Chromebook - Welcome to the Cloud

King Damager

King Damager

King Damager

Soldato
Joined
16 Nov 2010
Posts
16,513
Location
Swimming in a lake
Saw an advert for this earlier, and was quite surprised this is becoming a reality....

http://www.google.co.uk/chromebook/


There are two versions it seems...

From what I can see OCUK aren't currently listed as stockists... the couple of places that have them are suggesting that there's going to be two different versions, a standard version and a 3g version...

There are Samsung built and Acer built versions.

The Samsung ones are priced at:
£349 for the Standard Version
£399 for the 3G Version

Rough Specifications (Samsung):
12.1 (1280x800) 300 nit Display
3.26 lbs/1.48 kg
8.5 hours of continuous usage 1
Intel® AtomTM Dual-Core Processor
Built in dual-band Wi-Fi and World-mode 3G (optional)
HD Webcam
2 USB 2.0 ports
4-in-1 memory card slot
Mini-VGA port
Full-sized Chrome keyboard
Oversized, fully clickable track pad
16GB SSD

Rough Specifications (Acer):
Specifications
11.6 HD Widescreen CineCrystalTM LED-backlit LCD
3.19 lbs | 1.45 kg
6 hours of continuous usage 1
Intel® AtomTM Dual-Core Processor
Built in dual-band Wi-Fi and World-mode 3G (optional)
HD Webcam
High-Definition Audio Support
2 USB 2.0 ports
4-in-1 memory card slot
HDMI port
Full-sized Chrome keyboard
Oversized, fully clickable track pad

Supposedly it has a boot time of 8 seconds (would make sense considering there will be very few programs installed, and it can run on a 16GB SSD)

Looks like an impressive machine to be honest.. I'd consider getting one for Uni based purely on the battery life, and usability.

Then again I'm sure people will highlight possible issues with the Cloud way of security....

I presume it'll also be fully google docs compatible as well though, for the whole Office way of life.....

Clearly can't game on it however, but looks like great competition to something like a macbook or related items...

So thoughts people? :p

kd
 
They seem good, but I think they need to be a bit cheaper for what they are. Sub £300 at least for the non-3G version.
 
if there is a mail client like thunderbird that can read and sync mail from all your accounts and the folders you put them into etc, and a decent notepad like notepad++ and an ftp app then i can't see any reason for me not to use one. however unfortunately i doubt this is possible yet.

the price is a bit high too.
 
To Chromebook or not? I've just seen an advert on YouTube today introducing Chromebook. I waited quite some time for Chrome OS - I know Google were planning on doing this years ago. But I didnt know its been out for over 2 months! I guess I've been too busy.

But anyway, I'm a Kubuntu user. I love my KDE and I use Chrome on it. I use most Google products too. But £350-400 for a Chromebook? Its great it boots in 8 seconds, and resume from sleep in 1 second. But... would I rather spend £280-350, stick Kubuntu on there, wait 60 seconds to boot, have tons of open source software to choose from and run an OS that doesnt depend on an internet connection, and still benefit from all the "Chrome apps" with Chrome as my primary browser.... I think I would!

If I just want something quick to boot and just to browse the internet on, I'm no Apple fan but I think I'd rather pay for a fancy gimmicky iPad.

*Waiting for someone to change my decision*
 
darude said:
to choose from and run an OS that doesnt depend on an internet connection
Click to expand...

This is why i don't fancy getting one.

I would be using mine for university work and the fact that to use your app's, connect to the web to download/send emails and documents for university.

It seemed to Dependent, as you have put it. I'd have to sync with my mobile to have web access on it, and it costs extra to get the 3G model, what?

Why is there a non-3G version available? Primarily for the specs, people would use it on the move; the likes of trains etc.

Therefore i would have thought it would have been released as a 3G+WiFi model only/or models when the ACER Chromebook is officially released.

As for Chrome OS. I wouldn't mind giving that a try at all, but the changing point for me is that to have access to all of your "stuff".

You need to be connected to the internet.

:rolleyes:
 
This will fail before it's even released. Have you ever used Jolicloud? the whole OS is based online, which means if you don't have an internet connection, there's pretty much nothing you can do with it.
 
