http://www.eweek.com/cloud/chromebook-sales-thanks-to-schools-to-grow-79-perc...



Chromebook Sales, Thanks to Schools, to Grow 79 Percent in 2014

"Chromebook sales this year will outperform 2013 sales by 79 percent, according to an Aug. 11 report from research firm Gartner. The primary demand for Chromebooks—inexpensive notebooks with operating systems based in the cloud, for easy updating and provisioning—has come from the education sector, which accounted for 85 percent of the 2.9 million units sold in 2013. But businesses, particularly in finance, real estate, banking and hospitality, should increasingly contribute to sales, said the report."

Remember, 2013 was the Year of the Chromebook, so topping that by 79% is "continuing a significant growth curve".

Microsoft's Scroogled Campaign aside (mostly not true now with all major softwares moving to the web) and the price supports paid for relatively few "Chromebeater" low cost laptops has not deterred the Chromebook wave in the least.

http://betanews.com/2014/07/14/chromebook-kicks-os-x-and-windows-out-of-school/

Chromebook kicks OS X and Windows out of school

Microsoft has now lost the education market now pretty much completely, which means kids will all know how to use a Chromebook really really really well by the time they get out of primary school.   They won't be afraid of it, nor think that there is anything it cannot do.

Actually, when they use the family x86 dinosaur they will be amazed at all the steps and waits you have to do just to get on the web, much less to go do anything.

Windows 10 still shows no signs of getting any lighter or quicker -- so all the Chromebook performance advantages still remain.   And the cost advantages.  And the much better security and the ease of upkeep advantages.   Microsoft still isn't competitive AT ALL on the things that make a Chromebook strongest.

Chromebooks are lumped in with laptops in general media reporting, so when you see laptop sales are flat for this year, deduct 35% from that figure for the Chromebooks portion and you will know that Microsoft is really really hurting this year ......  

And when you hear Apple laptop sales are down, know where they went.

And when you see the dump off PC laptop sales this Black Friday (selling off current model overstocks of this and that) you will correctly interpret what you are seeing.



..... and that is on top of MS having to GIVE their crappy Win 8.1 BingOS away for free just to stay in the game at all.

So now the MS vendor chain has to dump price the otherwise fairly decent hardware, too, just because of the crappy OS that is installed on it.  

Sad, ain't it?    

http://liliputing.com/2014/10/zotac-zbox-pico-pocket-sized-desktop-pc-review....



Zotac ZBOX pico pocket-sized desktop PC full review

"It’s not a particularly powerful Windows PC. It has the same processor you’ll find in dirt cheap Windows tablets… and that’s led some folks to conclude that even at $200, this little desktop is overpriced. After all, you can pick up a Toshiba Encore Mini or Winbook TW800 for about half the price.

How did we get to this point? In order to fend off competition from upstart chip designer ARM, Intel is selling its low-power Atom processors at dirt cheap prices. Meanwhile Microsoft is literally giving away Windows licenses for free to makers of small, low-cost tablets, notebooks and other computers in an effort to compete with Google Android and other mobile operating systems.

That’s allowed device makers to start flooding the market with Windows tablets with Intel chips that are priced competitively with Android tablets featuring either ARM or Intel processors.

It remains to be seen whether these low prices are sustainable — we could see sticker prices go up once Microsoft and Intel have decided they’ve grabbed enough market share from their competitors. Or prices could stay low indefinitely… in which case we could see device makers start pulling out of the market due to ever-dropping profit margins (which is one of the reasons netbooks largely disappeared a few years ago).

Anyway, the point is that we now live in a world where folks call a tiny, fanless Windows desktop that’s small enough to slide into a pocket overpriced when it sells for $200."









Brad Linder's Verdict

"The Zotac ZBOX PI320 pico isn’t the cheapest computer on the market, it’s certainly not the most powerful, and depending on your definition of a desktop PC, it might not even be the smallest.

That said, it’s still a remarkable little device that won’t be the right choice for everyone… but which could certainly be a good choice for some users."


