Windows gold Chromebook? Best seller salesman told me it is not even close

When science disturbs the firmament, people take extreme sides.

When the Science Guy does it, it's even worse.

I judge this from the passionate reaction to Bill Nye's recent descent into shilling for Google.

Should you have missed this event, Nye appeared last week in a Chromebook ad, designed to tell you how awful Windows laptops are.

In an almost three-minute reading on the uselessness of Windows hardware and the cowardice of its users, Nye patronized his way through the arguments for Chromebooks' (alleged) superiority.

Windows laptops freeze, they keep constant updates and patches. They also take care of their children at 7 minutes of age.

I had my own suspicions about these arguments, but I went for a second opinion to the paragons of retail objectivity at Best Buy.

The best encounter, relaxed service at Best Buy. Its employees are more likely to be overbearing or disinterested. Occasionally, they even offer performance art.

Windows Laptop Cheaper Are Better (Apparently).

So, we should not have done, I stopped at Best Buy and browsed the Chromebooks display. To my eyes, they are looked at perfectly ordinary laptops. Nothing startled.

Soon, a laptop expert introduced himself.

I started with the big news: "I saw this week that said Chromebooks are better than Windows laptops."

"Oh, the one with Bill Nye?"

Aha. So word has got around. That's at least half ad's job done. Attention is garnered and doubt is created. This is the schema of the modern world leader, right?

"Is it true, though?" I asked. "Do Windows laptops freeze and have endless patches and updates?"

"Yes," he replied.

Could I have uncovered an instance of Google actually telling the truth? And in an ad, too.

"At this price point," he said, pointing to a $ 399 Chromebook, "Windows laptops can be trouble because they have old-fashioned hard drives."

"So this Chromebook is better?"

"It's fine if you want to do homework, surf the web and watch Netflix. "Windows laptop at the same price point can still be far more."

America's worship of productivity endures. For this salesman, there did not appear to be a gray area.

More Expensive Windows Laptops Are Better Too (Apparently).

I noticed, however, that there was a more expensive Chromebook on display, the Google Pixelbook. This was marked at $ 999.

"What about this one?" I asked.

"It's got a better processor," he began. "And, you know, it's an OK computer, but it does not have the apps and there's nothing that great about it."

Nye had been bought, not sold.

I asked him, therefore, which Windows laptops were the best.

He instantly took me over to the Surface Pro, priced at the same $ 999 as the Pixelbook.

"I like this best of the Windows laptops because it's so light," he said. "It's got a better processor and the Windows Laptop, you can do it with the Chromebook at this price point."

When I reminded him that Bill Nye insisted Windows laptops are obviously slow to start, he shook his head.

"So what, or maybe who, is the Chromebook good for?" I asked.

"Elementary school," he said. "Older than that, get Windows." Especially if you want the laptop to last, Chromebooks do not last. "

Oddly, this was the same argument – best selling salesman – last year for buying a MacBook and not a Windows laptop. MacBooks, he told me, last far longer. (I do not think my MacBook Air will.)

This salesman was completely charming and soft-spoken, yet he could not see much of a reason for Chromebooks to exist.

"Here at Best Buy we use Windows," he told me. "We would not even think of using Chromebooks."

"So who buys that $ 999 Pixelbook?" I wondered.

"No one," he said.

I asked him if he really meant no one. He told me it is not a competitive product and no reason to pretend it is. He did not see customers who wanted one, despite being a sizable Chromebooks display.

"The only people interested in these things are people who really love Google," he said.

I thanked him for his sincerity and patience, but I had one more question.

"Are you seriously telling me Bill Nye the Science Guy is full of it?"

"Yup," he replied.