
Chromebook - atularora
http://www.google.com/chromebook/#
======
runjake
\- browses web? check.

\- runs the latest fad games, like Angry Birds (and more soon thanks to
WebGL)? check.

\- can connect digital camera and upload photos? check.

\- can browse facebook, twitter, youtube, gmail, hotmail, etc? check

\- can play flash games & netflix, hulu, & other crap? check.

This will satisfy the needs of all my immediate non-techy family members. And
I won't get the monthly calls about malware anymore.

~~~
siglesias
I personally find the Angry Birds-Facebook-Netflix picture of the future of
computing extremely depressing. Where's Google's suite of content creation
apps that "non-techy" people can explore to express their creativity?

~~~
scott_s
Most people don't create. You must be depressed by the wasted potential,
because we're going from a world where most people don't create to a world
where most people don't create.

~~~
dkarl
I don't think you ever saw ordinary people let loose with the power of "Print
Shop" in the 1980s or Microsoft Word in the 1990s. People made greeting cards,
family newsletters, notices, party decorations....

In the visual arts, a lot of the people who do amusing Photoshop work are not
professionals. Also consider MySpace in the 2000s. You might argue that
MySpace isn't a good illustration of the _value_ of giving people creative
freedom, but you can't deny that a lot of people were eager to take advantage
of it.

Then there are the people who get into sound editing or musical arrangement.
These days a kid might start with making a ringtone and then escalate.
Personally, I'm the least "creative" and least musical person you'll ever
meet, but even I spent a whole day trying to arrange a decent-sounding version
of "Walk Like an Egyptian" using a digital music program on my Apple IIgs. Why
"Walk Like an Egyptian?" I have no idea. When I was thirteen I recorded myself
belching, reversed it, dropped the tone an octave or two, added an echo and
made it the shutdown sound for Windows 3.1. I told my parents it was the sound
of a WWII submarine preparing to submerge. (Eventually, I figured out that
code was my preferred way of expressing myself. I had fun writing computer
programs that made pretty mathematical patterns on the screen, among other
things.)

Putting content creation tools in the hands of _everyone_ is key because you
never know who's going to use them. Some kid decides to make something cute or
awesome or badass or smartass and the next thing you know s/he's hooked on
sound editing or what-not. Unfortunately, the model of commercial software
development is to give someone a free taste, then frustrate them with
limitations, and then take their credit card and charge them for the pro
version. Kids are easily frustrated, may not have access to a credit card, and
even if they have a card, may not be able to spend $100 or more for
professional-quality software.

However, I think the answer to that concern is that non-professional content
creation needs will be served by free web apps.

~~~
ugh
I do not understand this worry or whatever it is at all. I’m always completely
baffled when someone brings it up.

Content creation has never been as cheap as today. To suggest that tablets or
netbooks will somehow limit that ability seems crazy to me. Just because the
software isn’t yet written? Because that’s what’s happening, the software is
written and perfected (Have you seen GarageBand? Google Docs? The list goes
on.) and meanwhile we are all in transition anyway. All those PCs won’t
disappear overnight.

This is one of those crazy way-too-premature worries.

~~~
eftpotrm
Would you like to try creating extensive content on a touchscreen?

I love my netbook, it goes almost everywhere with me. I can touch type on it
fast enough to take notes in meetings or from church sermons, I can write
music on it, I can even run Visual Studio 2010 and SQL Server 2008 well enough
to be productive with them.

I can't for one minute imagine how I'd be able to do anything like that
without a hardware keyboard and I'm yet to see the add-on keyboard that's as
stable for typing on my knees, in the back of a car, held in one hand while
standing (or whatever) as any netbook. I've got no problem with tablets as
devices but they still seem to be firmly consumption devices to me.

~~~
ugh
You mistakenly seem to have equated typing with creating.

Typing is a subset of creating. Tablets are not so great for typing, sure, but
PCs and tablets are both cheap. There is no reason to believe that they won't
co-exist, both making it easier for everyone to create.

~~~
eftpotrm
No, but a better input device than a touchscreen can certainly make creating
easier.

When I'm creating text content, a keyboard is a fast and efficient means of
data entry.

When I'm creating images or doing graphic design work, I want precision of
control. A touchscreen isn't fine enough.

When I'm creating music, there are a range of input options but I'd still take
some persuading that a touchscreen is quite there.

~~~
ugh
Your opinion. There are quite a few artists who would disagree with you about
the images part.

But it still doesn’t matter. Looking at the whole picture, tablets make
creating easier. That’s it. To suggest otherwise seems crazy to me.

------
kenjackson
I can't imagine anyone buying this and being happy unless they are already
intimately familiar with the device ahead of time. Too many limitations, with
virtually no big upside functionality or user experience (unlike the iPad that
makes up for limitations with some huge upside).

