Apple's Phil Schiller Takes Shots at Chromebooks, Says They're 'Not Going To Succeed' (9to5google.com) 217
In an interview about the 16-inch MacBook Pro, Apple senior vice president Phil Schiller made a direct attack on Chromebooks. When asked about the growth of Chrome OS in the education sector, Schiller attributes the success of Chromebooks to their being "cheap." He said: Kids who are really into learning and want to learn will have better success. It's not hard to understand why kids aren't engaged in a classroom without applying technology in a way that inspires them. You need to have these cutting-edge learning tools to help kids really achieve their best results. Yet Chromebooks don't do that. Chromebooks have gotten to the classroom because, frankly, they're cheap testing tools for required testing. If all you want to do is test kids, well, maybe a cheap notebook will do that. But they're not going to succeed.
stop the whining Phil (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:stop the whining Phil (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd like that.
He sort of says what is expected of him, even if talking out of his rear end.
However, he also talks like someone who in his private life is enjoying a fat bank account and have forgotten how life is without one.
Re: stop the whining Phil (Score:5, Insightful)
You need to have these cutting-edge learning tools to help kids really achieve their best results.
If this was even remotely true, educational success would've scaled with Moore's Law instead of the inverse.
The more these sociopaths convince the dingbats in education that faster computers are the solution to dumber students, the dumber the students get.
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You need to have these cutting-edge learning tools to help kids really achieve their best results.
If this was even remotely true, educational success would've scaled with Moore's Law instead of the inverse.
The more these sociopaths convince the dingbats in education that faster computers are the solution to dumber students, the dumber the students get.
Moore's Law applies to technolological advances; not to advances in human intellect.
And I don't think "sociopath" means what you think it means.
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I think you've missed his point.
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you can get a Mac book at a nice discount from one of the third party retailers. my MBA was cheaper than some chrome books when I bought it from Best Buy
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you can get a Mac book at a nice discount from one of the third party retailers. my MBA was cheaper than some chrome books when I bought it from Best Buy
Good point!
If you visit sites like AppleInsider, they are constantly having articles on really significant discounts on Apple gear (mostly Macbook Pros and iPads). In fact, they have a dedicated "Deals" Tab on their homepage. For example, here are a few recent entries:
https://deals.appleinsider.com... [appleinsider.com]
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Except you never see those kinds of deals outside of the United States - exactly where such deals are needed.
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I don't think he's whining, I think he probably doesn't care about Chromebooks at all. He was asked a question and he answered it, but if I were to guess, I'd say this is the only time he *ever* thinks about Chromebooks. To an extent, they're beneath his notice.
That said, and as a person without children, I'm unconvinced that computers in the classroom help anything at all. For some periods of time for research perhaps. I personally find it pretty hard to think deeply at a computer—I say that as a pro
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Maybe Chromebooks are cheaper because they don't have to pay bribes to teachers [theregister.co.uk] to ensure that iPads are made mandatory at schools.
Re: stop the whining Phil (Score:2)
"Apples make your child smart. Google products don't do that."
This is Apples tried and true strategy of getting the school board to pay for it. (I learned to type on an Apple II, for example.) The price tag doesn't matter when the consumer doesn't see it.
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(I learned to type on an Apple II, for example.) The price tag doesn't matter when the consumer doesn't see it.
The Apple II machines were cheap for what you got by the standards of the day, at least early on. One of my schools got a couple of Laser clones because they did the same job for less.
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Some things never change.
During an award ceremony interview, Jack Tramiel of Commodore-64 fame and Steve Wozniak were reminiscing. Steve made a remark hinting that the Apple II was a superior computer to the Commodore 64.
Jack shot back, "But it cost 4 times as much. Nobody could afford them. I made computers for the masses, not the classes." (Paraphrased)
But who had the last-laugh on that one?
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While Commodore did not have Steve Jobs and got brought by a European company back in the 90s.
So the difference was Steve Jobs and his friends.
