U.S. Tablet Sales Led by iPad in 2013 as Chromebooks Overtake MacBooks

[Lammercy]

I don't get it. I work at a university and I see a LOT of people with laptops... and I can only recall one Chromebook, ever. Mac laptops are extremely popular, both with students and with faculty - I'd guess it's about 50% of the laptops I see are Macs. Maybe it's different as we're a technical department (EE) that's right next to the CSE department - so those are the students and faculty I tend to see.

As a side note - a quarter or so of our faculty really like the Surface. iPads and Android tablets are neck in neck, but both are definitely in second place.

Not just you I go to one of the largest Universities in the US and I certainly see more Macs then I do HP or Dell and certainly Chromebook. Not saying that I do not ever see the others around campus but at least on our campus and from friends descriptions of their campus the Macbook is clear favorite.

 

[AppleScruff1]

Oh, ok. I didn't know about the iPad issues since I don't have an iPad.

I'm hoping it's a software issue and that they have a fix for it soon. There is lots of info about it on the iPad forum and on the Apple forum.

 

[Renzatic]

I think Hotpockets would make a better analogy than plastic peaches.

Yeah, but you can eat Hotpockets. I needed something people kept around, and plastic peaches was it.

 

[AppleScruff1]

Yeah, but you can eat Hotpockets. I needed something people kept around, and plastic peaches was it.

I have to remember to pick up some plastic peaches when I go shopping. We don't have any.

 

[iSee]

What's funny is how many laugh off chromebooks as being possible competitors. There is a market for them, and as time goes on I think we'll begin to see it more and more.

I'm still laughing them off. They're 2nd coming of netbooks -- cheap and sounds neat but a crappy experience in reality -- and will go out like them.

 

[SlCKB0Y]

It is hands-down the best platform for automation, and no third party software could ever hack Windows or Linux up enough to emulate it. I have around 5 AppleScripts I wrote and use daily, and couldn't do without.

Sorry but that is absolute rubbish. If you know what you are doing, shell scripting under OS X or Linux can be immensely more powerful and flexible that Apple script.

 

[Dionvest]

I'm gonna get a Chromebook soon as a secondary device

 

[Renzatic]

I have to remember to pick up some plastic peaches when I go shopping. We don't have any.

A home isn't a home without a set of plastic peaches to call your own.

...by the way, I'm selling plastic peaches. Want some?

 

[AppleScruff1]

A home isn't a home without a set of plastic peaches to call your own.

...by the way, I'm selling plastic peaches. Want some?

How much do you want?

 

[Renzatic]

How much do you want?

How much you got?

 

[Spinland]

So this thread has actually served a useful purpose: I'm now going to tool up my 3D printer and corner the market on custom plastic peaches.

 

[SlCKB0Y]

What part do you disagree with? That you can't compare a chromebook to a MacBook? to an iPad? or to a netbook? Cause a chromebook is basically a watered down netbook in laptop clothes. It's merely googles answer to doing everything on the net through google for the means of targeted advertising data mining

Except that functionally , net books were generally very slow. Slow to boot up, slow to open and run apps. Chromebooks are extremely fast.

 

[Icaras]

Well, you had to install Windows that way because you didn't provide a full version license for the install and instead went around it. That's not Microsofts fault, that's yours.

Windows does separate updates for most thing so you can rollback an update if it causes an issue, very much an enterprise feature.

Mavericks is a service pack with a name, I believe Microsoft allows you to download service packs in "one fell swoop".

I own a full version license already as I've purchased Windows 7 Professional when it first came out, but if I'm going to install Windows twice, then I'm not going to complicate the matter by installing an older version of the OS just to have it's baggage carry over. So I fail to see how it's my fault that I have to install Windows twice anyway, regardless of it starting with a full license installation or not. The fact of the matter is, that it's a way more bloated and complicated OS to setup and maintain as you have to do any clean install + upgrade install, rather than simply one install for OS X.

 

[James_C]

Yeah, and that article you linked to specifically mentions that the bulk of Samsung's industry leading Chromebook sales are mainly to U.S. K-12 school systems that are looking for cheap replacements for older netbooks.

The point I was originally making was the survey was using flawed data, as it excludes any direct sales made by Apple. I am not sure what point you are making as I am not surprised that the majority of sales of the Chromebook are to the price sensitive education market.

 

[Renzatic]

I own a full version license already as I've purchased Windows 7 Professional when it first came out, but if I'm going to install Windows twice, then I'm not going to complicate the matter by installing an older version of the OS just to have it's baggage carry over. So I fail to see how it's my fault that I have to install Windows twice anyway, regardless of it starting with a full license installation or not. The fact of the matter is, that it's a way more bloated and complicated OS to setup and maintain as you have to do any clean install + upgrade install, rather than simply one install for OS X.

