A laptop that won’t work unless you’re online; Google thinks it’s the next big thing
With its new notebook, the Cr-48 , Google is venturing into a territory that no one has dared to enter before, scaling down the laptop.
Believe it or not, this latest innovation is simply a web browser with a keyboard and all you can do with this device is surf the internet. With a 12-inch screen and a full-size keyboard, it feels like a regular laptop, however its bare Chrome OS provides instant on/off capability. The device asks you for your Google ID when you turn it on and the desktop icons don’t lead to software and applications, but to web pages.
The Cr-48 will not work unless you’re online.
Users in the US will get 100 MB of free bandwidth from Verizon every month; that’s not a lot, but it’s being justified on the basis that virtually all places have WiFi these days, and the 100 MB should be more than enough to cover the rare dead spots.
What’s baffling a lot of tech reviewers out there is how users will be able to cope with this whole new way of working entirely online, as one would have to with the Cr-48 . You can’t type emails or letters on the system, unless you’re logged into Google Chrome or Gmail.
While some techies are writing it off as an object of pure geek appeal, other tech pundits are convinced it will do well.
Wilson Rothman, Deputy Technology and Science Editor at msnbc.com , stated, “At this moment, our computers are capable of way more than we need them to be. Photos, e-mail, Web, music, a little video. We shame our powerhouse machines with this wimpy activity. It’s like driving a Ferrari to the corner store and back.”