First Days with a Google Cr-48...
So, if you happened to notice a few of my Tweets last Wednesday (Dec 29 2010) you would have seen that I received a Cr-48…
I had just arrived back from visiting my parents in Chicago, and as I walked down the hallway I noticed a package sitting at my door. At first I thought it was for my roommate, which I thought was odd because he was also out of town. As I approached I looked at the label and realized that the package was addressed to me… I looked at the return address and saw that the package was shipped from Kentucky. At this point I was starting to get really weirded out. I began thinking that someone had hacked my Newegg account and accidentally shipped the box to my billing address. I popped open the box, and there was of course another box with odd looking gadget things on it.
- What I was looking at… (well this isn’t mine but you get the idea.)
I noticed a serial number and bar code on the side and realized that it was a serialized electronic device. Which is when I started to get really upset, wondering what in the world was going on. I popped open the box and there was a thin looking computer similar to an old black MacBook… I opened the lid to see what brand it was, and examined the keyboard, there was no “CAPS LOCK” just then I realized what I had, and that I fact that I actually got into the Cr-48 pilot program!!! It’s still very odd that Google just decided to ship a computer without any instructions… or notice. I mean UPS refuses to leave a $30 worth of film, but they will leave a computer?
After unpacking everything I powered the Cr-48 up, which is blindingly fast. The boot screen is pretty dull kind of like an Apple boot screen(unless you’re in verbose mode), it’s a blue-grey and has the Chrome symbol on it. I didn’t time it, but it is by far the fastest boot that I have seen. At the first boot-up Chrome OS asks you to select a WiFi switch/router to connect to, then it wants your picture, then you log in with your Google Credentials.
After logging is where, things take an awkward turn, it’s almost identical to Chrome. It’s just a Chrome window that you can’t minimize, no desktop, no “Start,” no application icons, and no dock. At this point I don’t think I even bother trying to go to a website, I wondered what are the settings. Instead of the “preferences” under the “wrench” drop down menu, there is a “settings” selection, which opens a new tab. There is only a few additional settings outside of the traditional Chrome browser settings. You can set your security permissions for logging on the computer, selecting WiFi and 3G networks (Verizon is currently the only one), and changing your login setup. That’s kind of it, I mean it’s extremely stripped down…
I am sure you have done some reading on the Cr-48, right? One should really separate their thoughts from the Hardware and the Operating System. The hardware is nothing special, well I guess it is, it’s very cheap feeling, and doesn’t leave a great user experience. Ok, so hold on, it’s not that bad…It weighs 3lbs, doesn’t get hot, has a killer battery life and boots incredibly fast. It does, however, have the most frustrating track pad in the world. Here is an example, during the writing this post, I accidentally selected over half the post and wrote over it. It actually happened twice. I am not sure if it’s a really poorly placed, or incredibly bad firmware. I am just happy that I didn’t pay for it. Thankfully a quick CRTL+Z fixed that, other wise something might have happened to it.
What about the Operating System?
So far, it’s proved to be OK. Since I am forced to use the cloud for everything, I expect webpages load quickly, and efficiently. I haven’t been that impressed with this performance so far. I have seen some odd things that are hard to describe happen with webpages. I can’t really describe it, I can assure you it doesn’t occur when using Chrome on OSX and and Chrome on XP. I have also noticed that page load times aren’t as fast as I would expect, it takes just a little longer that my 2 year old MacBook. I am not sure if everyone would notice this, but I certainly do because I am extremely impatient. My 2nd issue with the operating system, is that I can’t set the default DNS of the operating system (yes I know I could use my switch to set this). I also can’t set the computer to a static IP address either. NOTE: I haven’t done that much digging. I know how to fix this issue, except Google has not made it easy. The resolv.conf file needs to be edited and they didn’t install out any command line text editor (oh by the way here’s how to get the command line).
Can I really use the Cloud for Everything???
This morning I was looking for some Crossfit benchmark exercises, and one the forum posts had an excel sheet with them listed. I downloaded it, then uploaded it to Google Docs… epic fail, it didn’t convert correct or something, I haven’t really looked into it, I just moved on. It does make me wonder about “Cloud Compatibility.” I really wonder if this thing can be my main computing device.
How do you feel about “Cloud Compatibility” days?