My verdict ????   It was the first of its kind and Zontac was trying to make some egregious premium dollars off the idea of being "tiny" and of being first to the market.    As such, I totally agree with Brad Linder that the Zontac Pico unit is really overpriced by nearly 2x to its real value.  

A more correct valuation is reflected by this $49 bare bones Mele unit (built in China for the Chinese people) which will allow you to spec the unit with differing amounts of memory and SSD and this unit could allow you to come in with twice as much unit for only 3/4 the price of the Zontac Pico unit.

However, the Intel processor itself is still a bit too minimal for real uses.  When 14nm rolls through next year the direct descendant of this unit will be the one to watch for "low end best value" PCs.    (assuming that Intel and MS keep up all the Chinese freebie giveaways that is)    14nm is going to be 20% FASTER on the CPU and we are "promised" 3x the graphics performance of the standard Intel on-board graphics which will supposedly be built into all these 14nm Intel chipsets.  

(Ha -- Intel speaks with confusing brown icky tongue on all that 14nm Sophia stuff)

This Mele unit is the only true price/value competition for the Chromeboxes that are out there on the market right now, but it is currently too slow for any gaming uses and boots much slower and still requires the constant Windows anti-virus and defrag, etc. etc.

But still, it is a LESS THAN $100 full function Windows PC with full I/O
      (including LAN, HDMI, Composite jacks and a VGA port)



Mele PCG03 Specifications:

SoC – Intel Atom Z3735D “Bay Trail” quad core processor @ 1.33 GHz (Burst freq: 1.83 GHz) with Intel HD graphics
System Memory – Optional 1 or 2 GB DDR3
Storage – Optional 16, 32, or 64 GB eMMC + micro SD slot
Video Output – HDMI 1.4, VGA and Composite (RCA),
Audio I/F – HDMI, Stereo RCA, optical S/PDIF, and MIC and earphone jack.
Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi
USB – 2x USB 2.0 host
Power Supply – N/A


Now, here is the rub -- whatever chip performance gains you get in the 2015 Windows low end units you will also get in the Chromebox units as they use the same processors.    

Chrome is much smaller, runs quicker, requires less memory and naturally costs less than Windows machines  ----  and these natural advantages will remain next year and the year after that UNLESS MICROSOFT DEPORKY'S WINDOWS AND GETS IT TO BE LEAN AND FAST ENOUGH TO BE ACTUALLY PERFORMANCE COMPETITIVE WITH CHROMEBOOKS AND CHROMEBOXES.

So far we have not seen any real Win 10 changes as far as fat, porky and slow goes .....

I see you mentioned the advert for google "ok google"....... I have several times emailed and conversed with "helpers" on that.

Just recently our billiards team (ok pool team) was playing an away game at a bar that has a lot of young folks, our games go long sometimes (up until midnight) and a band started playing about 10:30-ish.
Well after the first few songs the lead singer did something they say he always does, him being an apple fan.
He says "hey turn this mike up a little, I got something to say", then is a slow measured voice he says "ok, google now, search internet porn".... I was not a happy man.... and half our team was pissed so much we forfeited the last match. But the league cannot do anything about an "entertainer", and if we refuse to play at that bar, we loose points having to forfeit.
We were told we could "turn off our phones".
If google would allow us to use personal voice startup, I would be sooooo happy.
I wonder how many google users would say, OK HAL.......

http://liliputing.com/2014/10/hp-stream-11-laptop-now-available-200.html

HP Stream 11 laptop now available for $200



It's HERE .... retailing for $200 as promised 

Performance reviews will be forthcoming .... is it better than a Chromebook?

One thing that is becoming clear is that simply due to cost lesser processors are having to be used in the Streambook class of products compared to what is used in the existing Chromebook class of products.

(correction for myself -- these really aren't worse processors, slightly less yes but "roughly equivalent" to the Chromebook dual cores and they DO NOT REQUIRE A FAN which is a large battery savings that using Windows 8.1 totally eats up.)

I cannot see how this is going to help their comparative performance, swinging a porkier, fatter, slower more obese OS while having to use a (slightly) lesser chipset.

More words on this once the comparison reviews roll in.

