We bought a Samsung Chromebook for my Mother In Law. She needed a DVD Drive, so, my wife took over the Chromebook. When she is not looking, I hijack it, and I absolutely love this computer!
I started out on a Commodore 64 when I was a kiddo. I loved that computer; it fired right up, it had a great keyboard. It let me do what I want to do. Fast forwarding through my HP-41, Apple IIe, clones, etc, I live in Windows 7 today. I like Windows 7, but, it’s not like the “wow” days of the Commodore, nor the Chromebook.
The Chromebook:
- Is truly instant on!
- My Windows 7 laptop, though better than past versions of Windows, takes a few seconds to resume from hibernation It doesn’t feel “ready to go.” The Chromebook? You open the lid and BAM! It’s on and ready to go.
- It always has battery!
- The Chromebook’s battery life is in excess of eight hours. You just keep using it like a tablet or phone.
- It’s light and just “goes” with you!
- When I pick it up, it’s light; it feels very natural, like, “yeah, pick me up and go – go do what you want to do.” My HP laptop is truly like a brick, and, two years ago it was considered “feather light.”
- If you can do it in a browser, then you can do it!
- In my personal world, I pretty much live in the browser now days. Rhapsody, Pandora, G-Mail, Evernote (well, when I’m on the Chromebook I use the web client. Else, I use the Android or Windows client). It all works seamlessly.
It’s that last bullet that strikes the Chromebook down as being my full-time, next computer. The sole mission of the Chromebook is to get you on the net. Yes, apparently there are some Google apps that will work off-line, like G-Mail (I haven’t tried that yet). But, the Internet is where you have to live. In my work world that doesn’t 100% fit yet. I need Skype. I need a .NET app. I need Office (thought I might be able to use SkyDrive for that).
Also, our Chromebook’s right side palm rest has a “creak” in it. Many other people on line have noted that, but most say, “hey, it’s a $250 computer, what do you expect?” And, that’s probably true.
I think my Commodore was like $600 way back when. So, now, having a computer that is on par with a Macbook Air for $250? Yup – I like where the world of computing is going.
