Why Chromebook Failed To Deliver

Google is known for coming up with some quirky and innovative inventions time and again.
Some of them work wonders while others prove to be massive duds in the market. Unfortunately so, Chromebook falls in the latter. Let’s have a look at where Google went wrong with the much-coveted Chromebook.

1. The Concept

For starters, Chromebook is a laptop that runs on Chrome and Chrome alone, that is, it lacks an operating system, and the Chrome browser serves as the only medium of connectivity for the user. Meaning, you can only run the Chrome browser on the laptop. Any further usage means you’d have to access the applications available on the Google Store. And unfortunately the store doesn’t offer a suitable alternative to heavy-duty software like Adobe Photoshop that is extensively used by the market. This ends up in a limited usage of the Chromebook, thus limiting a user to do a highly specific work. Another perspective is the lack of playing games that do not support Chrome OS. What if a user is keen on playing Runner2 but due to Chromebook’s constrictive OS, it just isn’t possible!

2. The Shortcomings

Maybe we can cut the chaps at Google some slack. Maybe they wanted to make a light-weight notebook that’ll only create a browser-friendly environment. Chromebook does just that, but in a much more flamboyant and embarrassing manner. Chromebook’s biggest flaw is the ability to access it only when it’s connected to the internet. And hence, the Chromebook is redundant when a person tries to utilize it offline. It seems Google was under a grave misconception that cloud-storage and Wi-Fi seems to be present all across the globe, and accessing the internet is fairly easy. This proved to be a major shortcoming for Chromebook, and the crowd rightfully disapproved of this. Also, the lack of offline storage meant accessing the cloud storage system for even the smallest of reasons. These issues made the Chromebook redundant in second and third world countries where the internet is still evolving at a gradual pace.

3. The Restrictions

With the advent of Android and Windows-based phones and tablets, the Chromebook’s existence makes no sense. And shockingly so, Google is yet to incorporate the Android Operating System into the Chromebook. A move that’ll catapult the Chromebook straight ahead in the laptop market, and give the Chromebook a firm solid foundation to build itself on. Even more so, Android will give Chromebook a bigger field to play on and increase its capability rather than solely being a browser-running laptop.

4. The Hardware (Or The Lack Of It)

Yet another restriction is the lack of touchscreen. In today’s market that is riddled with phablets, tablets, hybrids and Television sets with integrated Android, Chromebook fails to impress by lacking to incorporate features that may give the Chromebook a much-needed nudge. That’s not all; a stone-age Celeron processor to make it run means anything heavy-duty will make this machine crash within a fraction of seconds! A truly disheartening way of shaping a device in today’s world. Of course, the latest Chromebook Pixel offers a dual-core Intel i5 processor and 4 GB of RAM, but what’s the point when you’re going to use that only to surf the internet? But there’s yet another grave issue at hand, and that’s reducing the size of your wallet.

5. The Pricing

The segment in which Google truly failed to deliver was the pricing. Having launched the Celeron-powered Chromebook in February 2012, it is priced at $329 for the 2 GB RAM model and $429 for the 4 GB version. A colossal cost for an old-school Celeron powered notebook that only serves as an internet browser alone! For a price of $300, a user can equip himself with a fairly decent tablet, netbook or a Phablet! But the truly outrageous pricing is that of the Chromebook Pixel. The most powerful Chromebook of the lot and powered by Intel i5 and 4 GB of RAM, it is priced at a colossal $1299 and $1449 for a Wi-Fi and LTE version! A price that may very well give buyer the opportunity to go for the stunning Apple Macbook Air! For a notebook with humongous potential, Google’s execution has failed to live up to its reputation and hence, Chromebook is a failure like many other Google initiatives!