Hacker News Reader

Comment by RyanZAG | Hacker News Reader

Don't most PC makers just make back the Microsoft licensing fees through bundled software deals? I'm not sure if price is really the reason people buy Chromebooks either - a ZDNet debase seems to agree [1] - people often buy Chromebooks for the simple reason that they aren't Windows PCs.

[1] http://www.zdnet.com/zdnet-great-debate-results-there-are-go...

View on HN

>people often buy Chromebooks for the simple reason that they aren't Windows PCs.

Not in my experience. People buy them because they are dirt cheap.

£220 isn't that cheap compared to used laptops. I bought a refurbished Chromebook for some £165 because I'd always complained loudly about not being able to buy a little ARM netbook with good battery life and native Linux, and I thought I should put my money where my mouth is. However, I found the battery life unimpressive for ARM, the OS irritatingly limited, and the build quality relatively poor. I dropped it and cracked the screen about two months ago, and as an emergency replacement bought a used Dell Latitude D430 (2GB RAM) from a local shop for £115. It's a dream, a nicer laptop in almost every way - rather faster, phenomenal keyboard (with F1-F12 and a delete key, thankyouverymuch), magnesium frame.

Used laptops can be a really good deal, but I think: 1) many people never even consider buying used computers; and 2) battery lifetime in used laptops is really hit-or-miss, and if you have to replace the battery, you lose most of the savings vs. just buying new.

> Not in my experience. People buy them because they are dirt cheap.

My experiences are similar. Your average person in Michigan wants to walk into Best Buy/Wal-Mart and buy a $300 computer that does everything they want. Any more than that and the think you are trying to rip them off.

Maybe makers can stop bundling so much crap now?

I'm glad there's enough heat to get the hold behemoth on their toes, but yeah, chromebooks are great because they are appliance laptops.

Now that the expectation of crapware has been set, manufacturers will probably pocket the savings instead of passing them on, while continuing to include crapware.

Manufacturers will do whatever they can to maximize profit. They already have razor thin profits, if not losses, they will pocket the savings if they can...but their competitors might have other plans.

If MS drops licensing fees, then keeping the crapware means increasing your profit margin from near-zero to slightly above near-zero.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com