Chromebook Review

My much anticipated Chromebook has arrived and I am continuing to put it through it’s paces.  Let me give you the summary first:  I love it.

OK, now for the details.  I actually bought two Chromebooks:

• One for my wife that has WiFi only.
• One for me that has both WiFi and 3G.

Chromebook Setup

Once I unboxed the systems, it was a matter of connecting to WiFi (and activating my 3G connection for the 3G enabled machine).  Once I did that and logged in with my Google ID, everything was there.  Email, GDrive, Google Apps.  When you open it up, it turns on.  When you close it, it turns off.  Turning it on takes about 8-10 seconds.  It probably takes another 5-10 seconds for it to properly connect to the WiFi service.  After that, you are good to go.  If it takes you longer than 5 minutes to have it running after you take it out of the box, you must have gotten interrupted!

Using the Chromebook

Well, I am actually typing this article on my new Chromebook.  I will have to say that I prefer my normal keyboard, but this one isn’t bad.  I can touch type just fine and  I am not making a bunch of typos because the keys aren’t where I expect them to be.  Overall, the keyboard is quite usable.

Bluetooth

In general, I don’t like to use touch pads for navigation.  I much prefer a mouse.  So, when I bought this computer, I also purchased a Bluetooth mouse.  I had read in the reviews that the Chromebook included bluetooth, but it wasn’t entirely obvious whether it only included the drivers to make it work or if it also includes the bluetooth transmitter/receiver.  Well, it does include the transmitter/receiver.  I purchased a Dell bluetooth mouse and it works great.

Touch Pad

As I said above, I am not very found of touch pads.  However, I would have to say that the touch pad on this system is one of the better touch pads I have ever used, for the following reasons:

1. The “click” has a very tactile feel.  When you want to click, there is a very obvious, analog-type “click”.  That way, you aren’t left wondering whether the computer actually picked up you click or not.
2. There are “gestures” that make the usage of touch pad much more usable.  For instance, you can keep one finger on the touch pad and drag down with another finger and the screen scrolls.  There are other gestures as well.

So, even though I have a mouse, I will still use the touch pad at times … and when I don’t want to drag my mouse around the house as I am using this machine, I won’t really mind using the touch pad.

That’s all for now.  Look for more review information in part two of this review.