Chromebooks outsold Macs for the first time in the US

[iFitzgerald]

Greetings,

So apparently, Chromebooks have managed to sell more than the entire Mac line in early 2016. What are your thoughts on this?

Keep in mind that Macs and Chromebooks are very different products with very different price points. Currently, I think Chromebooks are good enough for people who want to simply browse the web and manage to do their text and spreadsheets work on Google Drive, but with Android apps coming to the Chromebook, do you think they might become a bigger threat?

The article from The Verge.

And quoted here if you don't want to go there:

Google's low-cost Chromebooks outsold Apple's range of Macs for the first time in the US recently. While IDC doesn't typically break out Windows vs. Chromebook sales, IDC analyst Linn Huang confirmed the milestone to The Verge. "Chrome OS overtook Mac OS in the US in terms of shipments for the first time in 1Q16," says Huang. "Chromebooks are still largely a US K-12 story."

IDC estimates Apple's US Mac shipments to be around 1.76 million in the latest quarter, meaning Dell, HP, and Lenovo sold nearly 2 million Chromebooks in Q1 combined. Chromebooks have been extremely popular in US schools, and it's clear from IDC's comments the demand is driving US shipments. Outside of the US, it's still unclear exactly how well Google's low-cost laptops are doing. Most data from market research firms like IDC and Gartner focuses solely on Google's wins in the US.

Google's milestone will undoubtedly unnerve Microsoft, at a time when PC shipments are in an overall decline. IDC predicts a "modest rebound" in the coming months, thanks to some IT buyers considering Windows 10 transitions and an uptick in Chromebook sales in the US. Chromebooks are well positioned to challenge Microsoft's dominance of the low-cost laptop market, and Google is expected to officially unveil its plans to bring Android apps to Chrome OS to make the laptops even more attractive to consumers.

 

[maflynn]

So apparently, Chromebooks have managed to sell more than the entire Mac line in early 2016. What are your thoughts on this?

My thoughts are that school systems are the biggest customers and so, I can see this being the case. It makes too much sense for the education sector to use a chromebook. With increased specs, the latest gen chromebooks can make a lot of sense for the typical consumer.

 

[C DM]

Seems like there's already an ongoing discussion about this at https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/chromebooks-outsold-macs-for-the-first-time-in-the-us.1973379/

 

[orioncrystalice]

Public, standardized, compulsory education is all about being average or below in every conceivable way. Chromebooks are fitting.

 

[Tech198]

My thoughts are that school systems are the biggest customers and so, I can see this being the case. It makes too much sense for the education sector to use a chromebook. With increased specs, the latest gen chromebooks can make a lot of sense for the typical consumer.

so u'r saying the schools are the drive forces in this ? they do have a choice, no one is forcing them to use Chrome-books, and its not like u can install third party apps,, u must use a browser. Maybie the least distracting i guess, since u can't do anything else..... but i guess for schools, that's what u want, to focus.

 

[iFitzgerald]

they do have a choice, no one is forcing them to use Chrome-books, and its not like u can install third party apps,, u must use a browser.

It seems that's going to change in the near future, Chromebooks will be able to run Android apps. This might make them a much more interesting product imo, and a bigger threat to Apple as well.

 

[Mildredop]

It seems that's going to change in the near future, Chromebooks will be able to run Android apps. This might make them a much more interesting product imo, and a bigger threat to Apple as well.

I bought a Chromebook a couple of years ago because I thought they could run Android apps. I took it back to the store after a few days of confusing Chromebook usage.

How're you getting on with your Asus?

 

[iFitzgerald]

How're you getting on with your Asus?

I got it with Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 came out shortly after and I didn't wait much to upgrade. I did the same with OSX when I had Macs, I get anxious to try the newer versions even knowing it might have some issues at start.

So I did get some issues with graphics drivers at start and for a bit I was starting to regret buying it, but after getting a couple of updates in the following week or two, the issues went away. I VERY rarely have problems with it now (and when I do get them, a restart solves them), even having not done a clean install (I had some issues with direct upgrades on OSX).

I find it very fast and responsive and I'm actually liking W10. There are a couple features I miss, but there's some nice stuff on W10 too.
I do a bit gaming (recently, a lot of Overwatch, but some heavier games too) and it performs nicely. For my work with Premiere Pro, After Effects, Illustrator and Photoshop, I haven't noticed any difference.

Overall, I'm very happy with my purchase and it cost me less than half than the Macbook Pro that had comparable specs. But I still like to follow Apple news and hope they get back on track with the Mac (planing to get a desktop computer, let's see if Apple brings us a nice surprise soon lol).

 

[Mildredop]

graphics drivers

I thought Microsoft might have finally sorted all this stuff out. One of the nice things about Macs is not needing to worry about drivers.

Oh well, still some time before I go back to PCs. MS are missing a trick here. Macs are getting stale and are developing more and more frustrating niggles, but PCs just aren't stepping up.

 

[iFitzgerald]

I thought Microsoft might have finally sorted all this stuff out. One of the nice things about Macs is not needing to worry about drivers.

Oh well, still some time before I go back to PCs. MS are missing a trick here. Macs are getting stale and are developing more and more frustrating niggles, but PCs just aren't stepping up.

Well, it's a lot easier for Apple to get things right with drivers, they make both the Hardware and the Software and have to worry about a much smaller amount of machines. But even so, Apple has had it's share of problems with graphics cards and drivers.
The 2010 MacBook Pro, which I had, had problems with graphics and that model even had a logicboard replacement program, but the issue had to do with drivers too, because even people with replaced logicboards were getting Kernel Panics. I also remember at one point reverting to Snow Leopard and it became stable again, so something definitely went wrong with drivers there.
MacBook Pros from 2011 and 2012 also had wide reports of graphics problems and their own replacement programs.

In my case, with the Asus, I don't think those two weeks with hiccups were a problem at all. The OS had just come out and everything was sorted after a couple of weeks. I also had issues with some OSX versions after upgrading right after they were released

 

[Mildredop]

Well, it's a lot easier for Apple to get things right with drivers, they make both the Hardware and the Software

Is that accurate? I thought the processors were Intel and the graphics cards were NVIDIA - same as those found in PCs.

 

[I7guy]

I thought Microsoft might have finally sorted all this stuff out. One of the nice things about Macs is not needing to worry about drivers.

Oh well, still some time before I go back to PCs. MS are missing a trick here. Macs are getting stale and are developing more and more frustrating niggles, but PCs just aren't stepping up.

It depends on your definition of "stepping up". My windows computers, desktops and laptops, run things in a way a Mac can't; especially having two new Macbook pros in the house. Having said that, there is room for all in this world.

 

[Mildredop]

It depends on your definition of "stepping up". My windows computers, desktops and laptops, run things in a way a Mac can't; especially having two new Macbook pros in the house. Having said that, there is room for all in this world.

Not in my world there isn't, I need to make a choice between Mac or PC.

 

[I7guy]

Not in my world there isn't, I need to make a choice between Mac or PC.

I use both platforms, but prefer windows by large margin because that is where the bulk of what I need to do will run.

 

[iFitzgerald]

Is that accurate? I thought the processors were Intel and the graphics cards were NVIDIA - same as those found in PCs.

True but OEMs (don't know if all) make their own drivers too. The current driver from Asus for my laptop is a different version than the one I got directly from NVIDIA using GeForce Experience panel. The one from NVIDIA is more recent. I do believe it's the same with Apple, they make their own drivers.