As I'd mentioned before I can buy an ASUS Eee PC with an AMD C30 processor for
$289 and be able to use the browser of my choice, sync my iPod/iPad/iPhone,
play WoW, use Skype, hook it up to my TV in the dorm, use MS Office, Visual
Studio, emacs, vim, etc...

It just feels like a half-baked implementation. The price point on this needs
to be a LOT cheaper. Like $100 or free for a netbook, and make the money up
with targeted advertising based on them being locked into Chrome. Otherwise
this doesn't seem recommendable.

~~~
jonknee
It's quite obviously not targeted at you. There are people who use computers
who don't even know what Emacs or Visual Studio are. They're also the ones who
have major troubles keeping their computers working. Google's working on
abstracting away the IT guy. I hope it works.

~~~
kenjackson
And those people don't know what Google Docs are either. And when they get an
Excel document where charts don't render correctly, or comments are screwed
up, or pivot tables don't work against their datasource, they'll be POed.

Or when all their friends are playing WoW and they realize that this device
doesn't play it.

Or when they want to Skype with their grandkids they realize, they can't do
that.

Or when they take the photo editing class and realize that the laptop doesn't
run the software so they trot halfway across campus to use the lab that has
the software installed.

Or when they go to get all their stuff on iTunes and sync their iPhone with it
and realize that they still need their old laptop.

Or, or, or...

You can't drop this computer on any average Joe. The subset of people I could
recommend this to is crazy small -- maybe zero given the price point.

Make it $0-$100 and I think we have a really interesting device. But at $300
or $20/month, that's a non-starter.

And I should note that I used to be the IT guy for my family and friends. I
still am, technically. But it's basically a non-issue nowadays. The only
question I've gotten in the past couple of months is someone forgot how to
download pictures from her camera. Speaking of which, how well does that work
with Chrome (seriously asking)?

~~~
Kylekramer
I pretty sure Google knows all of this. And are counting on it. They want them
in people's hands, and they know once they are, all of those problems play
into their vision.

 _And those people don't know what Google Docs are either. And when they get
an Excel document where charts don't render correctly, or comments are screwed
up, or pivot tables don't work against their datasource, they'll be POed._

Google likes this. Excel screws up? Perfect, just use Google Docs. Mission
accomplished. People are surprisingly flexible if you throw up a barrier. An
hour or so of pissing off a customer is a exchange Google is willing to make
if it give them a shot at a new Docs user.

 _Or when all their friends are playing WoW and they realize that this device
doesn't play it._

Really? Hardcore gamers are the last people who would use this, and the first
people to recognize that.

 _Or when they want to Skype with their grandkids they realize, they can't do
that._

Hmm, Skype doesn't work? I am sure the company with their own browser based
video chat system is crying a river.

 _Or when they take the photo editing class and realize that the laptop
doesn't run the software so they trot halfway across campus to use the lab
that has the software installed._

As the owners of Picnik, they are again very angry, I am sure.

 _Or when they go to get all their stuff on iTunes and sync their iPhone with
it and realize that they still need their old laptop._

Apple uses their mobile platform to encourage people to use Macs, why can't
Google encourage use of their mobile platform with their laptops?

There are always going to be a million reasons why a new device won't fit the
current system. But Google is making a big bet on the future, and for my point
of view, this seems pretty ingenious. And an utter cash cow if they pull it
off.

~~~
cookiecaper
> _Really? Hardcore gamers are the last people who would use this, and the
> first people to recognize that._

I don't know if you really understand how many people play WoW. Most of the
avid WoW players I've known have _not_ been "hardcore gamers" and they've
played WoW on really crappy computers, with Intel GMA graphics and everything.
There are many normal people that wouldn't drop the cash on a video card that
play WoW.

Also, you didn't address things like downloading pictures from a camera,
syncing with an MP3 player (not necessarily iTunes/iPod), or any of the other
local, non-browser stuff that a normal person does _all the time_.

~~~
abraham
> Also, you didn't address things like downloading pictures from a camera,
> syncing with an MP3 player (not necessarily iTunes/iPod), or any of the
> other local, non-browser stuff that a normal person does all the time.

Plug in a camera and it offers to upload them to Picasa. With Google Music
there is no need to sync anything. Anytime you want to listen to music on your
Android phone it just plays from the cloud.

~~~
paganel
> Plug in a camera and it offers to upload them to Picasa.

I'm on a 3-day trip to Paris, with my wife. At the end of day one we go back
to our cheap 3-star hotel room, and we want to upload the day's pictures. All
200 of them (that's about 700MB on my photo camera). What do I do? Do I use my
Internet roaming? That would be ~700 euro, so no. Do I rely on my hotel's
crappy and expensive Internet connection to upload the photos to Picassa? No,
because I don't want to lose half a night and ~100 euros (at ~20 euros per
hour).