Maybe at latter grades chrome might not be best (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: Maybe at latter grades chrome might not be bes (Score:3)
Re: Maybe at latter grades chrome might not be be (Score:2)
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I used a Chromebook during grad school for a CS program. It's a great light-weight device with the capability to remotely connect to servers
Computer == Web, So Saith Google (Score:3, Interesting)
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Google loves Chromebooks in the classroom because they're teaching kids that everything is the browser and the browser is everything.
Works well for Google long-term if kids have no idea or inclination to consider any part of the computer that they can't monetise; i.e. anything offline.
Precisely!
So expensive = successful (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:So expensive = successful (Score:4, Informative)
The new Macbooks go up to $6000. Apple needs another trillion in market cap, open your wallets and pay with your Apple card today.
Apple targets primary education with $249 "managed" (shared) iPads, not $$$ Macbooks.
Take a look at the "classroom" photos on their Education homepage. IPads as far as the eye can see. Not one Macbook or even iMac:
https://www.apple.com/educatio... [apple.com]
In fact, they have a really neat system for essentially "Netbooting" classroom iPads, shared among multiple students. This spreads the cost of that oh-so-expensive $249 (educational list price) iPad even further. Plus, you will note that Apple has bent-over-backwards to support popular non-Apple backends:
https://www.apple.com/educatio... [apple.com]
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Apple targets primary education with $249 "managed" (shared) iPads, not $$$ Macbooks.,/quote>
So by their own admission cheap garbage which doesn't benefit education.
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The new Macbooks go up to $6000. Apple needs another trillion in market cap, open your wallets and pay with your Apple card today.
Shit man the new Mac Pro STARTS at 6k. I don't know what Phil is smoking but they have exactly shit for mid range systems. I do not want or need an iMac with its shit hard drive and attached monitor that would go to waste when I want to upgrade the system. The Mac Mini is 6-7 year old hardware at next years prices.
If the guy would make and sell systems people could actual use and afford the conversation would be moot.
Cheap shot at Chromebooks (Score:5, Insightful)
After the massive failure of iPads in education, and them simply pricings themselves out of the education market...Why be bitter?
Apple produce only simple consumer veblen goods. They need to complete in other market s with something better than words.
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I swear that most of the attempts to use these are just ways to funnel taxpayer money into the hands of companies that peddle these devices or create content for them.
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Chromebooks aren't that much better, and they'll fail just like every other piece of high tech kit pushed on the education system. Presenting educational materials on a computer isn't going to result in massive changes in terms of educational outcome.
I swear that most of the attempts to use these are just ways to funnel taxpayer money into the hands of companies that peddle these devices or create content for them.
This is why Apple pushes iPads for primary Education.
They are fairly indestructable (certainly more so than anything with a hinge!), have all-day battery life (yes I know some Chromebooks do, too), and are easily shared, with pseudo multiple student accounts. See "Shared iPad" on the page below.
https://www.apple.com/educatio... [apple.com]
And this account information is, AFAIK, is not transmitted or shared with Apple in any way. Can the same be said for a Chromebook?
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Chromebooks aren't that much better, and they'll fail just like every other piece of high tech kit pushed on the education system. Presenting educational materials on a computer isn't going to result in massive changes in terms of educational outcome.
What grades are your kids in? What PCs do they use at school?
My kids are in grades 4 & 6. Chromebooks aren't about pushing "educational materials." They're about learning to type and collaborate on projects together. They about learning to code, A
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After the massive failure of iPads in education, and them simply pricings themselves out of the education market...Why be bitter?
Apple produce only simple consumer veblen goods. They need to complete in other market s with something better than words.
What "massive failure" would you be talking about?
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The last stats I saw for my state showed that about 50% of students used Chromebooks and less than 1% used iPads. When your competition is outselling you by a factor of 50-100, that's a massive failure on your part.
Required testing? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Required testing? (Score:5, Insightful)
Because if you need to do anymore than simple word processing, a Chromebook can't do it.
What do you mean "[any]more"? WYSIWYG word processing is one of the most demanding tasks typically performed in grade school computing.
