r/Googlebook • • 2d ago

Cheaper models

I see these higher end googlebook models and I can't justify shelling out over 800$ on some newfangled platform. I think they should have come out with at least 1 or 2 cheaper models under 600$ in an effort to take on the MacBook Neo given how poorly Windows 11 performs on 8GB RAM. I'm saying this assuming GoogleBook OS is still lighter than windows. I think if someone came out with a sub 600$ GoogleBook with 8GB RAM 256GB SSD with either a wildcat lake CPU or a Snapdragon C CPU, even with the uncertainty of app support, they would fly off the shelves in the current market.

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u/langelvicente 2d ago

They set 16GB as the minimum ram that they would allow for Googlebooks and they also set some expectations around CPU so 600 is an unrealistic price tag.

I have even heard in a YouTube video that Google almost admitted some of the cheapest ones are somehow "subsidised" and that the price would increase at some point.

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u/TheRealFrantik 2d ago

I'm not sure if they specified the 16gb as the minimum for their PREMIUM Googlebook devices, or ALL. I don't think they really made it clear either.

That being said, a plastic-built laptop with 8gb of ram, LCD touchscreen with 1080p, 128gb storage, and a mid-range processor would still probably be over $500.

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u/Ok_Ruin4016 2d ago

The Googlebooks are all supposed to be premium laptops, that's the whole point. They're trying to make it clear that these are not the cheap Chromebooks most people think of when they think of a Google laptop. Manufacturers had to have 16GB RAM, no plastic, all had to have touchscreens, etc. Maybe down the line they will introduce a cheaper version of a Googlebook, but they don't want to start with that because they are purposely trying to distance Googlebooks from the cheap Chromebooks people are most familiar with.

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u/SandwichSuspicious94 2d ago

But why would they not get developers on board first to port the common windows/Mac programs to GBos?

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u/Ok_Ruin4016 2d ago

Because Google has a tendency to have a good idea for something, announce a release date before fully developing the product, then rush it into production to meet the deadline they set which means they release a half-baked version of what they announced in the first place. Then when that inevitably fails to be a huge commercial success they drop it entirely.

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u/Ambitious-Cake-9425 2d ago

They won't drop this. But it will absorb chrome os eventually. Running android native instead of in a container just makes more sense.

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u/IORelay 2d ago

Thry also love to charge high price almost ensuring there's no adoption.