Google Chrome CR-48 Notebook Features, Hardware Specifications, Drawbacks, Price Availability India

The computer wars seem to be getting fierce. While in the golden days of computing (or so the old people from the computing call the period when those transistors were invented), there were a few manufacturers, the world is now populated with a lot of them in all fields. We have seen in last few years how mozilla with its Firefox browser has beaten down Internet Explorer which comes inbuilt with Windows. There was just one graphics manufacturer, one processor and one supercomputer manufacturer but now, we see a lot of them in all of them fields. The Chrome CR-48 Notebook seems to have made this competition even more cut-throat. You ask how? Read on and thou shall find!

What is Chrome CR-48 Notebook?

Well, that would be a dumb question because we already said that it is a 'notebook'. But for those who do not know any notebook other than what they use in schools for writing the answers, a Notebook is a portable computer; another name for the device, which we also call 'Laptop'.

But Chrome CR-48 Notebook is not exactly a laptop. It falls more in the category of netbook. Netbooks are small laptops which are small in size, low on processing power, have smaller screen, cramped keyboard and a small touchpad to let you do the minimal work. The Chrome CR-48 Notebook falls in this category.

Features of Chrome CR-48 Notebook

Hardware features of Chrome CR-48 Notebook

A computer is incomplete with software but it won't exist without the hardware at the first place! Its the hardware which decides how fast a computer is going to be, what it will be able to do and what it will not. So lets first see what Chrome CR-48 Notebook contains (and of course we are going to tell you what each part does, and its limitations). Lets start.

Dimensions of Chrome CR-48 - Dimension of Chrome CR-48 Notebook is 11.8 (w) X 8.6(d) X 0.9 (h) inches. The dimension of any device governs what it can contain. The phrase 'the bigger, the better' is quite correct when we relate 'features' with 'dimension'. Its just like you can't have a large touchscreen in a small phone. Since Chrome CR-48 is a netbook, it is small and is made for casual uses only. The dimensions of Chrome CR-48 are good when we consider the use of this machine.

Processor in Chrome CR-48 Notebook - In any device which can calculate, the processor is the most important thing to look after. A processor decides what a computer will be capable of doing. Being designed for causal uses, the Chrome CR-48 Notebook contain one of the smallest possible mobile CPUs. The processor used in Chrome CR-48 Notebook is an Intel Atom processor. Since there are a lot of Intel Atom CPUs, you might be wondering about 'which model'. So the complete answer is that there is Intel Atom N455 processor Chrome CR-48 Notebook

The Intel Atom N455 is a single core 64-bit processor running at 1.66 GHz, with 512 KB of L2 cache and Hyper-threading enabled. So this means that while, it will be able to do only one work at a time, the processor can be utilized to its utmost limit with higher productivity. Also, its low power consumption of only 6.5 watts means that the netbook battery will last longer! Another reason why it is an intelligent choice made by Google is that it contains the graphics processor inside the CPU and thus relieves a lot of load (and hence power consumption) from the rest of the system making it more efficient!

What is Hyper-threading?

Well, this is asked quite a number of times about 'what is hyper-threading'. To understand this, you should know that the processor itself contains small memory areas which are called registers. When you run a program, the same set of registers are used which are used to run another program. When the operating system wants to run another program, it will load a different set of data in the same registers. With hyper-threading, the processor is given two sets of registers, so that the operating system can keep both the sets of registers full with data so that the operating system spends less time to load the data into the registers. It can use the already loaded data contained in the second set of registers. This technique of creating two different sets of registers for same processing unit is called 'hyper-threading'.

RAM in Chrome CR-48 Notebook - The RAM is also called 'main memory'. The RAM is used by the processor more often than the hard disk. Anything that is to be processed is first loaded into the RAM before being processed. So more RAM means more things, which in turn means better processing speed. The Chrome CR-48 Notebook has 2 GB of DDR3 RAM which is quite nice and lets you do more work at one time without slowing down the system. This is a significant point in the hardware configuration of Chrome CR-48 Notebook because with a slower processor like the Intel Atom, having less memory can slow things too much.

