Chromebooks | A Gimmick, Or The Start Of Something New?
Are they really as good as people say? Are you really tied down to a constant internet connection? Most importantly of all; is a Chromebook really worth your money?
Chromebooks seem to have exploded in the last year or so — going from being relatively non-existent, to the top seller on Amazon. But why have these small, inexpensive devices become so popular all across the world? Do they really serve a purpose besides being used for simple web browsing and can we truly live inside an environment free from Windows?
In a word. Maybe.
I say maybe because it is entirely subjective — whether or not it is possible for you to switch completely depends on who you are and what you do in your daily life. Most people don’t feel comfortable moving away from the paradigm that Microsoft has created for us. We expect having to update our systems constantly, and pay for new licenses when our old ones are no longer useful. We have been locked into one way of thinking for too long, and Google have taken it upon themselves to assist us in fixing what is wrong with the current IT Industry.
I've grown up with IT from a very young age, since probably around six or seven, giving me a collective sum of some eleven years of IT and Computing knowledge. I may not be a professional software developer or a high flying consultant, but I know what I like in regards to IT and I know what the general public like as well. People get tired of having to check for updates and clean their PC’s, so they stop. When they stop, things become unresponsive and sluggish and then they come crying to me. The fact that things even manage to get to this state in the first place is what is currently wrong with IT.
Today, we all expect to buy a piece of technology and just have it work, right out of the box. However, when you buy a new PC there’s always a whole load of other things to worry about beforehand — create the recovery disk, copy files over from the old machine, re-install those drivers, the list goes on. What I'm getting at here is we have to do a lot of unnecessary things, just to make our systems work the way we want. There shouldn't be this layer between us and the computer. When we turn our PC’s on, the first application we load is statistically the web browser. Once loaded, we spend some 80% of our time in there, so Google decided to remove all of the other distractions, loading screens and installers getting between us and our most important application.
The Web Browser.
Chromebooks : The Hardware
Something that most people seem to be most confused about, is the power of a Chromebook, or that of a Chromebook in comparison to a regular Laptop PC. When you go out and buy a conventional Windows Laptop, I’d recommend going no lower than a Pentium processor and 1GB of RAM. Even then you’re going to have a horrible experience with that machine. For most people out there, they’ll likely buy something from the Core i series of processors with between 2 — 6GB of RAM.
Chromebooks run a much lighter and more resource friendly Operating System, so require significanlty lower system specifications to work efficiently. The typical specifications of a Chromebook are an Intel Celeron processor, 2GB of RAM with 16GB of Flash Storage (what is essentially to a Chromebook what a Hard Drive is to your PC.) Nothing from a hardware point of view really sells the Chromebooks — not particularly flashy, high end or premium. Just enough to get the job done.
Where the Chromebook really comes into its own, is the most important thing for an ultra-portable; battery life. When your always on the go, you really do need good battery life. It is a must. But when looking for a cheap, effective laptop, battery life is usually sacrificed lasting only 3-4 hours at best. To beat this kind of battery life you either have to: a) Buy another battery, or b) Get a Macbook Air / Ultrabook.
As I’m typing this, my Chromebook has around 30% battery life remaining, and Chrome OS is telling me I have another two hours of use— giving me a total of some 6 hours usable time from a full charge. Please note that newer Chromebooks pack a more powerful processor, as well as larger batteries, so now have up to 10 hours of battery life when off charge. This battery life is indeed very useful, allowing me to take it with me to College everyday and last while I’m typing up my coursework or just researching things on the go.
The build quality is not that of a Macbook Air, but for the price you wouldn't expect as much. For little over £220 Chromebooks really are cheap, but they don’t feel as such. Yes, they are made of plastic and there’s no hint of an aluminium uni-body but it’s good enough. Good enough is what we need to get into our heads, we don’t need really fancy display technologies and powerful processors, when all we are really going to do is sit down and browse reddit, 4chan or your other preferred community of choice.
With a Chromebook, you don’t expect it to play Crysis at max settings, instead we expect it to do what it was meant to do; and that was to view web pages. Something it pulls off more than well enough to make it worth the money paid for it. Something I have yet to mention is the boot-up time. If your expecting Chromebooks to start-up slow because they don’t have really high end components, think again. My Samsung Chromebook is advertised to start up in about 6 seconds, which it does… Consistently. Everyday in fact. That loading time is very impressive given the price point of these machines, and it makes working on them so much easier than any other device.
tl;dr : For £200~ you can’t get anything that starts as fast, looks as nice or has a larger battery than a Chromebook.
Chromebooks : The Software
Software means different things to different people, depending on who you are you may define anything you interact with on a computer as software. Something that I’ve found when at College though, is that most people don’t consider their Operating System to be software. Strange… A question I’ve been asked about the Chromebook is “What does it run on?” I find it quite hard to answer this seemingly simple question, because I know what it runs on but I don’t want to scare people away by telling them.
Chrome OS would be the simple answer here, and I could just then leave it at that — but that wouldn't be very honest of me would it? If you want the truth it should be pretty obvious that it isn't running Windows or OSX, it runs on Linux. A very heavily customised version of Gentoo Linux built specifically for each device. Making it incredibly efficient at managing resources and running on lower end systems. Signs of Chrome OS being Linux are only apparent when you put the thing in Developer Mode; you then have access to a full command shell, just like you would in Linux with bash.