You don't have to install Windows twice. Every version you have, regardless of if the disc or ISO file is labeled an upgrade or the full version, Basic or Enterprise, is just one version of Windows. It requires exactly one hoop to jump through to install a full version of Windows from an upgrade disc, and it takes all of 10 seconds to do.

 

[mantan]

Not just you I go to one of the largest Universities in the US and I certainly see more Macs then I do HP or Dell and certainly Chromebook. Not saying that I do not ever see the others around campus but at least on our campus and from friends descriptions of their campus the Macbook is clear favorite.

That's like saying there is more binge drinking and casual sex when I was in college...and somehow extrapolating that to society at large.

As others have pointed out, the Macbook is an extremely popular graduation gift. Computer market share (and many other things) in the plastic bubble are college are completely different than they are in the rest of the world.

I would completely agree that Macbooks are the most popular computers on campus. But I don't think that's a market the Chromebook is after.

 

[AppleScruff1]

How much you got?

Now you're sounding like Apple.

 

[Icaras]

You don't have to install Windows twice. Every version you have, regardless of if the disc or ISO file is labeled an upgrade or the full version, Basic or Enterprise, is just one version of Windows. It requires exactly one hoop to jump through to install a full version of Windows from an upgrade disc, and it takes all of 10 seconds to do.

Yea, I can install it just fine. But activating Windows is another matter. I've tried inputting both my Windows 7 full license and my Windows 8 upgrade license during installation and they both fail to activate Windows properly. It only works the during the second installation. What am I doing wrong?

We're talking about a clean install by the way.

 

[Renzatic]

The point I was originally making was the survey was using flawed data, as it excludes any direct sales made by Apple. I am not sure what point you are making as I am not surprised that the majority of sales of the Chromebook are to the price sensitive education market.

If that's true, then yeah, it's flawed in the sense that it's only accounting for a portion of Apple's growth, though how large or small that is remains to be seen.

Like sales made directly from Apple would probably account for the vast majority of Macbooks, hence why it's so low on the chart, but only make up for a small percentage boost for total iPhone/iPad sales.

Still, the chart works as a good indicator for how the market's growing. Any discrepancies they've got will probably only account for a few percent.

 

[samcraig]

If that's true, then yeah, it's flawed in the sense that it's only accounting for a portion of Apple's growth, though how large or small that is remains to be seen.

Like sales made directly from Apple would probably account for the vast majority of Macbooks, hence why it's so low on the chart, but only make up for a small percentage boost for total iPhone/iPad sales.

Still, the chart works as a good indicator for how the market's growing. Any discrepancies they've got will probably only account for a few percent.

My chuckle on this thread are those that appear seemingly threatened by the fact that something other than an Apple product is selling well. Clearly only Apple should or needs to be successful.

ETA: Because clearly - there's only enough room in the marketplace of any industry for only one company.

 

[Renzatic]

Yea, I can install it just fine. But activating Windows is another matter. I've tried inputting both my Windows 7 full license and my Windows 8 upgrade license during installation and they both fail to activate Windows properly. It only works the during the second installation. What am I doing wrong?

We're talking about a clean install by the way.

You're probably missing that one hoop I mentioned, which would be...The Registry Hack. You'll get the nitty gritty details from there, but it's basically telling you to change a 1 to a 0 before you can activate.

Yeah, it's a completely unnecessary step, and it is annoying as hell, but it's easy to fix.

 

[SockRolid]

Meanwhile, sales of Chromebooks in the United States grew to 9.6% in 2013, surpassing the 1.8% share of unit sales held by Apple notebooks.

Not counting returns.

 

[samcraig]

Not counting returns.

Of Apple notebooks?

...because clearly you have stats?

 

[cwt1nospam]

And the average consumer cares how much profit a company makes because?

Because you don't want to buy a computer from a company that might not be here to support it. Much of the Windows PC part of the industry is starting to look like a bunch of "fly-by-night" operations. That doesn't generate much trust, and chrome books would do better if they didn't emulate the strategy.

 

[mabhatter]

Here is my reason not to get a Chromebook, I don't want to be tied into using Google services. Because I don't want all my actions, on a computer, tracked by ONE COMPANY, Google, so it can be sold to advertisers.

I want my online computer use to be spread around to several companies so my computer life isn't an open book for one company to exploit / sell.

- So, on a Chromebook my browser use, e-mail, word processing, chat, etc. would all be tied to Google services.
- On Windows, OS X, an iPad, I don't have to use an MS or Apple product for any of these services.
And I'm willing to pay more for that kind of flexibility / privacy.

You're just being dramatic.. There's no giant government agency sucking in every email, txt, and phone call information for the whole country. That's just crazy.. If something like that did happen the fine courts of this country would shut such things down immediately.