Windows or Chromebook? A Best Buy salesman told me it isn't even close

18 points by tones411 5 years ago | 18 comments
  • qes 5 years ago
    Why is a Best Buy employee's opinion relevant? They hire teenagers off the street who don't know anything but are willing to talk all day like they do.

    I used to work there, albeit years ago, but the amount of misinformation spewed by "product specialists" rivaled politics.

    • taurath 5 years ago
      At some level, they understand what people who go into best buy look for and buy. But those who work there usually have big personal preferences, so it may wash out. They are rarely the super casual user. At the very least they're not on commission (though they DO have sales targets, and sometimes those can be for specific brands). Best buy built their business on taking the commission model and not paying anyone commission.
      • the_trapper 5 years ago
        Is Bill Nye's opinion relevant in this either?
        • JohnClark1337 5 years ago
          I'll always remember back when the rumors about the upcoming new Nintendo console (later known as Wii U) were circulating. A Best Buy employee saw me browsing the games and started talking about how the new Nintendo system would be twice as powerful as the Xbox 360 and PS3 combined.

          Also yeah, Chromebooks are cheap and limited. That's why they're good for kids and old people.

          • draw_down 5 years ago
            Exactly, why is this person putting so much stock into what is said by a floor salesperson and a spokesperson?
          • ryankrage77 5 years ago
            Not really related to the topic at hand, but it's just occured to me that this is what passes for journalism now.
            • MaupitiBlue 5 years ago
              It’s a humor column. Lighten up.
            • hyperman1 5 years ago
              I've wondered about this a while ago: Is it possible to do real work on an android or chromebook device.

              I'm on trains, busses, ... a lot, in general without internet. And I just take a laptop. Dont care about mac win or linux. I do some bookkeeping in a spreadsheet, or some programming, I write some text.

              I hate to do anything productive on this (cheap) smartphone. No keyboard or mouse, basic software is missing,... It's great for consuming content, for a quick search or checking a map. But as soon as I want to do something, it all falls apart experience-wise. So I waste time in a game or HN when im on a bus, instead of doing something I like or have to.

              So how do you people do it?

              • chewz 5 years ago
                Termux on Android plus Apple Bluetooth keyboard plus Chromecast to anything with HDMI port is the most compact / portable enviroment I have. And quite powerful with latest VIM, node, nvm, Go, awscli, gcloud and whatever you like.

                For everyday work I use ChromeOS on MacPro 13 and 10 year old Thinkpad x230. With Debian sid in chroot. All apps work in GUI (so in Chrome as apps) like Instagram, Tinder, Spotify, Youtube Music, even MS Word. There is also VirtualBox included.

                I haven't used Windows laptop in 10 years or so. What am I missing?

                • millstone 5 years ago
                  You’re running ChromeOS on a 13 year old Mac Pro? What am I missing?
                  • chewz 5 years ago
                    On 13 inch Macbook Pro Retina 2015..
                • xemdetia 5 years ago
                  I prefer a small factor notebook (or netbook if they become relevant again) with as long battery life as I can find. As soon as the smartphone breaks down I pull out the compact laptop and do what I need to do. I haven't seen any reason to do anything else that isn't a hyperspecific kludge. Especially when you are issued a work laptop.
                  • liveoneggs 5 years ago
                    best buy guy is right: a cheap windows laptop can do everything a chromebook or linux machine can do and more, probably better.

                    However (this is big) cheap windows boxes come loaded with, basically, viruses right from the manufacturer so you need to be technical enough to clean them up.

                    Chromebooks are better if you can't uninstall all of the junk from Toshiba or whoever but vanilla windows on the same price point is, by almost every measure, better.

                • kerng 5 years ago
                  The power of marketing campaigns. It's a bit disturbing to see Google push so hard for this - and still majority of ordinary of customers just want a cheap Windows laptop. The Best Buy guy gave pretty reasonable advice. Also confirming my suspicion that actually hardly anyone wants that expensive Pixelbook. But as long as one can install Linux it should be fine - but I'd rather pick a slick Surface Laptop.
                  • verdverm 5 years ago
                    Pixelbooks can run most Debian packages, so I've heard, and container work seems to be in the code base. I'm planning to try one out to see if it makes sense for the non devs at my company. Not allowing windows machines because security.
                  • badrabbit 5 years ago
                    I am usually anti-google and I would never use a chrome book. But man! I had to edit a pdf a while ago and it was such a horrible experience on windows. A free app on adroid did it easy-peasy.

                    I would still prefer windows over a chromebook but I don't think people who prefer a chromebook are clueless either.