Motherboard Chipset in Chrome CR-48 Notebook - While it is not much useful to ask the name of the Motherboard chipset in a notebook (because you cannot add any hardware to the main configuration), we would still tell you that Chrome CR-48 Notebook is based on Intel CG82NM10 PCH chipset which has very low power consumption of 2.1 watts and has decent support for all things a user would want from a netbook.

Wireless Technologies in Chrome CR-48 Notebook - The Chrome CR-48 Notebook has support for most Wireless Standards. It supports 802.11 a, b, g and n (draft) standards for Wireless access. If you are frightened by the terms, I would politely ask you to ignore them as they are a bit technical and not really of concern. What you need to know in short is that you just do not need to worry. This device supports all the wireless standards and no matter what type of hotspot you are trying to connect to, you will succeed!

Wireless Encryption is a concern for most people who use wireless and are savvy about how to protect the data that comes in and goes out of the device. To their rescue, Google has built the support for WEP , WPA and WPA2 in the device. Once again, you can be happy that you will be able to connect to the encrypted networks as well!

Wireless adapter in Chrome CR-48 Notebook - Chrome CR-48 Notebook comes built in with AzureWave 802.11 a/b/g/n PCI-E Half Mini Card. It is this card which makes this device do what we have mentioned just above: 'connect to other wireless devices'.

3G Adapter in Chrome CR-48 Notebook - Oh yes, you can simply put in a SIM card which allows you to use the 3G network and you are ready to go with the notebook! It comes with the Qualcomm Gobi2000 PCI Express Mini Card which lets you do the work on the move.

Hard disk in Chrome CR-48 Notebook - This is one area in which Chrome CR-48 Notebook lacks. Currently, it comes only with a 16 GB SSD and you have to rely on the external storage media if you want to have more storage!

Screen Resolution in Chrome CR-48 Notebook - The Screen resolution of Chrome CR-48 Notebook is quite nice at 1280 x 800 which is almost as much as that of the 14 or 15 inch laptops. This means that the screen is crisp and clear.

Keyboard in Chrome CR-48 Notebook - Its here that Google has made the users compromise by removing the function keys as well as the caps lock key. The reason why this has been done is that, while caps lock key is one of the least used ones on the keyboard, the function keys have no meaning in the Google Chrome OS which runs this machine and hence were dropped off. Since Google is famous for the search, they have actually placed a 'search' button in place of the caps lock key!

Pointing Device (touchpad) in Chrome CR-48 Notebook - As a pointing device, the device comes with a multi-touch capable trackpad and you would be able to command the machine without having to click buttons as you do on a normal laptop. However, if you have ever used a macbook, you will have nothing new here.

Graphics in Chrome CR-48 Notebook - As we already said that the device is powered by the Intel Atom processor, which also acts as a graphics processor, there is no point in repeating the details. We wold rather add that the Graphics clock speed is set at 200 MHz and it shares the same memory as the CPU (After all it is embedded into the CPU). There is also a VGA out port which would let you connect a VGA display to it.

Audio support in Chrome CR-48 Notebook - Audio in Chrome CR-48 Notebook is quite decent with stereo channel and one 3.5 mm output jack. A microphone is also built in the machine at the top.

Webcam in Chrome CR-48 Notebook - Not to a surprise, the machine comes with an built-in webcam which is placed above the screen. This is very expected because the machine is designed with the internet user in mind and video chats are no more a fashion but an everyday technology and a need for some.

Card reader in Chrome CR-48 Notebook - Just like any other netbook, Chrome CR-48 Notebook also comes with a SD Card reader. This is, as always a nice feature for those who carry a camera around to capture images and transfer them to the netbook, now and then.

Battery life of Chrome CR-48 Notebook - The average operating time of this notebook / netbook without AC power (i.e. on Battery) is about 7 hours which can decrease if you are watching videos. While watching videos, the battery would last about 1.5 hours less, at about 5.5 Hours, which is still very good for most general cases.

