How is the Chromebook Holding Up?

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How is the Chromebook Holding Up?

Chromebook

Last week Google finally got around to releasing their Chromebook computer on Acer and Samsung hardware. The pseudo-laptop had already been the focus of months of anticipatory outrage at the idea of a $500 computer providing less than what a cheaper netbook can accomplish. Now that it’s available to consumers, what’s the consensus from tech critics and laptop reviews websites? Simply put: everything they were saying a week earlier before they even got a chance to touch the thing.

Everyone, from CNET to amateur opinion givers, strongly believes both Samsung and Acer Chromebooks are too expensive. They have a hard time getting over the cost when the capabilities within the machine and what the new kind of computer promises to pioneer, are still up for serious skepticism and debate. The Chromebook demands an internet connection for most of what it can do; it operates on cloud technology which has been the centerpiece of the product’s anticipation. This rustled a lot of peoples jimmies long before the computer’s release. Not many “authorities” on laptops and personal computers are excited about cloud technology. They find it either unreliable or Orwellian. However with Apple introducing a pay-for cloud network to use to share media between Mac-powered devices, fear of Google’s free open-sourced software has subsided a little bit.

Upon the Chromebook’s release most reviewers have acknowledged that the computer isn’t completely useless when disconnected from the Internet. It comes with a solid state drive that users can save music, images, videos, et cetera on. Maybe even a game or two if they’re primitive enough. But reviewers that are admittedly gaga over Google, such as Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, declare that the Chromebook’s weaknesses won’t be noticed by the overwhelming number of folks out there who more or less remain perpetually connected to the Internet and who already happily use Google Chrome. According to Vaughan-Nichols everything the Chromebook market wants in a netbookesque computer; long battery life, relatively powerful processor, readable screen, worthy keybad, are all included.

Vaughan-Nichols agrees though that the Chromebook is just too expensive for what it provides even if it’s awesome. The simple fact is that so long as you can use Chrome with another, cheaper, netbook, why get a Chromebook? Google has so far failed to make a worthy argument against that charge. In the meantime if you love Google and can’t say no to their inaugural personal computer, definitely check it out and see for yourself if it’s worth the price you pay. For me, I’m happy to sit back and see where the clouds go next before I buy a laptop that is entirely reliant on shade to work.