Microsoft Aims To Kill Google Chromebooks

Microsoft Aims To Kill Google Chromebooks With $149 Windows 10 Laptops

Despite a lacklustre start, Chromebooks are becoming relatively popular in the super-budget end of the portable market. This has worried Microsoft for some time. After all, with a Google-centric experience, not to mention an operating system in the form of Chrome OS, there’s little if anything to be gained here by Microsoft and everything to lose. That’s why it’s targeting the Chromebook specifically, with a most likely Windows 10-based $149 laptop.

They’re no MacBook killers and don’t expect them to play GTA V, though  (when it finally makes a PC appearance that is). According to tech rumour sitewww.Digitimes.com, these laptops are geared primarily towards emerging markets, education and the super-low end market, which includes users whose tasks are limited to web browsing, word processing and social media use.

The Chromebook has gained traction in quite a few areas and Microsoft is looking to halt its advance

This is an important move for Microsoft. Google has a habit of making things work and with Chromebooks gaining traction, especially during the hard financial times of the last few years, it has to meet it head-on. Your average Pentium or Celeron laptop costs far more than the cheaper Chromebooks and while AMD-based laptops come close price-wise, the simplicity of Google’s offerings are also a worry for Microsoft, given the huge swathes of people that ditched their aging laptops for tablets.

The laptops are reported to use Intel’s Bay Trail platform – a low power processor that’s enjoyed much success in the tablet market with products such as the Asus Transformer Book and Lenovo ThinkPad 10. The initial launch will likely see an 11.6in model released – the same size as most current Chromebooks, but with Google already offering 13in and 15in Chromebooks, it’s highly likely Microsoft will follow suit.  

The PC market has perked up in recent months with the record-long down turn appearing to be at an end and tablet sales, including those of Apple’s iPad, have been in sharp decline. This could indicate a return to a traditional keyboard-based device that arguably allows for more efficient productivity than a tablet, although Microsofts primary concern is to deal with the threat of the Chromebook. 

Of course, everything rests on Windows 10. If it’s a flop then Microsoft will have lost far more than market share at the bottom end of the laptop market.

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