So what does it all mean? Well, the Chrome CR-48 Notebook seems to be having all the problems any other netbook would have and is still a good one due to the intelligent choices made by Google in the hardware configuration. The hardware of Chrome CR-48 Notebook is capable of doing all the entry level work as per the hardware configuration. However, if you think that you want to play games on this netbook, then you will be disappointed not only because of its hardware but also because of the way the software is pre-installed on Chrome CR-48 Notebook.

Pros of the hardware configuration of Chrome CR-48 Notebook

The device comes built in with the 3G option so you will not have to carry the USB dongle for data transfers on the move. Since Chrome CR-48 Notebook is heavily dependent on the internet connection for the things to work, it is a nice addition to the regular netbook hardware by Google.

Cons of the hardware configuration of Chrome CR-48 Notebook

Although, there are no significant downsides of hardware configuration of Chrome CR-48, things can be a bit irritating for the person using it at times if he / she wants the exact performance and behavior of a regular netbook. One of those is the lack of function keys and replacing caps lock with the search key. People may accidentally press wrong buttons which can easily get irritating and would require a lot of practice to get used to. There are also some significant downsides on the software part which Google has left behind (and we are going to talk about that very soon).

Another downside of this notebook is that there is no Ethernet port on this device, which means that you cannot plug the Chrome CR-48 Notebook to your LAN and start working. You will need to purchase a Wireless Router / Access point device, create an access point and then use it. This can be a problem for many users who do not already have the Wireless device available.

Software features of Chrome CR-48 Notebook

A computer is always incomplete without the right software. If you have no Operating System installed on the machine, then there is no way you will be able to work on that machine. The Chrome CR-48 Notebook runs on the 'very' hyped Google Chrome-OS. There were users who had many expectations from this operating system and since it is about to be launched with the final release of Chrome CR-48 Notebook, all of them shall be revealed. So lets look on what Google Chrome OS is, what it is capable of and what it lacks.

The Google Chrome OS in Chrome CR-48 Notebook

We know the browser Chrome on your desktops. It is fast and sleek and looks great with the minimal number of features on screen at a time and a lot of them underneath. Considering the fact the browser is made by the world's best 'Web Company', it is very much expected that it will be fast and will work great. Now, the question which comes in front is that whether or not the Chrome OS runs as good as the browser. The interesting fact about chrome OS is that it is once again browser based! Well, this sounds weird because a browser needs an operating system to run itself. So how do you create an OS which depends on the browser?

The core of Chrome CR-48 Notebook – Linux

The chrome browser project was derived from the 'chromium' project which is an open source project hosted on the Google Code website. The same project also tried to create the OS called Chromium OS upon which, the Google Chrome OS is based. So we can say that the company is trying to get the most and the best out of the open source world. Since Linux is the largest open source project in the world and is considered one of the most stable Operating Systems, it makes sense why Google chose to go with Linux. In fact, a leaked version of this operating system on the internet suggests that it is made by using SUSE Studio, which is a free service provided by the openSUSE project to create a Linux distribution of your preferences.

Since Linux does a great job at almost everything that a operating system can and is exceptionally good at networking, Google, we suppose has made an intelligent choice.

So, if you not perceive the picture, you will be able to understand how the Google Chrome OS works in Chrome CR-48 Notebook. In case you are not able to, let us help you. The Google Chrome OS uses Linux as the main operating system which does the jobs like managing processes, taking care of networking, reading and writing to the disk and other jobs which an Operating System usually does. On top of the core operating system, they have created the graphical representation of the OS, which is nothing but the modified version of the chrome browser which serves you with the graphical interface. While the Google engineers have been saying that "Chrome is the Chrome OS", the fact is that "Linux mixed with Chrome Browser is the Chrome OS".