=======

Microsoft is backing these units with a free year of Microsoft 360 and one year's use of  (1) terabyte of One Drive storage, so obviously being on-line is important to the Streambook (duh, the name).

Hey, I'd say we gots us a low end fight on our hands now .....

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/a-million-chromebooks-a-quarter-what-it-m...

A million Chromebooks a quarter: What it means for Google in education



"For technology companies, the education space is one of the single most important markets to capture. Students who learn on a particular platform or technology are likely to continue using those same tools throughout their academic career and, with the rise of BYOD, throughout their working career as well.

Google has worked hard to capture the education market with Chromebooks and in 2014 there have been multiple signs that Google is gaining a foothold. A report earlier this year said that Chromebooks captured 20% of the education market in 2013.

The latest data point detailing the momentum of Chromebooks was a new blog post in which Google announced that schools had purchased more than 1 million Chromebooks in the second quarter of 2014. The announcement comes in tandem with the announcement of Bridgeport Public Schools bringing 9,000 Chromebooks to their school system. While 9,000 is a large deployment, it pales in comparison to the 32,000 Chromebooks being deployed at Chesterfield County Public Schools.

"With the advance of the web, a lot of the learning material, traditionally only available at library or bookstores, is now available at the fingertips," said Ken Lin, an engineering manager for the Chrome education and business team. "We are seeing a huge trend for classrooms to adopt technology, because it helps teachers to teach better, and enables kids to access knowledge like never before. We are very excited for Chromebooks to be part of this trend."

These deployments are merely two in a series of multi-thousand unit Chromebook deployments in schools throughout the country, leading to the question of why Chromebooks are gaining so much traction in the enterprise.

There are two big reasons why the use of Chromebooks is growing in the education space, deployment and management. Let's break that down.

Deployment

When considering a new machine deployment, much of what attracts schools to the Chromebook is lack of machine imaging and how easy it is to get users up and running.

"As we became more familiar with the Chrome OS and the enhancements offered from its frequent release cycle, the number of items requiring intervention prior to distribution dwindled to merely asset tagging the machines, and logging in one time to join them to our organization," said Adam Seldow, executive director of technology for Chesterfield County Public Schools. "All of the device and user settings flow to the machine instantly upon the user's initial login."

Management

When it comes to maintaining and managing the devices, Chromebooks have a potential to gain points with schools there as well. The devices don't require much in the way of management from the IT support staff.

According to Lin, administrators can use a "central web-based management console to check the health of the devices, push applications, set policies." Meaning that the deployment of a new web app to an entire student population could be as easy as a few clicks. Once again, this isn't something that is proprietary to Google, but it is a feature that Google does well with the Chrome OS devices.

When asked about what he thought the best things about using Chromebooks in his schools were, Seldow mentioned "The seamless, frequent, and feature-rich updates. The Chrome OS update cycle is rapid and with each update comes improved functionality and security. Best of all, the updates do not interrupt productivity and can be staggered over time for large organizations."

Why Chromebooks will continue to win in Education

The new HP Streambook has all the old ills associated with taking care of Windows machines compounded by the lack of drive space to handle the relatively bulky network admin tools that have to be added to each machine when they are unpacked.

Bluntly, IT and Systems Admin folks who are familiar with both systems went to Chromebooks in the first place to get away from all the time and cost and "resource eating" maintenance issues that they had always had with Windows machines.

Lastly, the powerful impact of all the free of cost and freely available Open Source Educational material written by real educators for real teachers and today's students on the Chromebook platform cannot be ignored.   Web based, flowing graphical education materials are much more effective than text based training in keeping student's attention and interest.

Schools are tight on budgets, so a cheap easy to implement and maintain Chromebook that uses free software all the way up and down the spectrum counts for a lot in the eyes of a school district.  

And Google gives teachers their own separate Education Store to organize and disperse all that ongoing free goodness (and Google actively shields Education Chromebooks from root kits, viruses, worms, trojans, porn and e-trash and all advertising, including any of Google's own ads).  

Microsoft charges lots of $$$$ for all their stuff and it is relatively "regimented", comparatively dull and not always current or relevant to the needs of real school districts with all their varying environments.

