Skip straight to the good stuff
“Because everything is faster and easier on a Chromebook…”
Chromebooks look like they are going to be the next big thing! They run all the nifty apps and everything a tablet can do but they are half the price and they have a KEYBOARD. I received my Chromebook this Christmas I think you should get one as well!
Pros
1. Lightweight
2. Extremely long battery life
3. Pretty fast. On the web I find that the Chromebook loads up swiftly.
4. Angry Birds – Yeah, they have added an Angry Birds to the Chrome web app lists.
5. Chrome books provide multiple layers of protection, including sandboxing, data encryption, and verified boot.6. Saving on the Cloud – All your files, etc. are linked to the cloud so you are not having to back up your laptop regularly.
7. Regular updates. Google releases updates to Chrome OS about every 2-3 weeks keeping it stable and secure.
8. HDMI output. This is a nice addition for those who will use this on the road or at a friend’s house.
9. Netflix, Hulu, and other video streaming sites are supported finally
10. Supports music streaming from Amazon Cloud service, Google Music, Pandora, etc.
Cons (or possibly just some Considerations)
1. It runs on Chrome OS only. You can’t load Windows or Mac based programs. For a lot of people this means they still need their Mac or PC. This is especially true if you run programs like Photoshop
2. Cost might be a little high for some. Since this doesn’t replace your PC or Mac completely, this price point is near what a tablet might cost (iPad or Xoom).
3. Early adopting. There is always a chance that the kinks are still being worked out. With Google, I’m pretty sure this won’t be the case.
4. No optical drive. You cannot play CDs or DVDs on this device. You must use the USB port or SD card slot. With Netflix, Hulu, and many other options, this is quickly becoming a non-issue. Additionally with being able to store so much to the cloud and USB/SDHC storage, optical storage is not really necessary as much as it used to be. That said, it is a change you have to get used to.
-All information obtained from Google’s website about Google’s Chrome book (http://www.google.com/chromebook/features.html)
