Chromebooks

Google’s Chrome browser and Chrome OS had another banner year in 2013 and with the Chromebook continuing to grow in popularity, 2014 looks to be even better. There’s little question that along with the growth of the Chromebook, Chrome as a web-browser continues to delight users the world over. With a bevy of new features and improvements in 2013, Google has its work cut out to improve on it next year. So without further delay, let’s take a look at the year’s top Chrome and Chrome OS stories of 2013 as determined by the number of pageviews each story incurred:

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Following the decision to stop sales of the HP Chromebook 11 pending an investigation into overheating chargers, today the US Consumer Product Safety Commission reports Google and HP will indeed recall the netbook’s charger. Google says it received nine reports in total of overheating chargers and melting with some cases resulting in injuries and property damage:

Google has received nine reports of chargers overheating and melting during use. There is one report of a small burn to a consumer and one report of minor property damage to a pillow from an overheating charger… This recall involves chargers that were sold with the HP Chromebook 11. The charger is black with outlet pins, measures 1¾ inches by ¾ inches, and has a 6-foot long cord with a micro-USB connector on the end. The model number of the charger is MU15-N1052-A00S, which is stamped on the face of the battery charger that has the outlet pins.

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission’s report claims the recall will include around 145,000 units and that users can contact Google to get a free replacement. Google is yet to resume sales of the device on Google Play or through its retail partners, but its website says to “please check back soon.” More info on how to contact Google below.
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Microsoft’s renewed nervousness about Chromebooks was likely influenced by advance knowledge of Dell’s announcement that it would be joining Acer, HP and Samsung in manufacturing the ultraportable laptops in January.

The machine will have a Celeron 2955U processor, a choice of 2GB or 4GB RAM and 16GB of flash storage. The screen will be an 11-inch 1366×768 display with 720p front-facing webcam. You’ll get two USB 3 sockets plus HDMI in a case less than an inch thick and weighing under three pounds. Battery-life is said to be around 10 hours … 
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wAgB5J1gSQ&w=600&h=420]

Imagine my shock and surprise as yet another anti-Chromebook advertisement hits the YouTubes courtesy of Microsoft. The latest in the company’s anti-everything-Google campaign attacks the notion that a Chromebook has “everything you need” as a laptop.

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Chrome OS users take note, a brand new camera app is on its way offering a host of new features. The announcement came via Google’s “Happiness Evangelist” Francois Beaufort who suggested that while the current Chrome OS camera is good, the team can do better.

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I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday and now that we’re all sporting an extra loop on our belts, it’s time to get down to the madness of Black Friday. There’s plenty of deals to be had in the Android world especially with smartphones, tablets and even a Chromebook thrown in for good measure. There’s no time to waste today so let’s get right down to it:

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Acer has just announced its new C720P Chromebook, a touchscreen variant of the C720 model that it introduced earlier this month. The C720P will be available in early December from Amazon, Best Buy, and the Acer Store for $299.99.

This is Acer’s first touchscreen Chromebook and is capable of all the normal multi-touch features, such as pinch-to-zoom. As far as specs go, the device is packing an 11.6-inch LED “ComfyView” display with a 1366 x 768 resolution. Acer touts that the device will give up to 7 and a half hours of battery life and boot upon just 7 seconds, thanks in large part to the 32GB SSD. Powering the laptop is an Intel Celeron 2955U, which is based off of the Haswell architecture, as well as 2GB of DDR3 RAM. As you would expect, it supports 802.11a/b/g/n wifi as well.

Along the sides of the laptop, you’ll find USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports and an HDMI connection. The laptop weighs in at 2.98 pounds and is just .78 inches thick.

Finally, Google is offering 100GB of free cloud storage with Google Drive for 2 years and 12 free Gogo wifi passes to anyone who purchases the C720P.

At $299.99, the C720P is a very compelling option for users who want a touchscreen Chromebook and don’t want to shell out the money for a Pixel. I could very well see this being one of the most popular gifts this holiday season.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJdpRJ873r8

It might not be as interesting as Google’s floating barge project that will see the company bring interactive technology showrooms to cities in the US, but Google has just opened a number of temporary retail locations leading into the holidays.

