Microsoft has announced a pricing offensive versus Google’s Chromebooks.
Microsoft is aiming straight for Google’s Chromebooks this holiday season. At the company’s partner conference today, Microsoft COO Kevin Turner revealed that HP is planning to release a $199 laptop running Windows for the holidays. Turner didn’t provide specifications for HP’s “Stream” device, but he did detail $249 laptop options from Acer and Toshiba. Acer’s low-cost laptop will ship with a 15.6-inch screen and a 2.16GHz Intel Celeron processor, and Toshiba’s includes a 11.6-inch display. It appears that Intel’s Celeron chips will help Microsoft’s PC partners push out cheaper devices in the race to the bottom.
Turner also revealed that HP is planning to release 7- and 8-inch versions of its new “Stream” PCs for $99 this holiday season, both running versions of Windows.
Any takers?
An AMD Kabini based model with a matte screen with a resolution of 1280×800 or better(But not that 1366×768 shit, A.K.A. The Devil’s resolution) running a real Linux distro like Ubuntu, Fedora, Mint or Debian. No Microsoft Tax.
I’m rather surprised that HP or Acer haven’t offered a “geekbook” with Chrome and Crouton both pre-installed. Or better yet, a custom Mint-with-Chrome-kernel as a value add. Or maybe even Plasma Active on a touch Chromebook like the C720P.
Sure, a geek can self-install, but the up and coming or too-busy person may be swayed.
…is this going to be another Windows Starter Edition that is completely useless? Or a full-out version of Windows?
B/c if it’s still the Windows Starter Edition or something like it, then there’s still no comparison to a ChromeBook based on functionality alone.
For me, it won’t matter…Windows is long gone from anything I use with very few exceptions so it won’t change a thing in what I buy.
It’s full Windows. Windows 8 doesn’t have any starter editions – not even regionally available.
The one exception is single-language editions available in China. All versions of Windows 8 can install all language packs. Previously, only Vista and 7 Ultimate allowed this.
None of the SKUs started out as a Starter Edition. Those were added on later to try to wring the last few sales once saturation started to set in.
7 launched with a starter edition. Vista had one added later because it wouldn’t run on netbooks otherwise.
I don’t see how HP can make a Windows laptop for cheaper than a Chromebook if Google isn’t charging for ChromeOS. It’s not magic, either the hardware is going to be shit or Microsoft is going to start subsidizing them.
MS might be giving them the licenses at zero cost. That makes cost the same to produce as a Chromebook.
Probably not the same cost because ChromeOS can run better on lesser hardware than Windows can.
Any screen less than 10 inches Windows is FREE
http://winsupersite.com/windows/windows-now-free-phones-and-mini-ta…
http://winsupersite.com/windows-8/microsoft-announces-windows-81-bi…
Basically, if you are an OEM that makes a low cost machine, the cost of the Windows license is not going to be something you have to worry about
It’s my understanding that Windows 8 doesn’t require a “Starter” version (not that Windows 7 ever really did) because it can scale down gracefully to slower hardware. Besides, even a base model netbook today is more powerful than some so-called “Ultrabooks” that were released three or four years ago, and those ran Windows 7 just fine.
No, no, no. Give someone a laptop with an OS it can barely support .. Why?
Chrome OS might well be limited but at least you can max out those limits to a large extent on the hardware provided, and get a fast start up time!
I’d rather have a bit slower startup than a useless OS.
Chrome book was the dumbest thing I ever bought.
Try install WinRT on it. You’ll have both.
+3! (-;
When the OS is a browser, it is quite easy to max out.
Yeah, I don’t know how useful these windows laptops will be, but I’m not paying $200 for a f-king web browser.
But those computers are not for you. You may think like this about yourself, but when your relatives, friends and loved ones constantly harass you about not finding an app they installed, or their computers are not working, being slow, having popups or advertisements, lots of browser toolsbars, and are basically at this point a spam-sending botnet member.
What will you recommend to them? A Chromebook of course!
An iPad.
