It looks like Google is making good on their promise to send out free CR-48 netbooks in order to get the public using Google Chrome OS. The generic, not-so-shiny netbooks have already been reviewed by a number of sites. First impressions are positive. It’s important to remember that the goal here isn’t for Google to start manufacturing laptops just as the goal of the Nexus One and new Nexus S were not to get Google into the smartphone market. The point is to highlight Google Chrome OS.
Gizmodo calls the device the “antithesis of shiny MacBooks.” The entire netbook is in a black matte finish. There are no F-keys gracing the top of this keyboard, only the types of buttons you’d find on a web browser: back, forward, reload, and the like. The most talked-about feature of the CR-48 seems to be its speed. Not necessarily speed in general operations, but its ability to quickly jump to action with near instant shutdown and resume.
The netbook has an almost Droid-like quality, but there are some concerns. It is a netbook powered by an atom processor, so you won’t be doing anything too intense with it without delays. Flash seems to be the biggest problem with the CR-48. As Engadget points out: Adobe hasn’t built Flash acceleration yet for Linux, and there’s not a hardware acceleration chip.” This makes for a pretty bad experience on sites like Hulu and YouTube.
It will be interesting to see if laptop and netbook manufacturers take the idea of the Google Chrome OS powered CR-48 and run with it.