[Andre2]

Google Drops the Neutron Bomb: $249 Laptop

http://www.thestreet.com/story/11741689/1/google-drops-the-neutron-bomb-249-laptop.html

It may also be the first volume-manufactured laptop to not have a fan, because it runs so cool. It is therefore as quiet and cool as any smartphone or tablet. No noisy fan which draws power and blows hot air out of the laptop.

These specs mean that it is not only visually similar to the 11.6 MacBook Air, but that it also performs like a champ. However, for every MacBook Air you buy, you can get four Google laptops.

[Andre2]

wow it looks good, see there:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57534803-93/google-offers-low-budget-arm-based-chromebook/

[wushuliu]

Not an apple fanboy but you're not getting a whole lot for the money. Slows down with a lot of web pages open? Says a lot. ChromeOS is very limited. Might as well get a tablet with a usb keyboard for when you really need to type stuff.

[charmerci]

I bet this Google laptop doesn't have much HD space.

[hoxuanduc]

Looks like it doesn't support flac:

http://support.google.com/chromeos/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=183093&topic=2586003&ctx=topic

so the idea of using it as a music server is out.

Duc

[jb26]

This could be interesting - I use a laptop via USB as my source, so a fanless, low process laptop could be perfect.  However several articles mention it only runs programs that can run in a browser, so I don't know how you run a media player.

[ctviggen]

Not an apple fanboy but you're not getting a whole lot for the money. Slows down with a lot of web pages open? Says a lot. ChromeOS is very limited. Might as well get a tablet with a usb keyboard for when you really need to type stuff.

Anytime someone starts off saying they're not something, that typically means they are the thing they say they aren't.   

You're also not spending a lot of money, and you're getting an actual laptop, not a tablet.  I still haven't found a good use for my iPad.  We use it at most once a month.  You can't use the iPad (at least the one I have) as a music server.

[Austin08]

My wife and I bought the new ipad a couple months ago and thought it was a waste of money. You could not do words, could not watch flash video, everything got to go through itune. Laptop was much better as everyday used product. Just my 2cts

[jarcher]

To all those who feel they've wasted their money on an Ipad - I will gladly take it off your hands....

But as I don't want to spend more than $300, waiting to see if next week's supposed Ipad mini announcement brings good news....

I guess re-purposing an old unused PC or laptop - windows or mac - remains the best budget server option.  I see older mac mini's routinely go for under $200.  Of course you can almost get a basic new laptop or netbook for that $. 

[WC]

I have an iPad and I use it all the time. Just depends on what you want to do with it. I use a computer all day and really don't want to use one when I get home.

Regarding a laptop. I have a Dell mini Netbook that I use as a music server. Works much better as a music server that it did as a web browsing laptop. The fan never comes on. I store all the music on a NAS drive. It is pretty close to stock, but I can run some programs like iTunes. The chrome book won't let you do that, but you should be able to stream from MOG or Spotify with it if that is your thing. Not sure if it will allow you to play your own files on your local network. I would guess not, but I could be wrong.

[randytsuch]

If you are so inclined, seems like you should be able to make these boot to Linux, at least you could with the previous Chromebox/book based on an article I found.

Wondering if you would be better off using a netbook for a music server instead of these?

Randy

[Mike Nomad]

~

[kc8apf]

I wouldn't get your hopes up.  I work at Google and have had 2 generations of Chromebooks.  They are perfect for my work where I mostly go from meeting to meeting and use Gmail, Google Calendar, and various online tools.  The 6+hr battery life means I can go pretty much a full day without charging.

That said, it has limited I/O, very little disk space, and doesn't support a lot of devices.  The closest you get to a native application is a Chrome extension.  Someone would need to develop a media player application for Chrome.  If you wanted to just use it as a UI for a media server, an iPad is probably a better option.

[Rclark]

looks like a flimsy piece of with no HDD and no internal cd/dvd drive that won't run any software that I own. Cloud based? LOL. I'll pay a little extra for a real laptop.

[Doublej]

looks like a flimsy piece of with no HDD and no internal cd/dvd drive that won't run any software that I own. Cloud based? LOL. I'll pay a little extra for a real laptop.

Little really is none to little with full featured laptops available for $250-$300 these days.