

20 minutes with my Chromebook - RandallBrown
http://fredandrandall.com/blog/2011/06/27/20-minutes-with-my-chromebook/

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simonsarris
I'm hesitant to complain about a review because it is the author's opinion and
they are fully entitled to feel however they want about the product, but if I
may make one little yammer...

This is the kind of review methodology I dislike:

 _"I’ll give this 3/5 stars. I really believe in the spirit of the laptop. It
beats out traditional netbooks like my girlfriend’s EeePC and it is going to
be a lot better for typing/video watching than my iPad. Unfortunately, it’s
still a long way from replacing my Macbook Pro."_

3 out of 5 stars for being nicer than anything else in the price range?

There are two general ways you can rate a product: Give it a rating based on
all of the possible things it can do, or give it a rating based on its
intended expectation. The reviewer seems to be of the first kind.

For many products, like cars and computers, the first kind seems to me a
pretty silly way to do things. Almost all of the listed minuses, such as not-
impeccable speakers, are givens before the product is purchased. Its like
taking points off of a sports car review because there isn't a lot of trunk
space.

~~~
Steko
"3 out of 5 stars for being nicer than anything else in the price range?"

No he said it was better at two things then the ipad. And traditional netbooks
do not comprise "everything else in the price range".

I thought overall this was one of the more balanced and positive chromebook
reviews I've seen. Even if it is only a first reaction there were a number of
good comments about the nuances of the hardware design.

Whether positive or negative it seems Chromebook reviews often circle back to
the following question: why not just run Chrome on a $500 laptop?

------
buro9
I'm thinking of getting a Chromebook for my father, and this is a man whose
only been online via a library and who has no internet connection at home (or
even a TV for that matter).

The things I'm curious about are:

1) How is the 3g? Is it invisibly always connected like a mobile phone is, or
is it more like a laptop where you have to connect and disconnect?

2) How is the Camera? And how easy is it to upload a photo to flickr (or
Picasa if it's easier) having taking a photo? My father also doesn't have a
digital camera, but is selling a camper van... I want him to be able to take a
photo using the Chromebook and to be able to figure out how to upload it to
somewhere useful... would this be effortless for someone not deeply familiar
with computers?

3) How is the battery life? In real usage, of occasionally accessing the
internet, opening and closing it, etc... how does it fare? Also... can you buy
spare batteries? Especially batteries that are chargeable off a car socket?
i.e. Could he charge the battery whilst driving along, and without needing the
laptop to all be wired up which he might consider weird.

4) How are the prompts? So it asked for an update... but did it do that in
language that even my father would not find confusing or intimidating? Are the
alerts and prompts too numerous so as to dumb him down, or are they are few
and far between and phrased in such clear English that anyone could really
grasp them even without knowing why or how software updates happen?

5) How are the native apps such as Maps? I realise that the Chromebook is
designed to be online all the time, but one of his use-cases will be searching
for a place, driving to it, and then referring to the previous search to do
the last bit of navigation (he's too old school even for sat-nav). So... is
there caching for when signal fails? Is it adequate and useful enough to be
helpful?

Basically... the Chromebook for me, is going to help get the last few people
in my family and network online. In a way that even the iPad hasn't. I cannot
tell you the number of times my father has walked into a computer shop
intending to get online, and walked out as soon as what he regards as techno-
babble starts.

The Chromebook really could be the thing that works for him... he hated the
iPad (couldn't grasp modality of being in apps and not in apps, and was
frustrated that things he felt should work together - apps - didn't).

So I'd love it if someone who has a Chromebook does a review either watching
someone who has virtually never used a computer use one, or who sits there and
really is able to consider how a new user might find one.

That or someone here in the know just answer the questions above ;)

~~~
Jwsonic
I'll do my best to answer your questions, as my girlfriend was the lucky
recipient of a CR-48.

1) I don't have a whole lot of experience with this as we were pretty much on
wifi the whole time. I do know you have to manually enable 3g in the settings
though. Once 3g on I assume it's automatic when there's not wifi around.

2) Unfortunately I don't have a whole lot of experience with this one either.
The only pictures we every took with it were the initial user pictures, which
didn't turn out all that well (although the newer chromebooks may have better
cameras). I would assume you would be able to take pictures through any site
that cam make use of a webcam though.

3) Battery life was pretty excellent. My girlfriend would use it all day at
school for notes. It pretty much goes into hibernate when the lid is closed.

4) This is the part about the review that confuses me. The CR-48 we had always
updated silently. It would update in the background, and then when the laptop
was restarted it would install. I don't think I ever saw it prompt for an
update.

5) First off, there are no native apps. It's literally chromium on a minimal
linux build. The maps 'app' that he would have to use is the full blown
maps.google.com. As long as he had a 3G connection I would think he'd be fine,
otherwise I'm not too sure how much caching the web version of maps does.

I hope this helps. Sorry I wasn't able to provide more info about some of your
questions

~~~
thewordis
> _4) This is the part about the review that confuses me. The CR-48 we had
> always updated silently. It would update in the background, and then when
> the laptop was restarted it would install. I don't think I ever saw it
> prompt for an update._

A forced update only occurs on the first turning on of the machine, presumably
in case it's been on the shelf a few months. I vaguely recall having to do the
same for my CR48.

------
abest
The Chromebook and MacBook Pro are in completely different price ranges. If
you compare a Honda Civic to a Lamborghini it's obvious you won't be
satisfied...

------
xxpor
I think the thing to remember is MacBook Pro: $2000

Chromebook: $500?