Why can't I just download all the photos on my laptop, no Internet traffic
involved, and upload a select few on Facebook, like everybody does? (because
what would be the fun of going to Paris if you can't brag about it on FB?
right when it happens, not after 3 days, not after 3 weeks).

~~~
true_religion
I don't mean to defend Google, because I don't know how well this ploy will
work out but let me offer a counter analogy.

I would find a Chromebook extremely useful even though I have a laptop,
desktop, and Kindle.

A Chromebook would be used for emailing, light reading (aka HN), and web
surfing. It'd be an appendage, and not the end-all-be-all of my technology
sphere.

I'm also an avid amateur photographer, but like many I never offload my
pictures onto a laptop during a vacation or photo-shoot. Years ago, I bought
two 16GB flash memory cards for the camera. With that, I can take thousands of
pictures and never worry about offloading anything.

If in fact, I _absolutely_ needed to offload data I'd just plug in a handy
USB-connected external hard-drive and get instant access to 500GB more space.

\----

As an aside, since you're in Paris you should by an Orange card. Its about 10
euros, and gets you Wifi access at many of their hotspots around town.

Alternatively, you should be able to get Wifi in certain public parks too
without paying. I haven't done the later, but I have done the former.

------
hammock
It took me a long time of exploring to realize they were talking about a
laptop. I was like "Chromebook?" Is it a kindle? Is it an online scrapbook? Is
it online literature?

edit: why am i being downvoted? because i don't read tech blogs 24/7? because
nowhere on the website does it actually say what a chromebook is?

~~~
jonknee
Maybe you're being downvoted because of the large photos of laptops when you
hit the heading "Chromebooks"?

<http://www.google.com/chromebook/#chromebooks>

~~~
fragmede
> 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.

Their landing text. Assuming we didn't all see the forbes.com piece about this
announcement yesterday, that text doesn't tell me a single thing. (Other than
Google has a well-paid marketing department.)

------
r00fus
Something that's not confidence inspiring from the site: "Get everything you
need directly from Google, including support - online, email and phone."

Contrast with the current CEO's views on support
<http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/03/mf_larrypage/3/>

"...Denise Griffin, the person in charge of Google’s small customer-support
team, asked Page for a larger staff. Instead, he told her that the whole idea
of customer support was ridiculous. ..."

If Google is truly going to support these devices, they're going to need a
paradigm shift from Page's pre-existing "support doesn't scale" attitude...
and bring their A-game.

------
bergie
I find it interesting that most comments here mirror the classic Slashdot iPod
review: _No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame._

I think this isn't targeted at the classic computer market, the one that Steve
Jobs said is like _like trucks_. instead, it is an attempt at building a
computer market that is closer to general appliances, like TVs or cell phones.
Quite similar to iPad's approach, but with more focus on productivity and the
web.

Whether it works will depend a lot on marketing, and also on us hackers
creating the compelling web ecosystem. I already mostly live just in the
browser and many do the same, so maybe the world is ready for this. We'll see

~~~
ellyagg
I don't think so. I think people are well aware of what these trade-offs hope
to accomplish, but don't feel it'll pan out with the consumer market. Just
because someone radically rebalances features in a device doesn't mean it's
going to be a winner. We'll see.

Part of the difference is that with ipod, apple had no other incentive for its
design than to make consumers happy and thus get money. That isn't even close
to the case here. Google has strategic objectives, and it hopes to promote
those aims with chromebook. Google has a ton of bias distorting its vision as
to what will excite users.

------
kmod
Based on my experiences with the CR-48 (which I used extensively for a few
months), I have to suggest that you not get one of these laptops. Basically,
ChromeOS is great, but using Atom processors is simply unacceptable for the
tasks that they advertise. The only thing the CR-48 can do well is viewing
static content -- and I mean truly static! Scrolling around on an otherwise-
static web page is far to dynamic for it to handle. Want to play flash? Yeah
right.

These new models have dual-core atoms, which will help, but mostly it's just
the awful single-core performance that gets you. Even tying emails in gmail
was an extremely painful experience; often the characters on the screen would
lag significantly behind my tying, and it would take forever to load the
different pages.