Software capabilities of Chrome CR-48 Notebook

The capabilities of any computer is limited by the hardware it uses. Since Chrome CR-48 Notebook falls in the category of netbooks, the features are limited at the very first point. However, it seems that Google has further restricted the users of Chrome CR-48. The Chrome OS is a bit limited when it comes to the computation abilities of the machine but Google seems to be disallowing users from using anything on the machine when the internet connectivity is not present. Apart from those restrictions, the device will be able to do most of the work in relatively simple manner. So what can the Chrome CR-48 Notebook do? Well, it can play you music, can help you create documents, presentations, spreadsheets, browse web, watch movies and all that regular stuff you do on the computer.

It is very much expected that you might be wondering what the restrictions are with this device. To answer your inquisitiveness, you need to know the target market of Chrome CR-48 Notebook, or in simpler words, you need to know what type of users it was created for.

Target market of Chrome CR-48 Notebook

The Chrome CR-48 Notebook runs on Chrome OS which governs the way the device will work. The target market is one of those factors which are affected by the use of Chrome OS. The chrome OS was designed to behave like a "cloud operating system", which basically means that it will need the 'Cloud' (which is another term for Internet, nowadays) for almost every other thing. Naturally Chrome CR-48 Notebook is designed for those people who need the internet for almost every thing they use the computer for. It is in interesting move by Google to create such an OS because, most of the time, the use of a netbook is to browse the net (which is why they are called netbooks) and prior to Google Chrome OS, there have been no Operating System which has been specifically designed for the internet users.

Software Restrictions in Chrome CR-48 Notebook

As we said in the above paragraph, Chrome CR-48 Notebook is made for those people who spend most of the time on the internet, the restrictions presented by Chrome CR-48 can be guessed easily. The restriction with Chrome CR-48 is that it will not allow you to do a significant amount of work if you are not connected to internet. The question 'why' in this context is what we have tried to answer in the next few paragraphs.

While Google is a web company and making an operating system which uses internet for 'most' of its functionality is expected, restricting the use to a large extent is irritating at times, specially in countries where Internet connectivity cannot be guaranteed at every moment. So if you think that you would buy this notebook when it comes out for 'word processing', it would be a bad idea.

Software in Chrome CR-48 Notebook – What is included

Well, Google has been famous for making things simple, but it seems that Einstein was right when he said, "Things should be made as simple as possible, but not any simpler". The Chrome CR-48 Notebook comes with only one usable software – The Chrome Browser. Yes, that's surprising but is true. The Chrome CR-48 Notebook does not come with any other software which we are used to in a regular computer. If you are thinking "how will you do word processing and watch movies", read on and we shall answer it.

Software in Chrome CR-48 Notebook – What is excluded

Well, strictly speaking, almost everything except a browser is missing from the machine.

Working on Chrome CR-48 Notebook

While we will tell you that you can do most of the other things, it must also be kept in mind that almost nothing is going to work (except the music and video playback) if there is no internet connection. So how will you use this machine for the everyday work? Lets see, one by one:

Word Processing in Chrome CR-48
You would not get the great MS office on this machine but if you have the internet connection, you would still be able to use this machine for Word processing. It comes with a link to the online Google Docs application which will start off and you will be able to use it for the Word processing. If you like some other online word processor like the web version of Microsoft office, then you will be able to use it here.

Without internet connectivity, you will not be able to do word processing in Chrome CR-48 Notebook.

Spreadsheet editing in Chrome CR-48 - Nothing is special here, it will once again be handled by the Google Docs. You can also use any other online application if you want to.

Once again, without internet connectivity, you will not be able to do spreadsheet editing in Chrome CR-48 Notebook.

Creating Presentations in Chrome CR-48 Notebook - Once again you can use the Google Docs or any other application for the purpose.

And we are sure that you would have guessed it that without internet connectivity, you will not be able to do it in the Chrome CR-48 Notebook.

Listening to Music on Chrome CR-48 Notebook - Its pretty easy. You can use the internet to listen to the music you want.

If you have lost internet connectivity, you can plug in your USB device and open the media file to be played and it should be able to play.

Watching videos on Chrome CR-48 Notebook - As it is with music, you can use the internet to browse your favorite sites like youtube to watch videos.

