Chromebook

Could This Be the Computer for Your Grandma?

A lot has been said about the iPad and how suitable it could be for people who have never used a computer. Way back during the late 90’s there were many companies attempting to make an appliance computer. That is, a computer that doesn’t require the overhead of a Windows PC, Linux PC or a Mac. Netpliance tried and utterly failed with the iOpener, which was a darling of the hacker community back when a 180 MHz computer was considered acceptable. Other than the iPad and Google’s Chromebooks, others have also tried at bringing the appliance computer to reality; Telikin…


Chromebooks Market Niche Still Mystifies

I’m not sure I understand the Chromebook pricing model. Acer is introducing an 11.6″ Chromebook [Ars Technica] in June, with wifi-only for $350. Samsung’s 12″ model will come with 3G wireless in addition to wifi, and cost $500. I could buy a Gateway dual-core Windows 7 11.6″ netbook today for $330 [Amazon]. The Gateway has 160 GB of hard drive space; the Chromebooks are limited to a much smaller amount of SSD space (16 GB). So, where’s the market for a notebook computer which costs as much as (or more than) a notebook with a known OS? Don’t get me…


One Week with Chrome OS: A Mini-Review

It’s been just about a week since I received my CR-48 Chrome OS netbook. In that time I’ve turned on my Toshiba netbook (running Windows 7) twice, and only used my Macbook to check my email a few times. Otherwise all my home computer use has been on Chrome, including writing posts for Gear Diary. While it is still quite early in my Chrome experience, and the OS is very, very young, I thought I’d share my likes and dislikes thus far…think of it as a mini-review…a miniview! Likes: Getting started is dead easy. Once I did the initial setup…