I don't think anyone is arguing that you can use these things for "real work".
I'm going to argue that if you care about your time, you can't even use these
things for any of the other stuff they advertise. Unless the new processors
are significantly better, I'd say get something else.

~~~
peregrine
That's really strange because I've had the opposite experience. I use ssh for
most of my work. I can play hulu videos in 280p, I can view almost all pages
and content slowdown free.

The cavet being I cannot run hundreds of tabs, I usually keep it around 5, and
when I'm on a flashy website it slows everything down.

Its getting better almost everyday though and now I can almost watch hulu
videos in 480p.

------
ChuckMcM
Heh, I was amused that on Firefox that Javascript that does that whole stupid
"fade in" crap took longer than 8 seconds to load :-). Note to web designers,
its not studly its worthless bling, please don't give in to the temptation to
do that stuff.

From a product perspective it does have some nice benefits for the non-
techies. I'd love to get my parents something that they could carry around to
read email and view pictures on which wasn't waiting for them to drive by some
hijacked site. The pitch about 'let your friend use it' was also clearly the
other 'big complaint' about the iPad they are addressing. I hope that means
the iPad will get a 'guest' mode where you can hand it to someone without them
getting access to your cookies/email etc.

~~~
MatthewPhillips
Much more difficult for that to work on iPad. It takes Chrome seconds to sync
everything for a particular user. Since iPad apps aren't served on demand ala
web apps, you'd have to download every app belong to the guest. Much wasted
hard drive space. The iPad will remain a personal device, like a phone.

~~~
jonknee
I don't think anyone is (yet) asking Apple to support any Mobile Me user to
log into any iPad and see all their stuff. Just a way for multiple people to
use one. Or for me to be able and make my iPad available to someone without
also giving them access to all my email and Dropbox contents. Sort of like OS
X...

~~~
possible
At least it is possible to restrict access to some functionality and apps
through "Restrictions," i.e. parental controls.

------
ansy
The Chromebook has a lot of parallels with the electric car. For a lot of
people it is a real improvement for the normal routine, but there are a few
use cases outside that routine for which it just won't work.

ChromeOS has a lot of potential in institutional settings (much like the
electric car) where corner cases don't exist or there can be a small handful
of special purpose machines for those cases. IT costs for most organizations
would plummet and manageability would go up significantly. I can't imagine how
much money and software is used to lock down and secure Windows machines and
back up data nine different ways. And subsequently how much is spent
recovering or mitigating the loss / theft of sensitive data.

------
tokenadult
"* Obviously, you're going to need a wireless network, be willing to use it
subject to the provider's terms and conditions, and be ready to put up with
its real life limitations including, for example, its speed and availability.
When you do not have network access, functionality that depends on it will not
be available."

<http://www.google.com/chromebook/#features>

That's some very important information to put in a footnote at the bottom of
the webpage. I'll have to check network availability in my most common
locations before deciding whether or not this is useful for me or one of my
children.

~~~
euroclydon
It's a little snarky sounding for corporate speak; kinda like someone at
Google rolling their eyes at you.

~~~
jhamburger
When writing emails at work I often find myself starting sentences with
'Obviously,' and then taking it out later. I find it very rarely necessary.

------
kloncks
Google is such an interesting company.

Compare this page with an Apple page trying to sell a product:
<http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/> or <http://www.apple.com/ipod>

There's absolutely no comparison. My non-technical friends (heck, even me) are
just absolutely more receptive towards that second page.

For all of Google's resources as a gargantuan company...can't they just find
some small dash of good design somewhere?

(Not bashing Chrome OS. Looks absolutely wonderful. This is just what I
thought when I visited the page...and HN sometimes is for nitpicking :)

~~~
spot
This is the page you should be comparing to:
<http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/chromebook>

------
ellyagg
So, you can get a full featured eeepc for the same price as a chromebook, but
google expects people to pay just as must because (I guess?) it's so simple to
use and doesn't have viruses? I don't think that's how normal people buy
things. People don't want simple for simple's sake. They want good design.
People do want features. They do want power. They will not choose a less
powerful solution because of vague imputed simplicity. As far as I can tell,
the only simplicity benefits a chromebook has to offer is by providing
strictly less features.

The ipad, although superficially similar to a chromebook in some senses, is a
completely different product. Its design, both software and hardware, is
utterly and completely unlike chromebook. You won't get far extrapolating
ipad's success to chromebook.

Microsoft would not be able to sell a version of Word without print
capabilities, even though it would be slightly simpler. No one would buy it
obviously. I think a lot of technically oriented people have the wrong idea
about what constitutes a valuable trade-off between simplicity and power in a
product. Like I mentioned, people want well-designed.

Chromebook is an uncanny valley netbook, and it will be a disappointment.
Unless I'm wrong. :)

PS - Another thing technically literate folks overestimate due to tribulations
of the past is the extent to which viruses continue to be a nuisance.