Also, just like music playback, you can use the notebook to watch the videos (and that means movies). All you have to do is to plug in the USB drive, select the media file and open it! Beware though, if you want to play HD videos on Chrome CR-48, you might get disappointed because the processor is not too fast to accomplish a task of decoding the video file.

Games on Chrome CR-48 Notebook - There are a few 'games' available on the notebook, as you might have guessed, in form of internet applications. You can play the online games if you want. The notebook supports flash very well.

In case you do not have internet connectivity, and if you think you want to run crysis, well you will first be disappointed by the operating system; its not Windows. So there is no way you can run a Windows game on the notebook. Second, you have no desktop. Third, there is not enough space on the device. Fourth, the processor is slow and lastly, the screen is small for 3D games! So there is quite a problem there.

10 Things Chrome CR-48 Notebook is better at than a Windows notebook

Boot-up time of Chrome CR-48 Notebook - The Boot-up time of Chrome CR-48 Notebook is about 10 seconds, which is exceptionally fast when compared to the Windows based notebooks. The Chrome CR-48 Notebook boots up almost instantly when compared to the Windows based notebooks or netbooks.

Price of Chrome CR-48 Notebook - The Windows operating system comes with a hefty price tag. Since CR-48 is based on Linux which is a free operating system, the price tag of Chrome CR-48 is going to be much less compared to the Windows counterparts.

Compatibility of Chrome CR-48 Notebook - Compatibility of applications, devices etc. is one big issue for people. What if you plug in a camera and you are not able to make it work? What if the printer is not detected? Such questions often bother people. Chrome CR-48 Notebook running on an Operating System which is based on Linux is expected to have quite much less problems when compared to the Windows based notebooks.

Updates on Chrome CR-48 Notebook - Updating your software is one thing which is often a headache. To keep up with the latest versions of all software installed on the system along with the operating system is time consuming. Chrome CR-48 Notebook takes care of the updates quite easily. Since the applications running on the system are minimal, the update is automated and easy to perform. However, the small problem is that you may be charged for the data transfers which might take place when the update happens.

Portability of Chrome CR-48 Notebook - The machine runs an Operating System which was made for the user who spends his time on the internet. In most cases, a bigger computer is always better at home but when you are traveling, it is practically impossible to carry your desktop around. While the notebook is a great alternative, it may still be bulky. A netbook shines in these matters. With Chrome CR-48, you have all the data you create on the internet and you can access it from anywhere. The best part is that, if you created anything with your CR-48, it is present on the internet and you can use any other computer to get that!

Google Accounts on Chrome CR-48 Notebook - The Chrome CR-48 Notebook behaves as an extension to your Google Account, which means that all you need to remember for using the notebook is the password. So, you do not have to create 3 different accounts for your family members. Anyone can use the machine with their Google Account. Some might feel unsafe that if the machine is lost or stolen, then anyone will be able to read their documents. Well, we would like to remind you that nothing is stored on the notebook, but on the internet, so there is pretty much nothing that person will get in terms of data if he happens to steal the machine.

Battery life of Chrome CR-48 Notebook - Since Chrome CR-48 Notebook is based on Chrome OS (and that means Linux) and there is nothing much to do except surfing, the battery life of Chrome CR-48 Notebook will be better than those of the Windows based machines due to Linux being lightweight in terms of processor usage.

Being connected to the Internet - With Chrome CR-48 Notebook which is based on the Chrome OS, you can feel that you are connected to the internet anytime. The Chrome OS is a browser based operating system. Basically speaking, this OS is one of its kind and it is meant for basically those people who live on the internet. Since you have the 3G service built right into the machine, the way you connect to the internet will be much easier and you can feel the connectivity at all times.

Security on Chrome CR-48 Notebook - Have you ever been bothered about viruses? I bet you have. You would have installed anything from the free antivirus software to the might internet protection suites. Google helps you save a lot on the security front too. Since it is basically based on the Linux OS, it will not suffer from the usual security problems on the Windows platforms. Not only will the system be more stable and free from viruses but since all the data is stored on the cloud, you will also be at ease that your documents are accessible only to you.

