What's with the "Have to be online to be useful" Stigma people give Chromebooks? It makes zero sense

I hear all the time from people too afraid to try chromebooks that ""Yeah but you have to be connected to do anything"...Where should i begin ranting on that senseless statement i hear so often.

1. If you don't have access to Wifi pretty much 24-7 in today's society you likely live in an Amish community,or a third world country. I mean seriously Hotels,Restaurants,Stores, you name it theirs a public hotspot likely where you are sitting!

2. What use does your Windows/Mac/Linux Computer REALLY have offline? You need the internet to do just about ANYthing besides word process (which the chromebook can do offline) or play single player games of which you'd be investing into a gaming rig than anyway.

3. Besides using your CHromebook on the go...chances are at home you have wifi or why would you even own a computer?

Chromebooks aren't for everyone this is true by a long shot...But the whole needing to be connected reason is just silly and plain ignorance of the product. Honestly if your worried about not having access to Wifi i'd recommend you not buy any computer ever.

 

1) Outside of major urban areas and MSAs, it's still hard to find open WiFi spots to connect to, and even in some areas you don't have decent 3G/4G coverage either. For example, the MSA I live in, even though it's technically urban, is still a bunch of open space and if you don't have WiFi at home (or decent WiFi), you're very likely to be SOL if you really need it. But personally, I think it's more a matter of ChromeOS being the new kid on the block and having to prove itself against Microsoft and Apple as being a viable OS.

2) While a lot of users are simple Internet users (even with some Office-like stuff), there's still plenty of users that need specialized programs that aren't easily cloud-hosted. Not so much gaming rigs, but also workstation-class laptops too. Or programming (very useful to be able to do offline), which doesn't require high-end hardware for the most part.

3) Eh? If a person doesn't have WiFi, why have a computer? They could have a wired desktop.

That's just me playing Devil's advocate for those questions. However, personally, I don't use a Chromebook since 1) I already own two laptops and a desktop, but more importantly 2) Google by heart is an advertising company and thus relies heavily on data mining. That's something that I'm usually okay with when using Google Search every so often (I use Ixquick if I'm searching something sensitive), but having the entirety of my computing experience logged is a bit creepy. True, someone like me could install Ubuntu over ChromeOS, but that defeats the point of a Chromebook.

 

I can appreciate the devils advocate perspective however to those points i say this.

1. I live no where near a major city (Boston is around an hour away for me if not a little further as my wife and i now live a bit further away from the city from when we were just dating) Yet even in this small town i find WIfi everywhere...Mcdonalds has it,Dunkins has it,The Library has it,Most all restaurants here have it,The hotels have it...and usually your in range of one of the above even if you are not at one. If i were however say to be the camping type? I could easily just Use my phone as a hotspot (Easy and free for any Android user,bit more work also doable on iphone). Or if for some odd reason in 2013 i have a laptop and no Cellphone i could have easily purchased the 4G model for a little more.

2. It's beyond easy to have Linux run along side Chrome OS and hot swap between OS's without any slowdown or just setup a normal dual boot with ease. THis provides you with all the benefits of Chrome OS for 90% of your usage and linux for that ever small chance you need it. I do have a single program specialized for work i do have to run on LInux or windows however asides from that i can do everything else i need in the cloud. BY doing this i have LInux for the ultra rare occasion i need it and still retain a 249$ Machine that is better built and has FAR superior battery life and portability to any windows machine i can think of. Even when compared to previous netbooks i have owned it's far slimmer with better battery and more ports generally and with the macbook air style keyboard is great to type on. To get anything similar of functionality with the benefits of chrome OS i would need to buy a far far more expensive WIndows machine than install Chromium OS (Which is a real pain in the on most hardware still) and end up with a far higher price tag. Still the vast majority of users do not use specialized programs at all that requires something outside of the cloud,for the exceptional few the Linux secondary OS is an easy setup option. And P.S you don't install Ubuntu over Chrome OS you either Dual boot it or can easily make both OS's hot swappable from within Chrome OS.

3. I can't remember the last time iv'e seen a Household with Broadband and no WIfi honestly...Let's assume The user in question has no Laptop which speaks for only a small percentage in the US at least....They still likely own a WIfi Router for the PS3/360/Wii in the other room...or Own a tablet...Or a SMartphone they don't want to chew data off of when they have their own Wifi at home...A roku or similar media streamer..a Wifi Blu ray player...The list goes on and on and on. But to play devils advocate as you did even per some mere miracle the User has broadband and no wifi...Something i have not seen since...i can not even recall. Wifi Routers are VERY cheap online and take minutes to setup should the user want Wifi available at their home. If they have ANY interest in Wifi at home at all and have broadband their is simply no excuse not to have it.


The Data mining point i get where you are coming from...however What does not Mine data these days? Facebook,E-Mail,Shopping websites,Search Engines,Dating Websites,I mean really it would be easier to name what does Not mine data on the internet these days. In E-Commerce Data is power which is money spent by consumers so everyone does it really.

So their that was me playing Devils Advocate to your Devils Advocate =) Thanks for the response though interesting discussion.

 

There's always ways to reduce data mining, if you're paranoid about it (like I am). The only services that I use regularly (for various definitions of that word) are Google Search and Facebook; however, so long as you don't post anything sensitive on Facebook you should be fine (definitely not a phone number, address, very personal stuff, drunk photos, etc.). But then you can also use NoScript, ABP, and a whole bunch of nifty plug-ins to kill most attempts to gather your data. As for email, I mainly use my school email and just by personal policy I don't use that for stuff I want to keep private (on that note, I wonder if Google still mines institutional emails using Google Apps for Education...).

Regardless of the possible problems of ChromeOS, I'm curious when an OEM will release a 15.6" with decent specs (especially the display) that can compete with the bread-and-butter Wintels that brick-and-mortar stores currently sell. I figure with Windows 8 tanking so badly, now would be a good time to do so.

 

Indeed it would,W8 is a disaster as of moment....it screams Vista,ME All over again.