Chromebooks are becoming more and more popular all the time, if data published by market research firm NPD Group is any indication.
From January to May of this year, U.S. commercial Chromebook sales rose 250 percent year over year. On top of that, the sales of Chromebooks during this period accounted for 35 percent of all notebook sales in the commercial space.
“Building on last year’s surprising strength, Chrome’s unit strength ahead of this year’s education buying season shows how it has become a legitimate third platform alongside Windows and Mac OS X and iOS,” NPD Group exec Stephen Baker says.
Despite the success of the Chromebook so far, Baker notes that the sledding will get even tougher for Chrome OS-based devices as 2014 rolls on.
“The next test for Chrome will clearly be the most difficult, as both Apple and Microsoft get more aggressive in pricing and deal making over the next few months,” Baker says.” By the end of the third quarter we will have a much clearer picture of the long-term impact Chromebooks will have in the commercial channel.”
Baker may be referring to reports which indicate that Windows-based laptops priced as low as $199 will start hitting the market sometime this fall.
There are more positive numbers to report on the traditional computer side of things, and not just when it comes to Chrome OS-powered gear. For instance, NPD says that total “commercial channel” U.S. sales of laptops jumped 36 percent, desktop sales spiked 24 percent, and MacBook sales rose over 20 percent. However, NPD describes sales of Windows-based notebooks as “flat.”
So what about all of that “the PC is dead” talk you’ve no doubt heard of the last few years?
“The bottom line is that despite reports to the contrary the market for desktops and notebooks sold through the channel in the U.S. has never been better,” Baker says.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Google DeepMind's AI world model Genie 4 can now build interactive worlds that you can explore and reshape as they run. It also generates ambient sounds, music, and dialogue that respond to your actions.
The new world model builds on Genie 3 with improved realism, more natural human movement, and better simulations of real-world physics. It could eventually help with everything from game development to training robots.
Apple has an incredible talent for making me admire its products while simultaneously questioning what on earth it's thinking with the pricing. This isn't even something as bizarre as a monitor stand, but the audacity for starting a new laptop lineup from $2,000 doesn't surprise me.
The newly announced 14-inch MacBook Pro with M6 is just the latest to showcase this. The funny thing is, I already know that it's going to be a reliable workstation. You get a powerful new 2nm M6 processor, a gorgeous Liquid Retina XDR display, and up to 24 hours of battery life. We were impressed by the M5 MacBook Air, so the high-end M6 powered MacBook Pro definitely won't let us down.