I loved netbooks and actually still use my Samsung N210 occasionally. Over a period of 4 years I owned 3 models of Eee PCs, an HP (free at a Microsoft conference) and the trusty Samsung. Yes they were slow and all but the Samsung keyboards dodgy, but they were small, light and rugged (great for conferences/meetings). You could also buy 3 or 4 netbooks for one laptop. Being a cloud fanatic my latter netbooks interacted with my documents and data online, the browser being my most used locally installed app.
As I suggested almost 2 years ago we now have Chromebooks with the same form factor (although as a consumer I can’t buy an Australian version yet). They are much, much more responsive, more secure and allow you (force you) to live in the cloud.
A significant number of manufacturers are jumping on the Chromebook bandwagon. With the announcement of the HP Pavilion Chromebook we see the screen size grow to a weighty 14 inches. Such developments are starting to scare the tablet- and smartphone-toting users, see Jared Newman’s Time article entitled ‘Please, Chromebooks, Don’t Turn into PCs‘. He gives a good summary of Chromebooks available in the US when talking about the HP Chromebook:
The device is available now for $330. That’s pricier than some other Chromebooks like Samsung’s Series 3 ($250) and Acer’s C7 ($200), but cheaper than the Samsung Series 5 550 ($450), which is far and away the best of the bunch. Lenovo makes a rugged $429 Chromebook, but it’s for schools only.
It is definitely time for the Chromebook naysayers to wake up. I can’t wait to order one of the above.
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