Chrome OS, a month later
I'm happy with my Chromebook. But, it serves a very niche purpose and my expectations were quite low. I also bought a rather end (if year old or so) model.
Which brings me whether Chrome OS is there yet or not. And my answer is, no.
It absolutely has everything a certain subset of the market needs. But, the tradeoffs are generally only going to be worth it if you can't afford something better, or, if you're going on the high end, have money to burn.
If you feel you can't justify something better, but could afford it. Look elsewhere. Unless you know a Chromebook is what you need.
Here is the realization I came too. Chrome OS has added a lot of functionality. It has added Android apps to almost every somewhat recent model and some newer models can even run some Linux apps with some caveats. But, the performance is generally quite poor in those areas. Cheaper Celeron or ARM based devices MIGHT be able to handle single thread tasks in these areas.
In short, Chrome OS is still meant primarily for consuming the web and web apps.
While the performance in my Chromebook has improved over time, the troubling thing is that web apps are still laggier at times than on my other laptops, tablets, phones and desktops. And I never have more than 1-2 tabs open at once. My Chromebook has a quad core Core m3 processor and 4GB of RAM. I disabled all of my addons and things got better. But, it still runs slower on average on Chrome on my 3+ year Haswell laptop. Granted, that things is running a mobile i5 processor and not an M series. But, it is also running full Kubuntu and was previously running Windows 10.
And that is a problem. An OS purpose built for web browsing runs slower than the same browser running on another OS on similarly affordable hardware. The supposed power of Chrome OS is also it's crux. If Chrome on Chrome OS isn't the fastest browsing experience, and by a decent margin and the Android and Linux app experiences are sub par, then the devices need to be FAR cheaper. But they aren't. Let's face it. Web browsers exist on every OS and Chrome runs on many of them as well. If your emphasis is the web and web apps you have a wide army of competitors.
A side problem is, having Android app support actually tarnishes the experience. I installed Facebook and Twitter and they ran like garbage. They were janky and slow. Crashed frequently. I think, many users who want those services would turn around and return the laptop. But, if you realize the web first approach to Chrome OS, you'll just go to the web sites. And, then if you're even more in the know you'll create a shortcut. Then the experience will feel a lot more like an app. And the performance will be better. If there was no Android support, I would lean on web sites for things like Twitter and Facebook without a second thought. I'd also assume and maybe even search out a way to make shortcuts.
But, the existence of the Play Store instead drove me to seek out apps first. And it took over a week before it ever dawned on me to see if I could make links somehow out of my frequently visited web sites.
I hear Linux support is even worse than Android. My device doesn't get Crostini (or not yet). But, that is a side note. Most mainstream users won't touch that.
In short... the performance needs to be addressed (if possible). Chrome OS should be a much leaner OS than the competition. It really should run the web faster and make that experience more accessible. Android apps are also a problem, but the bigger problem is that there is nothing in the OS to help you discover if the buggy Android app you want to use has a proper web experience and how to get an easily clickable icon to that site.
Really, just sorting those 2 things out would do a lot to improve the perception. It would also make it a lot easier to generally recommend these devices in a market where you can pick up some iPad models in the $300 range not to mention a wide array of reasonable Windows laptops. Both of which can also run web sites and web apps more than sufficiently.
If you want to shell out $1000+, sure there are things like the Pixel Book, and that probably runs even the Android apps like a dream. But, $1000+ premium devices were never the (stated) aim of Chrome OS. And, at those prices your options are a whole lot wider. But, if you want a convertible laptop or tablet with Android apps, and you have the cash, it is definitely a fine answer.
On the cheap side, if you need it primarily for Google's web apps, or you've found one, and it is the only thing in your budget. Go for it.
But, right now, the more affordable segment of Chromebooks is still hard sell and recommendation for me.
Which brings me whether Chrome OS is there yet or not. And my answer is, no.
It absolutely has everything a certain subset of the market needs. But, the tradeoffs are generally only going to be worth it if you can't afford something better, or, if you're going on the high end, have money to burn.
If you feel you can't justify something better, but could afford it. Look elsewhere. Unless you know a Chromebook is what you need.
Here is the realization I came too. Chrome OS has added a lot of functionality. It has added Android apps to almost every somewhat recent model and some newer models can even run some Linux apps with some caveats. But, the performance is generally quite poor in those areas. Cheaper Celeron or ARM based devices MIGHT be able to handle single thread tasks in these areas.
In short, Chrome OS is still meant primarily for consuming the web and web apps.
While the performance in my Chromebook has improved over time, the troubling thing is that web apps are still laggier at times than on my other laptops, tablets, phones and desktops. And I never have more than 1-2 tabs open at once. My Chromebook has a quad core Core m3 processor and 4GB of RAM. I disabled all of my addons and things got better. But, it still runs slower on average on Chrome on my 3+ year Haswell laptop. Granted, that things is running a mobile i5 processor and not an M series. But, it is also running full Kubuntu and was previously running Windows 10.
And that is a problem. An OS purpose built for web browsing runs slower than the same browser running on another OS on similarly affordable hardware. The supposed power of Chrome OS is also it's crux. If Chrome on Chrome OS isn't the fastest browsing experience, and by a decent margin and the Android and Linux app experiences are sub par, then the devices need to be FAR cheaper. But they aren't. Let's face it. Web browsers exist on every OS and Chrome runs on many of them as well. If your emphasis is the web and web apps you have a wide army of competitors.
A side problem is, having Android app support actually tarnishes the experience. I installed Facebook and Twitter and they ran like garbage. They were janky and slow. Crashed frequently. I think, many users who want those services would turn around and return the laptop. But, if you realize the web first approach to Chrome OS, you'll just go to the web sites. And, then if you're even more in the know you'll create a shortcut. Then the experience will feel a lot more like an app. And the performance will be better. If there was no Android support, I would lean on web sites for things like Twitter and Facebook without a second thought. I'd also assume and maybe even search out a way to make shortcuts.
But, the existence of the Play Store instead drove me to seek out apps first. And it took over a week before it ever dawned on me to see if I could make links somehow out of my frequently visited web sites.
I hear Linux support is even worse than Android. My device doesn't get Crostini (or not yet). But, that is a side note. Most mainstream users won't touch that.
In short... the performance needs to be addressed (if possible). Chrome OS should be a much leaner OS than the competition. It really should run the web faster and make that experience more accessible. Android apps are also a problem, but the bigger problem is that there is nothing in the OS to help you discover if the buggy Android app you want to use has a proper web experience and how to get an easily clickable icon to that site.
Really, just sorting those 2 things out would do a lot to improve the perception. It would also make it a lot easier to generally recommend these devices in a market where you can pick up some iPad models in the $300 range not to mention a wide array of reasonable Windows laptops. Both of which can also run web sites and web apps more than sufficiently.
If you want to shell out $1000+, sure there are things like the Pixel Book, and that probably runs even the Android apps like a dream. But, $1000+ premium devices were never the (stated) aim of Chrome OS. And, at those prices your options are a whole lot wider. But, if you want a convertible laptop or tablet with Android apps, and you have the cash, it is definitely a fine answer.
On the cheap side, if you need it primarily for Google's web apps, or you've found one, and it is the only thing in your budget. Go for it.
But, right now, the more affordable segment of Chromebooks is still hard sell and recommendation for me.
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