Tag Archives: chromebook

Chromebook versus Macbook Air

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By Jeffrey the Barak

Very different capabilities and different prices, but this comparison is completely valid, because it’s about which system better serves lightweight, traveling, out of the home or office, on the go, computing.

I work at home, and in my office I use a 27” iMac. But almost everything I do is from inside a Chrome browser. I use Google Docs instead of iWork or MS Office, and I can honestly say it has never let me down.

Yes, I also use the iMac for more intensive computing at home. I use Garageband, Photoshop, and other programs that are not in the cloud, and are best suited to the desktop format and hard drives and peripherals. But when I travel, usually with a Macbook, and lately with my wife’s 15” MacBook Pro, it’s 100% Chrome browser work while on the road, and I need tabs and a real keyboard so all current tablets cannot fit the bill.

So for me, am I better off with a Macbook Air or a Samsung Chromebook or Acer Chromia?

There are several considerations here. If I were to get the 3G version of either Chromebook, I could connect and do a little slow email and Google Spreadsheet editing when there was no wi-fi, so right there, the Macbook Air is out of the race.

But the most important factors when traveling may be simply size and weight. The Macbook Air 11” version weighs much less, half a pound less than a couple of iPads. (see chart)

 

Of course a Macbook Air costs more than twice as much, but does it really? Most of us know, we can use an Apple product for a couple of years and resell it for a decent price later on to someone who cannot quite afford a new one. I doubt either of the initial Chrome laptops will have much of a resale value. So they could cost close to the same as the Apple over time.

I am an Apple Head, and also a Chrome Head. I love Apple and I love Google, which is an unusual thing to write, because along with Microsoft, these two companies get a lot of negativity in the press. So for some direct comparisons lets do this:

  • Cost: Chromebooks win
  • Weight: Macbook Air wins
  • 3G connection: Chromebooks win (well some of them)
  • Usability offline: Macbook Air wins
  • Size: the smaller Macbook Air wins (important if you carry a smaller satchel).

Of course I could buy both, or neither, but where’s the fun in that?

Jeffrey the Barak never puts a 27″ iMac in his bag and he loves condensed milk.

Chrome at last

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By Jeffrey the Barak

Today at the Google I/O 2011, the Chrome operating system finally became a reality. Google executives, whom many expected to announce the death of the project, instead proclaimed the Chrome future and expounded upon the advantages of Chrome, a browser-based operating system, over the more traditional OS of Microsoft, Apple, Linux et al.

Two manufacturers, Samsung and Acer, will be selling Chromebooks at Best Buy and on Amazon within a few weeks.

The wait is over. I will go on file as saying “watch out everyone else”. Chrome will still change the world. Mark my nostrils people.

http://www.google.com/chromebook/chromebooks-acer.html#chromebooks

 

 

Waiting for Google Chrome, part 17

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By Jeffrey the Barak

Yesterday Google held a press conference which included the sad news that Chrome and Chrome-based netbooks will most likely not be on sale until the second half of 2011. Having abandoned smartphones because I find them too tiny, (I sold my last iPhone), and having also sold my iPad, because it was useless for Google Docs and my other cloud interfaces, I decided to buy a netbook and install the Joliloud 1.1 operating system. The netbook will be delivered here in a week, a dual-core Asus Eeeeeeeeeee which is like an Eee PC but with extra e’s typed in. Today I created a USB key with the Jolicloud 1.1  install and that is now ready for the arrival of my netbook.

My plan is to use the entire disk and get rid of Microsoft Windows and any pre-installed bloatware. And in seven months, if a nicer form-factor Chromebook appears, I’ll sell the netbook on. I would have preferred a thinner, lighter netbook with a SSD instead of a hard drive, but today’s netbooks are practically all the same as each other so this 10.1″ white plastic Seashell Asus should have some resale value in half a year.

Of course, being a Mac user, I could have just bought the fabulous 11″ Macbook Air, but when I’m away from my iMac, all I need to do is done in a browser, and I therefore do not need a Macbook Air, which is a thousand dollars and is not a netbook, but is a more of a full OS, powerful computer in a blade-thin form. So in a way the Asus will be a replacement for my old 5 lb Macbook which is a bit too heavy to take everywhere and is operating in slow motion these days, and also for my iPhone and iPad, both of which live with new owners now, because I sold them.

So in the continuing absence of the real Chrome OS, Jolicloud and it’s tabbed Chromium browser should do the same job, at least for six or seven months, and I may even get into storing some things locally on the included hard drive. I have already prepared by taking the step of migrating from Apple’s Address Book and iCal, to Google Contacts and Google Calendar, so they’ll be ready for the Chrome browser tabs on the netbook. This means my Mobile Me subscription is now a waste of money, but based on the slow speed of the interface, it has been asking to get kicked out for years. I do not anticipate my home made Jolibook will be completely problem-free, or annoyance-free, but based on what other users are saying, it should be just fine, and I’ll have my Google Spreadsheets along with me again.

Netbook or smartphone?

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By Jeffrey the Barak

I spend most of my waking hours in front of a 27″ iMac. Not that I’m complaining. When I’m not working, I play here too. But sometimes I have to actually leave my desk and be in other places, and then I sometimes need to be connected and do things that involve Internet.

