Watch this figure: 18%. It’s the percentage of sub $300 laptops sold in the USA in the third quarter that were Chromebooks. Why is it significant? Because that was the ‘back to school’ period and if the Q4 figure is anything less than 18% you’ll know who’s buying Chromebooks from retail channels in the USA.
Unfortunately that’s all the Chromebook data you can conclusively pull out of the latest NPD report press release unless you want know that Chrome OS still accounts for around 5% of PC sales by operating system. In a recent Intel presentation we learnt that 70% of global Chromebook sales are in the same sub $300 bracket. Microsoft already knows this and that’s why we’re seeing 11.6-inch Windows notebooks going for $200.
I try to track the Amazon.com laptop top 100 and there’s been a change recently. The Acer C720 remains in the list, twice, but cheap laptops have pushed many Chromebooks out. Cheap 15.6-inch Windows laptops dominate and that could also be a sign of the back-to-school trends. If it is, maybe we’ll see 15.6-inch Chromebooks appearing. One other thing to note from the Amazon.com top ten is that the new Toshiba CB35 (I tested the EU version here) is available to order and it’s at number 10 in the charts. It’s a 4GB model with full-HD screen at $329 which is attractive considering the nice build of the CB35.
Predicting Q4 is difficult. Most manufacturers have released their Q4 products and given that there’s nothing more powerful than a Baytrail-M platform being offered it leaves the Acer C720 (and P) as the choice for power-users. I predict that the Toshiba will sell well though. I had hands-on with all of the new models over the last month and the Toshiba is the most attractive of the bunch. Is it enough to spur Christmas sales though or will Windows be the more attractive choice as a present this year?
chippy, if possible it might be helpful (and interesting) to analyse institutional buyings of chromebooks by schools that actually equip their students with these devices directly. if available comparing these data with schools buying windows devices, if any, or from apple might be interesting also.
You’re exactly right. That data, however, is not going to be easy to find but i’ll be keeping an eye out for it as I go.