Google Cr-48 Chrome notebook teardown

Summary: Bill Detwiler cracks open the Google Cr-48 Chrome notebook in this TR Dojo teardown gallery.

By Bill Detwiler | December 14, 2010 -- 05:14 GMT (21:14 PST)

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In December 2010, Google launched a pilot program to test and promote its Chrome OS. Through the program, the company sent specially designed Cr-48 Chrome notebooks to individuals who promised to "use it regularly and send us detailed feedback."

We got our hands on a Cr-48 notebook and couldn't wait to see the hardware inside. Follow along as we crack it open.

Photo by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic

Caption by: Bill Detwiler

Topics: Hardware, Browser, Google, Laptops, Mobility

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17 comments

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RE: Google Cr-48 Chrome notebook teardown

I think you voided your warrantee.

willytc1066@...
14 December, 2010 10:36

Reply Vote
- can't get a thing past you, can we?
 
 @willytc1066@... "I think you voided your warranty." ... and the downside? Mental Note for Google R&D Teams ... "MUST stick to Android, Search and Ads ..." <img border="0" src="http://www.cnet.com/i/mb/emoticons/wink.gif" alt="wink">
 
 thx-1138_
 15 December, 2010 01:35
 
 Reply Vote
Great job at disassembly!

Couldn't ask for better analysis of this notebook; great if you need to repair it or others like it!

amasys
14 December, 2010 11:17

Reply Vote
- Did you get it back together again ?
  
  @amasys
  
  KingConga
  17 December, 2010 04:00
  
  Reply Vote
RE: Google Cr-48 Chrome notebook teardown

I think the press has missed the big picture here. The Cr-48 pilot program is not about hardware. It is supposed to be about the Chrome OS. (That is why they left the hardware as plain and uninteresting as possible, so as not to distract from the OS. But it seems like 90% of the stories I have seen seem to be focused on the hardware. It is like giving a kid a cool Christmas present and all he does is play with the box it came in...

TriadX1
14 December, 2010 12:05

Reply Vote
- It is about a web browser.
 
 @TriadX1
 
 Calling Chrome an "OS" is a bit far flung.
 
 Bruizer
 14 December, 2010 13:12
 
 Reply Vote
 - RE: Google Cr-48 Chrome notebook teardown
 
 @Bruizer This kind of what I thought. Could you not take a 10 year old notebook, use Windows XP or a stripped linux build, have it only load Chrome Browser as the shell and have the same thing? (and get even better support for drivers, Flash etc.) I hope to get my hands on one as an exorcise to see what you can do with only a browser... I, like most desktop/laptop users, am so ingrained in my old habits of having a local file system, etc, that this could take some getting used to.
 
 TriadX1
 15 December, 2010 11:37
 
 Reply Vote
- RE: Google Cr-48 Chrome notebook teardown
 
 @TriadX1
 But Chrome OS still lacks drivers for much common hardware.Sure, it runs on their hand-picked hardware, but try it on the average laptop that John Q Public owns and it won't recognize all of the standard hardware.
 
 darkmoonman
 14 December, 2010 13:38
 
 Reply Vote
- RE: Google Cr-48 Chrome notebook teardown
 
 @TriadX1 while i would generally agree with you on the hardware issue, as someone who received a cr-48 back in Feb & who's video display failed about 4 weeks ago, i can't help but focus on the hardware. as much as i'd like to get back to poking around in the OS, i'm spending an exhausting amount of time in forums & on the cr-48 trying to get the video to work w/o being plugged into an external monitor. it makes it impossible for me to demo to co-workers how awesome Chrome OS & the cr-48 is when i don't have a monitor to do so & the people i'm trying to show it to don't understand why the hardware doesn't work, so they'd never even get to the point of focusing on the OS.
 
 denacho
 11 May, 2011 07:04
 
 Reply Vote
RE: Google Cr-48 Chrome notebook teardown

unimpressive hardware, it should work as a VM. i wonder if they made any improvements to WINE, because WINE generally stinks.

freethinkerinfl
14 December, 2010 15:12

Reply Vote
- When was the last time you used it?
  
  NT
  
  search & destroy
  14 December, 2010 15:45
  
  Reply Vote
RE: Google Cr-48 Chrome notebook teardown

I wonder if just contacting Google wouldn't have gotten the detailed specs that you've found and maybe Google would have sent this one to me to really use. Wasn't that the purpose of the machine - to use the OS?

ebhb2004@...
14 December, 2010 15:28

Reply Vote
RE: Google Cr-48 Chrome notebook teardown

I'm definitely gonna miss the absence of PageUp/PageDown keys. I've played around with a netbook without them, and it's horrible.

"You'll get up to 100MB of data transfer each month and can purchase more without a contract."

Perfect for playing an MMO!

No, wait . . . how big is WoW again? (hint: It's more than 10 GB)

CobraA1
14 December, 2010 21:14

Reply Vote
RE: Google Cr-48 Chrome notebook teardown

"The Google Cr-48 Chrome notebook uses the [b]Intel NM10 Express chipset, that consists of an Atom N455 CPU[/b] and a southbridge chip (shown here)."

Eh, so much for those people declaring ARM to be the future and Intel to be dead, lol.

CobraA1
14 December, 2010 21:30

Reply Vote
RE: Google Cr-48 Chrome notebook teardown

Nice to see all the images taken with enough depth of field so that everything is in focus.

dogphlap
15 December, 2010 05:09

Reply Vote
RE: Google Cr-48 Chrome notebook teardown

I don't care about the labor. I wanna see the delivery - the baby. How about a review of how it actually works? While engineers care about design, users care about experience.

Jiggawatt
15 December, 2010 09:16

Reply Vote
Video card?

Perhaps I didn't pay attention, can somebody tell me what video card does this netbook have?

julianatanasoae
18 December, 2010 12:09

Reply Vote