If I had one of these for school, I would hardly use it. No games
We're talking about school, kid. Not hardcore gaming.
and they are slow.
You know, we learned the basics of programming in grade school on Apple 2s. Control of flow, input, output, computation... And we played educational games like math blasters, carmen, and oregon trail. In Jr. High we used, amusingly, IBM PCJrs to run LOGO. In my High School there was a drafting class running Autocad on 386s. Now you're claiming that Chromebooks, which are orders of magnitude faster than any of those, are too slow for education?
You clearly, provably, definitely have no clue what you're talking about.
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Because if you need to do anymore than simple word processing, a Chromebook can't do it.
What do you mean "[any]more"? WYSIWYG word processing is one of the most demanding tasks typically performed in grade school computing.
If I had one of these for school, I would hardly use it. No games
Software complexity grows to meet (or exceed) the hardware of its day. So it "factors out" that the hardware available is faster, too. That "fasterness" of current hardware is consumed by the "bloatedness" of current software.
If you post here, you should know that.
We're talking about school, kid. Not hardcore gaming.
and they are slow.
You know, we learned the basics of programming in grade school on Apple 2s. Control of flow, input, output, computation... And we played educational games like math blasters, carmen, and oregon trail. In Jr. High we used, amusingly, IBM PCJrs to run LOGO. In my High School there was a drafting class running Autocad on 386s. Now you're claiming that Chromebooks, which are orders of magnitude faster than any of those, are too slow for education?
You clearly, provably, definitely have no clue what you're talking about.
Re:Required testing? (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:Required testing? (Score:4, Insightful)
Games are a great way to teach the younger kids.
The types of games which can teach kids can run in the browser programmed in Javascript.
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Games are a great way to teach the younger kids.
The types of games which can teach kids can run in the browser programmed in Javascript.
But shouldn't because fuck javascript.
Re:Required testing? (Score:5, Insightful)
Word processing, spreadsheets, web browsing, etc. This is the vast majority of what is needed for use in your typical K-12 classroom.
Indeed. And from what I can see with my children growing up (with the oldest now in college) and my 8th grade teacher wife ... the K-12 classrooms and my oldest's college have all embraced, to a very large degree, Google Docs ... and Chromebooks run this fantastically.
They all *love* the collaborative nature of Google Docs and students share their documents with their teachers who can offer advice as it's being written, things are turned in with Google Docs (and never printed out at all), etc.
As I see it, the killer app isn't the Chromebook -- it's Google Docs, but the Chromebooks run it well so it wins too. The K-12 schools that my kids use provide Chromebooks at school and they work well -- and the kids can use whatever they have at home to access the same documents once they get home.
iPads can do the same thing, however ... the lack of a keyboard is a huge issue. And traditional desktops or laptops can work as well, but they do require a certain amount of upkeep that the Chromebooks (and iPads) handle behind the scenes that the end-user doesn't have to deal with.
Re:Required testing? (Score:4, Insightful)
As I see it, the killer app isn't the Chromebook -- it's Google Docs, but the Chromebooks run it well so it wins too. The K-12 schools that my kids use provide Chromebooks at school and they work well -- and the kids can use whatever they have at home to access the same documents once they get home.
It is indeed Google Docs, but it's also the Chromebooks, and specifically the Google management tools for the Chromebooks. Education and enterprise both asked for bulk management features for organization-owned devices and in a rare burst of attention, Google listened. All that stuff Microsoft provides when you buy the super top tier every-fucking-thing-and-the-kitchen sink subscriptions, Google provided for Chromebooks. And didn't insist you run their server software to get access to it, the way Microsoft does.
iPads can do the same thing, however ... the lack of a keyboard is a huge issue.
I rarely do this, but... This. So much this. iPads are consumption devices. No one learns by consuming. Humans learn by doing, and that requires input devices when we're talking about electronic equipment, and the keyboard is still king.
