Google Chrome Netbook Pilot - First Impressions

As I headed out to shovel the large amount of snow on my front step today I discovered something unexpected - a Google Chrome Notebook.  I had applied to be a part of the pilot project and receive a free notebook in early December.  As I unpacked the box, and began to gloat a bit on Twitter (sorry @acrozier22), several people asked me to write down my thoughts and reactions.  Here are a few of my initial thoughts after about 12 hours with the machine:

• It is durable - it spent its first night outside in -40 windchill on the front porch.  Started right up with no issues.  Probably helps that there is no hard drive or moving parts...
• The size is perfect, and would be perfect for 1:1.  A 12 inch screen, very thin, light and feels sturdy.  The entire body is covered in a rubbery coating, much better than the over-glossed, fingerprint prone netbook fare.  
• Startup is insanely fast.  Open it up and it is on in under 2 seconds.  This is one of the many features that reminds me of the iPad.  It is also one of the things that piques my interest in terms of 1:1 potential.  I worry about the startup time that laptops and even netbooks waste each time they are closed.  
• Speaking of the iPad, it is not a bad comparison.  It is app based and completely web dependent.  It is a little strange when you first open it and see the Google Chrome browser - and thats it.  It is a quick reminder that this is NOT a laptop - it is completely dependent on being online - in many ways it is like a thin client machine.  

This is a seriously intriguing concept - and its potential for the 1:1 movement is real.  In our school we have linked the move toward 1:1 with a move toward cloud based computing.  We have repeatedly said the importance of the box becomes less and less every day.  What we need is an onramp onto the web - this does that extremely well.  So, after a whole half-day with the machine, here are my initial pros (+) and cons (-)

+ Battery life - I have heard tale of 9 hour battery life and I would believe it...it has been sitting above 90% all evening.  No hard drive, no DVD/CD drive, not much to suck power.  

+ 3G - I think this might be one of the biggest pros in terms of its viability as a 1:1 tool.  We talk of 1:1 as bridging the divide between haves and have-nots but we often gloss over the fact that some of our students do not have wifi at home.  In the pilot program Google provides 100MB/month for the first 2 years via Verizon.  The possibility of a school subsidizing a 3G program for students that do not have Wifi access at home is an attractive prospect.  

- Track Pad - serious issues here.  No actual buttons (much like macbook) but not as functional.  Scrolling is spotty and needs improvement.  The lone USB port would work for adding a mouse, since there is really no other use for the USB port that I can see. 

- I am not sure we are quite there yet - this notebook could not be the only computer in our house.  There is NO on board storage - everything MUST be stored in the cloud.  While I am as on board with life in the cloud as anyone else, I am not ready to turn my pictures, videos, etc over to total net storage.  That being said, I applaud Google for this notebook (and not just because I got one).  It is an example of skating to where the puck is going to be, not where it is now.  Something about this notebook does feel like the future and I look forward to working with it more and watching what it (and its digital descendants) can become.