Chromebooks have potential. I have in the past written about how browser is where I spend most of my time within the browser and how most users spend their time doing stuff that can easily be done within the browser. However, as a poweruser I don’t recommend Chromebooks for everyday use. A browser can’t do everything today.
But that changes today.
I bought a MacBook Air sometime back and I like it. I am not a fan of OS X, I simply feel less productive when I am using it. I have setup TeamViewer on my Dell XPS (which is now my desktop) and the Air. I don’t have Photoshop and a lot of other useful Windows utilities on the Air, I RD into my XPS16 to get a lot of my work done. And it works fine. I did not have Office for Mac on my Air for a long time and used Office 2010 on my Dell through TeamViewer! It works and saves me HDD space.
Which brings me to Chrome’s Remote Desktop plugin announced today. Microsoft’s Remote Desktop utilities aren’t useful. Period. I can’t RD from my college computer into my XPS16 since I don’t have privileges to configure RD. But from Chrome, I can. So essentially, I can access all my passwords, bookmarks etc. using Chrome’s sync and access all my files on the XPS16 through the browser! Straightforward and easy!
This brings me to Chromebooks, those netbooks now become useful portable lightweight computers that can be used to access your more powerful computers to get “real” work done.
Google has just upped the browser game. Chrome is now shaping to be the perfect Windows complement.