Cr48 - Pilot-Program - Chrome OS. Cr-48 Review - Cr-48 Review. Google, one of the biggest web companies, is dreaming about making the computing world to its own image. “The future is on the web”…”in a browser”, Google says. If you talk to Google’s Chrome team, you would sense a genuine belief about how cloud computing should (or will) dominate in the long term. Obviously, there’s also nothing strange in the fact that Google wants to bring the OS (operating system) fight, on its turf. This is basic strategy… which is extremely hard to execute. Context First, if you don’t know what Google Chrome OS is, watch this video. Because the Google Cr-48 laptop is “just” a prototype (although a very cool one), that could, or not, represent real-life user experience, I found it more interesting to focus on the user experience instead of on the hardware itself.
I looked at using this computer from a work, and casual usage perspective. Hardware Google has a few hardware requirement that makes this PC a (tiny) bit different from other hardware out there. Web pages. First Day Review: The Google Chrome OS Cr-48 Notebook. My Google Chrome Cr-48 notebook has just arrived.
For my first day with it, I decided a good torture test would be to unplug my Windows 7 machine and see how the Google laptop worked in its place. Let’s go! Chrome, Chromium & What Is The Cr-48? Before I dive in, some background about the computer. Let’s start with Chrome. That’s Google’s web browser, which was launched back in September 2008. If you’re unfamiliar with it, it’s a browser just like Internet Explorer or Firefox. For example, in the “old days” of personal computers, you had software that you installed to do word processing (say Word), or to do email (say Outlook), or to do photo editing (such as Photoshop).
As the internet evolved, programs and services written to work within your web browser emerged. Google believes so much that the web will make standalone software applications obsolete that it has developed an entire operating system around the Chrome browser. The Cr-48 is a further play on words. You can’t buy a Cr-48. Google Cr-48 Chrome Netbook Full Review. Though the official release of its cloud-based Chrome OS is months away, Google has begun a massive pilot program, offering specially-chosen end users, Google employees, and journalists their own prototype Chrome netbooks. Known as the Cr-48 (for the element Chromium 48), these particular 12.1-inch laptops will never be sold commercially, but they offer a very detailed preview of what we can expect from the first Chrome systems when they launch by mid-2011.
So what’s it like living in a browser-only PC? Editor’s Note: Because the Cr-48 netbook is a test product that is not for sale commercially (and never will be), we’re not giving it a star rating. Design of the Cr-48 The Cr-48 won’t be available to consumers and Google has already stated the systems its partners launch in mid-2011 will not use this exact design or hardware.
First, we were amazed at how MacBook-like the Cr-48 is in its design. Keyboard and Touchpad Screen Ports There are very few ports on the device. Set Up Recommended by. Chrome OS Cr-48 Review Part 4: 10 Reasons People Won’t Buy This Notebook | GottaBeMobile. We’ve already covered the benefits of Chrome OS and cloud computing extensively. But as you can guess by the title of this article, this article is going to have a negative tone. I’ve been playing with the Chrome Cr-48 for a week now. While there are many features that are cool in theory, I don’t think many consumers would actually buy a Cr-48 if it were on store shelves. Sales of other Chrome OS notebooks, slated to hit shelves beginning mid-2011, will fall flat unless a bunch of bugs are squashed and people stop snapping digital photos, recording videos and buying iPhones. There’s certainly plenty of room for improvement and it may take a company like Google that’s not invested in the status quo to completely re-think the desktop OS.
People don’t like compromises. 1) No Applications People will avoid Chrome OS notebooks for one of the biggest reasons they avoid MacBooks: Lack of Applications. 2) No local Storage The Cr-48 comes with a 16GB SSD that can’t be used to store media files. One Week With the Google ChromeOS Notebook: An Experiment in Total Cloud Computing.
It’s been just about a week since Google’s Cr-48 prototype ChromeOS netbook appeared on my doorstep. Since then, I’ve been putting it through its paces, including during a short trip to a press event in Detroit, and it’s turned out to be a surprisingly useful machine. A Few Words About the Hardware I’ve read quite a bit about people’s problems with the current hardware, especially the trackpad. I don’t know if I just got lucky, but besides the widely chronicled issues with slow video playback (which I tend to attribute to Flash more than to the hardware itself), the trackpad and everything else on the Cr-48 worked as expected. Q: Is Living in the Cloud Really an Option Yet?
At the end of the day, the Cr-48 is really a radical experiment on Google’s part that tries to answer whether it’s really possible to live in the cloud without wired Internet access and native apps outside of the browser. At the same time, though, Google Docs is still not able to handle complex documents. Google’s Cr-48 Netbook Review: Is this the dawn of computing’s future? When we first laid eyes on the test platform for Google’s Chrome OS, it was love at first sight. At a bare minimum, it was ultimate curiosity at first sight. Now, after only two days of waiting, a few of us here at TNW have gotten our hands onto our test units and it’s time to let you know about the OS as a whole, but also about the device on which it is presently being tested.
First Impressions First, a video. Why? Great, tactile feel to the machine. Taking the device out of the box, it’s a sparse bit of treasure. Operating in a Web-only environment is a bit different. MacBook and MacBook Pro users will be delighted by the fact that the touchpad has a two-finger scroll enabled by default. Overall, the hardware is really well done. Working In Chrome OS Remember that “bit different ” comment that I made earlier?
We were pleasantly surprised to find out that you can work in WordPress within the platform. Around the Web To be honest, the test unit feels a bit underpowered. The Verdict.