Chromebooks Now Selling

[earthpigg]

In my inbox:


from: The Chrome Team chromebook-team@google.com
to: me@gmail.com
subject Be the first to get a Chromebook.

["Chrome" Logo in upper left of e-mail] ["Gilt Groupe" logo in upper right]

Be the first to get a Chromebook.

Since we announced the Chrome Notebook Pilot Program back in December, we’ve been humbled by the amount of interest that we’ve received from users like you.

We’re excited about the brand-new Samsung Chromebook that goes on sale on June 15. Fortunately, we’ve managed to get our hands on a few machines a little earlier, and we’d like to make these available to you, our biggest enthusiasts.

When you buy your Chromebook, you’ll also be getting a limited edition, custom-fit Chrome sleeve designed by Rickshaw so you can carry your new Chromebook in style.

Our good friends over at Gilt, the premier invitation-only shopping site, have agreed to put these Chromebooks up for sale -- but only for a very limited time.

Click here to join the sale on Wednesday, June 1 at 9:00 am PT / 12:00 pm ET.

*Remember, you must use this email -- xxxxxxxxxxxxxx@gmail.com -- to access the sale.

Go Get One!

These will go fast. See you over at Gilt.

Cheers,
The Chrome Team


A few months back, you asked to be notified about the availability of Chrome OS, which is why we sent you this one-time notice. You will not be emailed again regarding the availability of Chrome OS.

Google, Inc. 1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy, Mountain View, CA 94043

The Item: http://www.gilt.com/sale/men/google-chromebook/product/81399886

In case you can't view that webpage:


Samsung Chromebook Series 5 with 3G

Gilt Price $499
Limit 2 per order
With your Chromebook order from Gilt, you'll also receive a limited-edition Chromebook sleeve designed by Rickshaw. Sleeve will be shipped separately.

• 12.1" (1280x800) Display
• 3.26 lbs / 1.48 kg
• Up to 8.5 hours of continuous usage*
• Intel Dual-Core Processor
• Built in dual-band Wi-Fi and World-mode 3G**
• HD Webcam
• 2 USB 2.0 ports
• 4-in-1 memory card slot
• Mini-VGA port
• Fullsize Chrome keyboard
• Oversized, fully-clickable trackpad

*Engineering specs can change without prior notice. Battery times are estimates, depend on lots of different factors, and may decline over time.

**All Chromebook Series 5 3G models include up to 100MB per month of Mobile Broadband service included with device for 2 years, provided by Verizon. Also available are an unlimited day pass for just $9.99 and pay-as-you-go rates that don't require any long-term contracts.

Brand: Samsung

Color: arctic white

[earthpigg]

And: If I purchase 2, think I'll be able to immediately resell them for $700? It looks like they are trying to create some temporary artificial scarcity...

edit: better idea -- http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/sys/2415416025.html :D

[Dustin2128]

Thought it'd be cheaper for something that's "all in the cloud".

[earthpigg]

Yeah, there's no way I am paying $500 for that.

The only way I could see such a purchase as justified is if battery life is *very* critical to a user.

[kerry_s]

I just got that email to, saw the price & sent it to the trash.
I'm saving for the eeepad transformer. I got a cheap 7" inch tablet that I tested tablet use & found I like using the tablet more than the computer, now I just want to get a bigger, better tablet.

[PhillyPhil]

Yeah, Samsung don't like cheap prices. Personally I'd like to trade 2" of screen space for longer battery life.

[mmsmc]

something inside me keeps telling me "WTF why would you put all your files on the internet, great idea buddy"
:(

[kerry_s]

something inside me keeps telling me "WTF why would you put all your files on the internet, great idea buddy"
:(

it really does help if you use different computers. i keep mine online as well as usb drive.

[tjeremiah]

Yeah, at that price, $500, i'll just stay at my prediction that I think Chromebooks/OS will fail. Why not price it around $150-200? I know, you can install another OS on it but c'mon :(. If it really is, like most are saying, a web browser that sits on top of a kernel, I dont see this thing taking off as GOOGLE would hope, especially if one of their notebooks is priced at $500.