Something to note here though, is that Chrome OS is one of the most user friendly Operating Systems that I’ve ever seen. First time setup is incredibly simple and can be finished in a matter of seconds. A wizard guides you through the process of connecting to Wi-Fi and signing in with a Google Account (which by the way, you will be needing one). After that, there’s no more configuration, really. Everything is ready to go and you can go out and browse the web to your heart’s content.
“That’s all fine and good” I hear you say, “but what about applications? Can we install any?” In a word: Yes. Applications are not what you have come to expect on Chrome OS, and you don’t have to go out looking for software packages online — all applications can be obtained from the Chrome Store provided by Google. Installation of applications is literally one click and then you’re ready to go.
Where problems start to arise, is when people think they need .exe’s to function at all. I’m an IT Student studying Networking and Systems Support — if I can complete my entire course on a Chromebook, you should have no issues finding alternative means to some of your most common apps on the Chrome Store. For example Microsoft Office is the reason most people are stuck on Windows and will never be able to leave; on Chrome OS we have something called Google Docs (a cloud version of an office suite) which ties in with Google Drive (a cloud storage solution to store all of your files).
With the Google Docs / Drive combo, I’ve managed to complete my course without ever leaving the Google Ecosystem to edit documents. The web client for Docs is amazing and even when I’m using my main PC I find myself using Google Docs more than LibreOffice or MS Office, simply because of it’s raw convenience. However, this is not a review of Google Drive or Docs so I’ll stop rambling about it. One thing I will mention though is that in purchasing a Chromebook, you’ll get 100GB of free, yes free, cloud storage from Google for two years. That’s enough to entirely move to the cloud for most people and more than enticing enough for people like me who like to take as much data with me wherever I go.
There’s plenty of other things to mention in regards to the new Packaged Apps that Google are pushing out right now — essentially these are web apps that can be run in their own window or instance, much in the same way we open programs in separate windows rather than in tabs of Google Chrome. Over time, the selection of applications will likely grow even larger and a wider variety of applications and extensions will fill the store so more people can get what they want out of their Chromebooks.
tl;dr : Chrome OS is rock solid, powered by Linux and can do pretty much whatever you want, so long as it isn't video editing or playing games. Google Drive and Docs really help with productivity too.
Chromebooks : Offline Life a Reality?
There have been many discussions on this particular subject and I’m afraid to say, Chromebooks can be used offline. No matter how many Microsoft ad campaigns are thrown at you, don’t believe for one second that you need to have an internet connection for these things to work well. Of course, an internet connection really does make more sense — since you well, bought a laptop built for the sole purpose of browsing the web, but that won’t stop you from being a road warrior sometimes and leaving free Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity behind.
I’ll be honest here, I rarely use my Chromebook without an internet connection, and that’s because I spend so much time around other technology. I can simply tether it to my phone, connect to public Wi-Fi or just find a spare ethernet cable somewhere, so offline use for me isn’t all that common. However, when it does happen I know that I’ll still be able to work on my files and have then sync with Google Drive when I’m back online again. The basic suite of applications still work offline; Google Drive, Docs and Mail all work fine, keeping cached copies of all your work and e-mail as you go just in case of sudden disconnection.
Using a Chromebook without an internet connection is not entirely optimal, but it’ll get you through the day until you can find one, so it’s not too much of an issue. But if you really want a good offline experience you’d be certainly better with a computer running either Windows or OSX. Things like spell-checker and various other tools fail to function without an internet connection in Google Docs which as come to really annoy me over time.
When I first bought my Chromebook there was relatively little that could be done on it offline, but over time Google has improved the OS to a point now where I’d be comfortable using it offline for a length of time. I’d still search wherever possible for an open Wi-Fi connection though, as it really does make using a Chromebook so much more complete.
tl;dr : It’s certainly possible, but don’t expect it to be without its own quirks — Chromebooks weren't designed for offline use. Hunt for free Wi-Fi whenever possible.
Chromebooks : The Future?
I can certainly see that Chromebooks have a valid place in the market, and they fit a very different niche than a Windows or Apple laptop. For education purposes these machines are wonderful and prove to be brilliant companion devices to get more work done when away from a workstation or other desktop PC. But in order to truly embrace the Chromebook, we need to change the way we see things and instead of thinking about the shortcomings of the Chromebook, we should embrace it for what it is. A truly wonderful and innovative piece of modern technology.
I believe that given a little more time, Google can truly perfect the formula for these machines and truly compete with the likes of Microsoft and Apple. People don’t need Windows. Windows needs people. Give a Chromebook a try at your local electronics store — if you like them, buy one and try using it as a companion device for a week or so. If you don’t like it, you can always return it under the 30 day guarantee. The worst that could happen is that you’ve just tried something you don’t like — on the other hand, if you like Chromebooks and Chrome OS be prepared for a fun ride. Constant software updates keep Chrome OS fresh and new, as well as providing new features that are actually useful so you always feel that you have something cutting edge.