The background to this dilemma:

I was a latecomer to cellular phones, but once I got one I needed it. For mobile organization, I stayed with various versions of Palm Pilots, from III to TX, for years until one day a few years ago I decided that they were all too small for my poor eyesight and large fingers and said, no more.

The plan was to stay with my simple phone, which at the time was a Motorola Razr, and just be patient for communication. I bought a Macbook so I could work away from home, but it was and is, too heavy to have along all of the time.

My plans were sidetracked when my wife bought me the original iPhone for a gift. I considered returning it for an iPod, but being a Mac-Head, I kept it and got used to it. I even began to use texting sparingly, something I could never do with a numeric telephone keypad. And then mainly because of the headphone socket, I upgrade to a white 16GB iPhone in early 2009.

But now the iPhone is not making me happy. It again seems like a too-small, too hard to use device. Yes it synchs well with Mobile Me and is a portable package containing all my stuff, but I rarely use it unless it’s ringing or I’m too far from a computer. It seems really slow too, not the commonly maligned AT&T connection, which always works for me, but the device itself. It can take ten seconds for it to stop messing around and show me today on the calendar.

I was looking at whether to switch to an Android phone like the nice new larger Droid X, because while I may be a Mac-Head, I’m just as much of a Google-Head, using Google Docs and Gmail as heavily as anyone in the universe. I think Android is very cool, especially for a Gmail, Google Docs kind of guy.

But then I remembered what I almost did before the iPhone appeared in some gift wrap, and I am now thinking the way to go will be to wait for the Google Chrome OS netbbooks to come out, get one with a 3G or 4G data plan, or to avoid a data bill, just wi-fi and exercise some patience between hotspots, and replace the iPhone with a simple telephone-only no-data-plan cellphone designed for old farts.

My iphone contract runs until March 2011, so by then there should be a few Chromebooks around (I’m guessing that may be what we call the Chrome Netbooks that will soon dominate world computing), and some 4G choices.

The iPad is no good for me. I think it’s fantastic, but I never watch movies or play games, and it is awful for Google Spreadsheets and heavy email, so no thanks.

And so I’ll hold off on the switch to Android, or the upgrade to iPhone 4, and think hard about a lightweight Chromebook in a hip bag and a simple phone. I have eight months to flip flop in my head, but I think my mind may be made up. I hope there will be a Chromebook with good screen resolution, solid state storage and enough power for the browser’s demands.

Replace:
Macbook + iPhone

With:
Chromebook + simple mobile telephone.

Next year I’ll look at today’s post and see if I was right.

Jeffrey the Barak shared this idea on 25th July 2010


Update August 18th.

 

Well here I am, no action taken, but still waiting for Google Chrome. I have been shopping and played with 10.1 inch netbooks. I can see them! I like them! But why oh why do they have that crazy Windows operating system? It’s just so wrong for a netbook, so wrong.

 

Anyway, a curveball. All of a sudden Google Spreadsheets are easily editable on an iPad, which brings that back into consideration. It may not have a keyboard but with practice it works well, and it’s a no risk purchase because you can resell them on eBay with little or no loss. It has no tabbed browser, but it has the similar feature that lets you switch between browser pages.
And why not the iPad 3G? Because 3G is too slow and unpleasant to work with except in a dire emergency, and the device costs much more, and you get a data bill for every month during which you want to utilize it.
So maybe a $500 16GB wi-fi iPad and a dumb-phone could be the solution. I don’t know, but I’ll update this post when something happens.

Update August 20th.

Thanks for the emails but I wish you would go public and post your comments guys! Well here I am, no action taken, but still waiting for Google Chrome. I have been shopping and played with 10.1 inch netbooks. I can see them! I like them! But why oh why do they have that crazy Windows operating system? It’s just so wrong for a netbook, so wrong.Anyway, a curveball. All of a sudden Google Spreadsheets are easily editable on an iPad, which brings that back into consideration. It may not have a keyboard but with practice it works well, and it’s a no risk purchase because you can resell them on eBay with little or no loss. It has no tabbed browser, but it has the similar feature that lets you switch between browser pages.And why not the iPad 3G? Because 3G is too slow and unpleasant to work with except in a dire emergency, and the device costs much more, and you get a data bill for every month during which you want to utilize it.So maybe a $500 16GB wi-fi iPad and a dumb-phone could be the solution. I don’t know, but I’ll update this post when something happens.

Update August 25th.

Today I took out my old Razr and reactivated my phone number on it, effectively turning the iPhone 3G into an iPod Touch. No more data bill! I will be texting (rarely) using Google Voice from now on and the Razr is, well, a non-smart telephone. Nothing more. I’m selling my 3G as we speak and will wait for the Chromebooks to replace it, although I could buy an iPad or a Jolicloud Netbook to play on and resell that later.

Update July 6th 2011.

So a year has passed. I have not had a telephone data bill for 11 months. I’ve had an iPad and sold it again because it really was too heavy to hold and too uncomfortable to use. (Sorry millions of users). I’ve had a netbook running Joilcloud. And I’ve looked at the Chromebooks which finally came out recently. Chrome OS has not been received warmly, but I like it and could use it, except….the Chromebooks are far too heavy.  So I will be getting a Macbook Air, after the Lion and processor update and subsequent re-release, and spending most of my time on it in the Chrome browser, connected via wifi.