[Fedz]

It's ok if you're into that sorta thing but, I manage similar cloud based via Ubuntu with Google Docs, UbuntuOne plus the luxury of switching to not if I want on any computer I choose ... even Windows.

No brainer move: $500 for artificially deliberately created exclusivity :rolleyes:

Sure Google have method in their madness but, I don't buy into it - pay more get less - good if you can find suckers to fall for it :D

[drawkcab]

failboat

[earthpigg]

I'll share an example of a firm that could potentially benefit from this:

A firm that is not an e-business (yeah, they still exist), has a very limited IT staff, 30 employees in a department with 30 traditional workstations, but 5 employees from that department are on the road at any given time, and those employees need reliable internet connectivity while on the road for basic tasks that are nonetheless very critical and requiring a reasonable measure of information assurance (the shared hotel "business center" workstations are a non-option for IA reasons).

5 laptops shared by 30 employees in turns, something like this could be ideal for the given department for many reasons.

This firm isn't hypothetical, a good friend of mine works there. They visit clients, aren't uniformly all that tech-savvy, and private medical information isn't something that should be accessed or communicated on a public computer (gotta love them usb keyloggers that any maid can purchase from amazon.com and um... ya know... "dust" the back of the computer desk).

[akand074]

Yeah, at that price, $500, i'll just stay at my prediction that I think Chromebooks/OS will fail. Why not price it around $150-200? I know, you can install another OS on it but c'mon :(. If it really is, like most are saying, a web browser that sits on top of a kernel, I dont see this thing taking off as GOOGLE would hope, especially if one of their notebooks is priced at $500.

Well it's 499$ for the 3G model and 429$ for the Wi-Fi only model. They also have Atom dual cores, bigger screens with still a nice thin/light design. Not to mention the 16GB SSD is almost surely quite a bit more expensive than 160GB super slow HDDs when considering the bigger bulk of purchases for the HDDs as well. So I mean overall, it's not really a surprise to have cost a bit more than most netbooks. I'm sure prices will drop as time progresses and more competition starts. Netbooks were more pricey when they first came out too.

On a related note. I would imagine you can purchase a cheap netbook and install chrome on it if you'd like? Though the HDD would be a waste and wouldn't run as well as one designed for chrome, but none the less. I mean it's still cheaper than a tablet, it's kind of like a tablet alternatives to those who would be typing more often. I think a 399$ Wi-Fi price would be nicer.. I'm sure it'll be on for that on sale. But thinking about it for an average user who might buy a netbook (from what I've seen) they may buy it for 349$ for a decent one, and then have to get their windows anti-virus program, and possibly upgrade to windows 7 home premium from starter because starter is so cut down it doesn't even let you change your background, perhaps other software like microsoft office etc etc and you could potentially go way past the chromebook price. Where as the chromebook is a more complete package without the need for those extras. Not to mention that you'll never have to worry about paying a tonne to upgrade to Windows 8 then 9 then 10 etc or it becoming obsolete once Windows 8 comes out. Chromebook is definitely a better investment for long-term usage.

Just speculation and opinions on my part. I think chrome OS is a good idea, and has it's audiences, but I really do worry about how well it'll do in the market, and how that'll affect google. Only time will tell, I'm sure Google knows what they are doing.

[Dustin2128]

Well it's 499$ for the 3G model and 429$ for the Wi-Fi only model. They also have Atom dual cores, bigger screens with still a nice thin/light design. Not to mention the 16GB SSD is almost surely quite a bit more expensive than 160GB super slow HDDs when considering the bigger bulk of purchases for the HDDs as well. So I mean overall, it's not really a surprise to have cost a bit more than most netbooks. I'm sure prices will drop as time progresses and more competition starts. Netbooks were more pricey when they first came out too.

