Criteria
Comments
Rating
- Speed and features Though the CR-48 is the King of Netbooks, it is still powered by a wee Atom processor and there are times when it feels unspeedy. Flash for example.
- Design and form factor Awesome keyboard, rubbery non-sticker laden shell.
- Battery life Good enough that if I charge it up I can pretty much casually use it for most of my day.
- Display Doesn't like the cold (flickers until warmed up) and it has an interesting impression of some colors. Wish Chrome was color managed to compensate.
- Durability Seems solid enough. Wouldn't back a car over it but it's seems well put together.
- Expandability I gave it a 4 out of 5 because it is based on the concept that you don't need expandability. It's all in the cloud or something. One USB is still a bit meager.
- Noise Totally quiet unless pushed under load to turn the fans on.
- Portability (size / weight) 12.1 is the perfect side for a laptop and its not too heavy.
Detailed review
It's hard to review a CR-48. Are you reviewing the ChromeOS and the idea behind that or hardware which will never be sold and is basically just a market test? Hardware wise, the laptop is a fine Pineview class net-book. It has somewhat less expandability options but has integrated 3G and works fine if you're emailing, Google Doc'ing or various other online activities. Google Cloud Print needs some support for non-Windows and Google Remoting really needs to be finished before I'd feel comfortable heading on a business trip with it as my only PC, but it's good enough that it made the Home for the Holidays trip and worked great.
The trackpad was created by a sadist, but the keyboard is better than my "real" laptop. The display is no IPS wunderscreen but ultimately these devices have to be cheap when they're finally brought to market. And as my dad pointed out while playing with this, it would be pretty awkward for Google to release these things and then have Acer/Samsung/whomever bring out less impressive products when these things actually start going on sale next year.
My bottom line - if Google can work out the bugs (ie, the whole SD card thing so photos can be shared online) and vendors build a 12.1" or 11.6" version in the right price-range, one of these will be my Mom's next PC.
As to this laptop, it's a free net-book that I've found myself using more of late than my much faster CULV Core 2 laptop. So I certainly have no complaints :).
The trackpad was created by a sadist, but the keyboard is better than my "real" laptop. The display is no IPS wunderscreen but ultimately these devices have to be cheap when they're finally brought to market. And as my dad pointed out while playing with this, it would be pretty awkward for Google to release these things and then have Acer/Samsung/whomever bring out less impressive products when these things actually start going on sale next year.
My bottom line - if Google can work out the bugs (ie, the whole SD card thing so photos can be shared online) and vendors build a 12.1" or 11.6" version in the right price-range, one of these will be my Mom's next PC.
As to this laptop, it's a free net-book that I've found myself using more of late than my much faster CULV Core 2 laptop. So I certainly have no complaints :).
good review!
1 person found this review helpful