~~~
sorbus
But a netbook is $250 on the low end, and a full laptop (low-end, but not
horribly slow) is $400. A modern laptop (with an i3) can be had for between
$470 and $500.

Based on the selection available on Amazon, chromebooks seem to have three
price points: $350, $430, and $500.

Admittedly, I'm focusing on the fact that chromebooks don't seem to compare
well within your price range, while you're focusing on the fact that it
doesn't make sense to compare a chromebook to a macbook pro.

~~~
anigbrowl
It's a lot better than a netbook, something short of a full laptop like an
MBP. The SSD makes a big difference; the main shortcoming of my CR-48 was the
poor GPU integration. I think it is priced at bit high, though. The problem of
the Chromebooks is that the market for them is being cannibalized by tablet
devices, not least the Android ones, several of which are excellent. The Asus
Eee pad comes with a rather nifty dock that provides the usual keyboard+hub
functionality and has extra battery built in as well.

a more general problem that no reviewer seems to have commented on: netbooks
where you browse the internet most of the time derive little from their
horizontal aspect ratio, because so many web designers insist on formatting
for 800-pixel widths or the like, so that your netbook has 30-40% of the
screen devoted to whitespace. A vertical format is considerably more useful
for anything except spreadsheet work.

------
resnamen
This review would have been much better if it was "60 minutes with my
ChromeBook". He's complaining about 20 second boot time - on the first boot,
when it's busy initializing profiles and whatnot. Had he timed the system
after restarting, he likely would have measured a boot time around 5-10
seconds. My Cr-48 takes somewhere around five seconds.

A rushed, nonchalant review is hardly better than no review.

~~~
savramescu
Actually it's called "20 minutes with my ChromeBook" and I haven't seen
anything that suggests a full review. But it was interesting to read through
someones first impressions.

------
mingramjr
"Maybe I’m being unfair by comparing the Series 5 to a high end laptop running
an OS that has had 10 years to mature, but that’s its competition."

I saw too many comparisons to a laptop that is far superior than a Chromebook.
Right now they are not in competition.

------
dumbphone
Beats me how anyone would use a computer where both the OS, browser, and major
applications are made by the same company - a company whose living depends on
making huge databases about its users' personal data - a company that is based
in the US where the authorities have easy access to your data.

The privacy implications to using Chromebook are huge, in my opinion.

~~~
patrickaljord
The first time you start ChromeOS it asks which search engine you would like
to use. You are then free to use any web app you want. The OS is open source
so you can check for any tracking code. If you don't trust the build that
comes with your chromebook, you can install your own chromiumos build on top.
You can't do the same with Windows or OSX, you have to trust in Apple and
Microsoft that they won't spy on you.

It's hard to get any more transparent than that.

~~~
awaz
You missed the point. You can of course choose the Search Engine but not the
browser. Chrome calls home frequently. As Matt Cutts outlined in one of his
posts(<http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/google-chrome-communication/>)

"If you are typing a search or url in the address bar, Google Chrome will talk
to the current search service to try to offer useful query/url suggestions."

And since its "only cloud" device, most of the applications you will end-up
using are Google products. Mostly because other players aren't yet convinced
that all applications should exist in the cloud.

As far as trusting Apple and Microsoft is concerned, I think it is about the
business model. Apple and Microsoft make money by selling Products and
Software. Google on the other hand makes money by collecting your data. I do
not understand why people fail to understand the difference.

------
malkia
He should try also the Efika MX SmartBook - I really love their keyboard, one
problem is right clicking on the trackpad. For price $199 it's very good (and
new HW update is coming in the next few months)

------
peregrine
I really really wish google would package up a slightly more powerful cr-48
everything about but the processor is perfect. Including the packaging,
startup and hardware.

~~~
resnamen
While we're at it, let's get a better trackpad. :) But the rest of it is full
of solid, albeit vanilla, laptop goodness.

------
BasDirks
One thing that makes reviews like this obsolete quite quickly: ChromeOS is a
living creature, give it some time to grow fangs and muscle.

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jgroome
I like how almost every paragraph includes a reference to Apple products.

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chimeracoder
"The packaging was fine. It wasn’t Apple quality, but few companies put the
effort into packaging that Apple does."

All I needed to read. Really, reviewing a laptop on the box? Talk about
judging a book by its cover. As long as it gets there in one piece, isn't the
computer itself more important?

~~~
iaskwhy
The details do matter. I know it's a cheap product so you can skip that but
for more expensive products I don't think judging a book by its cover is
wrong. If an expensive product can't have a really good cover than I wonder
how lazy that company is with what I can't see.

------
viisanan
20 minuets and 3/5 stars. Apple fans, please...

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JoelJ
"OS X and Windows give you a nice sound to show you how loud you’ve just made
it, but ChromeOS just gives you a little volume bar."

Windows actually doesn't.

~~~
thornkin
Except that it does. Try left clicking on the volume icon in the tray and
changing the volume.

~~~
darklajid
You, like me, probably set the sound theme to 'none' to get rid of all these
annoying startup/error/whatever noises.

In that case, you are right: No sound is played when you set the volume.
Probably (I couldn't be bothered to test it) you usually hear one of the sound
theme entries, at the new volume.