~~~
haberman
Features:

    
    
        - boots in 8 seconds
        - updates itself without bothering you
        - battery that lasts all day
        - backups taken care of (all data is in the cloud)
        - built-in 3G with 100MB/month included
        - doesn't get viruses

~~~
ellyagg
Right, so not very compelling.

    
    
        - Boots in 8 seconds: Why power off your laptop? I don't nor anyone I know.
        - Updates itself without bothering you: Low value.
        - Battery lasts all day: This is strong, if verified.
        - Backups taken care of: Implications are mixed at best.
        - Built-in 3G: This is probably stronger than some will give credit.
        - Doesn't get viruses: As I suggested above, low value.
    

I was aware of these, of course. Still don't think it overcomes massive loss
of power and features.

~~~
bostonvaulter2
It sounds like you aren't really the target market for this device.

------
eggbrain
A _little_ pricy for me to be honest. Is an all day battery and 100MB of 3G
data a month worth giving up a whole lot of features over a netbook? For some,
maybe. But for me, no.

~~~
rryan
Those "features" of your netbook aren't actually features (and some are even
anti-features, e.g. viruses, not auto-updating) for someone like my parents,
or for students at a school or employees at a business. To start, it seems
this is aimed squarely in their direction.

~~~
eggbrain
This doesn't make sense from a bunch of different perspectives.

Yes, with the Chrome computers, you might not get viruses. But that would be
the same as if you got any Linux Netbook that they sell, and would _still_
have many more features than the Chromebook.

You also bring out a lot of _anti_ -features with the Chromebook as well. When
you give this to your parents, and they ask where their little blue "E" is, or
where their Spider Solitaire is, what will you say? What about those students
and businesses that require to have certain software on their system, that the
Chromebook doesn't support? Suddenly you exchange technical problems like
getting rid of viruses with explaining how to do things in a new environment,
with new rules.

And at the end of the day, is it worth it? For me, I'd rather take that $450
dollars (or $350) and buy a fully functional PC that can run all my favorite
software and also get me access to the web.

That is _not_ to say, however, that I would not buy one in the future. If they
brought the cost down ($150 would be almost an instant buy for me), and/or had
a fully matured "app" store if you will, I would probably change my mind. But
I look at it, and the only key features I see are the great battery life, and
free 100MB 3G access a month, and a whole lot of negatives and unanswered
questions (Are they going to have bad customer service like they did with the
Nexus? Are they going to give up on this like the Wave, or keep pushing it?)

------
wiredfool
The data service (<http://www.google.com/chromebook/#features-connectivity>)
looks nice for people who don't do a ton of streaming. In fact, if chromeos
has ssh, it would probably do for my work laptop at something better than a
netbook + verizon dongle, and a whole lot cheaper. (well, I think right now
it's $60/5gb, and I rarely hit that).

~~~
spiffworks
I think those rates only apply to the CR-48, not to the new devices announced
today, because the new ones are also going to Europe, where CDMA is pretty
much non-existent.

~~~
wiredfool
That's not what the site seems to say:

    
    
      Chromebook that have built-in 3G include up to 100MB per month 
      of Mobile Broadband service for 2 years, provided by Verizon Wireless.

~~~
cstross
Note that Verizon doesn't operate in Europe, and CDMA is just about unheard of
over here.

According to this CNET report (
<http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-20061896-266.html> ) chromebooks will be
sold in several EU countries, so I assume there'll be a UMTS/HSPA model sold
with contracts from various carriers.

(It's fairly clear that Google are targeting the same "curated computing"
approach as Apple, but via a radically different delivery vehicle -- a
netbook-like notebook PC rather than a tablet with a "clean sheet" multitouch
user interface. Be interesting to see how the competition shapes up over the
next year.)

~~~
wiredfool
Well, changing the language to Nederlands got me a different page -- one that
I can read but I can make sweedish chef like interpretations of.

Looks like Dutch users can expect wireless from kpn, with a gig of transfer
per (garbled) for free, and then it's 20 euros/200MB.

Hell, I should have done the English/uk, They're getting internets from three,
and It's 3gig transfer free for the first three months, then pay as you go
after.

~~~
henrikschroder
What the hell, I thought you could get unlimited mobile broadband at least in
the Netherlands? This pricing makes no sense.

I mean here in Sweden I can get mobile broadband (i.e. a USB dongle I plug
into my laptop) from Three with a speed of (up to) 6mbit/s and no datacap for
9 euro/month. 25 euro/month gives me up to 32mbit/s, and still no caps.

I wouldn't be surprised if they have some sort of operator kickback scheme for
the chromebooks, but we'll see if/when they launch them in Scandinavia as
well.

------
smackfu
They don't seem to be priced any better than similar Windows machines,
although it's hard to find exact comparisons since most things with Atom
processors only go up to 10" screens.

~~~
txxxxd
Same price as a windows laptop but much cheaper to support.

