Months ago, Google began to ship trials of their new notebooks out to a list of testers. From the exterior, the laptops looked like little more than an average portable from 2007. A chunky slab, black and matte, masked the latest innovation from the top Web company. Testers cracked open the notebook to discover it ran Chrome, Google's increasingly successful free Web browser. It ran Chrome--and only Chrome. The laptop's home screen was the same as the browser's new tab screen. There was no way to minimize it. The entire operating system was Chrome.

Google now offers several variants of the Chromebook. The novel Web-based system runs on Samsung or Acer hardware, with Wi-Fi and 3G versions for each model. It is, in the truest sense, a netbook--a small computer running nothing but the Internet. Most netbook owners already use their ultraportables for little more than browsing, online work, and email. Google just trimmed the fat of the rest of the operating system. 

These days, a Web-exclusive computer has actually become a viable tool. More and more software has been thrown up in-browser. Google Docs revolutionized the productivity suite by putting it all online. Word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations could be created, edited, and shared online. The threat of hard drive failure no longer loomed while working on an essential document. Every keystroke was stored safely in the cloud. Instead of emailing off a static document to coworkers, a dynamic file could be edited by invited users. Google took the Office suite, stripped the excess weight, and shot it into the cloud.

More and more people are opting out of purchasing or downloading disk-based productivity software now that Docs offers nearly the same functionality. Google followed that model past Office and put the entire computer in the cloud. Chromebook users will find that everything they do with their laptops is stored online. Settings, apps, bookmarks, documents--they're all backed up in the cloud. Google's worked around the inconveniences of static storage. Lose one computer and all you need to do is log into another to pick up where you left off.

Is the Chromebook what's next in mobile computing? For the casual netbook user, it certainly seems like a great option. The Intel Atom processor that powers nearly all Windows netbooks has to work double time to run both the operating system and browsing software on top of it. Throw in word processing and other programs to the mix and the little guys can get sluggish. The streamlined operating system of the Chromebook reduces processor multitasking and allows the Atom to run more efficiently. It features 16 gigs of flash memory, so it boots almost instantly. Like its namesake browser, it prioritizes speed and ease of use above everything else.

People who rely on intensive software for their work obviously won't get much out of the Chromebook. Programmers, developers, and designers had better stick to their towers. As it stands, the Chromebook is an inexpensive alternative to a full laptop. It's useful for those who already don't do much more than browse the Web while on the go. It seems like an ideal system for tablet hardware, which is why Google's choice of Acer and Samsung netbooks confuses me a little. Perhaps a dedication to inexpensive accessibility trumped trendiness somewhere up the Google chain. I'd still like to see a Chromepad somewhere along the line. The Chrome OS seems to hit that sweet spot between mobile systems, which are a little thin on a tablet's size, and full-on Windows, which stutters on a tiny processor. I have no doubt we'll eventually see Google throw its hat into the tablet ring. Until then, the Chromebook will satisfy those users who just want to browse the Internet accessibly without dealing with Windows technology or Apple prices.