Anand's Thoughts on Google's Chrome OS
by Anand Lal Shimpi on December 8, 2010 6:23 PM ESTThe Hardware
Google tells us to expect the first Chrome notebooks towards the middle of 2011, however it is releasing a reference platform to select press and users in its pilot program starting now.
The reference platform is manufactured by an unknown OEM (possibly Inventec) and features Intel’s Atom processor. The first Chrome systems will be notebooks although Google indicated that it has plans to expand both into smaller and larger devices. Assuming the Chrome notebook launch is successful, you can take that to mean we’ll see smaller Chrome notebooks, potentially even tablets, as well as Chrome nettops/desktops.
The reference platform is called Cr-48 and it is a 12” notebook running the Chrome OS. Google wanted a full sized keyboard and reasonable screen size, which is exactly what it delivers.
The Cr-48 appears to have a standard chiclet keyboard with a few differences. There are no function keys, there’s an integrated power button (ala the new MacBook Airs) and there’s no caps lock key. In its stead you get a search button similar to what you’ll find on Logitech’s Google TV keyboard. You also get a row of dedicated feature keys for things like increasing/decreasing brightness, volume, etc...
There’s no support for optical media although you do get a single USB port on the Cr-48. Currently there’s no support for USB peripherals beyond keyboards/mice, this includes USB storage. Google says it is currently working on USB storage support however there’s nothing there yet. Even printers can’t be connected directly, Google turns to its Cloud Print service to discover and print to nearby printers.
The Cr-48 only features VGA output as it is Pine Trail based and the platform doesn’t support DVI or HDMI output. Based on Google’s pictures there also appears to be an integrated SD card reader.
Battery size remains unknown at this point but the Cr-48 is expected to last up to 8 hours on battery and a week on standby.
Retail Chrome notebooks will be made by Acer and Samsung. I suspect the limited list of launch partners has to do, in part, with what I mentioned at the beginning of this article. Microsoft can’t be too happy with Windows partners shipping devices that clearly circumvent the Windows ecosystem and thus we don’t see anything from companies like ASUS, Dell and HP. Acer is particularly surprising but we’ll have to wait and see how this one pans out.
Google expects the first retail Chrome notebooks to be priced below $400, similar to Atom based netbooks running Windows 7.
A very attractive part of the Chrome platform is the OS is open source and Google isn’t charging for the OS either. Granted Microsoft’s fee for Windows 7 to netbook vendors isn’t that high, but in markets with razor thin margins, not having to pay for an OS can help OEMs actually make money selling hardware.
I do suspect we’ll have a bit of the netbook syndrome initially with Chrome notebooks. Since they’ll all be based off of Intel Pine Trail platforms, they’ll all have very similar performance characteristics. Also since this is a new and unproven platform, I wouldn’t expect too many SKUs from Acer and Samsung based around Chrome OS initially.
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Incognitus - Thursday, December 9, 2010 - link
So, what you get is a crippled computer for the price of a real one that is locked into a walled garden software environment controlled by a company that build its business model on digging personal data, while effectively re-introducing the dial-up era "pay-per-use" model of old ?Sorry, maybe I have not drunken enough cool aid to see why this is great for any user.
One can only hope that MS stays in business and true to a business model that actually makes a PC a device that INCREASES freedom. And boy, if you would have told me 10 years ago that one time MS would become the last line of defense when it comes to freedom and privacy, I would have laughed you out of the door.
andrewbuchanan - Friday, December 10, 2010 - link
Lol. how true.Murst - Thursday, December 9, 2010 - link
Anand -Your comments about the performance hit due to Win7 seems to go directly against the comments about Moore's law.
If Moore's law continues to apply, we should continue seeing massive performance increases in Netbooks at the same price points. By the end of next year (probably), it should mean that Netbooks should have absolutely no problem running Win7 (even if price continues to drop, it can't keep on dropping forever ). If that's the case, the performance advantage of Chrome OS disappears.
It just seems like there was a market for Chrome OS, but Google was a couple years too slow. If this was released a couple years ago, it could have made a huge difference. However, if performance will no longer be a problem for Netbooks running Win7, the advantages of something like Chrome OS aren't so clear, especially at the same price points.
Spivonious - Thursday, December 9, 2010 - link
Isn't Google giving away the OS somewhat anticompetitive? Apple and MS can't compete with that.Also, $400 is just way too much for what 1990s Sun would call an Internet appliance. For the same $400 I can get a CULV laptop and get a much better experience.
Zorblack1 - Thursday, December 9, 2010 - link
So I can spend $50 more and get a netbook with Windows and DL Chrome and get the same experience + windows. What a joke.However that said the idea of a complete browser based OS is interesting and headed towards the future.
Data rates in the US are outragous. They should never be refered to as reasonable even if they are inline with current pricing (raping?).
Radicchio - Thursday, December 9, 2010 - link
As I see it, one big advantage of Chrome is the 'stateless' PC in that if you lose your laptop or it is corrupted, it will automatically download a new boot image and as soon as you log in, restore all your apps and settings.Windows 7 already provides very this functionality for your Office 2007 settings and Favourites via Live Mesh. What I would like to see is this extended so the entire user profile (up to 5GB) is synchronised automatically and transparently: if my laptop hard drive fails I still need to reinstall Win 7 and my apps, but I then log into Mesh and everything is restored.
A small service running the Windows Easy Transfer utility and Mesh is all that is required and this would also be an ideal way to deal with the build-up of 'Windows cruft'...
ABR - Thursday, December 9, 2010 - link
I don't get the "it's not the apps, it's the OS" argument. It might be that Windows bogs things down a lot by itself, but in most cases the reason for all the swapping, etc. is -- guess what -- the web browser. Web browsers increasingly attempt to provide a whole OS's worth of GUI and document manipulation possibilities, which are effectively layered over the same stuff provided by the OS. But because of constraints or unplanned development by small teams or whatever else, they've never been particularly efficient. It's not uncommon to see browsers consuming dozens of megabytes per tab. That's millions of bytes of information for a far less interactive display than provided by a typical desktop app.This is why Apple took the opposite approach with iOS: apps have only one layer of highly-optimized API before getting to the low-level OS and then the hardware. The smoothness i-devices have over others with better hardware is the result.
But in computing, the higher-level model always wins, because hardware overtakes any inefficiency. The Chrome approach might be the future, but it will be in spite of bloat, not because of reducing it.
wumpus - Thursday, December 9, 2010 - link
The opening statement claimed that you could reach 90% of personal computers in 1996 by writing for one OS seems unlikely. You could probably run a DOS program on 90%, but it would be much harder to get win 3.1 and windows95 users to run in the DOS penalty box. I know I still played plenty of games (Quake 1 and I'm sure plenty of glade games) in DOS but I think your hypothetical program would get more users if built for win3.1 (but would not be possible on >10% of boxes).andrewbuchanan - Thursday, December 9, 2010 - link
I'd rather have a notebook with windows and run chrome in it.And at 12" you can get a notebook. Might cost alot more than $400, but it'd be able to do alot more as well.
Also the new amd atom alternatives should be fast enough to run windows 7 better and still fall into the $400 price range.
MrSpadge - Thursday, December 9, 2010 - link
This is really fascinating! If you trust Google this is.. dare I say the holy grail of computing? A system which just works and which is capable of almost any task most people need to do. Nevermind the curretn hardware implementation, cost for data transfer etc... this could change / improve any day.Just forget your well managed, high performance main rig for a moment and consider Joe Sixpack in all his computer-illiterate clumsy-ness and what this could do for him!