For anyone who's the the family tech support guy, it's almost worth buying
these for your relatives just so you don't have to deal with cleaning up their
malware infected, bloated PCs every 6 months.

~~~
checker
Amen to that.

------
aj700
One big point about this, esp if it takes off. It answers a big question:

How do you get J. Random User to use Linux?

Don't call it Linux. Don't make it look like Linux. And Chrome for Windows
synced over to an identical looking ChromeOS means he's escaped Microsoft
lockin without even knowing it.

~~~
fragmede
> How do you get J. Random User to use Linux?

Why do you want them to use Linux? Is it about the linux kernel? Is it about
the GNU userland tools? Is it about Gnome/KDE, the configurability?

Android is 'Linux', but it's missing most of the Linux bits that I want.
(ChromeOS is also missing most of the bits I want too.)

~~~
aj700
To clarify. I want them to use Linux, because then they aren't using Windows.

Possibly you weren't using computers in the mid-90s when Microsoft was
synonymous with evil. Yes, we are merely nursing meaningless old grudges, but
victory is sweet.

I'm not going to say Linux is better. It's just spite. How dare you get so
rich selling rubbish to idiots? - I'm European and a lot of us really _are_
communists.

------
digitalnalogika
Have they published price of these laptops anywhere?

I can't find any info at Amazon/BestBuy or official website
<http://www.google.com/chromebook/chromebooks.html>

~~~
lallysingh
$28/month/user with Google Apps & Support for business

$20/month/user for students.

(from the Engadget live feed)

~~~
PagingCraig
I can't see the laptop itself not costing anything. The per month is on top of
the laptop cost I take it?

~~~
martin_k
No, for businesses or schools this is a monthly price that includes software
and hardware updates.

------
conradboyle
"In the near future, you’ll also be able to run traditional software remotely
on our Chrome notebook. Companies like Citrix are developing solutions that
will be available in the Web Store, and we are developing a free service
called Chromoting that will enable Chrome notebook users to remotely access
their existing PCs and Macs."

I wonder what the timeline is on this, and if it will be frustratingly slow
vs. a netbook.

------
dmazin
As an owner as one of the CR-48 test units, let me just tell you that I can
get on the internet quicker on my three-year-old MacBook than this thing. The
MacBook is connected to WiFi by the time I'm logged in from sleep. Not so with
the CR-48. However, the 100 free megabytes of 3G per month is nice. I've used
about 400kb total since December.

------
MatthewB
That samsung version looks very nice and 8.5 hours of continuous usage is
killer. However, I won't be trading in my brand new Macbook Air 13" any time
soon.

It doesn't mention harddrive specs because this is supposed to be a "cloud
computer." However, it definitely has a harddrive and I wonder if it is a SSD
or regular spinning disc drive.

~~~
larrik
Why does it have to have a harddrive? The thing can run off an SD card, in
theory.

I used to sell thin clients that ran off of CompactFlash cards. (they ran a
version of XP, too)

~~~
MatthewPhillips
Boot time.

------
arihant
Interesting. But with the functionality mentioned above, as a student I would
rather buy an iPad with hook-in keyboard. If this device is available in
similar form factor, I might consider. Just a thought. I'd still buy one of
these.

I think the cost of the device should be low, most people in 2011 will buy
these as an add-on gadget rather than one-sto-shop. I don't know of many add-
on gadgets being massively popular while costing more than $250.

I don't think this is a PC, this is an internet window. What google probably
chose wrong was the netbook form factor. It's an internet window which looks
like a PC, specially the one that Steve Jobs trashed at iPad launch.

------
nextparadigms
I was hoping they'd also announce some ARM based notebooks, maybe with the
quad core Tegra 3.Performance should at least be similar to the current
notebooks, but they would be cheaper and battery would last even more.

~~~
fragmede
Flash on ARM still isn't there _yet_ , unfortunately; by using x86 chips, they
can use a much better version of Flash that's available now.

------
defroost
Just what we need: Google involved in more aspects of our lives. No thank you.
Nothing against Google per se, but letting any huge corporate conglomerate
control the majority of your data seems foolish.

I use OS X as it has the perfect mix of Unixy goodness where superb OSS
developer tools run great, graphics tools like Photoshop, and VMWare for
Linux. Honestly, it is such a good platform, I cannot for the life of me think
of a use-case for Chromebook. I'm actually a bit shocked that many HN users
seem to be touting this thing as something revolutionary and/or desirable.

------
javanix
Google is still planning on making Chrome OS installable on other hardware,
right?

I already have a thin and light laptop that I'm pretty happy with - hopefully
I can install Chrome OS from an image onto it to tinker with.

~~~
aj700
<http://chromeos.hexxeh.net/>

you can try it now

you can try the whole thing on a compatible laptop when the chromiumos builds
are the same as the chromeos these ship with.

~~~
javanix
Is there an official build planned though? Or is Google only planning on
supporting "official" hardware?