Jay794 said:
This will fail before it's even released. Have you ever used Jolicloud? the whole OS is based online, which means if you don't have an internet connection, there's pretty much nothing you can do with it.
Click to expand...

I tried Joli, it was bloody awful even with a decent connection.
 
If I decide against a gaming laptop in the end (for whatever reason) I'm going to pick up a Chromebook to give them a go. If I end the gaming dream then I don't do anything that's not on my browser anyway. I certainly like the direction and idea, but whether we're ready for it is a different matter. I think this will be more viable when 4G is fully accessible and we can get better speeds on the move.
 
muon said:
The recent release seems to have gone under the radar on ocuk at least.

£229 for an Exynos 5250 laptop. (An even more attractive $249 if in the US)

http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en/chrome/devices/landing.html

No one interested?
Click to expand...

Yes. I've ordered one from purple shirt people, and it has been dispatched. Will probably get it Monday, or tomorrow if Royal Mail deliver on Saturdays(?).

Happy to run any performance tests if anyone would like..? The Verge review is probably the most complete so far, although even that is relatively unsubstantial. I expect some more rigorous reviews soon.
 
I dont understand how they can justify $249 (155£) for US and £229 here.. I don't get why people arnt just gonna buy from the US and get them shipped over...
 
PESolution said:
I dont understand how they can justify $249 (155£) for US and £229 here.. I don't get why people arnt just gonna buy from the US and get them shipped over...
Click to expand...

The US price will be without sales tax and the UK price with VAT, but there is still a gap.
 
It arrived :D I'm typing on it now! First impressions: Wow... this doesn't feel like a £230 laptop (in a good way). The amount of keyboard shortcuts is impressive too. 1080p skyfall trailer played pretty smoothly. Can't really find any faults yet. Connecting to portable hotspot from my phone worked well, and pages load surprisingly quickly. I do have a good 3G signal here though.

Anyone want me to test anything?
 
Sundance said:
Anyone want me to test anything?
Click to expand...

See how it fares with Excel and Word loading at the same time ;)

(I jest of course)

Would like to see some pics of it in action if you can. What spec is the one you have Sundance? I'd consider a Chromebook, but only if it functions as you'd like without a net connection. I'm guessing all the cloud stuff is just for sync and the core OS and programs are all still local?
 
d_brennen said:
Would like to see some pics of it in action if you can. What spec is the one you have Sundance? I'd consider a Chromebook, but only if it functions as you'd like without a net connection. I'm guessing all the cloud stuff is just for sync and the core OS and programs are all still local?
Click to expand...

It's the Series 3, the latest one with the ARM cpu.

Can get some pics if you like, but my phone camera is pretty crappy. Plenty of pics here:
http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/24/3549368/samsung-chromebook-review-series-3
http://www.slashgear.com/samsung-series-3-chromebook-late-2012-review-20252951/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoK8p1OZDV4

To answer your second question, I think once the apps/extensions/settings are synced, it is kept "local". However, you will be severely limited when you don't have a net connection. Some Google "apps" e.g. Gmail, Docs have offline functionality but you're often relying on the chrome web app developers. For example the Angry Birds chrome app (chrome.angrybirds.com) is just a website with a HTML5 game on it, but it does have option to cache it for offline use.

A smartphone with tethering over wifi/bluetooth eases the net connection issues.

For me it was a bit of a toss up between this and a Nexus 7 tablet. Tablet would be better for games because Google Play Store > Chrome Web Store in that respect, but Chromebook is better for web browsing and writing emails I think.

Things not tried yet:
Chrome remote desktop to PC
Playing HD videos from USB stick
Playing HD streams over HDMI to TV
"Dev mode" with boot to Unix Bash shell - not geeky enough for that.
 
But it's not aluminum, it's plastic. That's mostly fine — you can't realistically expect a 2.4-pound, $249 laptop to be constructed of MacBook-esque unibody aluminum — but my unit does have an annoying creak in the right side of the wrist rest that makes almost constant noise while typing
Click to expand...

Considering it's £230, does not have Intel/Microsoft tax and can't be re-purposed into running x86 anything (read Windows or even mainstream Linux distros) I wouldn't say it would be unreasonable to expect an alu chassis, or at least a high quality unit free of creaks. Looks snazzy though
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom