Because you are buying low end hardware. High end pixelbooks perform far better. A major cause of performance issues is caused by the chrome browsers design choices. It favors stability over performance and opens each tab in a different process.
When the Chromebook first launched I got one to review. I utterly despised it. It's actually quite hard to explain how much I took against it. My big problem with it was the cost, and the fact that it had to be online all the time. Happily, both of those things have changed since I used my first Chromebook. But even so, that early experience had comprehensively put me off Recently though, I've found my opinion changing. I hadn't thought much about the Chromebook, but I had one here that I'd been using on and off to test the platform. I pulled it out of the draw the other day, dusted it off, fired it up, and suddenly something just clicked. Within a few minutes of starting it up, the Chromebook was telling me to update, so I did. It took a few seconds. Another update after and then it was done. Within 15 minutes, the Chromebook was running the same version of Chrome OS as a brand new laptop. And that was all done free, without any long delays to download massive service packs.
Google's OS and the devices which ran it.Recently though, I've found my opinion changing. I hadn't thought much about the Chromebook, but I had one here that I'd been using on and off to test the platform. I pulled it out of the draw the other day, dusted it off, fired it up, and suddenly something just clicked. Within a few minutes of starting it up, the Chromebook was telling me to update, so I did. It took a few seconds. Another update after and then it was done. Within 15 minutes, the Chromebook was running the same version of Chrome OS as a brand new laptop. And that was all done free, without any long delays to download massive service packs.
An Acer Chromebook showing the introductory screen walking news users through the touchpad's features. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
As well as me rediscovering my Samsung Chromebook, something else has made me realise that the Chrome OS platform has a lot going for it. Google has announced that it will support all Chromebooks and Chromeboxes for five years. That is actually quite astonishing in computing terms, and you'll be looking to replace the laptop long before that time period is up anyway, because of the fast pace of technological innovation.
But it wasn't that which won me back over. What I realised was, that once updated, I was reaching for the Chromebook more than I was my Microsoft Windows-powered laptop. The Chromebook sleeps so efficiently that from opening the lid, to being at the login prompt, takes just a few seconds. Even with Windows 8, PCs just aren't that quick and even MacOS can't quite compete. Like an Apple Mac, viruses are less of a problem than Windows, as Chrome OS has a Linux base.
So, what of my original problem with Chrome OS, needing to be online all the time? Well, what I realised was most of my time with any laptop is spent online anyway. Being offline is a pain for me because my work is mostly done in the cloud. Every document or spreadsheet I look at, I do so through Google Docs. I have a Google Play Music subscription too, so I can have access to streaming music, or even parts of my own collection that I've uploaded to my Google online storage. Even when I'm on my PC I am connected to the internet at all times, so for me the need to be online with a Chromebook was becoming less of an issue.
Of course, apps are a problem. Editing video or other complicated tasks aren't an option. But when I thought about how much of that I was actually doing on the road, I realised there were very few occasions where I'd miss the power of a high-end Windows machine. There's plenty I can do though, like log in to my webserver with a SSH client that runs perfectly on the Chromebook. I can play some games if I really want to, and I can stream music and video with the amazing Plex app from my home server too.
What's more, even though the Chromebook is still a device that needs to be online, Google has improved its offline abilities to the point that I feel quite happy taking it out with me, even if I might wander in and out of mobile data coverage. This was something that gave me real anxiety when I first used a Chromebook. I won't pretend it's all plain sailing when you drop offline, but it doesn't render the laptop useless when you do. I have to use a 3G Wi-Fi dongle with mine, and I'd advise you seek out a 3G one if you can. And mobile data has improved a lot too, with 3 and 4G becoming much more accessible.
One thing that impressed me about my Samsung is the connectivity. HDMI is missing, but the DisplayPort connector is easily adapted for watching video on your TV, should you want to. I love the fact that mine has an Ethernet jack, none of my modern Windows machines do, and at times Wi-Fi can really be a problem for any device. I also get an SD card slot, something that isn't on either of my $1000+ laptops.
Of course, not all Chromebooks make sense, I struggle with the purpose of Google's $1600 Pixel, for example. For me, the charm of the Chromebook is that it doesn't need a lot of powerful hardware to run smoothly, I like the fact that a light, cheapish machine can replace your more expensive laptop.
So, those are the reasons I love Chromebooks now. It took me a while to get here, but if your next laptop isn't running Chrome OS, I fear you might have made a mistake.
Not everyone thinks Google’s attempt to reinvent the computer will work.
When it took the wraps off its stripped down, nothing-but-the-browser Chromebooks this week Google was attempting its own iPad moment. The web-only laptops fundamentally reinvent what computers are, said Google’s VP leading the project, Sundar Pichai. Unsurprisingly, a lot of people are skeptical. Here’s a run down of reasons the tech press came up with that Chromebooks are a bad idea. It’s worth remembering that the iPad similarly met with a barrage of criticism and did change how we think about computers. But will Google’s idea tread the same path?
- It won’t work with your iPod, points out this ZDNet blogger:
The millions of existing iPhone, iPad and iPod owners cannot use the Chromebook with those devices. That is one task the Chromebook can’t perform, and it is unlikely it ever will. Google will be looking at convincing Apple product owners that they need to switch, or forget the Chromebook. That is a huge unreachable market for a brand new product.
At the launch Google showed how a Chromebook can handle files from a digital camera. But without Apple’s iTunes, iPod and iPhones are off the menu.
- They’re too expensive, says PCMag, at a minimum cost of $429 or $349:
Will people want to pay as much for such a light client device as they do for a fully loaded notebook running a traditional OS like Microsoft Windows? The Chromebook Series 5 is powered by a 1.66GHz dual-core Intel Atom N570 processor, and has a 16GB mSATA solid-state drive and 2GB of RAM. Those are netbook parts in a machine that’s priced at the level of low-end notebooks.
- People aren’t ready to trust the cloud, claims InformationWeek:
“As the recent Amazon Web Services outage demonstrated, cloud services can fail and customers can lose data.”
- It’s a goldmine for hackers, says an expert at software security firm Kaspersky:
“With Cloud centric OS’es, the race will be towards stealing access credentials, after which, it’s game over. Who needs to steal banking accounts, when you have Google Checkout? Or, who needs to monitor passwords, when they’re all nicely stored into the Google Dashboard?…Earlier today, I got asked by a friend- ‘How is Chrome OS from a security point of view, better or worse?’ I answered, ‘It’s better, but much worse.’”
- Google can’t do hardware and support, claims veteran Silicon Valley journalist Tom Foremski:
“Google’s last foray into hardware with its Nexus cell phone was a disaster primarily because it had no customer support in place. I saw some of the messages from customers on Google’s boards howling with frustration because they couldn’t get answers for some of their problems. And that’s Google’s culture: automate every process.”
- Google gets too much control, according to SearchEngineWatch:
“Your computer has no hard drive. You can’t download them and move them somewhere else. You can’t change services. You have nowhere to go. That’s a lot of power to give one company, isn’t it?”
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