Chromebook: Under the Cloud

If you like your PC starting up the way your TV starts up then you're in the right place (well conditions may change according to place and situation but the official word is, it takes just 8 seconds for booting up, which perhaps is faster than your mobile phone too).

But beware this is not for the faint heart to begin with. Yes things are lot simpler but when you're grown up in a iron doors and Windows environment, surely a world without Windows will make you feel as if privacy is the last word.

For still wondering lets introduce one of the newest innovations of the web, the Google Chromebook, one of the first of its kinds and the second competitor to Microsoft Windows Operating Systems after the doomed Apple Macintosh OS, which is mostly seen in the heroine's lap in  movies and news desks in news studios. Google and Samsung have unveiled the “world’s first chromebook,” the Chromebook Series 5.

Chromebook promises to be a revolution of its kind where the user will be able to directly connect to the web without having to go through the layers of files and folders but beware it is something different to what you chew everyday and is still a evolving product, so expect the usual pregnancy problems.

If you live in Google Docs world, the Chrome OS is easy. If you’re used to saving docs on a local drive and going through folders you’re in for a rude awakening. With the Chrome OS you live in the browser window with no more poking around on an OS via file folders, start menus and application lists.

These days after the Mango revolution, its all about Apps folks, so whenever you face a problem using Chromebook, just search for an app and your problems will perhaps be solved for the features you are used to in the Windows environment. The Chromebook is designed to run everything from the Web.

The operating system presents the Chrome 9 browser as the user interface, with app icons in its main window. When disconnected, a Chromebook will use HTML5's offline storage capability to continue working in cloud apps such as Google Docs. Other HTML5-savvy Web apps will also work in disconnected mode.

The only way to run traditional apps on a Chromebook is through a desktop virtualization client such as Citrix Receiver, which will be available for Chrome OS. Citrix Receiver is widely used today on Google's Android and Apple's iOS mobile operating systems; Citrix clients are available for Mac OS X and Windows as well.

According to the Google blog, With a Chromebook you won’t wait minutes for your computer to boot and browser to start. You’ll be reading your email in seconds. Your apps, games, photos, music, movies and documents will be accessible wherever you are and you won't need to worry about losing your computer or forgetting to back up files. 


Chromebooks will last a day of use on a single charge, so you don’t need to carry a power cord everywhere. And with optional 3G, just like your phone, you’ll have the web when you need it. Chromebooks have many layers of security built in so there is no anti-virus software to buy and maintain. 

 The Chromebook is also sleeker and includes a more vibrant screen. Here’s an overview of the specs for the Samsung Chromebook:

• Size: 0.79-inch case, 3.3 pounds
• Memory: 2 GB RAM, 16 GB SSD
• Processor: Intel dual-core Atom processor of 1.66 GHz
• Screen: 12.1-inch SuperBright Display, 16:10 resolution. Samsung claims it is 36% brighter than a standard LCD display.
• Battery: Up to 8.5 hours of normal usage, up to 5 hours of video playback
• Software: Google Chrome OS. Bootup time is less than 10 seconds
• Peripherals: Two USB ports and an SD/SDHC/MMC card reader
• Price: Wi-Fi.is slightly cheaper than the 3G version, which includes 100 MB free per month for two years.

The first devices will make their debut on June 15 on Amazon.com, Best Buy and other stores in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and The Netherlands. Sundar Pichai, Google’s SVP of Chrome, revealed that Acer and Samsung would produce the initial devices. The Samsung Chromebook Series 5 will be slightly cheaper than an iPad, standard laptop or MacBook. But its hardware, speed and Chrome OS software will define its story among the masses.

Only time will tell whether it can compete to the likes of surging iPad and other tablets and smartphones, With Smaller, sleeker and faster the key and the concept of netbook dead, surely Google has some tough times ahead and has only itself to compete with for the time being but for one, Chromebook may well take cloud computing to the next level..

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