Do Google’s Samsung Chromebooks for $249 make sense?

When Google unveiled Chromebooks, which are laptops running on Chrome OS, they were priced competitively to give some competition to Netbook manufacturers. That might not have happened possibly because of increasing number of tablet sales but Chromebooks have found some successes among the student population in the US and UK. Today, Google has unveiled Samsung Chromebooks for the price tag of $249. They are available at retailers in the US and UK.

Samsung Chromebook Features?

  • Samsung Chromebook has 6 hours battery life for general users.
  • It includes 100 GB free space on Google Drive.
  • It weighs only 2.5 pounds and 0.8 inches thick.
  • The bootup time is less than 10 seconds and all the data is stored on the cloud.

But Chromebooks are not the future…

Chromebooks sound very good but I am not sure about it being a really viable device. The low-end PC market which includes laptops is basically heading towards its demise. They are being replaced by people spending more and more time on tablets.

Also with Microsoft Surface RT tablets for $499, people might prefer buying a hybrid tablet where data can be stored locally instead of a laptop which stores all data in the cloud. The Chromebooks might have it’s niche users but honestly it will not make a big difference to a computer industry increasingly shifting its focus on smartphones and tablets.

What do you think about the Chromebooks and its future? Do drop in your comments.

3 Comments

Pratap Nikam October 21, 2012

Aditya, I think these chromebooks are not useful for developers because they have to run there applications, projects localy on IDE’s for coding. even for general users one cannot use these chromebooks when they are offline.

Aditya Kane October 22, 2012

Exactly my view Pratap, if you have to use a online only device, why not get a tablet instead. It seems like a solution which is few years late.

Ankit October 23, 2012

may be a decade. Especially in India, where internet is slow *though prices are being cut down*