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(Continued from page 3) Chromebooks have come a long way from the
least some users from ever getting to auto- $169 Acer that I demonstrated at one of our
pilot with their Windows 10 PCs. meetings a year ago!
On a different note, I have previously written Enjoy September, pick some apples and cheer
about Chromebooks – how they operate, how for your favorite football team!
safe they are from malware and how they
have become a formidable Apple competitor
in the education sector. That progress contin- (Continued from page 1)
ues, with some writers predicting that as much competition from the Internet, but many of
as 70% of the new computers purchased in those tech stores are long gone, and the ones
elementary and high schools in the next three remaining are struggling.
years will be Chromebooks. They are also
making inroads in the business world. Many RadioShack stores have closed, and
most of the remaining stores are branded as
I just ran into a first-hand example of Chrome- “Sprint” stores. Remember CompUSA, Circuit
book acceptance in my own family. City and Incredible Universe? All of those
chains couldn’t make it and closed down. Best
Buy and Fry’s Electronics have managed to
When my elder grandson graduated from high survive, but are having to work hard to com-
school, he asked for his own computer as he pete with online retailers and all the big box
headed off to college. But he did not want just stores selling electronics. Apple and Microsoft
any computer; he had his heart set on a new have established their own stores, but only in
MacBook Pro. He was willing to pony up a very limited markets.
significant portion of the cost from his saved
earnings, and asked family members to con- The real battle in tech retailing is probably in
tribute toward the remaining balance as their online sales versus brick and mortar stores.
graduation present to him. We did, and he is Amazon not only sells technology, but with
now a happy camper with his MacBook Pro. their Kindle e-readers and tablets, Echo / Dot /
Tap assistants and their warehouse automa-
tion to speed up order fulfillment (and maybe
However, when my younger grandson gradu- even delivery drones), they are also develop-
ated, he chose a different route. He did not ing technology. The irony is that while brick
see the value in the very expensive MacBook and mortar stores are working hard to push
Pro laptop that his brother had chosen and their own online sales, Amazon is starting to
asked for a Chromebook instead. He was open physical stores.
very comfortable with Chromebooks from his So, where will your next tech purchase come
time in high school, and was confident that he from? Will it be from Amazon, Fry’s, the Apple
could do any computer task he would encoun- Store, the Toyota dealer or REI?
ter in college with one. We heeded his re-
quest, and helped him purchase his dream Technology is nothing. What's
Chromebook. He chose an Asus Flip model
that has consistently been on “best Chrome- important is that you have a
books” lists, and is one of the first Chrome- faith in people, that they're
books able to run Android apps. It is a beauti- basically good and smart, and
ful device, with an aluminum body and a 12.5” if you give them tools, they'll
full HD screen. At approximately $500, it is do wonderful things with
priced about the same as a comparable Win- them.
dows laptop. For anyone interested in reading
more about this computer, here is a link to the
Asus website: https://www.asus.com/us/ Steve Jobs
Laptops/ASUS-Chromebook-Flip-C302CA/.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/
quotes/s/stevejobs416921.html?src=t_technology
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