Why the Google Chromebook will fail?

So Google finally announced the Chromebooks and first units will be shipping in the US and Europe by June 15. Both Samsung and Acer are set to ship out their own variants of the Chromebook.

Here are the two models with their listed specs. They’ve omitted how much HDD storage and RAM will be included in the units.

Samsung Chromebook
Intel Atom Dual-Core Processor
12.1″ (1280×800) 300 nit Display
3.26 lbs / 1.48 kg
8.5 hours of battery life
Built in dual-band WiFi and World-mode 3G (optional)
HD Webcam with noise cancelling microphone
2 USB 2.0 ports
4-in-1 memory card slot
Mini-VGA port
Fullsize Chrome keyboard
Oversize fully-clickable trackpad
Price: $429PHP 25,176INR 36,358EUR 409CNY 3,122

Acer Chromebook
Intel Atom Dual-Core Processor
11.6″ HD Widescreen CineCrystal LED-backlit LCD
3.19 lbs | 1.45 kg
6 hours battery life
Built in dual-band WiFi and World-mode 3G (optional)
HD Webcam with noise cancelling microphone
High-Definition Audio Support
2 USB 2.0 ports
4-in-1 memory card slot
HDMI port
Fullsize Chrome keyboard
Oversize fully-clickable trackpad
Price: $349PHP 20,481INR 29,578EUR 332CNY 2,540

The biggest draw of the Google Chromebook is its full integration with the Cloud — all the time, anytime.

And that’s where it might just fail.

The Cloud does not have 100% uptime guarantee. Amazon’s service recently went down, Google’s Blogger also had an outage the other day and we all know GMail also suffered a number of outages before. People don’t trust the cloud as much as they trust physical hardware.
Internet connection is unreliable so your ISP will also play a big role in the over-all user-experience with the Chromebook. And we all know how “unreliable” all our local internet service providers are.
The Cloud is expensive. The Chromebook assumes you have unlimited data. In the Philippines, that’s an additional Php1,200USD 20INR 1,734EUR 19CNY 149 per month. If the life span of your Chromebook is 2 years, that’s Php28,800USD 491INR 41,604EUR 467CNY 3,574 on top of the cost of the unit making the total cost of ownership (TCO) much more expensive.

But that scenario is just from a Philippine perspective. It might be totally different elsewhere. So the question is — will you buy a Chromebook instead of a regular netbook?

Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

https://www.yugatech.com

35 Comments

Charles says:

14 years ago

Palagi ako nag iinternet at 85% ng oras ko sa computer ay sa internet na. Given the specs mukhang mahal to pero kung nasa 24k-29k ang price maybe!
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aron says:

14 years ago

i feel it will fail talaga kasi mas manda pa yung specs ng netbook na naka windows at sa mahal nya, sana naglaptop ka na lang na multifunction kesa sa dito.
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Jam. says:

14 years ago

This will be useless especially when you’re on vacation and the internet is not available on that region
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techguy says:

14 years ago

Cloud computing will be the trend of the future. But as of this time given the current situation of our country this concept is very challenging if not impossible. Perhaps 10-20 yrs from now.
For now nothing beats the good ‘ol computing.
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plsburydoughboy says:

14 years ago

Let me go in as one of the few for it. We have to buy the additional PH P 28,800 if we use internet regularly anyway. For the majority of people who only use their PCs for Facebook, and webworkers like me, this may be ideal.

Of course, Google might seal the deal locally if those hardware/data/service contracts they’re offering to universities in the States now would be rolled out here too.
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Marcus says:

14 years ago

I’d like to see how Google will handle security, since this is a critical aspect of having all your data in the cloud. We’ve seen lapses in security lately (*cough* Sony *cough*) so being able to ensure users that all their personal data are safe is of the utmost importance.
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Jhay says:

14 years ago

If I were living in South Korea or some other country with a fast and reliable Internet connections then I’d consider getting a Chromebook.

