Forrester: Enterprises Should Consider Chromebooks

So far, Chromebooks haven’t been particularly popular with consumers or businesses. But one Forrester analyst advises enterprises to take a second look at the inexpensive laptops.

TechCrunch’s Alex Williams reported, “IT should ignore the naysayers and consider adopting the Google Chromebook. That’s the conclusion of a Forrester Research Report that looked at the future of the networked computer in the enterprise. According to Forrester, the Chromebook has its drawbacks, but in particular scenarios it is a good bet for the enterprise.”

In a guest column for Forbes, Forrester’s J.P. Gownder wrote, “Let me first be clear that Chromebooks won’t replace all or even most Windows PCs, Macs, and tablets. But for companies that are (1) willing to segment their workforces (offering Chromebooks to specific classes of workers in a mixed environment with PCs and tablets), (2) adopting Gmail and/or Google Apps, or who are (3) deploying the devices in a customer-facing (think kiosk) scenario, Chromebooks are definitely worth investigating.”

Network World’s John Cox added, “For users who can be well served by online applications, tools and services, Chromebooks are an inexpensive alternative to traditional enterprise laptops. And for IT groups, Chromebooks can radically simplify the costs and time of PC maintenance, upgrades, and troubleshooting.”

VentureBeat’s Sean Ludwig noted, “While Gownder didn’t mention this in his blog post, one other big reason to consider Chromebooks is cost, since Chromebooks are usually priced lower than other laptops. The cheapest Chromebook is the Acer C7, which costs $200. One step above the C7 is the $250 Samsung Chromebook.”