What if Chromebooks were made by Apple?
Summary: Why do so many of us drool after luscious, high-priced Apple hardware (myself included), but Google's Chromebooks remain niche, utilitarian players?
If my calculations are correct (because I'm that big a nerd), the new 11" MacBook Air I ordered will be coming into the Memphis FedEx superhub any minute now. Again, because I'm pretty nerdy, I was surprised to not see the typical Shanghai to Anchorage leg for my laptop (and a few thousand other Apple, HP, and Dell products that fly out of Pudong International every day). After all, FedEx invested heavily in Anchorage because of the ability to fly cargo through it easily with relatively short hops from most of the developed world (short hops=less fuel=more cargo). Then I saw it. One of FedEx's relatively new Boeing 777 extended range cargo jets, FDX Flight 90, now flies direct from Shanghai to Memphis.
Why do I share this shameful little story of geeky, gadget lust-driven OCD? I like Apple products, but I'd hardly consider myself a fanboi. If I'm a fanboi of any type, it's of the Google variety. Because I'm hardly the only one that Apple manages to lure to sights like FlightAware and FlightStats in the hopes of seeing just where that particular bit of Jobsian goodness might be on its journey to my laptop bag. Which, by the way, probably needs updating to accommodate my new diminutive computing companion.
A quick search for Shanghai to Anchorage flights yields almost exclusively results for people wanting to track their Apple shipments. People are really passionate about their Apple products, even if they're not particularly passionate about technology.
A little update, by the way. FedEx Flight 90 just landed in Memphis and my FedEx tracking status just updated (they sit side-by-side in a couple of browser tabs). My Mac is in Memphis: Boeing 777-200LR/F (long-range freight) to the rescue. Alaska no longer stands between me and Apple hardware. Just a 13-hour flight straight to the continental US, a mere single time zone away. So for those of you who just couldn't resist an updated Mac and live somewhere near the east coast, Flight 90 is your friend.
The point of all of this is Apple's ability bring out the inner gadget junkie in many of us represents something of a secret sauce. Compelling products + reality distortion field + short upgrade cycles = geeks who refresh their FedEx tracking pages a bit too often.
The MacBook Air that has me all a-twitter is really the ultimate netbook. Full-sized backlit keyboard, virtually instant on, and basically the size of an iPad. Oh yeah, and a Core i7 processor to boot. Google's Chromebooks actually fit the typical usage of a MacBook Air pretty well and the two have been compared ad nauseum. And yet, when it comes down to it, I bet there aren't too many people, no matter how geeky, tracking the whereabouts of their Chromebooks literally to the second as they near their destination.
I love my Chromebook and I think that Google has done something very cool with Chrome OS. If you live in the browser, it's a great tool and the business and educational applications are extensive. And yet, one of the more innovative products to hit the PC market in a long time landed on American shores with something of a sigh. Now if Apple had made a browser-only product, with great hardware and a brilliant screen, done something cool with an offline mode, and applied their marketing muscle, people would have been tracking their Safaribooks (I just made that one up) with the same zeal they apply to iPads and MacBooks.
The point? The Chromebook concept rocks. The implementation? It has a ways to go. The marketing? Well, let's just say that it's too bad the Apple folks don't talk to the Google folks very much anymore. They might learn a thing or two from each other.
Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily email newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.
Talkback
RE: What if Chromebooks were made by Apple?
RE: What if Chromebooks were made by Apple?
The funny thing is as useless as the ChromeBook if it was a SafariBook it would have sold like hotcakes. Go figure.
You have it backwards..
There are no SarfariBooks for a reason.
They would not sell regardless of who made them. That may be different in 2-5 years when network connectivity is cheap and ubiquitous.
RE: What if Chromebooks were made by Apple?
Why Apple would release safariBook? They have more powerful device on hand and works better than chromeBook, iPad.
I doubt it
That's why there's a store full of apps - so that next time you're out and about without a rocket stick or built in 3G, you've still got movies to watch in iTunes, tunes to check out, and games to play.
RE: What if Chromebooks were made by Apple?
Uh
"No. It doesn't."
Yes, it does.
You see how easy that was? Now your opionion means nothing too. Because I just said so.
Since your opinion is now worthless then all that nonsense you typed only applies to your world. I'm sure it's valid there, after all, you vallidate it, but out here? Means nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada.
RE: What if Chromebooks were made by Apple?
His logic applies to 100's of millions of others worlds as well.
If not billions. The Chromebooks are Google's insistance in looking towards the past. Chromebooks are an attempt to return to the 1970's.
RE: What if Chromebooks were made by Apple?
"That means yours means nothing too."
Uh... Duh. How long did it take you to get that?
The difference between you and he
Try it some time - it will increase your standing and win you friends!
RE: What if Chromebooks were made by Apple?
RE: What if Chromebooks were made by Apple?
ChromeOS only has *limited* offline capability. If you go offline you have a bonafied brick on your hands. Why have that when I can have a machine that works offline and online, and does the job better?
RE: What if Chromebooks were made by Apple?
There is such a thing as a safariBook but it's really called iPad (also featuring vendor lock in and also $500+). Local storage, applications, etc. But if you don't have 3G, it's also just a local brick until you're in range of wifi.
And before you get all ooh aah, the next big thing from Apple is called 'iCloud' stored in a datafarm. WOW!! what a great idea.
Seriously guys, male and female, a Chromebook is a magnificent computer in comparison to an iPad. For an even better iPad, get an Android Tablet running Honeycomb.
For everything else, get something else.
And Cylon, "Google is apparently deleting user profiles"... you're either not fully up-to-speed or you're being disingenuous.
"Apparently" you're a fanboy. No evidence, but there you are, once I've used "apparently" it's a fact you see.
RE: What if Chromebooks were made by Apple?
And you definitely can't compare it to Honeycomb. I could have gotten a Chromebook instead of my Xoom. I didn't, because I felt the Xoom was more useful.
RE: What if Chromebooks were made by Apple?
RE: What if Chromebooks were made by Apple?
If I want a cheap solution that always will be online, I would buy a refurb laptop (under $200) and install Ubuntu and Open Office or Libre and get a prepaid 3G card. This would be cheaper and more productive than chromeBook. And I have flexibility of accessing, storing and deleting my "data" whenever I want.
RE: What if Chromebooks were made by Apple?
+1
RE: What if Chromebooks were made by Apple?
Well said. The concept of the Chromebook is stupid. The only thing even more stupid are those (like Dawson apparently) that are willing to trust their data to Google. The cloud is nice in terms of augmenting your workflow, but it's not suited for replacing it. At least in concept, I like Apple's vision of cloud computing much better. Let's see if they can pull it off.
Anyway, to answer Dawson's question. If Apple made the Chromebook, it would be more expensive, it would a world class piece of hardware, but it would still suck.