The pop-up locations are dubbed Google Winter Wonderlabs and Google’s new site describing the retail experience lists locations for New York City, Washington DC, Chicago, Los Angeles, New Jersey, and Sacramento.

Google is using the stores to let customers try out and purchase the Nexus 7, Chromebooks, and Chromecast (no mention of Google Glass), but it also has a “Snow globe” room that lets people create slo-mo videos with animated snow fall and “Play Zones” with various product demos set up. 
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Acer today announced the launch of a new Chromebook, although those familiar with the company’s current C7 Chromebook will already be familiar with the new model. Apart from a drop from 4GB of RAM to 2GB, the only difference between the old C7 Chromebook and the new Chromebook C720-2848 is the price. Dropping down from 2GB of RAM also brings the price down to $199, down from the $249 Acer charges for the old 4GB model.

Otherwise specs remain the same: an 11.6-nich 1366 x 768 display, dual-core Intel® Celeron® processor, 16GB SDD, and three USB ports. The old model is still for sale, but now Acer officially has one of the most affordable Chromebooks on the market with its new $199 option. It’s already available on BestBuy and should hit other outlets shortly. 
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Update: HP has attributed the stopped sales of the Chromebook 11 to overheating chargers and has provided a brief statement on the matter available at the end of the post.

Whoa, some big news on the Chromebook front this morning as Best Buy has halted all sales of the HP Chromebook 11. According to The Verge, Best Buy retail stores are receiving internal memos alerting managers to “Stop selling the HP Chromebook 11 effective immediately…partner with sales support to pull the product off the sales floor to a secure location in the warehouse.”

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HP and Google combined to create two new Chromebooks which were launched early last month: The $299  Intel Haswell-powered Chromebook 14 and the smaller Samsung Exynos ARM-powered Chromebook 11. Both machines mark new territory for Google and HP. The Silicon Valley neighbors have been getting closer and closer since Meg Whitman took over as CEO, including an expanding array of Android tablets as well. The initial HP Chromebooks were clearly re-purposed Windows laptops. These clearly are something entirely different…
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Just a day after Google announced a new HP-made ARM-powered Chromebook for $279, Acer has upped the ante with a Haswell-powered one for $249.

The Acer C720 offers the same 1366×768 resolution screen as the HP. The Acer screen is anti-glare, which offers easier viewing when used outside at the expense of slightly poorer contrast. The machine has 4GB RAM against the 2GB of the HP, and the Haswell processor gives it a claimed 8.5 hours battery life, against 6 hours for the HP … 
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Chrome has offered ‘Apps’ – bookmarks to web pages – to Mac and PC users for a long time. There is even a Chrome App store that gets little fanfare.  But today Chrome is getting serious about desktop apps.  In a post on the company’s blog, Google says that improved access to the computer, including USB/Bluetooth, full screen mode, desktop notifications, less ‘chrome’ (Tabs, bookmarks, browser bar, etc) and power off features will make the Chrome apps act more like real apps. So real, in fact, that most people won’t be able to tell the difference.

Today we’re unveiling a new kind of Chrome App, which brings together the speed, security and flexibility of the modern web with the powerful functionality previously only available with software installed on your devices. (Think apps designed for your desktop or laptop, just like the ones for your phone and tablet.) These apps are more powerful than before, and can help you get work done, play games in full-screen and create cool content all from the web. If you’re using Windows or a Chromebook, you can check them out in the “For your desktop” collection in the Chrome Web Store (Mac & Linux coming soon).

Here’s what you can expect with new Chrome Apps:
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BrowserFame spotted a feature in the Canary (development) version of Chrome that would allow parents and schools to created ‘supervised user’ accounts whose access to the web can be controlled by a master account.

