As Chromebooks grow in popularity here in the US (the new Samsung Chromebook is currently the best-selling laptop on Amazon), others around the world have been growing impatient at the lack of availability and difficulty involved in getting one’s hands on the Chromebook. Luckily, consumers in the UK can now buy Chromebooks and Chromeboxes online and in-store at various Dixon’s PC World & Currys locations throughout the country.
This was announced recently on the official Chrome Google+ page, with a side note that Chromebooks are also accounting for a whopping 10% of laptop sales in these stores. Given the fact that many critics have dismissed Chrome OS right off the bat as unable to compete with the likes of Microsoft’s Windows or Apple’s OS X, this is interesting news indeed.
To find out where you can look at a Chromebook in person, simply head over to Google’s official Chrome UK site and input your zip code. There are also links to buy your Chromebook online, through Amazon, Google Play, or PC World.
[Google+]
Would be nice if this were in the US, I wouldn’t mind looking at a new Chromebook in person before purchasing one.
Check your local Best Buy, where I picked up mine. Even before they had stock, there a display unit and a knowledgeable Chrome OS rep. He answered a bunch of questions about Remote Desktop for me.
From my experience, only a handful of Best Buys actually carry them, and none in my area.
I’m sure some Best Buys carry them, but up until now I wouldn’t have known that, since I’ve never actually seen one in my local stores.
I work at a Best Buy out here in Colorado, and while we do stock them, we only get 4 units at a time. We always sell out, but the company seems a little iffy on making large orders of them. Tablet sales far outnumber laptops now, and a Chromebook is a hard sell that we can usually only get techies to purchase.
The big problem is that most people who know their stuff aren’t buying from Best Buy, because we’re selling outdated computers at full retail price. Newegg and Amazon will most likely cost me my job in the near future, but I’m guilty of purchasing from them as well.
Until then, I rely on the stupid people who know nothing about the products they’re purchasing to pay for the outdated garbage we keep on the shelves. Even better if they come back later to spend $200 at GeekSquad because they downloaded too many toolbars and they wonder why their computer is ‘slow.’
Did you know we still charge $34.99 for a HDMI cord while Amazon has the same ones for a dollar? It’s our biggest profit margin when we sell a TV or a PS3.
Don’t worry, there won’t be a shortage of idiots buying overpriced outdated hardware anytime soon. It would be nice if the brick and moder stores tried to be competitive with Newegg and Amazon once in a while though.