Which model is the best for enterprises and their employees? The longer employees must wait for a Chromebook to open apps or documents, the less productive they become and the more energy they spend getting distracted and frustrated instead of working. We put two similar Chromebook models to the test, and found that the Intel processor-powered Chromebook was significantly faster in the enterprise employee workflows than the ARM processor-based model, while also lasting significantly longer without a charge while lightly browsing the Internet.
The forecast is clear: With the Intel processor-powered Chromebook, enterprise employees can get working faster, waste less time waiting, and can work longer without a charge. The Intel processor-powered Chromebook is the better choice for enterprise employees over the ARM-based Chromebook.
COMPARING CHROMEBOOKS FOR ENTERPRISES Today’s enterprise employees are busy. They have deadlines they can’t miss, performance objectives to meet, multiple projects to manage, and sales numbers to reach. If the device they use takes too long to load apps or documents, they waste valuable time as they wait to begin working on a report or start collaborating with colleagues, becoming frustrated and losing productivity. They want to pick up their device, get going right away, and move from one task to another quickly and easily. Enterprises want this, too—the less time their employees spend waiting on their devices, the faster they can start working and the more productive they can be. If a company decides to implement Chromebooks for their employees, which model is the best choice? We put an Intel processor-powered Chromebook and an ARM processor-based Chromebook through enterprise employee workflows that included regularly performed tasks such as collaborating in calls with colleagues and working in documents, presentations, and spreadsheets. We also looked at how long the two Chromebooks could keep running on a single charge. The bottom line? We found that the Intel processor-powered Chromebook powered through our tests, moving through the four employee workflows up to 59 percent faster and lasting 58 percent longer unplugged while Web browsing than the ARM processor-based model. With the Intel processor-powered Chromebook, enterprise employees can spend less time waiting and more time working. FEBRUARY 2014 A PRINCIPLED TECHNOLOGIES TEST REPORT Commissioned by Intel Corp.
GET WORKING FASTER WITH THE RIGHT CHROMEBOOK Enterprises looking to implement Chromebooks have many choices as more Chromebook models enter the market. We looked at two available Chromebooks, one with an Intel processor and one with an ARM processor, putting them through representative workflows with tasks that enterprise employees would perform regularly during the workday. We also looked at how long each system could keep going on a single charge while lightly browsing the Internet. For more on how we tested, see Appendix B. For detailed results, see Appendix C. We chose two systems that were as similar as possible, with the same display size and the same amount of memory and storage. In addition to the difference in processor, they differ in battery size, as the Intel processor-powered Chromebook has a 3-cell rather than a 2-cell battery. For more on the representative systems, see Appendix A. BATTERY LIFE WHILE BROWSING Battery life is important as today’s workforce is always on the go—who wants to worry about their system running out of juice during a meeting or presentation? We found that the Intel processor-powered Chromebook lasted 58 percent longer than the ARM processor-based Chromebook while lightly browsing the Internet—an additional 4 hours and 3 minutes on a single charge (see Figure 1). Figure 1: The amount of time the two Chromebooks lasted unplugged while lightly browsing the Internet. CREATING A SALES PROPOSAL Kieren opens her Chromebook and powers it on at the beginning of the workday. She opens a new document in Google® Docs to draft a proposal for a potential engagement with a client. While working on the document, she looks at a PowerPoint® Comparing Chromebooks for enterprises A Principled Technologies test report 2
presentation in Google Drive™ Viewer that the client sent to her the previous evening. She checks her calendar, and continues working until a Google Hangouts™ call with her manager. After calling her manager, Kieren shares the proposal in the call so that they can review it together. She incorporates her manager’s feedback following the call, and saves the Google Docs document as a Word® document to send to the client. She opens the Salesforce.com app to update data about the opportunity, and then moves on to an encrypted Excel® spreadsheet to review action items from the last team meeting. Figure 2: The amount of time spent waiting with the two Chromebooks in nine tasks while creating a sales proposal. As Figure 2 shows, the Intel processor-powered Chromebook was 51 percent With the ARM processor-based Chromebook, Kieren would have to wait over 10 extra seconds to open a document. faster than the ARM processor-based Chromebook. If Kieren were using the Intel processor-powered Chromebook, she would spend less than half the time waiting on her Chromebook. Instead of spending extra time waiting for the system to share her proposal in the Google Hangouts call, Kieren could be going over it with her manager. With the Intel processor-powered Chromebook, she wouldn’t have to lose time and wait 9 extra seconds to load the Salesforce.com dashboard or 11 extra seconds to open the spreadsheet. MANAGING A MARKETING PLAN Gabriel powers on his Chromebook and gets to work on a new presentation in PowerPoint Online for a business development proposal. After working on the presentation for a while, he heads to a team meeting to discuss ideas for that quarter’s rolling thunder marketing efforts. Gabriel answers a Google Hangouts call to join a meeting with nine other participants calling in from other regions. He opens his MindMeister project plan mind map for the previous fiscal year to guide his team’s Comparing Chromebooks for enterprises A Principled Technologies test report 3