On a related note. I would imagine you can purchase a cheap netbook and install chrome on it if you'd like? Though the HDD would be a waste and wouldn't run as well as one designed for chrome, but none the less. I mean it's still cheaper than a tablet, it's kind of like a tablet alternatives to those who would be typing more often. I think a 399$ Wi-Fi price would be nicer.. I'm sure it'll be on for that on sale. But thinking about it for an average user who might buy a netbook (from what I've seen) they may buy it for 349$ for a decent one, and then have to get their windows anti-virus program, and possibly upgrade to windows 7 home premium from starter because starter is so cut down it doesn't even let you change your background, perhaps other software like microsoft office etc etc and you could potentially go way past the chromebook price. Where as the chromebook is a more complete package without the need for those extras. Not to mention that you'll never have to worry about paying a tonne to upgrade to Windows 8 then 9 then 10 etc or it becoming obsolete once Windows 8 comes out. Chromebook is definitely a better investment for long-term usage.

Just speculation and opinions on my part. I think chrome OS is a good idea, and has it's audiences, but I really do worry about how well it'll do in the market, and how that'll affect google. Only time will tell, I'm sure Google knows what they are doing.
I didn't know it had an SSD; wouldn't that be kind of a waste? I mean, since everything's in "the cloud" (read: out of your hardware and hands), it seems like you'd need 1GB max to load the thin operating system.

[akand074]

I didn't know it had an SSD; wouldn't that be kind of a waste? I mean, since everything's in "the cloud" (read: out of your hardware and hands), it seems like you'd need 1GB max to load the thin operating system.

Probably for cacheing. Like if you watch a 1080p movie online you might need to cache quite a few GBs. Manufacturing costs for smaller sizes are probably negligible in difference as well. On the bright side, for people like us, we could definitely use 16GB for an Ubuntu install without filling it up if you are still using it for the same type of tasks you would a chromebook anyways. But I can imagine it's safe to have that much size just for temp files/cache.

[Canime]

Sounds cool. I would buy one, but I have my eye on a HP one coming up.

[Thewhistlingwind]

Probably for cacheing. Like if you watch a 1080p movie online you might need to cache quite a few GBs. Manufacturing costs for smaller sizes are probably negligible in difference as well. On the bright side, for people like us, we could definitely use 16GB for an Ubuntu install without filling it up if you are still using it for the same type of tasks you would a chromebook anyways. But I can imagine it's safe to have that much size just for temp files/cache.

Rendering things takes cache like no other.

I have an idea, a machine with 16GB of RAM, and you use 90% of it as a ram drive, with a "state save" external to export your data.

I'd like that.........(And it's the only way to justify $500)

(I am aware that such a machine may very well be useless for most people.)

[Bart_D]

This thing is a useless toy. I can't see the majority of users doing serious work on it.

[gnomeuser]

I tend to prefer nettop type machines and luckily these are in the pipeline for ChromeOS.

I am fairly excited about the concept, I think it is a great play for enterprises. If we are going to migrate away from WinXP, migrate to the platform with a future, the web and provide your employees with simple lenses to that.

I think this is going to be a surprising hit over the coming years.

As for me buying one.. perhaps a nettop once they come out but of the "new" OS offers, I am most excited about WebOS and desperately want to give it a fair go as a desktop system. Right now I am broke, so stuck on this netbook for better or worse.

[akand074]

This thing is a useless toy. I can't see the majority of users doing serious work on it.

How many people actually do serious work.. haha

[mehaga]

500$ for a toy? Why not? :)

"Initially priced at US$599 and US$499 for the 8 GB and 4 GB models, the iPhone..."

(from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_iPhone)

[libssd]

On a related note. I would imagine you can purchase a cheap netbook and install chrome on it if you'd like? Though the HDD would be a waste and wouldn't run as well as one designed for chrome, but none the less.... Whereas the chromebook is a more complete package without the need for those extras.... Chromebook is definitely a better investment for long-term usage.