~~~
aj700
ChromeOS (not "buildable", pre-shipped) I assume, ONLY on Chromebook and
official google devices

ChromiumOS, (build or download built) on anything it runs on

You can't build the browser Chrome yourself, because that is Google's
trademark. But you can build Chromium.

There is little difference between ChromeOS and ChromiumOS, so it doesn't
matter. What's wrong with something built outside google? Chromium will have
all the beta features first, so it'll be better.

~~~
javanix
I'm not making any value judgements here - I am just wondering whether or not
there will be any official way to download an ISO (in the manner of Ubuntu,
for insance) of Chrome/Chromium OS and run it on arbitrary hardware.

I guess the question really comes down to whether or not Google is planning
significant work on the hardware hooks into the OS - will it be possible for
manufacturers to write ChromeOS drivers for their devices, or will Google
develop that on their own?

------
becomevocal
I see enormous potential here for SaaS startups dealing with businesses to
ease 1) initial hardware costs for a computer with a competent browser, and 2)
support issues from hardware / software fragmentation.

You can now give businesses an option that doesn't light the checkbook on fire
while supporting all the bleeding edge web technologies we all wish were more
widely supported. Sounds pretty awesome to me.

------
uniclaude
It's a purely personal point of view, but I sincerely think that the CR-48
looked much better than both of those. If Crunchgear is right and those
laptops hit the market at 350+ & 425+, I'll regret not having an address in
the States back then, when Google was distributing CR-48s ! On a more serious
note, I think a worldwide 3G plan would make those laptops very interesting
for me.

~~~
lftl
It was barely mentioned in the keynote, but they discussed changing the
trackpad from the CR-48, and to me that was practically the biggest
announcement of the speech. The CR-48 trackpad is crap. Other than that I
would agree with you, it has a very nice feel to it.

------
83457
I wonder if an OnLive client is on the way. That would provide a lot of gaming
options that will not be available through browsers for years.

------
jasongullickson
It's like the litl plus 3G but minus the clever industrial design (and two
years later)

<http://litl.com>

------
ebiester
Perhaps someone with a CR-48 can enlighten me... how does one get their photos
from their camera to the cloud on one of these?

~~~
stanleydrew
They went into a bit of detail during the keynote. It's worth checking out a
video if you can find one. It's towards the end, in the last 20 minutes.

Anyway, the gist is, a web application (say, Picasa, or Facebook) can register
as a file handler for certain kinds of file types (say images) and then handle
the upload from the client. A little contextual menu comes up when you plug in
a sd card or whatever that asks you which (if any) file handler you'd like to
deal with the files.

------
zoba
Does anyone know if a monthly subscription is _required_ to have one of these?
I've already got laptops that work and I'm not interested in paying a monthly
fee for something that doesn't do everything I want it to, when I wont even be
using it 100% of the time. In fact, I hate monthly fees on just about
everything.

------
jgv
I think there's a bug at <http://www.google.com/chromebook/#support>

When I click on "Guided Tour" and then try to watch the video, the lightbox
closes. Seems like its registering the mouseclick as a click outside the
lightbox. I'm using the most recent version of Chrome 11.

Anyone else?

------
slowpoison
I see a lot of criticisms here but it was apparent in the presentation today
that Google is targeting this mainly towards business, organizations and
schools. Their selling point is elimination (or significant reduction) of the
maintenance and support that the IT infrastructure requires.

------
coffeejunk
I'm pretty thrilled that chromebooks will be available in some european
countries from launch on.

------
MatthewPhillips
So does that $28/month/user for businesses include Apps? That's a pretty
killer price, if so.

~~~
jackowayed
Well, it's normally $50/year/user, right? So apps is only ~$4/month, meaning
the price isn't that different either way.

------
naner
If it is web only wouldn't it be better suited to an iPad form-factor? I would
get one if it was around $30/mo and you can trade it in for a newer model
every year or two. Better yet if they could figure out how to get unlimited 3G
in there cheaply.

~~~
eli
Maybe not trying to out-iPad the iPad is a good thing.

You ain't getting a netbook, an apps account, AND unlimited cell data for
anywhere near $30/month though.

------
mbertrand
I'd be interested to see if we'll see similar models emerge from other
manufacturers biz in the near future. Is an interesting concept and with a
feature set and price point that will appeal to the masses.

------
nkassis
Guess I'll have to drive down to the US to get one. Canada is somehow always
excluded from new google projects. I'd like them to tell us which laws or
limitation cause this. Crappy ISPs and Mobile networks?

~~~
cryptoz
A couple years ago the Google Summer of Code had a restriction on citizens
from Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Sudan and Quebec.

Language laws, I think, were the culprit in that case. Not sure about this one
though.

------
run4yourlives
I'm not really seeing how this wins in the "computer as appliance" market when
the competition is the iPad, the Playbook and all the other imitators...

