Introducing the Chromebook

According to Google’s website: “Chromebooks are built and optimized for the web, where you already spend most of your computing time. So you get a faster, simpler and more secure experience without all the headaches of ordinary computers.”

This laptop runs on Google Chrome OS; this is a Linux-based operating system designed by Google to work exclusively with web applications.

What are the benefits or the innovation in this concept of Google, well is breaking paradigm.

We can suppose a couple of things:

• In these days we can access internet almost in anywhere
• The online free software of google can do almost everything as that common software do; e-mail (gmail), surf the net (Chrome), chat (gtalk), pictures (picasa), word processor and presentations, (Google Docs) etc.

In conclusion, a laptop don’t need a hard drive or an incorporated software, don’t need windows, files or a desktop, the only thing we need is a browser and connection to internet and we can access to all those things.

This means an attractive idea. No hard drive? That represents movil parts and life battery up to 8.5 hours and even less weight (3.3 pounds). No Windows or Mac? That represents no antivirus, not spyware, no need of backups, no payments for updates every two years. No need of launching process just power on and begin.

Let´s give this change of paradigm an opportunity. How well this concept of Google will be accepted in the real world? Let’s go back to our initial suppositions.

The first one says; “In these days we can access internet almost in anywhere”. This is critic, because if we don’t have connection to internet, we can’t do much with the Chromebook. We can´t check our email, read documents or listen to music. With little exception our Chromebook is a big book with blank pages of 3.3 pounds. Maybe in the valley of internet where Google engineers lived, always is a connection but in the real world you have to find WI-FI area and paid a very expensive price or have a connection with a telephone company but a high price too.

What about the second supposition? Google software works with basic functions, but what if I want to use Photoshop, or Skype, or sync your IPHONE or IPAD. The Google market offers thousands of free programs and apps, but still not the usual’s, at least for us.

Another thing is the cost, maybe if the Chromebook were $180 instead of $500, people may think about it, but why I should paid that much, if I can buy for that price a fine laptop with an OS than fulfill all my common needs.

But at the end is a matter of preferences, at least we have to give Google the benefit of the doubt for his noble experiment. This is the begin of a concept and only time have the answer.


How this works? what can you do? Leave your opinion...