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No kid needs the kind of advanced functionality a full blown suite of office applications provides. Google docs, sheets, etc. is good enough. A Chromebook is also good enough for my aging father who just writes occasional letters and checks email, which is why I replaced his aging Lenovo laptop with one. He can even still use Skype. He doesn't need a Windows PC and I don't need the hassle of keeping the bloody thing working.
Big Corp A bashing Big Corp B product (Score:2)
Nothing to see here, Move along.
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Apple and Boogle?
Foolishness (Score:5, Interesting)
Chromebooks work great for education. The teachers at my wife's school find them very useful, especially since our schools use google apps/google classroom. They used to use a lot of ipads, but they were really frustrating for the classroom environment. For years they were a nightmare for multi-user situations, though I understand this has improved.
For classrooms, chromebooks just work. Grab any Chromebook, log-on and have all of your work available. There are many useful extensions available too.
Use in high schools (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Use in high schools (Score:5, Interesting)
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There may be some truth to this, but I have found that a lot of small-to-mid-sized companies have been embracing document management on the cloud.
Also, those people graduating are going to be drivers of a move to cloud services in the companies where they'll find employment. I would imagine that's a major reason why google is going after the education sector with such fervor.
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They will be a bit surprised when they graduate and realize offices don't all work in the cloud like this.
Huh? What kind of outdated organisation with an understaffed IT department do you work for?
Network drives? I heard of them. I think I got an email about them recently, something about our network drives being turned off and ensure we've copied all our files to Office365 before October 31st. I guess if I ever used that outdated technology I may have missed a deadline or something.
but we need to remember that the work world doesn't jump on every new trend
Cloud is a new trend like the "internet" is a new trend. If you're still thinking cloud services are some trendy new thing maybe y
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They will be a bit surprised when they graduate and realize offices don't all work in the cloud like this. (Not saying they shouldn't, but the fact is... they don't.) I was teaching a high school group about programming Arduino, and one student asked, "When we're done, can we save this program and work on it again later?" I said sure, just save it on your student network drive. First, they didn't know what a drive was, and second, I had to show them how to go File... Save As... to save something. They'd never done that before, in any program. I realize nobody balances checkbooks or uses fax machines anymore, but we need to remember that the work world doesn't jump on every new trend, and we need to prepare high school kids for both the future and the present.
Kids are flexible. They'll pick up on the new stuff faster than us old gits can and before long they'll be making fun of us saving files because we don't understand how to use the new sub-ether-drive thing. What's new becomes old pretty quick.
Privacy (Score:3)
He may be right, but for other reasons.
Chromebooks only work as long as the damage to children's privacy from using Google services is not calculated into the total cost of ownership.
As scandals grow, schools especially will be susceptible to pressure to protect children from rampant data extraction.
Since Apple is a company that claims to understand the value of privacy, I would have expected that to use that argument too.
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Chromebooks only work as long as the damage to children's privacy from using Google services is not calculated into the total cost of ownership.
You can use Chromebooks without Google Services. It's cheaper for the schools to let Google handle it, but they can provide web apps without Google. They choose not to for financial reasons, but it's not a law of nature.
If you want it to change, I suggest you contribute to some project to provide a turnkey replacement for Google apps delivered through Chromebooks, intended for educational institutions.
Re: Privacy (Score:2)
Please tell me how much the total cost of ownership is increased from using Google services.
Huh? Too late (Score:2)
Q4 2018, Chromebooks were 21% of the notebook market. Apple has about 10% of the market. I think Chromebook already succeeded.
It sounds like Apple is starting to feel the burn of Google taking over the education market.
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Wait a minute... if Apple has 10% of the market and Chromebooks have 21% of the market, it means there's a clear winner out there with 69% of the market.
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If Apple has 10% of the market and Google has 21% of the market with their Chromebooks, then two of the biggest software+hardware companies in the world have a total of 31% marketshare. We're talking about the education market here. If the majority of that remaining 69% is not taken by Microsoft, who is it? I don't think there's not enough players in the software+hardware world to account for the remaining percentage.
