Cr-48

I had been expecting a package to come in the mail for my boys for about a week. On Thursday night the doorbell rang and I peeked out the blinds and saw that the ups man had just made a delivery. I was very excited to go get the gifts that were being delivered to my little men. Ooohh... pretty plasma cars. They are not from me and MW so I was even going to let them open them that night. We were planning on having a fun time trying them out! I went outside and the ups guy yells to me that he put the package behind my door. I went and picked it up and was rather confused because it was 1 very small package. Not heavy at all like I expected the gifts to be. I walked inside and went into my room to open the box stealthily in case I had forgotten another Christmas gift that was being delivered to our house. When I opened the box I found the weirdest box I think I have ever seen. It had a hamster on it with a helmet and like this hamster wheel and bolts and a rocket with fire coming out of it. Well take a look for yourself. I was very confused. I slowly opened the box very curious about what could be inside. And it was google's new Cr-48 notebook! It was pretty. No logos, tiny, light. I was excited!

On December 9th, I think, my husband messaged me and told me I needed to apply for this pilot program google was doing to test out their new operating system (Chrome OS). He gave me this long tech nerd story about why he couldn't and suggested that I might be part of a unique demographic they could use. So I applied. Two days later people were getting their notebooks and we had nothing. We assumed I wasn't chosen and went on about life. Which is why I was very confused by the package. I had completely forgotten about it. Anyway, I did a happy dance. My desktop is seriously about to implode. And honestly, trying to figure out how to get the money for a new computer wasn't seeming like a top priority right now so I was just going to have to make do.

Anyway, I have been playing with the Cr-48 for a few days now and have some initial thoughts...
Pros:
1) It is FAST. It boots fast, it wakes fast. You close the notebook and as soon as you open it... like within a second it has woken up and returned to your screen.
2) it is tiny and portable. 12.1 in screen, sleek, light. I think it weighs like 3 lbs. Not quite as small as a netbook but not nearly as bulky as a heavy duty laptop. The resolution is awesome too. I think its a really nice size. I have seen and fiddled with some netbooks and they are just tiny.
3) full size keyboard with individually spaced keys. Love the keyboard. So easy to get used to and type on. I like that the keys are individual buttons.
4) Google Chrome. Great browser... you can synchronize everything in chrome. The apps are easy to get to and use. I was worried when things turned on and the only thing on the computer was a web browser. It takes a minute to get used to but you really can do 99% of what you use a computer for on the web. Well me anyway, there are a lot more people who use computers for way more complicated stuff that facebook, shopping, communicating and educating small children. Obviously a notebook like this is not going to be conducive to programs like photoshop or lightroom. But once I learned how to find apps that were useful, I was up and doing all the things I do on my desktop pretty easily.
5) Battery life. This little puppy can get up to 8 hrs of battery life when in use. Up to like 8 days in sleep mode. That is insane. I have used it all day without plugging it in once. It really is travel friendly because of that.
6) No caps lock! Ha, yea I think this is cool. They replaced the caps lock with a search key. I am a fan. If you must needs caps lock though there is a keyboard shortcut to get to it. Although I never use caps so I couldn't tell you what the short cut is.

Cons:
1) Wifi only. That pretty much speaks for itself. The laptop only connects to the internets via Wifi or 3g network (although we do get a small amt of data free from verizon every month for 2 years but... a tiny amount. Any more and that is a pretty penny to pay).
2) The OS is web based. So if you are not connected to the internet, it is not of much use. Not a huge deal... you can find wifi if you need it pretty much anywhere. But, even writing documents and such is done through the web based OS right now. I think they are working on tasks like that being able to be done without the internet though. This operating system is in the testing stages so I am sure there will be lots of changes and more to learn about as I go.
3) Buggy... and will be as they test and fix and test and fix. But that is part of testing a new operating system.

So far I like it. It is way simple and if you live on the web it will be perfect for that. Its weird. There are no desktops or files or anything you are used to. Just a browser. But it really hasn't taken long to get used to at all. I am sure I will have more opinions later as things improve but so far I am impressed with the ease of use. I am not a "tech nerd" like most of the people who got these. I am a mom that blogs and uses the computer to teach my curious 4 year old about all of lifes most pressing questions. But I do live with a tech nerd so he is helping me navigate the waters so it is working out very well.