Can Dell raise its Chromebook profile with business boost?

News that Dell is gunning for Chromebook incumbents from its position at the back of the pack is a bit of a channel head-scratcher, argues 2112 Group's Chris Gonsalves

Dell, a distant also-ran in the small but growing Chromebook race, is trying to up its game with the lightweight, cloud-powered laptops by targeting businesses. In a market dominated by the likes of Samsung and Acer, the Round Rock, Texas vendor is hoping a few premium touches can entice wary corporate users and get it out of the Chromebook basement. But the numbers, and Dell's own spotty channel track record, should have partners wary.

Chromebooks currently account for just shy of three per cent of the total PC market with 7.2 million units expected to ship this year, according to Gartner. That's a 27 per cent jump from a year ago. And Chromebook shipments are expected to swell to 14.4 million units by 2017, where they would make up five per cent of all PCs sold.

That said, the market is dominated by the early entrants in the space, Dell not among them. Samsung ruled in total market share with nearly three quarters of all Chromebooks sold in 2013. Since Samsung discontinued Chromebook sales in Europe to focus on tablets, the South Korean vendor has fallen back into a dead heat with rival Acer; HP is close behind in third place. All three have relied heavily on sales to education, a vertical that accounts for more than 70 per cent of all Chromebook sales.

Since Chromebooks were introduced in 2011, Dell has remained nestled in the "others" category, earning less than one per cent market share. So its announcement this week of the Dell Chromebook 13, a premium 13.3in professional device designed for business, comes as a bit of a surprise, particularly since top market contenders such as Samsung are already well ahead in the race to attract professional users.

In the press release accompanying this week's announcement, Kirk Schell, vice president and general manager for commercial client solutions at Dell, said the company's Chromebook 13 "is designed for the mobile professional, and provides customers with an unrivalled Chrome experience which mixes the cost and simplicity benefits of Google's chrome portfolio with Dell's commitment to design.

"Not only does the solution offer customers a superior mobile working experience, but with the availability of Dell's leading security, management and ProSupport Plus service, it is also easy to integrate into wider device ecosystems."

Which is fine if you consider "mobile" to mean people walking around inside an office building or stopping at the odd coffee shop. The thing that hamstrings all Chromebooks in a business environment is their inherent inability to do much when they are not connected to WiFi and accessing all their apps and files stored in the cloud.

Dell did not introduce that Chromebook shortcoming, of course, but it has not solved it either. It tries to up the ante for business with processor, manageability and design touches including options for Intel Celeron, Core i3 and i5 processors, integrating with Dell KACE, SonicWALL and Wyse vWorkspace, and "premium chassis materials including a carbon fibre weave cover, magnesium alloy palm rest and aluminum base."

They are important aspects of the new Dell Chromebook 13, but hardly huge differentiators in a market where the other major brands are offering Intel inside and have bolstered the once universally plasticky line-up of 11in Chromebooks with premium models that boast hardened aluminum frames and, in Samsung's case, elegant stitched faux leather on the cover for good measure.

For those seeking truly luxe fit and finish from a thin-client web device, there is Google's own Pixel, the $1,300 metal-bound model that looks and feels like a Mac Airbook.

As for the manageability claims, Dell is bringing something to the table with hooks into its management, security and desktop virtualisation platforms. But other Chromebooks do not lack these capabilities. Since April, the Google Chrome for Work initiative has been pushing integration with third parties such as Box, Citrix Systems, SAP and Pulse Secure to give Chromebooks from all the OEMs similar chops. Having all these capabilities under one vendor roof, however, could be attractive to shops that already entrust a significant part of their infrastructure to Dell.

Beyond that, the speeds and feeds on the Dell Chromebook 13 look a lot like the rundown of any other Chromebook on Amazon, except the price. Dell's business-focused, Intel-powered Chromebooks will range from $399 (£255) to about $800 depending on configuration when they are made available on 17 Sept in North America. That puts an i5-powered Dell Chromebook 13 with 8GB of RAM well above the average starting price of about $500 for a new Windows 10 laptop.

Here again, Dell is behind the curve. Samsung is already making a large push for Chromebooks in business and rallying channel reseller partners to the cause, and it is doing it with a base machine that is decidedly less expensive at $249. The low price is a major part of the value proposition for a client device that lacks basic functionality such as on-board applications, file storage and the ability to work while offline.

No matter what kind of material you build them from, businesses need to be sold on Chromebooks being cost-effective and good enough to get the job done. Samsung seems to understand that. Dell not so much.

Whether Dell can boost its channel fortunes with the Chromebook 13 business play remains to be seen. As far as the channel goes, the choice seems pretty clear. When a committed, channel-friendly vendor such as Samsung already has the goods and the momentum, partners need to dance with the one who brung them.

Chris Gonsalves is content services vice president at 2112 Group