A cloud-first experience remains out of favor among enthusiasts, however hard big tech tries to push it.
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Google’s vision in 2011 was to “make computing simpler and more accessible for everyone.” It arrived with this goal at the tail end of the netbook era, where there was a proliferation of cheap Windows thin and light designs that were infamous for becoming tragically slow in a short time. Some might describe the first Chromebooks as cloud-first evolutions of netbooks – and they indeed made much better use of limited hardware with fast boot times, browser-based workflows, and everything done in the cloud, easing the demands on the (typically) anemic hardware.
Mainstream and premium laptop users, perhaps stung by netbook experiences, have never warmed to Chromebooks, though. Google and partners have invested in high-end product development across several generations, to no avail. Chromebooks seem to be firmly entrenched in K-12 education computing, and can’t escape from that niche.
We’d probably conclude that Google Chromebooks missed their chance in the early 20-teens by holding back some of the best initiatives we are seeing on the platform now. For example, it took until 2016 for the Google Play Store to arrive on Chromebooks, in 2018 Linux app support was added, it took until 2019 for Steam gaming support (beta, recently killed though) to arrive, and until 2021 for ChromeOS Flex to be released to install on out-of-support old PCs and Macs, and only in 2023 did Google decide to ensure new Chromebooks got a decent (10 years) length of OS support. Google could have gone all-in with its best features earlier on, instead of wasting time and resources on the ridiculously expensive Pixelbook (2017), for example.
Nevertheless, as noted above, Chromebooks are now an undeniable success in the education segment. In K-12, the platform still looks unassailable due to a number of factors. Probably the most important features in its favor in this segment are the platform’s lower costs, centralized management, and ruggedized options available.
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Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/laptops/chromebooks/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/laptops/chromebooks/google-chromebook-marks-its-15th-anniversary-slow-feature-rollouts-and-a-canceled-steam-beta-leave-it-largely-stuck-in-classrooms#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com/membership
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Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.