But here in the Philippines? I’d wait for a couple decades at least!
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AAnon says:

14 years ago

Which is why they’re doing offline access for google docs, gmail, & calendar: http://goo.gl/Is9xB
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Anne says:

14 years ago

People expect something unique…might be this would reach
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Messie says:

14 years ago

First thing na naisip ko is that they might have intentionally omitted HDDs for these. If they are 100% cloud dependent, then the OS will be run via cloud. Thus, you cannot run this chromebook without internet connection. Baka sa BIOS pa lang, nagcoconnect na siya with Google’s cloud server to launch the OS. All the apps to, including the browser, document editing, games, etc. will be run via cloud na rin siguro.
Hmmmm.. true, this is very futuristic, pero baka this is too ahead of it’s time pa.
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jor says:

14 years ago

mahal naman yata ung price para sa specs. ewan ko lang:)
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Teknisyan says:

14 years ago

With the kind of quality ISP have there in PH, Chrome OS powered Notebook will surely fail. Of course thing may be different in S. Korea, where it is considered as the country that has the fastest internet connection in the world.
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rene says:

14 years ago

after one or two years of chrome os use google suddenly wants to be paid for the services…
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xaos says:

14 years ago

yah this will fail here in philippines. imagine our ISP’s 10x more expensive and 10x slower than ISP’s in other countries. Maybe our ISP’s our just too corrupted. XD
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Alexandrious says:

14 years ago

to those saying na they’d probably get this or this is for people who just “surfs” the net, then why not just buy tablets?
mas mura pa and mas madami pa ang apps available for android and ipad…
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Joshua M says:

14 years ago

I’d rather go with a tablet. I’m sorry…
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deuts says:

14 years ago

Too early to tell. We don’t exactly know yet what this OS has to offer.
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rhyan says:

14 years ago

i agree with deuts, it’s too early to tell
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jangelo says:

14 years ago

If Google were to lease the Chromebook under subscription, then that would certainly be an attractive offer. $20 per month for a Chromebook for students or $28 for business users is certainly an attractive offer, especially if it will include the data subscription.

Google has promised to enable some sort of offline functionality to the Chromebooks (perhaps via Sync or cache), so these can be used to some extent, even when there’s no connection.
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techguy says:

14 years ago

Look what happened to Sony, Amazon, and the like. Cloud service is at it’s infancy. ISP service here is unreliable and a better subscription package doesn’t mean better service. Anyway most people here will just use Facebook and other social networking sites. If people are complaining for a 999/month subscription. How much more if you’ll pay the additional $20/month for the cloud service? For now, the Phil has to pass the buck. This is not a practical choice
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g says:

14 years ago

what’s the sense of this if u can get all the function with a regular notebook/netbook/tablet at less cost and less restriction/ net connection dependency??

is it the advantage with the speed/performance??

really what’s the point of this?someone please enlighten me.
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barsy says:

14 years ago

I have the CR48 given by google and I see it as a viable replacement for netbooks. Pretty much geared towards business that are online all the time and great for people who just use it for browsing, email or social networking.
Boots up in about 3-5 seconds, 6-7hrs battery life. if it’s damage, just get another one and log in to your registered google account and you’re back where you left off. Basically acts as a thin client.
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barsy says:

14 years ago

that 20-28$ subscription rate is optional. It includes HW and SW upgrades. Probably even replacement of unit should you renew. Besides the subscriptions are not for individuals. They have minimum number of units for the subscription plan.
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plsburydoughboy says:

14 years ago

Barsy, how did you score one? Are you based in the U.S? Any word if we might get that in our hands sometime soon? Great info, thanks for clarifying.
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boy_fanboy says:

14 years ago

not only this thing will fail, i won’t work at all. for the price, definitely, buying one of these isn’t worth it. The specs are almost the same specs found in regular dual-core Atom netbooks except for the omission of HDD storage. I’ll better be off buying a regular netbook than this one.

It’s hard to live with a computer that will not boot without internet access! That’s one thing I’ll surely hate with those “cloud-based OS”.

I do not want to connect to the internet just to boot up my OS and play some games while I’m on a place where internet connectivity is out of reach
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gr8.light says:

14 years ago

With a 800mb bandwidth limit here in the Philippines, yes, it will fail.
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Ed says:

14 years ago

Thank goodness Philippines != World.
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g00gle88 says:

14 years ago

That’s why its only available in 7 countries where people can afford it and the infrastructure is stable.
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Iyan Sommerset says:

14 years ago

Yey! Cloud computing!!! …beep!

“You have reached your monthly bandwidth cap limit.”

Doh!
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Vic says:

14 years ago

Chromebook just out in the market today. But since it is still a book with a keyboard, it may not seems to compete with the uprising tablets.
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Taylor Miles says:

13 years ago

Your logic here is not complete for several reasons:

1. If internet speed continues to be an issue in the Philippines the entire tech industry in ph will FAIL. Is that what you want? Cloud computing is the future.
2. You can still use most applications offline including Gmail. and many more to come.
http://chrome.blogspot.com/2011/08/be-more-productive-with-gmail-offline.html

http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2011/09/offline-google-docs.html
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