Google announced the availability of two Chromebooks — laptops based on Google's Chrome OS — at the Google I/O conference Wednesday, but the hardware specifications of those machines are almost completely irrelevant.

According to Google, what makes these laptops interesting is not what they have, it's what they lack: programs, messy desktops or locally stored documents. A Chromebook is not really a laptop, and it's not really a computer, Google claims. It's the web in a "computer-like object" and if you believe Google, "you can do everything on the web."

Of course, the lack of desktop software does have some benefits, such as a startup time as fast as 8 seconds. Furthermore, the fact that your files are stored in Google's cloud mean they're quite safe: You can literally throw your Chromebook into a river and you won't lose your stuff.

The question, however, is whether the world is ready to completely move into the cloud? According to Google's own notice on the official Chromebooks features page, "when you do not have network access, functionality that depends on it will not be available."

Can you imagine having a Google Chromebook as your main computer, or doing serious work on it? Check out Google's promo video below and share your opinions in the comments.





