For better or for worse, I have consistently provided some of the most in-depth and lengthy Chromebook opinion pieces on the entire internet. That’s actually how this blog began. About one year ago, amid the sleepless delirium of paternity leave, I crafted a wordy and thorough manifesto about why Chromebooks are the best laptops. As one does.
Turns out, hardly anyone reads the Chromebook articles - they’re clearly my least viewed topic - so I've been holding back my Chromebook opinions lately. But 2023 has been such an eventful year, and so I think now I would be remiss were I not to give a brief run-down of the Chrome OS news, including some follow-up on past stories.
1) The $999 Chromebook is Readily Available for Purchase
First, the good news! As we head toward Christmas, the finest Chromebook ever built is finally readily available for sale. If you want it, and you have an extra grand sitting around, then it’s yours - in Ceramic White or Sparkling Black. It ships in one day:
In March of this year, I reviewed this $999 Chromebook, and discussed the controversy surrounding it. Some critics seemed to have unfairly smeared it as having battery problems, and in addition, and there were the usual jeers from the crowd of philistines who simply don’t like Chromebooks, loudly asserting that nobody should pay that much for a Chromebook.
My primary concern about the device, at the time, was that it simply wasn’t available. HP sold out of inventory immediately upon launch. It was gone so quickly, after so much marketing, that I wondered if it was a “loss leader,” marketed only for attention, and never intended to be sold in high numbers.
Turns out, I was wrong about that. It is for sale; but now that it’s here, it’s opened a whole new can of worms.
2) Existential Crisis Abound for Chromebook Writers
It seems to me that the mere existence of the heavily-marketed, mainstream, luxury Chromebook has triggered a spiral to depression among my fellow Chromebook writers. It’s as if they’ve been building and building to this point, but now that we’re here, they’re disappointed, disillusioned, and feeling lost.
For example, the oft-quoted-on-this-blog Robby Payne, of Chrome Unboxed published a very sad article in May.
“I thought by now things might be different. I really thought there was going to be a wider appeal for general consumers in the higher end of the Chromebook market. But the more I step back and look at where things are, the more confident I become that Chromebooks won’t truly break through in the consumer portion of the market until Google gets manufacturers on board the higher-quality, lower-price Chromebook train.”
The man is in crisis. The heart of the article is pointing out that a year-old MacBook Air is better built than the Dragonfly, and more versatile, with comparable processing speed, and all for $200 less, when on sale. He seemed to wave a flag of surrender, that I’ve never seen from Chrome Unboxed, and it legit made me feel a little down.
“And this is the crux of the issue. When approaching a general consumer looking for a laptop, an $800 Macbook Air is going to run circles around Chromebooks and Windows laptops at that price, and that means more and more people ready to shell out that sort of cash on a laptop are simply going to choose the device that limits them less.
While people like me who prefer ChromeOS are definitely out there, we’re few and far between.”
Dang.
Things kept getting worse; later in the year, one of the partners that formed the whole Chrome Unboxed media company, departed, and from what I could gather on the podcast wherein this was announced, it was not amicable. I have no idea what happened, but it seems that the three gentlemen who hosted their podcast were all part-owners, but now there are just two remaining. Hard times!
It’s not just Chrome Unboxed that’s falling apart. The other, leading publisher of Chromebook News is Kevin C. Tofel of “About Chromebooks.” He wrote an article over the summer that was even more on the nose, titled, “Chromebooks are getting boring: Why that’s both good and bad.”
“I’m not setting the world on fire when it comes to income. Ad rates have been flat or down for at least two years and usually reliable traffic sources are receding. I never set out to make gobs of income here. I simply want to have a relaxed, low-stress activity that pays my bills.
So writing low-value stories isn’t in my wheelhouse. Nor is covering every super incremental change to devices or software. With Chromebooks and ChromeOS having matured this far, that’s mostly what the changes are. Incremental.”
Having one of the only dedicated writers of Chromebook news and reviews declare Chromebooks boring, is not good for the brand. And speaking of things that are bad for brand...
Update On the Chromebook AUE Controversy
Back in the spring, there was another story circulating about Chromebooks. Nearly every major news outlet you could name, published a version of a story declaring that a “study” found Chromebooks create e-waste and are bad for the environment, kids, the economy, puppies, America, etc.
In perhaps my least-read and least-popular writing ever, I did a three part series, debunking the claims of said report. In summary, I noted that the organization conducting the study was disreputable, the man taking credit for the report had a funny name (Gutterman), and the report relied partially on French data and was thus highly questionable. The only really interesting message of the whole report was that California schools have some incompetent personnel, who can’t do a minute’s research before agreeing to buy laptops by the 100’s - as though that should come as a surprise to anybody.
Despite my best efforts to run PR for Chromebooks, it appears that Google has completely caved to the demands of the mob. Going forward, every Chromebook sold is going to have 10 years of life. And many older Chromebooks are getting extensions to remain working until 10 years from their manufacture date (my 2022 Chromebook, for example, now has its AUE date extended from the original 2030 date, to 2032).
On the surface, this looks like happy news. My computer gets two more years of life. But I’m concerned about what this does for the overall brand. I like Chromebooks because they are inexpensive, and run incredibly smoothly. Making all of these devices backwards compatible for a full decade has got to compromise those qualities. It’s like simple physics.
And our first symptom of said compromise may have already arrived. Announcing, “Chromebook Plus.”
“Chromebook Plus” Arrives
In recent weeks, Google has unveiled a “Chromebook Plus” designation, for certain devices. In order to attain the Chromebook Plus badge, a laptop must have certain, specific, minimum hardware specifications.
The idea is to let consumers know that if they buy a laptop with that badge, they can be reasonably assured that it’s a high-quality machine.
I doubt that the “Chromebook Plus” program, per se, will be around for long. Google is infamous for having a short attention span for project and programs. There is, in fact, a devoted “Google Graveyard” website, killedbygoogle.com, which documents the phenomenon.
However, the legacy, and the precedent set, is what is concerning. I mentioned Kevin Tofel earlier, and while he finds Chromebooks boring, he did graciously take the time to write a bit about Chromebook Plus over the weekend. He pointed out that, with this “Chromebook Plus” forking, not every Chromebook does the same thing anymore. We now have two separate versions of Chrome OS - one for Chromebook Plus devices, and another for normal, regular, poor kids’ Chrome OS.
That’s a pretty bad precedent, in my opinion. It means that one can’t recommend just any old Chromebook anymore, necessarily. Some are getting different features, and newer updates, and others are being neglected now. This trend could grow over the years, and Chromebooks could get more expensive, complicated, and messy. I don’t like this news one bit.
I don’t think Chromebook Plus is going to help sell anymore laptops this Christmas, but I do think it gives Google an out from maintaining a great user experience on their budget laptops.
So that is some tough news for Chromebooks this week. I guess the bright side is that if it remains this bleak, then I’m more likely to find another topic, and you won’t have to read Chromebook news so much anymore.