Google ChromeBooks for Education and Business

Last week there were some exciting announcements made at Google I/O and while it should be interesting to see how some of these projects will turn out, ChromeBooks is finally making its debut. The ChromeBook is the commercially available version of the Cr-48 Laptop I received a few months ago.

If you have not heard about this hardware yet, the basics are:

• 7 second boot time and instant on from sleep mode
• 8 hour battery life with wifi
• Designed for cloud storage, very little if any local storage
• Can be leased for about $20/month to schools and businesses or purchased for a few hundred dollars.

When I have worked with teachers on implementing technology in their classrooms the number one complaint is how long the computers take to start and the second problem encountered with laptop powered classrooms is battery life. Both of these cease to be concerns with ChromeBooks

You might ask how is it to work without a hard drive and all of your favorite programs? I would honestly say that I only miss it about 20% of the time. Which means for all of my basic needs: Internet, Email, Blogging, Calendar, Editing Lesson Plans/Documents the Chromebook is great. I appreciate that I can have an idea during a meeting and quickly jot it down. Not to mention all of the time where a task requires more than a phone's small keyboard.

Now walk with caution. There are a couple of caveats that one should consider before plunging in.

• If you use a software like Photoshop or Premier you will not find an alternative in the ChromeBook (yet). There are many applications added to the Chrome Web Store each day to replace one of your installed programs. However, evaluate your needs and see if it the ChromeBook works for your situation.
• If you wish to purchase a ChromeBook rather than lease it, the initial machines are retailing for a few hundred dollars. I am sure like any other technology, after the initial excitement dies down the price will drop dramatically.
• I see these Chromebooks not replacing laptops but supporting alongside them. I would imagine a small computer to student ratio where some students are working on the ChromeBooks on an assignment that can be completed via cloud tools like Google Apps while other students might be editing a video on a standard laptop. This divide might go away as more developers start creating web based alternative programs.If you are interested in developing for the Chrome OS, you will greatly help out this process. 

The Market will show whether or not this will change the world or be considered ahead of its time. There are so many examples of technology that simply didn't catch on and we will have to see where the ChromeBook stands. Unfortunately it will likely come down to price, marketing and support.

Why the Google Laptop Will Transform Our Culture

A few months ago, I applied for a Cr-48 Google Notebook both for myself and for my classroom. They asked me how I would use it and why I thought I was a good candidate. Then I waited, and waited, and watched a few in my Twitter PLN get one and write their thoughts on it. After a while, I completely forgot about it since there is no way to follow up on it.

Then this week, my wife told me I had received a package. I knew it couldn't be anything for our FRC Robot because everything is sent to the school. I opened it up and saw the playful packaging I had seen hundreds of times on Slashdot and Twitter. I received a Cr-48! I could offer my thoughts on it, but you can find the specs online as well as many great reviews about what is and isn't amazing about it. So I thought I would talk about it from an Educator's perspective.

My Dad is the quintessential early adopter. He used Betamax and Laserdisk to watch movies, wrote notes on his Apple Newton, and played games on an Intellivision. His house could have served as a museum of technology. Yet, I learned to never be an early adopter for hardware because:

1) The first iteration is never that great and there are a lot of bugs or few features.

2) The initial cost is insane but drops dramatically after a year or so. 

It is these two points that make me excited not for the Cr-48 or its future versions, but for what will happen because of it. Look at the impact that Apple has had on the design of technology. Everything has a touchscreen now and user interfaces are easy and visually appealing to encourage wide adoption. With Google I expect there to be similar changes to our culture with the Cr-48. Keep in mind it is just a prototype, the Chrome OS has not even reached 1.0 so we are at the Alpha Stage. It should not be judged by what it is but what it could be. This is why it was sent out to us for testing.

The Cr-48 has no hard drive because it is expected that you can do much of your work in the cloud. This along with other features dramatically reduces the cost. The race is on to create a laptop in which one can be productive for $100 or less. We have smartphones but they are too small to effectively create, we have laptops but they run through batteries too quickly and their startup time takes too long.

Cr-48 has a 7-10 second boot and approximately an 8+ hour battery charge (with Wifi enabled)! This means that one could be on a transatlantic flight and be productive for almost the entire flight (but I would hope they would take a nap or read a book). Even closer to my heart, a student could carry it around and effectively use it in class, on the bus, and at home. Not that we should be on our laptops all day but the ability to have quick access is certainly appealing.

What I am most interested in is seeing how data providers are able to subsidize the laptops. It used to be that only the CEOs of the world were able to own a smartphones but now anyone can get them and there are many available for free if you are signing up for a new data contract. We have all seen how ubiquitous the iPhone, Blackberries, and Android phones are getting and a huge percentage of our students use one now. Imagine only a few years from now (probably less than 3) everyone having a laptop that can instantly turn on and start working.

Even in my school where we have a 2:1 ratio, the laptops take a few minutes to boot and can be slow so many have all but abandoned their use in the classroom. What would you do if everyone had a laptop in your classroom that was easy and quick to use all day? Would you tell them to put it away like we do with their phones or would you provide meaningful ways for them to use that powerful technology to learn and explore? 

It is a question we will all need to answer soon. What will you say?

Subscribe to BrokenAirplane!