Chromebook Pre-Orders Now Available to All

The short answer: it's not directed towards you. It became blatantly obviously during Google IO that they're going after very specific markets: Education and Business private sector. No IT overhead, constant pushes of the latest security updates, and free hardware upgrades for as long as the line of products still exists with a low monthly price per machine. For the small fraction of use-cases that still need proprietary software there's virtualization.

They're not going after the home sector here (they have Android phones and tablets handling that for them nicely). They're going for the throat with Microsoft's last dominance: schools and businesses. If they can start upsetting the decades-long lock-in that Microsoft has had in those giant areas, then Chromebooks have succeeded.

(And before you ask, no the iPad isn't a suitable product for those areas. A proprietary cloud solution where a business doesn't control their own data is never going to fly. Also, while mobile Safari has made excellent strides, it's still not even close to a traditional browser.)

You don't have to choose between an iPad or Chromebook just as people didn't have to choose between an iPad or a laptop (although some did, and some will).

As for your point about the iPad having a browser too, Chrome is among the elite (if not THE elite) browsers on the market; comparing it to a mobile OS browser and saying they are equivalent is not fair. Forget about Flash, the iPad cannot render javascript at near the speed that a desktop browser can, nor does it support as many of the cutting edge HTML5 features.

Additionally, Chrome is updated at a much more rapid pace. The CR48 doesn't even have the same UI that it had 6 months ago, not to mention additional HTML5 support (such as Speech input, which iPad doesn't have).

Lastly, Chrome syncs extremely fast. In fact, they specifically omitted a sync button in the settings page because it is designed to sync faster than you could get to the button. If a change isn't synced instantly it's considered a bug in Chrome.

I posted a detailed critique elsewhere but I wanted to mention here that I have left my Cr48 open and on in the kitchen for three weeks now, parked in front of a barstool. Google's CloudPrint is configured. We still walk right past the Cr48 and sit down at the 27" iMac in the living room to look up recipes on Chrome and print them to the same printer. I don't see the selling point of "the cloud" saving this product. Which makes me a little sad. Why don't we use it?

<i>At this price, why would I want this instead of iPad? (serious question)</i> I dislike apple and apple products, but I have the same question.

Even netbooks can do quite a bit more than they could when ChromeOS was announced, and often for less. I really don't see the benefit in only having chrome, even if Native Client can promise more functionality in the future.

These will probably not sell well. I guess Google didn't expect the iPad to be such a big hit, and now the netbook market is already over with. If Google had more foresight ChromeOS would've been a tablet OS right from the start.

Google never said when the emails would go out.

I got mine a few days ago from Gilt.com

Things I like: Fast. Amazing battery life. Good trackpad. Chrome! Nice keyboard. Light weight.

Things I don't like: It stutters sometimes with flash objects. Display only opens at about 130 deg angle. I wish it went further back. The display hinge closes when it is open at 45 degs and chrombook is out held with screen facing down. No shortcut to jump to end or beginning of line when typing. Microphone is not very good - you sound like you are in a tunnel when talking. No way to change the keyboard repeat rate. No delete key.

Things I wish it had: Magnetic power connector.

I love this little thing. It's extremely fast and the battery lasts longer than my MacBook (which is going to my parents). It's a pleasure to surf the web on.