Chrome is still winning in education and is capturing the hearts and minds of children everywhere it is used.

http://www.thestreet.com/story/12893700/1/intel-buys-into-china-smartphone-ma...

"NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Intel (INTC) , the semi-conductor maker, confirmed Friday that it had made a $1.5 billion investment for a 20% stake in Chinese state-backed Tsinghua Holdings, (Spreadtrum) a chipmaker that will produce Intel-branded chips for mobile phones and other electronics."  

Intel is now in business with the Chinese government.

This 1/5 share is strategic and it is a logical follow on to the Rockchip deal (which was never specified or announced in any fiscal source at all, with it being in the nature of bribes and such).

Intel intends to make Intel branded ARM chips in China off of Chinese government owned lithography foundries and to reserve its increasingly few domestic plants for top end processors only.

Intel also intends to survive, even if the American PC industry does not .....    Spending money this way is FAR smarter than slapping more counter revenue on top of old Intel designed chipsets that ARE NEVER GOING TO BE REALLY COMPETITIVE, EVER.

Microsoft's x86 stuff isn't Intel's be-all OS any more, Android and Chrome are large parts of Intel's home turf now.   Microsoft is still trying to create its "customer desirable "make or break" Win 10 and MS is struggling since the last Win 10 preview update wouldn't display text all that well.  

The MS fan boys are really quiet right now, sorta scared actually.   Within the last 60 days MS has hacked up an entire set of monthly Security Updates and has now screwed up an entire scheduled Win 10 beta preview weekly release in an OBVIOUS, CARELESS and very dire fashion.  



The new MS may have laid off too many people too fast, and might be apparently losing track of their "Whatssup, doc?".

 

Let's play with the 2016 predicted charts a bit and try to figure out if Microsoft gains or loses ground.

PC desktop is 5% of total market, Notebook is 8%.

However 0.5% of the 5% of desktop slice is Chromeboxes and 2.5% of the notebook slice is Chromebooks (measured at this current point in time).  

So what is left of the traditional PC market's 13% that is left potentially for Microsoft?   Somewhere around 10% is the best prediction for MS's total devices share at this point in time.

So, will Microsoft be able to break into phones in a large way in the Orient?    No, because all the good oriental language apps are written for Android, and written for older versions of Android on top of that.    Very hard for Microsoft to get a presence in that environment, really.

Microsoft needs to batten their hatches, get ready to shrink manning again and try to keep an iron focus on getting Win 10 to be lighter and faster to compete better against Chromebooks and Chromeboxes.   Microsoft needs to give up on their x86 separatist focus and go ARM with all their might, since Intel is busy doing so as we speak.

Microsoft is at 14% market share right now and MS is rapidly dropping down to a 10% market share -- and if Chrome successfully invades the business world like it did to the education world then MS may drop market share even further and faster.

   

Business IT is busy building rigorous corporate intranets with internally controlled webwares to do all their business functions.   Chromebooks and Boxes are a natural fit to this world, much much more so than more expensive and more cumbersome Windows machines.

http://liliputing.com/2014/10/hp-stream-11-pro-notebook-way.html

HP Stream 11 Pro notebook on the way



"HP has been known to market what are essentially the same laptops to consumer and enterprise customers under different names.

While the HP Stream 11 is first and foremost a cheap laptop, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have features that could appeal to corporate customers. The $200 notebook is a low-power machine with a fanless design, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of flash storage, an Intel Atom N2840 processor, a matte 1366 x 768 pixel display, and up to around 8 hours of battery life.

It measures 0.8 inches thick, weighs about 2.8 pounds, and the consumer model comes with a 1-year subscription to Microsoft Office 365 which includes access to Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access as well as unlimited cloud storage.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the Pro model is basically the same machine, but with an option for Windows 8.1 Pro software."


    Bold move for HP since we haven't seen the real actual physically present HP Stream 11 units even tested, reviewed or benchmarked yet.

If this were marketed to Education, would it be effective?  

It would likely be more effective with a good fast light skinnied up Win 10 behind it.