![]() ![]() ![]() With these safeguards, I'd be more than happy to trust the Chromebook to serve me well on the road whether I was a student or an information worker. You can also store an extensive multimedia library on the 320 GB hard drive rather than constantly rely on the internet for entertainment. ![]() Your reliance on internet access might seem like another deal-breaker, but Chrome will happily cache Gmail, Google Docs and Google Calendar for offline editing and then sync them up to the cloud when you get back online. Of course you can store any file on the Chromebook, but if you want to edit Office files you'll need to upload them to the cloud - something which doesn't bother me but will naturally frustrate some people.īut at $299 the Acer Chromebook is pitched more as your secondary computer and a perhaps travel companion rather than your everyday workhorse. Chrome OS features a basic built-in media player which should meet your needs. I certainly wouldn't trade in my collection of Macs and PCs in favour of Chromebooks.Īcer's Chromebook features a 320 GB hard drive, which seems excessive for a supposedly cloud-focuses device but it means you can load the hard drive with your multimedia library - copied from USB stick, SD card or downloaded from the web. Yet if you're a newcomer to the cloud and still wedded to a range of desktop software then the transition to the Chromebook might be more pain than you're willing to bear.įoregoing desktop applications such as iTunes, Skype, Outlook, Word, Excel, Photoshop, Premiere and Audacity might seem like an instant deal-breaker and that's understandable. I know the fact I live in the Google ecosystem makes the Chromebook more attractive to me, but of course the inclusion of the full Chrome browser means you can just as easily tap into other cloud services such as Microsoft's impressive SkyDrive and Office Web Apps. If money was no object then the exquisite but expensive 11.6-inch MacBook Air would be the pick up the bunch, but spending more than $1000 on a secondary travel companion is more than some people can justify. As a productivity tool I've taken to it faster than any other post-PC device I've tested, and I'd also put it ahead of many awkward netbooks and Ultrabooks with hideous keyboards and trackpads. Once it synced my extensions, bookmarks, browsing history and search history from Chrome on my MacBook Pro, this little Acer instantly felt like it was my computer. The fact that I'm already a keen Google user made the transition to the Chromebook smooth and painless. When it comes to hardware I learn towards Apple's iGadgets and MacBooks, but I'm much more comfortable with Google's platform-agnostic services than locking myself into Apple's tight but limited ecosystem. I must confess that my opinion of the Chromebook is influenced by the fact that I've long been a keen user of Google applications and services such as Chrome, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Reader (R.I.P.) and Google Docs. Of course the Chromebook's key selling point is not the hardware but rather the "just works" convenience of using Chrome OS. Even with the improved performance running Chrome OS, it's still worth considering Flash and script blockers to ease the load on the Chromebook (Flash really hammers the battery). The Chromebook certainly handles multi-tasking, complex websites and Flash-intensive games better than the AMD-powered HP Pavilion DM1-4108AU running Windows 7 which I bought last year to take to New York, but we'll get back to that in a minute. The Intel Celeron 1.1 GHz dual-core processor accompanied by 2 GB of RAM isn't exactly a powerhouse, but remember this is Linux - not Windows - and it's more than enough to support day-to-day tasks. The $399 HP 14-inch Pavilion 14 Chromebook is also coming, so if you're sold on the Chromebook concept you'll want to weigh up the Acer's hardware against these alternatives.Īcer's Chromebook boots up in around 20 seconds, including the time taken to log into your Google account, and it revives from slumber in 1 second when you lift the lid. We've also recently seen the launch of the $349 Samsung 11.6-inch Series 3 Chromebook in Australia. To be fair, this isn't the only Chromebook to reach our shores. In the last few years I've seen Windows netbooks and notebooks which cost much more, offered much less and were far less pleasant to use. Overall the Chromebook puts every budget Windows netbook I've tested to shame. ![]()
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