Bingo. Or another tablet. The browsing experience on tablets is better than on chromebooks, they are more portable, and they have way more functionality through apps.
Yeah it’s nice that Chromebooks will be able to run android apps, but those apps will always be nicer to use on a tablet than a chromebook.
So what’s the point of a Chromebook? Well the only point I see is the physical keyboard, except that all the things I would like the keyboard for (productivity apps) rely on good offline support or don’t exist at all on Chrome OS, so the advantage is squandered.
I can be way more productive using my phone and a bluetooth keyboard than I can be on a Chromebook.
No, I just install Linux on their existing box for dinner and a case of beer to split.
Nope, I wouldnt recommend a Chromebook, I would recommend a Mac.
It’s worth paying $200 for a Linux compatible laptop with coreboot. The base install is a bit limited, but at least I’m not funding Microsoft by buying it.
You are funding Google to improve their knowledge about you.
With Android L and the corresponding Chrome OS update, it will be different as Chrome OS will suddenly have apps other than a browser.
Oh, good, it’s about to get interesting!
The pricing is competitive, and Windows 8 is light enough to run Modern apps acceptably well on minimal hardware. I certainly have my doubts about desktop apps, though.
Meanwhile, Chrome will add the massive library of Android apps to its store.
So this Christmas, I can get an inexpensive laptop that runs Chrome and Android apps, or a laptop that runs Chrome and Modern apps.
Unlike in prior bouts, the app advantage seems to favor Chromebooks this time around.
So the question will be whether the old Windows trademark and logo will hold enough residual attraction to overcome that Android trademark and logo.
Get your popcorn ready…
My Surface RT would like to have a word with you.
If Microsoft wants to play their cards well, they should collaborate directly with HP to make sure the laptop doesn’t take 2 minutes to boot because of bloatware, and it doesn’t have McAfee warnings popping up all over the place.
But they probably won’t. And Google will take advantage of it to boast how ChromeOS doesn’t have “Windows’ experience problems”, which are essentially OEMs’ problems.
Edited 2014-07-14 20:07 UTC
There are a number of Windows only things that I can’t run on wine. Having a cheap box to do that might be nice, and at $99 that might be ok to do just for those purposes.
The same kind of apps that don’t run on wine are those that need beefier PCs than 99$ ones.
No, not for my use cases. They’re all small utilities that no one cares enough to make work on wine.
And really, I hate wine. I have a separate boot drive with linux and wine together, just so its a separate environment. Its a dirty hack that rarely works when I need it to for the programs I need it to work for. Probably because windows itself is a kludge thats difficult to reverse engineer. So in a way I’m complimenting wine, its implements the frustrating part of the windows experience perfectly.
I usually prefer virtualization for apps like those, unless they’re hardware-intensive in which case they’re not going to ron on these cheap machines anyway..
Yeah, I just hate dedicating resources to a whole another operating system. A separate device at $100 would be preferable to me.
Huh??? And this is not dedicating resources how?
A VM is using hardware requirements, without adding them. Its easy to push my desktop into swap while using a VM.
A physical device is using hardware and supplying that hardware. It won’t ever push my desktop into swap, for obvious reasons.
Small computer low performance windows computer is perfect for small low performance windows apps. News at 11.
I recently helped a friend with a tech issue on her Windows 8 PC. It was an Aspire One with an AMD C-60 processor. It was really slow. I mean REALLY slow. Throw it against the wall and swear a blue streak slow. MS is setting itself up for another public relations disaster if these super cheap PCs can’t run properly. Anyone remember Windows 7 netbooks?
Edited 2014-07-14 21:28 UTC
I also have an Aspire One, and indeed, it was excruciating slow when I bought it.
It had 1 GB of memory and Windows 7 Starter. That combination simply does not work. Especially because 256 MB was dedicated to video. Windows had only 756 MB to play with.
But I replaced the 1 GB module for a 8 GB one (yes, that is possible, although Acer says it supports 4 GB max). And I replaced the disk for a SSD. Finally, I installed Arch Linux.
