My Chrome experiment terminated...

It's just a day away...

I didn't even make it a week. What started as my Chrome Experiment, where I was going to attempt for two weeks to only use the Chrome browser and cloud services for all my computing needs to see if I was a good candidate for a Chromebook, came screeching to a halt today when I ordered a Samsung Series 5 Chromebook with 3G from Amazon.com...I know, I know...not very scientific but allow me to explain.

To put it bluntly, I found it ridiculously easy to use just the Chrome browser and cloud services for my day to day, non-work-related, computing needs. The only time I thought I ran into an issue was when I wanted to load the images of my Motorola Xoom onto Craigslist. I used the card reader on my iMac...the Chromebook has one as well so I thought it a good simulation...and uploaded the images to Picasa. On the Craigslist website it didn't give me an option to use a URL for the photos, so I was thinking "damn, I've got to download them and then upload them." Then I came to my senses and just uploaded them directly to Craigslist direct from the SD card. I think you can do this with a Chromebook, but I don't sell on Craigslist very often so it's not a deal breaker.

That's it, that's the only thing that has been remotely an issue. What made me pull the trigger was the positive reviews from current Chromebook users and the great community over at Chromebook Central. The more I read about their Chromebook experiences the more I realized that the Chromebook was in fact what I had hoped my Xoom tablet would be. Ultimately, I guess I thought that Android 3.2 would be different enough from the version on my phone that I would have some greater capability and features. The things I really like about it...quick boot/quick wake from sleep and long battery life...I will now have in my Chromebook. I will also have 3G coverage in a pinch, something I didn't have with my Xoom.

The other thing that made me pull the trigger was my trip to Best Buy on Labor day. I wanted to see for myself what so many Chromebook critics were claiming...I wanted to see what kind of laptop I could buy for $450 at Best Buy. To be fair, they had some pretty good deals going...such as the 15.6" Samsung laptop with an i3 processor for $380. But most of the laptops they had in that price range were all larger and heavier than the Samsung Chromebook and had no where near the 8.5 hour battery life. And they were all running Windows 7...a great improvement over Vista but still a pain at times to deal with (anti-virus software, system updates, hard drive defrags, etc.).

So, my new Chromebook will be delivered tomorrow. As with any new gadget, I'm looking forward to getting to know my new Chromebook and how it meets my needs. I honestly believe I will be much more happy with it than with my Xoom. Perhaps I shouldn't declare my Chrome Experiment dead...or even concluded. Maybe I should think of this as Phase 2 of my Chrome Experiment...more to come.