You can’t blame people for being skeptical. The new Samsung Chromebook, like all its predecessors, is little more than a Chrome web browser running on a laptop. It raises questions about why anyone wouldn’t prefer a more full-featured laptop instead, and one that isn’t as crippled without an Internet connection.
I’ve made the case for the Chromebook once before, when I reviewed Samsung’s Series 5 550 in June. My argument was that Chromebooks strip away the baggage of other laptops, things like long start-up times, viruses and extraneous keyboard keys. Trimming the fat allowed the Series 5 550 to focus on things like slim design, a solid keyboard and trackpad at a low price. If you spend most of your time on the web, it was a fine choice for a secondary computing device.
The problem with my argument then was that it didn’t address tablets. Devices like Apple’s iPad and Google’s Nexus 7 also ditch the baggage of traditional laptops. They are thinner, lighter and often cheaper. They’re mostly safe from viruses, and they resume from standby in a snap.
With the cheapest Chromebook now less expensive than many tablets, the relevance of Google’s browser-based laptops is worth revisiting. I still think there’s value in the Chromebook, because unlike inexpensive tablets, it’s still capable of providing the experience of a desktop browser.
I know, I know. Mobile is the future of everything, right? But in the present day, sometimes the mobile-optimized, appified version of what you’re trying to do just isn’t good enough. When that happens, you need a laptop browser, and you want it to be up and running right away. I can think of a few personal examples:
- Gmail is better on a laptop. You can see more messages at a time, use search filters and type faster on a real keyboard.
- Tab management is easier on a laptop. If you’re the type that likes to sort tabs into windows, or juggle more than a few tabs a a time, a tablet or smartphone browser won’t cut it.
- Blogging is better on a laptop, especially if you’re looking for links to copy and paste. I know there are apps like Blogsy that address the need to browse and blog at the same time, but nothing works as well for me as a full-featured browser.
Maybe some day better apps and websites will eliminate Chromebook’s usefulness. In that sense, it’s funny to think that a supposedly futuristic concept–that of the entirely web-based computer–risks obsolescence. But for now, a full-featured web browser inside a $250 laptop makes a lot of sense.
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