I Bought 2 Chrome books.<p>1 for my daughter. Only purpose she can use is Gmail (email and keep in touch with Aunt's and other relatives overseas). Occasionally she uses youtube and her school website.<p>1 for My Dad to read new papers online.<p>Both of them love it and its the only computer they use. I am sure none of them show up in any stats.<p>Edit:
I must add Why I bought Chromebooks for both of them. Their uses cases:<p>1. Only activity is online. No use with offline computer.<p>2. Not Tech savvy enough to deal with AntiVirus.<p>3. Limited Use and hence need cheaper option.<p>Chromebook fits perfectly in both scenario's.
I don't think it's all that surprising. If my daily routine consisted mostly of email and simple documents (i.e. not code) I'd buy one in a heartbeat. They're great little machines.<p>I had a chance to play with the Pixel version and it's really nice. Cold boots in something like 7 seconds. Chiclet-style keyboard, nice touchpad, etc.<p>Truthfully I'm not sure my next laptop won't be a chromebook anyways: Surely it's possible to put linux on them, in which case you've basically got yourself a netbook.
A little anecdote to add - just before Christmas, I ran into a Google rep who was doing customer research at an electronics store, observing customers who tried a Nexus 7 or Chromebook & noting down what they were most interested in (then offering to answer questions about the devices).<p>Once I told him I was a developer, he loosened up and started talking about their marketing strategy. He said that Google is pushing Chromebooks hard in 2014, and have been frustrated by stores not using the marketing displays they provide. (Apparently my city is a test market.)<p>Most interesting to me, he said the main use case he was hearing customers ask about was video chat. (Something which probably wouldn't show up in StatCounter numbers.) Customers were most interested in Skype, but if they'd settle for Google Hangouts, then they were particularly interested in the Chromebooks. (He also said many older customers were buying the Nexus 7 purely as a Skype device.)
A hit or not - but I just ordered one.<p>I stopped carrying a Windows laptop around early in 2013 when I switched to a Nexus 10 for everyday use. Now I want to show other people that there are alternatives even within the familiar laptop form factor. Plus I want to demonstrate to customers that I can deliver a fully functional application without Windows.
Chromebooks actually can be viable for coding. Firstly, Crouton lets you operate Linux and switch instantly between ChromeOS and Linux. Secondly, you can use an online IDE through Chrome. Thirdly, you could remotely operate in Windows using either a personal machine or a hosted Web server and this could be either through Linux or Chrome. This would enable using Visual Studio, for instance. I think the Chromebook Pixel with a decent home Server used for a traditional and powerful desktop environment would pair quite nicely.
My daughter is using my CR-48 beta Chromebook. She watches Youtube videos, uses Wikipedia, writes stories in Google Docs, and plays Flash-based web games (which are admittedly quite slow on the CR-48's hardware).<p>There's really not much she's missing out on. I don't have to worry about the drive crashing (docs are saved in Google Drive), her pressing a button she shouldn't, or downloading malware. It's a really great device for children and anyone that spends most of their computer time online.
Maybe the relevant question for this audience is "Chromebook: Is It an Addressable Market?"<p>I wasn't able to find an application in the Chrome Web Store with a price. Maybe the store for proper Chromebooks is different? Sure lots of things are freemium or charge on the services side. However, I was expecting at least a few applications that cost something. Are there enough Chromebook users and do they buy software/services?
I'm actually thinking about going from a MacBook Air and Mac Mini setup to Mac Mini and Chromebook setup.<p>The limitations of the Chromebook might actually be a good thing to remove distractions for me. I've been trying using Nitrous.io(<a href="https://www.nitrous.io" rel="nofollow">https://www.nitrous.io</a>), and although I miss not being able to use Vim shortcuts, I've been somewhat productive with it. I'm hesitant to pay for the service now. And I wonder if I I would be better served if I installed Linux instead (even though I hear that you have to do a weird dev boot sequence every time?).<p>Invitation link to Nitrous.io, if anyone would like to try <a href="https://www.nitrous.io/join/X01nmhYHezs" rel="nofollow">https://www.nitrous.io/join/X01nmhYHezs</a>
We bought one for her mom. While we won't know for a few months how that experiment works out I was pleased with my experience with it while setting it up for her (adding account, bookmarks, and fooling around). I could write on it, especially as I use Google's office applications more and other web apps, ssh for the rest.<p>I think the Desktop Apps available in the Chrome Web Store and the accompanying Chrome Apps icon in my Mac's Dock and Windows taskbar are much more interesting developments and I imagine Apple and Microsoft are rather more concerned about that than the netbooks. This is not the first intrusion of browser based applications onto desktop computers (Prism ,etc) but it certainly the boldest and works quite smoothly.
okay bringing out the anecdotal stories.<p>firstly, my son used a chromebook and ssh'ed into cloud nine in order to do most of his learning of JavaScript and web development.<p>secondly, my wife has been using the chromebook the last year to do all of her homeschooling planning, finances, correspondence, and web browsing.<p>tertiarily, my father who spent the week with us over the holidays, used my wife's chromebook to great effect and is planning on buying one as soon as he gets back.
The money quote:<p><i>NPD’s numbers would have us believe Chromebook’s were nearly 50 times more popular (9.6% of the market vs. 0.2%) in a segment that grew 25% from last year. That’s rather remarkable as it would suggest sales increased perhaps sixtyfold.</i><p>What else grew 60x this year, besides bitcoin and chromebooks?
While this is a rehash of exactly the pattern we saw as Android grew ("Shipments not sales. Haven't seen one in a coffee shop. No one in my family. Some web stat source says..."), with the same players regurgitating their old hits, I do wonder why people trust StatCounter so much?<p>StatCounter relies upon subject sites adding a bit of code that reports back to StatCounter, giving them their metrics. Curious, I inspected every single site I visit in a typical day, and zero of them have the StatCounter code.<p>I am invisible to StatCounter. I don't roll with Chromebook, so not really relevant in this case, but it's interesting how frequently StatCounter is used to make some proclamation or other with no one ever questioning what their coverage is.
The Curious Case of Forbes: Does anyone there use something OTHER than Windows?<p>Seriously, guys. You reek of dad. Your ability to predict and understand the tech market is undercut by the demographic of reporters needed to furnish reporting to your markets. This is why you all understand Burberry a lot better than Blackberry, and that a lot better than any of the devices that have come out since the Bush administration.<p>I am replacing you with a tiny shell that accepts PayPal from Microsoft.<p>Thank you.