google's chrome laptop

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Robert Glover brought up the Chrome laptop in the windows vs mac thread. I remember five/six years ago, I was looking for an "internet surfing machine" rather than a computer for my mother. Nothing existed. Even the tablet type devices require wifi. What about the senior citizens who are happy plowing along on dialup? If the Chrome laptop supports dialup, I think it is awesome!

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

I see Verizon is offering wireless for it. Hmm. I wonder if that would replace the need for dialup.

[Mark Spritzler]

Do they have a release date for it?

I will definitely look at one of these for my collection of cool toys.

Mark

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Mark Spritzler wrote:Do they have a release date for it?

June 15th. I'm excited too. I think it as a lot of potential. People just using the internet, need a browser and not a full computer. This implements that concept. The "internet surfing machine."

[Mark Spritzler]

Jeanne Boyarsky wrote:

Mark Spritzler wrote:Do they have a release date for it?

June 15th. I'm excited too. I think it as a lot of potential. People just using the internet, need a browser and not a full computer. This implements that concept. The "internet surfing machine."

Actually, it is supposed to be something different than that. Sure you can surf the internet, but iPad, iPhone, netBooks have that ability.

This is truly the Browser is the OS. Your apps you run are run via the web. No installation of software.

Like how the iPad is used for a particular paradigm, that is different than a phone, or a netbook, or a laptop. This is more to be a fully functional laptop, but the apps are all run through Chrome.

Mark

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Right. It seems easier to use than a netbook due to the no installation of software which is why I think of it as an internet surfing machine. The iPad is a better simulation of that, but it doesn't have keyboard/mouse/monitor. (And hooking it up via Bluetooth negates the simplicity of "just turn it on.")

[Pat Farrell]

No dialup on an iPad either. I guess that whether an iPad or a netbook/chromebook is easier for your mom to use depends on your mom. A lot of my friends' moms were professional secretaries back in the 50s and 60s, and for them, using a keyboard is natural.

Dialup? I know that AOL makes a lot of money from millions of folks who don't realize that they don't have to pay for AOL dial-up anymore. I assume that there are rural parts of the US, and probably other countries that don't have effective broadband. I'm having a hard time imagining how using dial-up would work these days, most websites are packed with at least graphics if not video.

I would think that a better solution would be to get a 3G/4G data link, or a myfi type device. But then again, dial-up was cheap.

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Pat Farrell wrote:Dialup? I know that AOL makes a lot of money from millions of folks who don't realize that they don't have to pay for AOL dial-up anymore. I assume that there are rural parts of the US, and probably other countries that don't have effective broadband.

Not AOL. $10 a month. And yes, really slow. Part of the problem is that she knows how dialup works and is comfortable with it. Part of it is that she doesn't know what she is missing. And part of it is that some retirees don't value their time as much.

I'm not getting an iPad for my mother. She needs a computer (kind of.) A netbook isn't any simpler than the computer she has now. Except it has a smaller screen so is a step backwards.