Hands-On With Google's Cr-48 158
adeelarshad82 writes "While Google has made it clear that Cr-48 is nothing more than a test prototype, it was interesting to see the machine Google used to demonstrate Chrome OS. Out of the box, the Cr-48 conjures images of the Black Apple MacBook, from the plain, rubberized chassis to what looks like the same chiclet-style keyboard. The 12-inch notebook weighs about 3.8lbs and comes with a clickpad which recognizes one finger as a left click, while a two-finger tap triggers a right-click function. The laptop obviously contains a hard drive for storing backup data, but the capacity is unknown. The notebook comes with a lone USB port on the right side, which has limited functionaly. For now, thumb drives, hard drives, cameras, printers and other USB peripherals do not work with Cr-48. Google is working on getting its Chrome OS to recognize storage drives, but it's a work in progress. Once Chrome OS does recognize storage drives, users can probably install other OSes on Cr-48 for fun. Video playback seems to struggle with Hulu videos, while YouTube clips were okay. The device operates at a 1,280x800 resolution, which means the Cr-48 can theoretically support 720p video playback, but the videos were capped at 480p."
Engadget posted photos a Cr-48 teardown if you'd like a look at its guts. An article at InfoWorld suggests Google needs to work on the cloud offerings underpinning the device.
Re:I was disappointed by Google... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:UTTER FAILURE (Score:4, Insightful)
NO CAPS LOCK KEY.
Isn't this the second nail in the coffin for this thing recently?
I DON'T KNOW, I NEVER USE MY CAPS LOCK KEY. WHAT'S IT FOR?
Seriously though, except for programming/development, or for those who LOVE SHOUTING IN EVERY POST/MSG/ETC BECAUSE THEY DON'T KNOW BETTER (or those who still program in the original MS-DOS BASIC), I don't see it as a big problem.
Heck, even for programmers (I often type those special "certain things" in ALL CAPS), I still find it easier to simply hold down the shift key (which is actually how I did the capitalized section above). Maybe it's all a matter of the keyboard, but I find on my Model M, it's very easy to hold shift with my pinky and type with the remaining fingers relatively normal.
The "cloud" is worthless (Score:4, Insightful)
A) Lack of access. There are many places where it is impossible to get any internet connection (or at least anything that you aren't paying out of the ass for), travel is the number one reason I use my laptop on the go. If I'm on a bus that doesn't have wi-fi on it, I have no internet. Yes, you can buy things through cell phone companies that let you use the internet, but they are expensive and now they are even eliminating unlimited data, giving you a tiny amount of usable data at a high price at low speeds.
B) It is more expensive. For the price of two months of cell phone data service, you can get a decent 500 GB - 1 TB HDD. Yes, I know that hard drives fail, but assuming that they don't fail within 2 months of use, you are essentially saving money by storing your things locally and only using the "cloud" for backups on your home internet connection.
C) It isn't secure. The "cloud" is only as secure as your trust for the person or company that has your data. It shouldn't surprise you that the companies who push the "cloud" as a revolution are the same people who make money off of mining your personal data? Sites like Google and Facebook. Now, I'm not saying that either of those sites is 100% untrustworthy, but still, their main source of income is through selling data to advertisers and selling ads. Not to mention that break-ins and the lack of data integrity is possible, not to mention the legal implications as governments have been known to plant evidence, add that plus a willing company and you have potential jail time for doing nothing wrong.
D) Internet connections aren't uniform. Sure, in a big city or an affluent suburb fast, free, wi-fi is prevalent, with enough money you can buy a nearly lag-free 4G modem and use 4G for surfing the web and accessing the "cloud", but lets say you go to visit your obscure relatives for a family reunion in Middleofnowhere, Iowa. Suddenly, your 4G isn't going to work there, you might not get any service at all, and the house you are staying at has no internet beyond dial-up.
Yes, eventually the "cloud" might change the world. But right now, you'd be foolish to buy into this Chrome OS hype.
Re:Not really... (Score:4, Insightful)
Today, PCs are way overpowered for what 99% of the population needs. New features are not driving much in the way of additional sales.
Perhaps, "needs" but not what they want. Take for instance what most people like to play their music with: iTunes. On a PC it is a memory hog, is laggy and needs a lot of power to run correctly. Sure, most people don't "need" iTunes, Foobar2000 does a great job organizing music on Windows, VLC is great at playing music/videos, etc. but most people are familiar with and want to use iTunes.
Do they actually want to use iTunes? Or do they use it because it plays nice with their iPod, lets them buy music, and isn't horrifyingly complex? Would they maybe be happier if they could just use an iPod independently? If they could buy their music right on the iPod and never have to touch a computer for their music?
It's been my experience that most people don't really want to use a computer at all... What they want to do is play music, or write a letter, or check their email, or whatever. They've got some task they want to accomplish. Some goal in mind. And right now those tasks typically involve a computer.
But if you had a simple hardware appliance, like the iPod, that enabled them to do their task without ever touching a general-purpose computer? Most of them would be thrilled.
More the pity (Score:4, Insightful)
Out of the box, the Cr-48 conjures images of the Black Apple MacBook, from the plain, rubberized chassis to what looks like the same chiclet-style keyboard. The 12-inch notebook weighs about 3.8lbs and comes with a clickpad which recognizes one finger as a left click, while a two-finger tap triggers a right-click function.
From what I've seen, the design of this prototype is quite nice and does conjure thoughts of other elegant notebook designs such as the MacBook or ThinkPad. However, by the time this thing reaches production it will be marred by horrible beveled designs in cheap plastic, substandard parts, and a plethora of ugly stickers announcing the system internals. I understand that the need to cut costs means that not every notebook can be visually pleasing to the eye, but is there such a need to make them ass ugly?
Re:I found John Resig's review to be interesting (Score:3, Insightful)
Looks like someone's cranky that apple got their trackpad drivers right and can't cope with the idea that apple can produce things that work well.
Re:What? (Score:4, Insightful)
We've done this before, anyone remember thin clients?
Maybe this time 'the cloud' will take off, maybe not.
But either way, yes this has the potential for being big.
Re:I found John Resig's review to be interesting (Score:5, Insightful)
Hmmm... I know you in particular weren't really complaining, but numerous of these reviews are. And I can't figure out why...
(1) it's a prototype
(2) it should be the lowest common denominator - not the highest. Best way to test and tweak things. It's why I know what I download/install/test on my T-Mo G1 (or on an ADP1) will work very well on other hardware.
(3) They (Google) paid for 60,000 of these (in money or other considerations) - did you really expect TEST PROTOTYPE versions to be uber-high end?
(4) A lot of the complaints seem to be about unfinished or untweaked stuff... to that, I have to say "DUH!!!!" - that is, after all, the purpose of this testing. To see what needs to be improved. To see what needs to be replaced/re-written. To allow testing while Google finishes off other parts of the software for these types of devices.
I dunno... that's my opinion on this. Yours may vary. :-)