New Chromebooks: 100% faster, 0% cheaper

The main idea behind Google Chromebooks and ChromeOS was something like this: "If computer is mainly used to work in browser, why not make a simple, reliable and cheap computer, which runs just browser?". Unfortunately, Google hasn't brought this experiment to the end. No, Google Chromebooks project is not closed. On the contrary, yesterday Google and Samsung presented the new Chromebook model. But the project went far aside from the initial idea. Somewhy, Google and Samsung haven't make Chromebooks cheap. The new Samsung Series 5 Chromebook costs from $449. So the question is: Why buy Chromebook that has only browser if almost for the same money you can buy a Windows-laptop with all the bells and whistles? And you know how Google responds to this question?

Here's how. If you look at the new Chromebook, you'll see that it is very similar to ... Windows-laptop. Starting from the desktop interface, that now looks like Windows and allows to open multiple windows:



But the front end - is only the beginning. The fact is that ChromeOS - is no longer just a browser. Long ago Google invented Chrome Web Store and the idea to INSTALL web-applications on ChromeOS. And Web-developers had to adopt their web-applications for Chrome. Quite strange idea for a Web-browser.

And then ChromeOS started adding non-browser features: file manager, built-in media player, photo editor, the terminal client. And Google says that in a month ChromeOS will enable to view and edit almost any document offline.

Thanks to the hardware upgrade and operating system optimization, new Chromebooks work 2 times faster than the previous models. So a Web application on Chromebooks runs as fast as a desktop application on Windows.

Thus, Chromebooks are not really cheap computers with browser, but regular computers at the regular price, that are just slightly different from the Windows-computers. Moreover, the difference will be diminished soon, because Windows goes to the Cloud, and ChromeOS - in the opposite direction. For example, the basic file manager in Windows 8 will be SkyDrive, and in ChromeOS - Google Drive.

And Microsoft should look out. Especially since ChromeOS - is no more just 12-inch netbooks. Together with the new Chromebook, Samsung unveiled ChromeBox - a console intended to replace an ordinary desktop computer. It's priced not much cheaper than a regular Windows-desktop (from $329). But it's not important any more. Google hopes that soon it will be no difference - to buy a Windows-computer or ChromeOS-computer.

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