Just speculation and opinions on my part. I think chrome OS is a good idea, and has it's audiences, but I really do worry about how well it'll do in the market, and how that'll affect google. Only time will tell, I'm sure Google knows what they are doing.
I've been using desktop Linux (primarily Ubuntu) for several years on an Acer D150 netbook. I have had a Cr-48 since December 17, and I still wonder if Google knows what they are doing. With an N270 processor, the Acer is even lower spec than the Cr-48 test mule, yet with a 32gb SSD and 2gb of RAM, the Acer boots in the same time as the Cr-48, and does just about everything else (except resume from sleep) faster. Despite the current handicaps of CrOS, I've been spending about 90% of my computer time on the Cr-48 for the past 6 months, with the Ubuntu netbook a distant second, and my desktop iMac used primarily as a print server and data repository.

In June 2011, IF you have the courage to try Linux (which 95% of the people in the world apparently do not),
a lightly modded netbook delivers a lot more bang for the buck than a Chromebook. June 2012? Who knows?

If Google actually gets behind the program and does some marketing, the Chromebook concept could take off. More likely, Chrome OS will become another niche product like Ubuntu (and all the other Linux distros), of interest to a small community of geeks, but a complete snooze for the general public. The ironic thing (which CrOS fanboys are reluctant to admit) is that in their quest to simplify the OS to the point of invisibility, Google has created something that requires MORE computer expertise than a mainstream OS (and I'm including Ubuntu as "mainstream").

Here's an example: To print from Ubuntu, plug in a printer (or, if you have a Mac, use CUPS, which made printers attached to my Mac appear automagically). Here's another example: To attach a file to a message in Gmail, in any OS other than CrOS, just drag the file. CrOS doesn't support drag and drop, so you have to open a primitive file manager and find the file. Google has eliminated so much from CrOS (which is based on Linux) that they have actually made many tasks much more difficult to do.

Based on a hit-or-miss introduction last week, the future of Chromebooks isn't looking too good. Only the 3G Samsung in white is actually being delivered. Since nobody has been able to get their hands on any model of the slightly less expensive Acer Chromebook, nobody knows how it actually compares.

Don't get me wrong -- I love my Chromebook as a supplementary computer, and use I it constantly, especially when I'm travelling, but the concept is not nearly mature enough to rely on as a primary computer. We'll see what another year's worth of development can do.

[JonM33]

No thanks to anything Google (with the exception of Chromium).

[Timmer1240]

Seems to be way overpriced and I like my files right here with me not in the cloud I would never buy one!

[PC_load_letter]

This thing is a useless toy. I can't see the majority of users doing serious work on it.

It's not like I'm gonna buy one, $500 is just an insane price, but I think your statement is an exaggeration. You can do LateX on it and it has a SAGE plugin. So, some people can do a lot of serious work on it :D.

LaTeX on Chrome: http://docs.latexlab.org/
SAGE: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/dckejpjjnjaagdahkdgighlejbckajak

[aysiu]

I have to say I'm quite disappointed in the price. If Samsung or Acer had released it as $200 or even $275 and if Google had figured out the offline implementation fully, the Chromebook would probably be a huge success. As it stands now, who's going to buy this?

Based on the reviews I've read, the trackpad is too large and also wonky, the bootup still takes up to 8 seconds (hardly instant on), the web apps in Chrome aren't that impressive, and it's still $500 for the cheapest readily available model.

There are definitely a few things Google has done right, if reviews are to be believed--I like the idea of data being encrypted until login and readily available on any Chromebook you log into, the guest account with no access to anything else, the automatic updates in the background... that's all great, but the pricepoint is way too high for this thing, and not everyone is connected to wireless all the time... bring back Google Docs offline, and it might be viable.

We'll see how Samsung, Acer, and Google try to recover from this, if they do. I'd be very interested in how the second-generation Chromebooks look.

[youbuntu]

Google are good at a few things, but computer OS' is not one of them. This is possibly the biggest piece of trash ever conceived, and talk about unthought-out! Great for corporate dorks... maybe...


Everything in the cloud? Well done, genius - what if I lose signal?

Failbook PRO :roll: