Chrome OS CR-48 – Full Review

Introduction
Not too long ago, a little before Christmas, I obtained a Cr-48 Chrome OS notebook in the mail.  This computer is the culmination of Google’s efforts during the past few years to develop an OS to compete with Microsoft in the netbook battle.  They wanted to design a simple interface that was optimized for the internet.  The idea was simple: base the operating system on a web browser.  Take away all the “fluff” that Windows brings, and provide users with a simple, clean environment in which to surf the web.  Have no programs on the device, nothing to distract the user from the sole purpose of browsing the internet.  The Cr-48 is the first of many Chrome OS machines to come: has Google begun to accomplish their goal, or is it too simple to be useful?  Read on to find out.

[[Note: I’ve had a few friends ask about how to get one of these computers.  They are not for sale; Google is giving these away as part of their “pilot program.”  Go to http://www.google.com/chromeos/pilot-program.html to find out more and apply.]]

[[Note as well:  This entire post was written and edited on the CR-48.  I even did any and all photo editing for this post using the Picnik and Aviary web apps.]]

Hardware

Likes

The computer itself is beautiful.  The case is a matte, rubbery feeling matte.  It’s easy to grip, doesn’t have fingerprint issues, and feels and looks great.

They built the keyboard specifically for web use, and I’ve already come to miss it when I revert back to my other computer.  Instead of a Caps key, they replaced it with a search button, which effective opens a new tab with one click.

There are no function keys on this computer; replacing them are very well thought out “internet” keys.  Along with the somewhat normal brightness and volume keys are forward, back, and reload keys, a full screen key, and a key that shifts from one page to another.

That last one is interesting, it almost reminds me of Spaces on Macs.  On a normal computer, you can have windows with multiple tabs in each one; on this computer each “window” is it’s own full screen page that you switch between with this key.  This offers an advantage of having one window being used for play (chess, sudoku, etc), one for news, and one for work (Google docs, email, calendar, etc.).

The battery is amazing.  I have several times gone an entire day with pretty frequent use, and not had to plug it back in.  I think I ran down the battery once, but that was because I forgot to charge it the night before, and it didn’t even die until mid-afternoon the second day.  I’m not sure what Google says the battery life should be like, but I can see this thing going for 7+ hours of constant use.

The trackpad is very nice and large.  It offers limited “multi-touch” controls.  You use two fingers simultaneously to scroll up or down, and you tap with two fingers to “right-click.”  I don’t know if they are able to do this with the current hardware, but I would love to see more multi-touch features enabled.  Perhaps in a photo-editor website, it would be cool to be able to rotate or zoom with multi-touch, but that functionality isn’t there yet.

Issues

The only issue I personally have with the keyboard is that the keys are too dark.  When I’m sitting in my room, and the lights are off, I can’t see the keys at all.  It’s not a problem for typing for me (but could be for someone who doesn’t touch type), but the issue arises when, for example, trying to press the full screen key, I accidentally hit the reload key.  Not a huge issue, but it was one I needed to mention.

Can you see the keys?

There are only two potential issues I see with the trackpad.  First, there are no buttons; it reminds me of the newer trackpads that Apple has been using in their Macs.  I don’t mind this too much, but it may require a learning curve for those used to a normal trackpad on other laptops.  Secondly, it is a bit jumpy or unresponsive at times.  I think (read hope) this is merely a software issue that will be fixed soon.  You notice the jumpiness most when trying to highlight something or drag something across the screen.

The natural motion is to click and hold down with your thumb while using your pointer finger to move it.  As the trackpad has no buttons, it reads motion from both your thumb and finger as input, and the cursor gets very confused as to who to follow.  It’s not horrible, but it does come up fairly often.  Also, though not as much of an issue, but still deserving to be mentioned, the “right click” motion can be unresponsive.  Instead of right-clicking as on a normal mouse or trackpad, one uses two fingers to tap at once to bring up a menu. Sometimes it takes a couple tries for a menu to finally pop up, or sometimes it clicks instead of “right-clicks.”

Above the screen is a webcam, on the right is a sole USB port, a SD card reader, a headphone jack, and a power port, and on the right is a display port.  The webcam’s quality is subpar, but one has to remember this is merely a beta test unit, so hopefully final hardware will be a bit better.  They don’t have too many drivers built in right now, so peripherals (printers, cameras, thumb drives, etc.) might not work.  For example, I tried plugging in a camera, and nothing showed up.  Even when I tried plugging in my monitor, nothing happened.  These issues should be resolved though in the near future through software updates.However, they are updating it constantly, and it should be a lot better by the time they role out for sale units.

Software

Likes

The biggest advantage to the OS is its simplicity.  You open it up, type in your Gmail information (or you can sign up for Gmail right from the login screen), and boom, you’re ready to go.  Anyone who knows how to use an internet browser knows who to use this computer.  Another offering Google announced in conjunction with this computer is “web apps.”  These are basically websites designed to look like computer applications.  Google Docs is an example of an “app” that has been around for a while, but now there is a push for 3rd party developers to make app-like websites.  For example, I often read the New York Times on their web app in the morning before I start working.  There are other news applications, some for shopping, several games, and many more.

Issues

Now the idea behind this OS is quite novel, however it is also quite limited.  As I said before, anyone familiar with the internet can use this computer, because that is all this computer is: an internet browser.  Don’t expect to do anything “extensive” on this computer.  For example, there are some limited photo editing web apps out there, but nothing compared to even something like Picasa or Iphoto, which are free offerings available to PCs or Macs respectively.  The games available are light and limited, no Civ 5, Portal, and don’t even think about first person shooters.

Also, there is very limited storage on the device itself.  Unless you already use extensively websites like Flikr or the web albums on Picasa, don’t expect to store or view your photos from this computer.  Also, there’s no way to listen to your own music collection from this computer; Picasa or another internet radio station is the way to go if you want to tickle your ears while surfing the web.

The only storage available (I believe 16gb) is good pretty much only for temporarily storing a few files that you may want to email or put up on the web.

One of the biggest considerations against this computer is that pretty much anything done on this computer can be done on any other computer with a web browser.  It revolves around things like Gmail, Facebook, surfing the web, document editing on the web, etc., which can all be done in Firefox, Internet Explorer, or any other browser.  The web apps are just  websites, and even they can be accessed from most other browsers.  Now, Chrome OS is optomized to use them and offers a clean interface for using the web, but it really has no unique properties as far as use by the consumer is concerned.

The settings are limited as well.  You can change the font, zoom settings for website, network settings, time zone, and that’s about it.  Also, you can edit some information and add accounts to the computer, but even that’s limited.  For example, when starting a new account, it asks you to take a picture.  There is not an easy way to change that picture once it has been take, so if your account picture is bad, it’ll be there to mock you every time you log back into the computer.

Overall thoughts and impressions
So, in review, my likes are it’s ease of use, battery life, and down right simplicity.  Anyone can use this computer.  You don’t have to worry about updating or viruses.  It’s fast, has a clean interface, and is great for on the road, at coffee shops, or lounging on the couch.

The biggest issue is that anything done with this computer can be done on any other computer with a web browser–even the web apps.  This isn’t necessarily bad, but it severely limits its uniqueness.  Also, it’s fairly limited at this point it what it can handle.  On the up side, however, developers are working on new web apps all the time, and Google is working hard to fix other issues such as drivers for printers, etc.  All this leads to the question of cost.  Even if they price these at the sub-$400 mark, I fear consumers will go for the Windows netbooks that can do more, have more storage, and are similarly priced.  However, Google seems to excel at making money without charging the end consumer, and I can easily see these being cheap-to-free on a 2-year contract with Verizon or another data provider, but we’ll see.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I love this computer.  I have discovered I love “cloud computing.”  There are some limitations one should consider before purchasing a Chrome OS computer, but I find that on a day-to-day basis, I don’t miss not having access to my music or photos or programs.  With that said, I don’t think this will ever be anyone’s primary computer, but I consider this the perfect netbook.  Again, the biggest questions/issues are what developers do with web apps and the price, and only time will tell on these issues.