Living with Chromebook: Giving Google's OS a second chance

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Anyone needing proof that the post-PC era is real need only consult the recent sales figures: traditional PC sales are down 14 percent year over year, even as tablets and smartphone sales -- mostly using Apple's iOS and Google's Android -- become more ubiquitous.

But even as Android adoption continues to explode, Google has another horse in the race: the Chrome OS. Chrome's mission statement is simple: With everything moving to "the cloud," why have a heavy, expensive Windows or Mac operating system acting as a middleman? Why not just have the browser be the OS? And that's precisely the reason it shares a name with Google's increasingly popular Web browser.

It's a clever enough idea, and one that plays to Google's strength: search, Gmail, Google Docs, Maps, Picasa, and nearly all of the company's other products don't require traditional software -- just a browser and a live Web connection. Still, when we last looked at it in the fall of 2012, we found Chrome OS to be promising, but ultimately not up to the level of a full-time OS. In other words: it was generally fine for a "second computer," but not quite ready to be your one and only go-to PC for every task.