User friendliness of Chrome CR-48 Notebook - If you have used a browser, you will have no problem in using Chrome CR-48 Notebook. There are no 'too much settings panel' and so on. So this notebook is great for your grandma. She will not be bothered with the zillion problematic boxes she cannot understand.

Drawbacks of Chrome CR-48 Notebook compared to Windows based machines

Not only does this notebook have good things but also some bad things. There are reasons why Microsoft still would rule the market with Windows than Google getting ahead. Following are some things which this notebook is not quite good at when compared to the Windows based computer.

No Desktop - A user is usually more familiar with a desktop than a browser showing a 'start-page'. Windows has established itself as the standard for the Operating System from the users' perspective and users want Windows features everywhere. So, Chrome CR-48 Notebook might fail at few points in satisfying the users in this regard.

Need of more applications - You will need more than just the browser if you want to enjoy the various type of contents on the internet. You might want to read an e-book which is in the .CHM format. As far as we know, there is no web application which will display you the contents of the ebook in CHM format. There are application in the Linux arena which will help the work get done but since the Machine does not behave in the same way as a standard OS, this might be a big pain. Opening some file types which require desktop applications is something which cannot be done on Chrome CR-48 Notebook.

Media playback - At times, we need the support of VLC media player to play those formats which are not playable by a browser. It is not completely known how Google intends to solve this problem but it is sure to arise at some time in the future versions of this device.

Very less local storage - While it is great to have everything on the internet, it is another thing to have the files locally and enjoy them when you need them. It is big issue if you want to open a large file. In case you are opening a file which is bigger than the usual document, and that file resides on the internet, opening it again and again can be very irritating as it will require you to wait for the time the document is transferred over the internet to the web application and is then displayed.

No Local applications - If you want to create a document, you will need internet connectivity. Same applies to many other areas of work you would usually do on a standard Windows based computer. The Chrome CR-48 Notebook will restrict you from using your notebook in a more productive way when not connected to the internet. This is the most irritating part of the Chrome CR-48 Notebook.

No new applications - If you have used Windows (or even Linux), you must have enjoyed the plethora of applications you can install, then remove them when you don't need them. While having Google Docs as the default document creation program is great for some users, it might not be so exciting for everyone. People might want more functionality from the application they use. Since you cannot install the regular desktop applications, it might get boring and problematic in no time.

No great games - Everyone likes to play games. But since there are no ways to install a game on Chrome CR-48 Notebook, you will have to be dependent on the internet games which play on the browser only.

Long term costs - If you use the internet for every other thing, and you also pay for the internet connectivity, per use, then you are going to be chraged more by the operator, which means more expenses in the long run. However, if your data plans are fast and unlimited, then you are at ease with the notebook.

No programming possible - If you are a programmer and are thinking about even creating small programs for your school home work, you are bound to get disappointed by Chrome CR-48 Notebook because there is no way you will be able to use a browser based OS to do some programming.

Disappointing for Hardcore users - There are people who want to use their computer for almost everything. For example, it is possible to use a netbook as a FTP server on the LAN for storing files. This makes sense because you will be using a FTP server which will be able to transfer files at real good speeds while using very less power. If you are a hardcore user like that who wants to make best possible use of everything, you will surely be disappointed that Chrome CR-48 Notebook does not allow you do much in this regard.

How to get Chrome CR-48 Notebook in India?

Currently, Google is not selling Chrome CR-48 Notebook India but it is available for testing via the pilot program. You can visit the Google website and request yourself to become a tester for Chrome CR-48 Notebook India. If you are accepted as one, Google will send you the notebook for testing and you will be able to test Chrome CR-48 Notebook India for a period.

Google Chrome CR-48 Notebook Price India

Well, the Chrome CR-48 Notebook India has not been launched officially for sale yet, as I mentioned above about Chrome CR-48 Notebook India. However, the expected Chrome CR-48 Notebook Price India is $500 which would come around to Rs. 25,000.