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Q4 2018, Chromebooks were 21% of the notebook market. Apple has about 10% of the market. I think Chromebook already succeeded.
It sounds like Apple is starting to feel the burn of Google taking over the education market.
Neither one of those sounds like a "clear winner", like, for example, Windows is in the corporate-office environment.
My HS daughter passed on a Macbook for Chrome (Score:2)
She has 2 chromebooks, 1 for personal and one school issued. I tried to give her a Macbook hand-me-down and she passed on it. It's not that she dislikes Apple, shes on her 2nd iPhone and can't stand Android. She just has no use for the Macbook. Has nothing to do with 'cheap'.
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She has 2 chromebooks, 1 for personal and one school issued. I tried to give her a Macbook hand-me-down and she passed on it. It's not that she dislikes Apple, shes on her 2nd iPhone and can't stand Android. She just has no use for the Macbook. Has nothing to do with 'cheap'.
My wife has no interest in computers for anything beyond the internet, her Chromebook has done exactly what she needs for years. I wouldn't call that cheap, I would call that not overly extravagant.
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She has 2 chromebooks, 1 for personal and one school issued. I tried to give her a Macbook hand-me-down and she passed on it. It's not that she dislikes Apple, shes on her 2nd iPhone and can't stand Android. She just has no use for the Macbook. Has nothing to do with 'cheap'.
How out-of-date was the Macbook hand-me-down? It may just be that it is too old to be that useful. Happens with all computers.
Kids these days (Score:5, Funny)
In my day, all we had was cheap TI-30s with dim displays and bouncy keys, but somehow we managed to succeed.
Now, get off my lawn.
Re:Kids these days (Score:4, Insightful)
In my day we had pencils and paper. If you were rich you could get a slide rule.
Re:Kids these days (Score:4)
I used to dream of owning a slide rule
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In my day, all we had was cheap TI-30s with dim displays and bouncy keys, but somehow we managed to succeed.
Now, get off my lawn.
I got lucky. The UK, when I went to school, hadn't been corrupted by TI. I used Casios.
This guy lives in a bubble (Score:2)
I think Mr. First World here is neglecting the existence of economies where the "Mac" and the "iThing" aren't really mainstream. I wonder if he really believes that, in 10 years, a sub-sarian primary student will be taking classes either with an expensive Mac (or Windows device), a lacking, slow, keyboardless Android tablet, or a cheap Chromebook.
Of course, Linux would be an option, but it doesn't have a giant behind it pushing for adoption (that's the problem with open-source). That's why my money is on Ch
Of Course (Score:3)
The new MacBook Pro costs $2500. I can buy TEN Chromebooks for that same price.
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Same thing for iPad vs Fire tablets. You can buy a lot of Fire 8 or Fire 7 tablets for the price of a single iPad. A lot more of them on Amazon Prime Days and Black Friday specials.
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Maybe a desktop upgrade as well.
Re:Of Course (Score:4, Insightful)
Agreed, but the Macbook Pro will probably still work fine in 10 years. The Chromebook will have been EOL for 5 years by that time, and 10 years down the road, 32 GB of storage will feel like a device with 4 GB of storage (not RAM) does today. AKA useless.
That's why I have a problem with Chromebooks. They have a built in expiry both in their support model and their hardware spec.
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So what? You just buy 2 Chromebooks, still saved yourself 80% of the price, and your second one will be better. You could buy 1 every year for 10 years, not worry that your kid may drop it and still break even without spending the money upfront.
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Considering how many times I have heard Rossmann curse about newer MacBooks, I doubt that ...
A MacBook Pro made ten years ago, used today --- that's different. Apple does not make them as they used to.
The point is moot, anyway considering how kids use and abuse the things they have been issued. I don't think any laptop would survive a school setting for ten years.
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the Macbook Pro will probably still work fine in 10 years. The Chromebook will have been EOL for 5 years by that time,
They will probably both work fine, and they will probably both be unsupported.
10 years down the road, 32 GB of storage will feel like a device with 4 GB of storage (not RAM) does today.