Am I missing something here? Why wouldn't you just purchase an iPad?

~~~
dunSHATmyself
Because it's not an iPad?

~~~
run4yourlives
Well, I wouldn't be betting my shares on that particular marketing point.

------
aj700
[http://www.thechromesource.com/google-io-chrome-keynote-
live...](http://www.thechromesource.com/google-io-chrome-keynote-liveblog/)

------
sterling
My first reaction to this was: creepy. The sales pitch is creepy - telling us
in the best newspeak that less is more. The sales language is creepy,
describing how much more "secure" a machine is because it only browses the
web. The sales video has the smell of a lecture, with a message that hints at
Big Brother. The layout of the product page is even creepy, with all kinds of
colors and icon styles. Google doesn't want to add value to anything here.
They want control, and they are playing catch up with the iPad. This is the
textbook way to run business, and it will fail.

------
pippy
With Google competing with Microsoft for the Lower to mid range market,
Microsoft will have corporate competition on a large sector of their
traditionally cornered market.

It's going to be an amazing next 10 years for the desktop and web
technologies. Late 90's/early 2000's progress was impeded by the Microsoft
monopoly.

Even better Chromium listening to what Developers want, the web will move
forward at a staggering pace. Combined with the realization of interface
importance, mind blowing UI hardware improvements are already happening.

I'm usually cynical, but this really may usher in the golden age of computing.

------
pw
"3G-enabled Chromebooks connect to the web using blazing-fast mobile data
networks"

Eh, "blazing-fast" might overselling things a bit.

~~~
ZeroGravitas
I wonder if they'll offer an Opera Turbo style proxy to compress sites with
SPDY and WebP etc. for Chromebook users?

------
Jun8
I am frustrated by the fact that I have to buy it in a hardware-packaged form,
why can't I just download Chrome OS to an older laptop to experiment (like I
do with Linux distros)? I guess at this stage the OS is flimsy enough that
they need to control all aspects of hardware.

Also, the support & distribution thing from Google doesn't work, we have
already seen it with G1. Why do they want to repeat the mistake?

~~~
abronte
Chrome OS is open source <http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os>

A quick search in google you can find tutorials on how to run it on your own
hardware.

~~~
Jun8
Not so easy! Currently most people use a build by Hexxeh, which is a slightly
tweaked version of Chrome. Installation is _nowhere_ as easy as, say, Ubuntu.
I don't understand why I need to use builds from third parties rather than
directly from Google?

------
headShrinker
Manufactures: Samsung or Acer? No thanks. Reliance on current shit telecom
network? No thanks.

------
pointillistic
Can make you phone calls with GVoice on this thing? There might be a lot of
value right there.

~~~
fragmede
You can on the CR-48.

------
guywithabike
How well would the interactive music video they demoed work on these?

------
swah
Oddly, the first video was played for me with Dutch subtitles.

------
larrywright
If this thing could run Emacs, I might be tempted to get one.

------
icandoitbetter
So is there an initial fee apart from the $20/28 per month?

------
alinspired
is there a dedicated screen for always on advertisement yet ? :)

And seriously I'd need at least ssh and rdp clients on this to even consider
it

------
danbmil99
been beta testing this thing for a few months (at least something very
similar). There are issues. And no webGL

------
blhack
Am I missing something here?

It's ~$400 for a laptop, then $28/mo to use it?

What are you getting from this that I'm not already getting for free from
google?

Or is it $28/mo and the hardware is free...?

~~~
jahmed
You can buy one for $400ish.

For Google Apps for Business you can get them for $28 per user per month, this
includes the hardware and periodic hardware refreshes.

------
hajrice
If only you could code on it...

------
pjy04
It's called getting an SSD...

------
wslh
I prefer a TV :-(

------
DTrejo
direct link to app:

<http://chrome.angrybirds.com/>

------
phlux
This is a game changer. I plan to get one for my 6 year old daughter. I have
started her on Khan academy for math (I have been watching the vids myself -
they are fantastic)

~~~
apl
Not intrinsically, no.

EDIT: Just for the record, before the OP edited his entry, it simply said
"This is a game changer" which I consider an exaggeration. Of course, I can
see how it makes for a nice children-appropriate machine, but that's not
something new and exclusive to Chrome OS.

~~~
va_coder
From a security perspective I think it's a big game changer. I'm looking
forward to hearing about how secure it is in practice.

------
yanw
$28/user/month, software + hardware (updates for both) is a good deal.

~~~
sterling
Why is this a good deal? Isn't it about $1000 for this machine (let's say 3
years of use x $336/year). Tablets and netbooks are a lot less than that.

~~~
v21
But from a business point of view, looking at an anticipated total cost of
ownership, it might be a pretty good deal.

