Tablets vs Chromebooks: an unexpected year

by
in hardware on (#2TNS)
So much for the Post-PC Revolution! Despite all the hype of tablets and their obvious benefits and use scenarios, the demise of traditional computing form factors seems to have been exaggerated. Never mind that 2014 will probably see over 250 million tablets shipped and sold, tablet sales are actually slowing. Analysts predict that Apple will probably face a year-long ipad sales dip, though it's hard to say what the effect of the most newly-released models will have.

But just as surprising, sales of Chromebooks have actually surged over the last two quarters. Gavin Clarke at the Register points out recent research that projects a doubling of the Chromebook market year on year, with HP, Samsung and Acer taking the lion's share of the market. They still represent a small share of the market, with only 4 million units shipped (of 300m convential PCs in total), so it's too soon to say the Chromebook revolution is here.

But it does show surprising potential in the traditional laptop form factor, and give some reason to wonder if, despite all the hype about tablets, phablets, and smart phones, consumers still find themselves reaching for a portable device with a great keyboard.

Re: Keyboards & other thoughts. (Score: 2, Informative)

by zafiro17@pipedot.org on 2014-10-24 15:04 (#2TP5)

I'm a non-programmer, but I hear you on the keyboard issue and you're right - laptop keyboards are a recipe for RSI problems. My HP Chromebook 14 has chiclet keys - easily the worst keyboard style ever. It's better than my HP laptop at work though, which is a very similar build but with slippery, flat, smooth keys. It's like, does anyone at HP actually use these machines to see if they're nice to use?

If you want to plug in peripherals and don't care about portability, there are Chromebox desktops too - I think Acer make them and I recall Bryan saying he had bought one. They look cool to me.

I bought my Chromebook to run Bodhilinux on, since my netbook gave up the ghost (sniff, sniff, loved that machine). But ChromeOS is working basically well enough that I've never gotten around to it. Maybe I should give it a try this weekend - doesn't seem that hard, and the hardware itself is pretty darned good.
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