Who cares when it's a device intended to work with websites, not to store everything locally?
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I agree with you about the lifespan for chromebooks. But I'm not sure that I agree about the lifespan of Macs
My last Macbook Pro lasted about 3 years. It started to have problems with overheating and became unstable. I think this had to do primarily with the graphics card and overly aggressive design decisions made with cooling & power management to make the machine lightweight and slim. My current Macbook Pro hasn't even lasted that long ant it's on its way out. It's one of the ones that has the k
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Agreed, but the Macbook Pro will probably still work fine in 10 years. The Chromebook will have been EOL for 5 years by that time, and 10 years down the road, 32 GB of storage will feel like a device with 4 GB of storage (not RAM) does today. AKA useless.
That's why I have a problem with Chromebooks. They have a built in expiry both in their support model and their hardware spec.
Chromebooks are thin clients, so their obsolescence is more dependent on the server than the client. Because of this, both software and hardware support should be easier and lead to longer lifetimes. And this just considers lifetimes per machine. Viewed in terms of lifetimes per dollar for a single user, the Chromebook far outlasts the Macbook, especially since upgrading the Chromebook is trivial.
Explains why they're 7/10 of Amazon's top sellers (Score:2)
This is kinda like when The Onion pointed out Sanders' 2 point drop up [theonion.com]
useful macbooks (Score:2)
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I programed so much into those that I barely needed to do anything.
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sucker
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My kids get iPads from K-5 and then Macbooks from 6-12. I can tell you that they do nothing more than use a bunch of websites, write papers, and play Minecraft. A whole lot of money for a video game/web device.
Sounds like your school district doesn't know how to best utilize its resources.
Horrible PR (Score:5, Interesting)
This comment is so utterly wrong it is almost funny. Basically fear mongering for over protective parents; if you don't buy an Apple laptop to your kid, he will not get the best grades. That might work in Cupertino, but for the rest of the world, this is quite an insult to people's intelligence, especially given so many schools use Chromebooks and find it absolutely perfect.
Also the lamest strategy to sell products.
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Also the lamest strategy to sell products.
Yeah, shitting on cheap tools while you're trying to sell toy iPads for education is incredibly self defeating.
Phil Schiller living up to his name? (Score:2)
Phil Schiller needs to give explicit examples of things Apples do better than Chromebooks for students. The article mentions learning programming, but you don't need fat hardware to learn programming. I learned on a Timex Sinclair 1000, which has much less power than even an iWatch.
If I were Phil and could sleep at night spinning fluff, I'd say, "You need powerful laptops to learn about deep-learning neural networks." Maybe throw in interactive 3D CAD. There is at least a bit of truth to those, but that's n
K-12 are not doing high performance computing. (Score:3)
They will need a computer to do the following.
1. Look up material.
2. Communicate with teachers and students
3. Write content
4. Aid with math
5. Additional creativity features.
A Chromebook is perfectly acceptable for this. We don't need high end video editing, or high speed calculations. The extra power of a Macbook would only go towards distractions towards learning.
The world you have, not the one you imagine (Score:2)
The thing about this position is that it's casting a blind eye at the realities of the education system as it stands.
Chromebooks have gotten to the classroom because, frankly, they're cheap testing tools for required testing
Now one can agree or disagree all day long about the policies that lead us to the point we are in, but for better or worse, we have education systems that are vastly underfunded and standardized tests that are required to be taken. Now you can lament the world as it is but simply writing off the success of something for targeting the reality we're in is the very definition of shortsightednes
If me and my family owning 3 of them, ... (Score:2)
... using them on a daily basis and not having any hassles with them is failing, I wonder what success looks like!
