Chromebooks destroyed Apple in back-to-school shopping

[endicom]

Market watch
Jeremy C. Owens
Oct. 11, 2016

Apple Inc. had a rough back-to-school season in personal-computer sales, while Alphabet Inc.’s low-price Chromebooks were a big hit for students, according to two third-party analyses released Tuesday.

International Data Corp. and Gartner Inc. reported tabulations of PC sales for the third quarter Tuesday, and both analyses showed huge drops for Apple’s AAPL, +0.22%  Mac sales in the important back-to-school quarter. IDC tracked a 13% decline for Apple from the same quarter a year ago, while Gartner reported that Mac sales dropped 13.4%.

More... http://www.marketwatch.com/story/chromebooks-destroyed-apple-in-back-to-school-shopping-2016-10-11


Google is evil, but...

Nearly anything is now good enough for day-to-day use so you needn't spend big bucks for features you don't use. Especially in a portable device that might get kicked around.

[r9etb]

Apple Inc. had a rough back-to-school season in personal-computer sales, while Alphabet Inc.’s low-price Chromebooks were a big hit for students, according to two third-party analyses released Tuesday.

Nearly anything is now good enough for day-to-day use so you needn't spend big bucks for features you don't use. Especially in a portable device that might get kicked around.

Yup.  A very good Chromebook for 1/3 the price of a MacBook that is not close to being 3x better.  The math is compelling.

[ABX]

You can get a Chromebook for $129
The lowest price iPad Mini costs $400
The lowest price Macbook costs $1299

Not exactly rocket science why one sells better than the other two, especially with back to school budgets. 

[Fishrrman]

"The lowest price Macbook costs $1299"

Nah....

It's possible to buy the non-retina MacBook Pro (new units) for around $800 if you shop carefully.

However, these aren't "the latest and greatest", but a model that was originally released in 2012. Still sells, though. And it's not really much slower than the 2015 models...

[endicom]

Yup.  A very good Chromebook for 1/3 the price of a MacBook that is not close to being 3x better.  The math is compelling.

If you need the expensive device then you might not want to bring it where it could get knocked around or stolen. If a cheap device will do for those times then get that too.

[geronl]

I really do not understand the attraction of Chromebooks. Wasn't Google going to dump the Chrome OS anyway

[endicom]

You can get a Chromebook for $129
The lowest price iPad Mini costs $400
The lowest price Macbook costs $1299

Not exactly rocket science why one sells better than the other two, especially with back to school budgets.

The cellphone I had was $20 at Dollar General and worked great as a phone. The smartphone I replaced that with was $34 at Family Dollar and does what I need. If I want to upgrade then I'll just wait for the next deal.

[endicom]

I really do not understand the attraction of Chromebooks. Wasn't Google going to dump the Chrome OS anyway

Google is reportedly integrating Chrome and Android.

Chromebooks have so far been too limited for me but that may be changing.

I didn't want an Android smartphone but there's little else out there and the else can be expensive.

[geronl]

The cellphone I had was $20 at Dollar General and worked great as a phone. The smartphone I replaced that with was $34 at Family Dollar and does what I need. If I want to upgrade then I'll just wait for the next deal.

When the phone is cheaper than the service that's not bad like when the printer is cheap junk and they sell you ink, (they're in the INK business)

[geronl]

Google is reportedly integrating Chrome and Android.

Chromebooks have so far been too limited for me but that may be changing.

I didn't want an Android smartphone but there's little else out there and the else can be expensive.

The Samsung Core Prime can be had for $80-$100 at the Wal-Mart website, it ain't half bad. As a matter of fact it seems just as good as the pricier Samsung phones for ordinary users.

[endicom]

The Samsung Core Prime can be had for $80-$100 at the Wal-Mart website, it ain't half bad. As a matter of fact it seems just as good as the pricier Samsung phones for ordinary users.

Samsung has had to recall the Note 7 for its alarming tendency to rapidly oxidate (go aflame or explode).

[geronl]

Samsung has had to recall the Note 7 for its alarming tendency to rapidly oxidate (go aflame or explode).

I have no idea why that would happen. The Core Prime is supposed to be some kind of lower-end version of the Galaxy line, but for all normal uses, even web, it totally seems premium. I've been using one without cell service, just wi-fi, and it works fine for everything I've tried from Youtube to the Kindle app to even the infamous Facebook app.

[endicom]

I have no idea why that would happen.

Neither, apparently, do they. The story is that they fixed the problem just to have it recur. Unless the story has changed.

[geronl]

Neither, apparently, do they. The story is that they fixed the problem just to have it recur. Unless the story has changed.

I have a feeling when they do figure it out, it'll be very very simple. Some part that costs 0.01 cent probably

[jmyrlefuller]

I bought a Chromebook a few years ago, hoping to install Linux on it. I was able to—and not damage the original OS—but I found out I bought one with the wrong processor, so literally no software worked on it. I ended up buying a Windows laptop with similar specs for not much more. (The difference is that Windows hogs up a lot more disk space because all the programs are on the hard-drive.)

It's a nice little device for surfing the Web, but not much else. Google has cloud-based apps for office work, but if you want anything away from the Cloud, it's useless. You can't record isolated audio, and you can only shoot raw video.

I ended up giving the Chromebook to a relative.

[geronl]

It's a nice little device for surfing the Web, but not much else. Google has cloud-based apps for office work, but if you want anything away from the Cloud, it's useless. You can't record isolated audio, and you can only shoot raw video.

I ended up giving the Chromebook to a relative.

I definitely don't want to put everything on the cloud. Or anything really

[Frank Cannon]

Samsung has had to recall the Note 7 for its alarming tendency to rapidly oxidate (go aflame or explode).

Yeah, but my new Galaxy S7 kicks ass and because of the Note failures they are giving me a free VR as a bribe!

[Frank Cannon]

I bought a Chromebook a few years ago, hoping to install Linux on it.

Oooh. Your one of thoooose people.

[HonestJohn]

Oooh. Your one of thoooose people.

That's pretty true.  (Android is a custom Google-brew of Linux, though)

And I do see Apple as the overpriced slop with last year's technology.