: The Real Guide 2014Step 1. Don't buy a Chromebook