October 19, 2017
Acer Chromebook 14" Intel Core i5 2.30GHz 8GB Ram 32GB Storage Chrome OS (Certified Refurbished)
$514.99
June 20, 2017
Acer Chromebook 14" Intel Core i5 2.30GHz 8GB Ram 32GB Storage Chrome OS (Certified Refurbished)
$566.99
January 17, 2017
ASUS 12.5" C302CA-DHM4 64GB Chromebook Flip ASC302CADHM4
$499.00
Laptops don't need to be powerful for most. (Score:2)
Chromebooks Have Actual Keyboards (Score:2)
Intentional mis-reading of what he said (Score:3)
If all you want to do is test kids, well, maybe a cheap notebook will do that. But they're not going to succeed.
He's not talking about the Chromebooks, he's talking about the kids. He's saying the kids won't succeed.
product differentiation (Score:2)
Like all hackers, people sometimes ask me what make or model tech product they should buy. iPhone or Android, Mac or PC, Windows, iOs Linux, etc. I tell them the brand doesn't matter, because you are probably using the device for browsing the web, reading email, listening to media, and so forth, and all those devices do those tasks in a way that is close to identical. Maybe one is faster or slower, or bigger or smaller storage, or bigger or smaller screen. But it should make little difference to you whe
Really? (Score:2)
"You need to have these cutting-edge learning tools to help kids really achieve their best results. "
No, that is the comment from someone trying to SELL YOU "cutting edge" tech.
Agreed (Score:2)
I agree with him. It's a tablet with a keyboard.
Before you dismiss me as an employed-by-Microsoft fangirl, understand that I'm critical of our push to support low-end hardware too. It's not a good experience for users, and user experience matters even, perhaps especially, if they are kiddos.
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I agree with him. It's a tablet with a keyboard.
Before you dismiss me as an employed-by-Microsoft fangirl,
No, you're going to be dismissed as not knowing what you're talking about. Apple keeps pushing iPads for education, that's a tablet which doesn't even have a keyboard.
understand that I'm critical of our push to support low-end hardware too.
Apple and Microsoft are the same in that both keep pushing locked-down hardware with soldered-down RAM and SSD, which is explicitly designed not to run Linux.
Throwing money at a problem (Score:2)
And yet, study after study shows that throwing a ton of money at education in the form of buying very expensive, consumable tools does not improve student outcomes.
I have an ancient MacBook Air at work that will not run the current MacOS but does everything I need it to. Guess what? When I loaded Neverware Cloudready on it, ChromeOS *also* still did everything I need it to, and I'm sure a moderately powered Chromebook would do the same.
Misleading title (Score:2)
EULA says, "NO". Kids need "YES". (Score:4, Insightful)
Sounds like another comment made 12 years earlier (Score:2)
There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance. It’s a $500 subsidized item.
Steve Ballmer.
Low cost PCs are coming bigly, the entire "everything in the cloud" model we're moving towards makes a $200 Chromebook useful for a large segment of the population. Certainly more usable than a tablet, given the keyboard, which alone means your screen is pretty much always open (not covered by your hand/fingers using some on-screen controls).
Chromebooks already beat iPads [techtimes.com] in the classroom, precisely because they are low cost, powerful enough for cloud-based software, and a much more usable i
If Apple keeps screwing around ... (Score:2)
... they will.
The keyboard disasters, iOS and macOS quality problems and off the charts pricing even for the cheap models of recent years tell me otherwise. Chromebooks are pissing into serious Apple territory and Apple better get their shit together and offer a plastic MB air or something lest I continue to recommend Chromebooks to all my n00bs that ask me which computer they should get. ... That used to be Apple. Now it's the Google ecosystem. Go figure.
A computer experts two eurocents.
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This guy looks down on people for buying affordable hardware?
At least the cheap stuff doesn't catch on fire and endanger everyone.
Where in the holy hell did that come from?
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Apple is just bitter that they didn't notice this trend, whereas Google executed beautifully on it. Chromebooks have come a long way and these days can do 95% percent of what users need. A bought a Pixelbook, when they first came out, and haven't had to touch any other computer. A lot of things are on the web these days, and everyday it's more. Most companies are moving all their workflows to the web.
But Chromebooks aren't limited to that. They also run Android and Linux apps. In fact, my Pixelbook is the n