I have now had the opportunity to use the Chrome Chrome CR-48 Notebook for a couple of days. I intend to contine putting it thought its paces in the coming days/weeks, but here are my thoughts to this point:
Likes:
- The Chrome OS is lightening fast. It literally wakes from sleep mode and is ready to go before I get the lid fully open. Impressive.
- The CR-48’s size is virtually perfect. It is light and easy to transport. The screen size offers just the right amount of work space.
- Its rubbery skin is very appealing to the touch. It makes it easy to pick up the CR-48, and the grip feels secure when handling it.
- The battery life is outstanding. It appears that I will easily get over 7 hours (and perhaps as much as 8) on a single charge.
- The built-in Verison 3G data card is easy to activitate when needed and deactive the rest of the time.
- I like the thought behind which keys are included / excluded, as you have the ones you need and don’t miss the others.
- I was already using Chome as my web-browser of choice, so I enjoy the speed, features, and functionality it offers.
Dislikes:
- Many of my complaints pertain to the keyboard, including:
- There is no "Command" key, so Mac users will have to adjust to not having that frequently used key.
- Many of the shortcuts are tied to the "Control" key, which is fine, but that key is not adjacent to the Space bar. Instead, it is located on the other side of the "Alt" key away from the spacebar, which is very awkward and not easy to reach.
- The keyboard is not backlit like my MacBook Pro‘s, so it is hard to see the individual keys when typing.
- Not all of the Chrome extensions that I use on my Mac are availalble or functional on the CR-48. For instance, such favorites as 1Password, Awesome Screenshot, etc. are not showing up and don’t appear to be usable at this time.
- There appears to only be a limited amount of space allowed for extensions beside the Omnibox, so it’s unclear what happens when you have more extensions than there is room for them to be shown.
- The touchpad recogizes some multi-touch gestures, such as two finger tap for right clicks and scrolling, but it doesn’t provide the ability to use three-finger swipes for moving forward/backward between webpages or pinch-zooming.
While listing those critiques, I am mindful of the fact that the CR-48 is not supposed to be a MacBook Pro, that they are intended for different purposes, and that the pricing on the two will most likely be drastically different. I will keep you updated on my thoughts as I continue to use the CR-48, and I welcome your comments, tips, questions, and suggestions as well.
