Google's upstart operating system and basic laptop could be the start of something big.

     No one seated around me on the train noticed that I was tapping away on a rare-bird—a Chrome OS Notebook. It looked like virtually any other laptop on the market, except with a soupcon less flash. The interface is familiar to at least 10 percent of the Web browsing market; so no one's curiosity was piqued by the tabbed interface. In other words, I was easily incognito with my Google Cr-48 Chrome OS notebook.

      The Cr-48 is like "essence of laptop." The matte-black body doesn't invite staring (or finger prints, for that matter). The screen is big and bright enough, but not shiny glass. There are few ports (only one USB port!). The keyboard looks unremarkable—though it's actually rather unusual. It's as if Google boiled away every non-essential laptop feature to reveal all that's different about this alternative platform.

      I've spent the better part of two days using the Cr-48 Google Chrome laptop, and I can tell you conclusively that I still haven't made up my mind if I love it or hate it. Not being able to break out of the Chrome interface to see a desktop gives me claustrophobic pangs. I feel like I'm being restricted, though I can get to pretty much whatever I need through the browser-based interface.

      Until I've decided, let's look at my tops likes and dislikes for the Chrome OS and Chrome notebook. Some things I like and dislike in equal measure.

Like: Simplicity

      When you buy a traditional PC, the first thing you do is go about setting it up. There's virtually nothing to set up with the Cr-48 Google Notebook. The Google Chrome OS starts up fast, and I had no trouble figuring out how to set up my account (which is my existing Google account) and use it to log into my favorite online services. The system had me take my picture with the built-in webcam (I could have used the notebook as a guest and bypassed this step), log-in with my Google account, and that was really it.

Like: Keyboard

      Google gave us a nice, clean, full-sized keyboard with solid, island-style keys. It's all very familiar, except for the radical changes, like leaving off Caps Lock in favor of a Search button and the array of browser-based keys along the top edge. I actually like those keys. Having Forward, Back, Refresh, Full screen (no Chrome) in hardware form is the perfect choice for a browser-based OS.

Dislike: Keyboard

      The placement of the search button (where Caps Lock should be) is either brilliant or demented. You know how you sometimes hit Caps Lock on a regular computer and then end up typing in ALL CAPS? That never happens to you with the Google laptop. Instead, you end up leaving the tab you're on and launching a search. Other gripes: The keyboard isn't lit up either from beneath or from above by a screen edge LED light. What's worse is that the light-absorbing matte-black keyboard doesn't even reflect light from the screen. If you're in a dark room, you will not be able to see they keyboard. By the way, where's the Delete key? Oh, I found it. No, wait, I didn't. That's the  Power key! I can't say I like having an on-off switch where Delete usually resides. The only good news is that since you're always working in the cloud, the work you thought you lost when you accidentally turned off the Chrome notebook is actually probably still there in the cloud, waiting for you.

Like: Free Broadband

      Thank you, Google and Verizon, for giving me 100MB a month free mobile broadband service for two years (no contract). Signing up was easy, and the interface for managing the connection is one of the best I've ever seen.

Dislike: Only 100MB?

      Do you know how quickly you can use up 100MB of data? On my train ride home, I sped through 22MB in less than an hour—and this is without viewing any video. In other words, the 100MB monthly stipend is little more than a tease. If you plan on going mobile and aren't always within transmission distance of a Wi-Fi hotspot, you will be trying the $9.99 a-la-carte mobile broadband offering. Ten dollars a day isn't bad, actually, considering what you might pay for broadband access at a hotel, but using it every day could get very expensive.

Like: Chrome Cloud Printing

      Once I figured out that I had to install Google Chrome 9 beta on my desktop PC (nothing on the Chrome notebook told me this), it was quite easy to create something on my Chrome notebook while sitting in my office and have it print on my home PC. The first time I ran this test, I neglected to tell my wife. She was on Facebook when the computer unexpectedly started to print. Naturally, she cancelled the print job—fearing some sort of system infection. Later, when I told her what was going on, I created another document at my desk, then printed it out on her printer while we chatted on the phone. Even she was impressed.

Source from PCMag

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