chromebook

Chromebook’s have been growing in popularity, from both consumers and Google partners, with HP and Lenovo joining the crew making the low-end laptops with Chrome OS inbuilt.

Originally, Chromebook’s were bought en-mass for students, with hundreds of US schools and colleges purchasing bucket-loads of the laptops for students. Gradually they have seeped into day-to-day usage, with one writer claiming his MacBook Pro no longer has a use with his Chromebook purchase.

Even though the Chromebook has a lot of advantages and is brilliant for some users, as we discussed in 5 Reasons to Buy a Chromebook, there are downsides to the low end netbook, which we will get onto in this article.

Chromebook disadvantages

The Chromebook we are looking at today is the Samsung Series 3. There are others out in the world, including HP, Lenovo, Acer and now Google’s own brand, although the Google Pixel Chromebook is a higher end device, priced at $1299.  

Samsung’s Chromebook Series 3 specs:

  • Samsung Exynos 5 Dual Processor (2GB of RAM)
  • 11.6’’ (1366×768) display
  • 16GB Solid State Drive
  • VGA Camera
  • Bluetooth 3.0, dual-band WiFi, optional 3G
  • HDMI, 1 USB 3.0 & 2 USB 2.0 ports
  • 6.5 hours of battery life

Low-quality build

This does not cover all Chromebooks, the Pixel, developed by Google, is arguably one of the finest laptops in terms of design, the Pixel does cost the same as the MacBook Pro though, so that needs to be taken into consideration.

The Chromebook we are looking at today is designed for a minimal cost and this brings the price down to $249. The build is mostly plastic, with a chiclet keyboard, trackpad and pretty low-quality 720p display.

For the most part, the user will be able to get over the build quality, it is pretty poor and comparing it with the MacBook Pro or any high-end Windows 8 Ultrabook will bring a pretty dismal comparison.

Chrome OS

There is one major problem that will affect most every user who wants to use the Chromebook as their main computer, Chrome OS. Not only is the operating system severely lacking in some areas, it adds some weird buttons and shortcuts.

Let’s talk about the operating system, it is completely web based, and the idea is users spend so much time on the web and most applications are now web-based, so users will be satisfied.

Most users, bundled in are people who use a computer for Facebook, Email, and YouTube primarily, amongst other small activities. These are not your types that enjoy coding, high-res video gaming, animating, and other professional activities.

The problem is Chrome OS is severely lacking some really good applications, and we will talk more about that in the next reason. The OS also has a lot of new buttons, like where the caps lock key was there is now a search bar, and instead of F1 – 12 there is more web-based keys, these can be changed though.

Compatible applications

chromebook

This leads on from Chrome OS being fully web based, it does not support applications the same way Windows and Mac do, even though Mac has had problems in the past and still has problems with video games.

Skype, iTunes, and other applications are not on the Chrome Store, a dedicated store to download and purchase apps. This makes using the Chromebook as a first computer pretty complicating because you have to install a jargon IM client to run Skype.

There are ways to get around not being able to use the applications, and the web store does offer some pretty good productivity apps and other apps, but the store feels very small in comparison to the applications available for Windows or Mac.

Battery life

Laptops, netbooks, and notebooks have never been excellent devices for battery life, in over a decade of evolution, the many manufacturers have not be able to make a battery that lasts longer than 16 hours without charge.

The Chromebook is a pretty bad laptop when it comes to battery life. With brightness on full and the computer running YouTube and other multimedia, it will last a pitfall five hours at best.

This would be okay, unless you want to take the 3G model out on trips, without having to worry about the battery going off every few hours. With minimal brightness (40%) and no multimedia, it will still only keep up for six or seven hours, before shutting down.

Storage

Most desktops now come with 1TB of HDD, a pretty adequate amount for any user, but when it comes to tablets, they sit at the 16 to a 64GB range. Google and their partners have decided to sit the Chromebook with the tablets, oddly.

This may be due to Chrome OS, with the full web browser, the user is unlikely to store media like videos and music on the Chromebook. The 100GB of free Google Drive storage is pretty neat, but again the user is unlikely to use this as a storage medium, rather a temporary file storage place.

Again, this shows the Chromebook cannot be your main computer or your only computer, simply because it doesn’t offer any really good storage areas and Google’s idea is that you store everything on the web, instead of in offline files, something which isn’t all there yet.

Conclusion

Currently, the Chromebook has been excellent for day-to-day use and I am quite biased, considering I have been using the Chromebook for a couple of months with no real issues. Writing, searching, YouTube and reading are the primary uses, but I have also got a MacBook Pro and Windows 8 machine, so I cannot conclude the Chromebook is perfect for everything.

There are major flaws, and I would tell you to reconsider if you wanted the Chromebook as your only computer, unless you only use the web. Just remember, iTunes, Skype, Steam and all other programs outside the Chrome Store will not be downloadable.  Read about the Chromebook at Google’s website.