The approach is an extension of the standard accounts available in Chrome, allowing different users to have different settings and to be automatically signed-in to Google services … 
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The sub-$250 Chromebooks were a huge hit for both Samsung and Acer last year, and according to a new report out of DigiTimes, ASUS is also planning to enter the growing Chrome OS market. The site claims that ASUS is planning to make a foray into the Chromebook market as soon as the fourth quarter of this year. After experiencing low-demand for the back-to-school season, the company is looking to boost its shipment numbers, notably to education customers. ASUS recently reduced its notebook shipment predictions for 2013 from 22-24 million units to 17-19 million units.

With its entry in the Chromebook business, Asustek is hoping to gain orders from the education industry. Although order volumes are likely to be limited, they will still help the company.

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Since the iPad was announced, we’ve seen PC sales fall every year due to people discovering that they can do anything they need on a laptop on the more affordable iPad and Android tablets. Chromebooks, however, have become much more affordable over the last year, which has led to some people going with the Samsung and Acer models instead of tablets. According to the latest data from NPD Group Inc. (via Bloomberg), Chromebooks have accounted for between 20 and 25 percent of all laptop sales under $300 over the last eight months. Overall, according to IDC data, PC shipments fell 4 percent in 2012 and will fall 7.8 percent this year.

Overall,  Chromebooks still make up a small percentage of the entire laptop market. In the first quarter of 2013, Chromebooks accounted for 4 to 5 percent of laptop market. When you compare that to the 1 to percent in 2012, however, it’s pretty tremendous growth.

“We’re seeing tremendous growth, without a doubt — massive, massive growth,” said Caesar Sengupta, head of product development for Chromebooks.

This shows that affordable, entry-level Chromebooks are not buggy and inconsistent like many people expected them to be, but are rather decent alternatives to tablets for people who still want a keyboard. 
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Acer’s C710. A bigger, thicker battery and more RAM (compared to Pixel and Samsung Chrombooks)

I’m an Apple snob – I’ve been using MacBook Pros and Airs almost exclusively for over a decade – in fact, it has gotten so bad that I can barely use or figure out Windows anymore. I often find the experience with anti-viruses, updates and crapware infuriating to the point where I’m no longer curious what happens in the Windows world.

On the other hand, I never have a problem jumping on a Chromebook (or Box) because it is almost exactly like using a browser in a desktop OS.  That makes using Chromebooks quick, easy and productive for me. I liked the cheap, ARM-based Samsungs and loved the decked out Pixel even though I’m still not able to give native apps up entirely (Twitter, Skype, iTunes, etc keep pulling me back). But for a second computer to use as either as a backup or special occasion device or for light computer users, I wholeheartedly recommend Chromebooks.

Acer initially had a bad rep in their Chromebook department because the initial offerings seemed to be repurposed Windows netbooks (and the problems that come along with them – including little RAM, bad battery life, HDDs instead of SSDs and cramped plastic-y keyboards). To be fair, I’m going on a few minutes of use at a Best Buy and a bunch of online reviews for those assumptions.

Last month, I finally got my hands on the updated Acer ‘C710-2055’ version which has a 50% bigger battery pack than earlier models, 4 GB of RAM, and an Intel Celeron 847 processor. The price was also bumped to $279 from $199.

So, $80 later, does Acer have a compelling Chromebook here?

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Update: Samsung has denied the claim, quoted in TNW as saying:

The rumor that Samsung is withdrawing from the PC desktop business is groundless. Samsung will continue to offer diverse PC products according to consumer and market needs.

Samsung has been the sole manufacture producing Chromeboxes over the last couple of years, but according to a new report from the Korea Times, the company will soon close its traditional desktop business. The report claims that Samsung has decided to close its unprofitable desktop PC business to focus on tablets, all-in-ones, and hybrid laptops. The company says that “demand for conventional desktop PCs is going down,” and that it would like to dedicate its resources “to popular connected and portable devices.”

Samsung says that even those in research and technology departments are being pressured to switch to tablets and convertible laptops.

“Tablets, all-in-one and hybrid PCs are Samsung’s current focus. Samsung is speeding up its restructuring of its PC business via product realignment toward profitable variants,” said a Samsung official.

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