Now it runs fine, even with Gnome 3 Shell. But I guess Windows 7 (or 8) would run fine too. Don’t know for sure, because I didn’t bother to reinstall Windows.
The key factor here is the memory: 1 GB is simply too little. Replace it with at least 2 or 4 GB, that will make a huge difference.
The processor (dual core 1 GHz) is not as slow as you would think. Everything (read: things like browsing or using LibreOffice) works pretty smoothly, as long as you are not trying to encode Blu-Ray movies or compile Gnome 3.
A friend of mine has a Samsung netbook with only 1GB of RAM. This morning I setup MemoryBoost on a USB stick for him. It works far better now.
Any Takers?
Not if it has Windows 8 on it, no matter how cheap
Say what you will about Windows 8, at that price point, there is very little that can compete. There is the Android laptops, and Chromebooks, obviously Macs don’t get anywhere near that sort of price.
I don’t mind Chromebooks, but doubt I’d buy again, but then maybe once they can run Android apps, I might. But really, there is very little argument to make for Chrome against Windows 8 when selling at the same price. Perhaps it starts up faster, updates easier, and is simpler for absolute beginners, but even that is kind of a matter of opinion, difficult to make the case.
At $99 this is either (a) tablet junk that would be bad if it were running Android and even worse with Windows, or (b) a vaporware joke. It certainly isn’t a “Chromebook competitor” or anything of the sort because they are not building a clamshell with a keyboard for $99…the charm of the Chromebook is that one can actually type an email on it.
Bad to the bone.
Well, <9″screen == 0$ windows.
Windows 8 my computer. Then regurgit8ed.
I might consider it if the new Vista could be replaced with a real OS.
I always consider any x86/64 hardware for their potential of REALLY being able to run any software that I might want/need to (provided I can unlock the boot-loader). That being, the vast many flavors of Linux, BSD, Windows, or even the x86 versions of Google’s OSs and others. Universal hardware is always a plus.
What I can’t abide in, have the greatest disdain for, is technically savvy people, capable of effecting many alternate choices for themselves, who complain about the NSA spying on them, yet then have the unmitigated audacity to buy into an always signed-in, always tracked and controlled (24-7), Chromebook.
Please, pour me a sodding cup of strength!
Oh yeah! Much like they did for the pharmaceutical companies with regard to Vaccines damaging/killing people (they hid it in the Patriot act all those years ago), the US congress is passing law/s that will indemnify all big brother corporate spying, sold to, or shared with, big brother government entities from lawsuits or prosecution.
Be it Apple, Google, Microsoft, your ISPs or whomever, no matter what they say publicly, they’ll collect all data on you that you will allow them to and sell it at a profit to pad their bottom lines.
So go ahead and grab your ankles all you Cloud addicted, Chromebook/Google Now/Glass using, Glass-holes and Google-Borg wanna-be’s, and prepare to be well and truly serviced. Hence forth and forever.
Won’t this post be popular…
I don’t think anything Microsoft is bound to keep your stuff any safer from the prying eyes of the NSA. It seems like nothing in the world would, not even utter lack of interest and relevance of anything you say, do or have.
And Microsoft also wants to float you into their cloud. It is only not as comfy as Google’s.
You singled out Google, Microsoft isn’t much better, if any.
Your tracked in many ways, it’s hard to prevent it:
– financially – banking system
– location – because your mobile phone needs to talk to the network
– on the web with cookies or other means
– data – synchorinized with SkyDrive on Windows, ChromeOS profile, smartphones and tablets.
– travel habits – planes and public transport cards for busses and planes
– shopping habits – wifi and maybe mobile, loyalty card programs
As I think Eben Moglen said in a talk about freedombox: computer [programs] create logs [ or data, that isn’t going to change.] But we should be able to keep them ourselfs.
Thanks for putting in this note. Now we know you’re a nutbar and can safely ignore the rest of your comment.
Ely Lilly ^aEURoeimmunity^aEUR clause Patriot Act of 2002
Google it!
You Pollyanna, Political Rookie.
So, a hundred dollar laptop makes a return …I might consider it.