discussion. After the meeting, he opens a new document in Word Online to jot down notes from the call. He opens a project in the Asana app to add the action items from the meeting, and then gets back to work on the presentation in PowerPoint Online. Gabriel then checks Google Maps™ to confirm the location of a dinner meeting with a potential business partner. Figure 3: The amount of time spent waiting with the two Chromebooks in nine tasks while managing a marketing plan. As Figure 3 shows, the Intel processor-powered Chromebook was 59 percent Gabriel would have to wait 11 seconds longer to connect to a large Google Hangouts call on the ARM processorbased Chromebook. faster than the ARM processor-based Chromebook. With the Intel processor-powered Chromebook, Gabriel could be more productive by collaborating with his colleagues instead of waiting 11 extra seconds to connect to the Google Hangouts call on the ARM processor-based model. He also wouldn’t get frustrated waiting three times as long for the MindMeister project plan mind map to open while he was on the call. DELIVERING A FISCAL REPORT Beverly gets to the office and turns on her Chromebook. She checks her email and sees a message from her manager requesting an updated copy of the department’s fiscal report. She opens the Word document template to work on the report in Word Online. She also pulls up a large Excel spreadsheet in Excel Online and compares it to a Google Sheets spreadsheet that a team member sent to her at close of business the previous day. She answers a scheduled Google Hangouts call from her team member to go over the numbers. She has some questions about the data in the Google Sheets spreadsheet, and adds the spreadsheet to the Google Hangouts call so they can review it together. After finishing the report, Beverly checks her calendar for the afternoon, and Comparing Chromebooks for enterprises A Principled Technologies test report 4
then opens her Harvest timesheet to catch up on hours. She opens Pandora® to listen to music while she works on her timesheet. Figure 4: The amount of time spent waiting with the two Chromebooks in ten tasks while delivering a fiscal report. As Figure 4 shows, the Intel processor-powered Chromebook was 51 percent Beverly would save almost 10 seconds when checking her calendar on the Intel processor-powered Chromebook. faster than the ARM processor-based Chromebook. If Beverly were using the Intel processor-powered Chromebook, she wouldn’t have to wait 7 extra seconds when checking for new email messages or almost 10 extra seconds to check her calendar. Each app she uses to create the fiscal report for her manager—Google Sheets, Excel Online, Google Hangouts—would take less time to open on the Intel processor-powered Chromebook, saving her valuable time in the middle of a busy day. PLANNING A CORPORATE EVENT Ian powers on his Chromebook to work remotely from home. He opens his HootSuite™ dashboard to check recent social media activity and to make a couple posts. To draft a proposal for the next event, he opens a MindMeister brainstorming mind map that he has been working on the past couple days and a new presentation in Google Slides. He finishes a draft of the presentation just before a scheduled Google Hangouts call with colleagues in several different countries, and connects to the call with nine other participants. Ian shares his presentation in the Google Hangouts call so they can go over it together. Ian opens Google Keep™ to jot down some action items from the meeting. He continues to revise the presentation, and logs into his Citrix® virtual desktop to use a Windows®-based application not available on his Chromebook. When he finishes with the Google Slides presentation, Ian converts it to a PowerPoint presentation before sending it to a business partner. Comparing Chromebooks for enterprises A Principled Technologies test report 5
Figure 5: The amount of time spent waiting with the two Chromebooks in ten tasks while planning a corporate event. As Figure 5 shows, the Intel processor-powered Chromebook was 52 percent Ian would have to wait an extra 21 seconds to share his presentation in a Google Hangouts call on the ARM processor-based Chromebook. faster than the ARM processor-based Chromebook. Ian would save over 33 seconds when joining the large Google Hangouts call and sharing his Google Slides presentation in the call on his Intel processor-powered Chromebook. On the ARM processor-based model, Ian would lose 11 seconds when opening his MindMeister brainstorming mind map and over 10 seconds when opening his presentation after the call—time he could be using to get work done on the Intel processor-powered Chromebook. THE BOTTOM LINE Which model is the best for enterprises and their employees? The longer employees must wait for a Chromebook to open apps or documents, the less productive they become and the more energy they spend getting distracted and frustrated instead of working. We put two similar Chromebook models to the test, and found that the Intel processor-powered Chromebook was significantly faster in the enterprise employee workflows than the ARM processor-based model, while also lasting significantly longer without a charge while lightly browsing the Internet. The forecast is clear: With the Intel processor-powered Chromebook, enterprise employees can get working faster, waste less time waiting, and can work longer without a charge. The Intel processor-powered Chromebook is the better choice for enterprise employees over the ARM-based Chromebook. Comparing Chromebooks for enterprises A Principled Technologies test report 6
APPENDIX B: DETAILED TEST METHODOLOGY To simulate group collaboration in Google Hangouts, we set up a test environment with nine Windows clients signed into Google Hangouts. We also set both Chromebook systems to sign into Google Hangouts when Chrome starts. To simulate a Citrix VDI virtual desktop session, we set up a test environment with a two-socket server to deliver Windows 7 desktops using Citrix StoreFront 2.1 and the Citrix Receiver™ for HTML5 client. We bookmarked the URL for easy access to the virtual desktop session on both systems. Battery life while browsing Setting up the test 1. Make sure the display will not automatically turn off during the test. a. Install the Keep Awake extension. b. To switch to the sun icon, click the icon in the top-right corner of the Chrome browser. 2. Open Google Chrome™ from the shelf, and bookmark the msn.com Web site. 3. Set the displays to as close to 70 nits as possible. 4. Plug the Chromebook chargers into a power strip. 5. Make sure the batteries are all 100 percent charged. 6. Place both Chromebooks next to the clock. Running the test 1. Start the video camera. 2. Open Google Chrome from the shelf, and go to the bookmarked Web site. 3. Turn the power strip off, and note the time. 4. After both Chromebooks have fully discharged, review the video to determine when each Chromebook powered off. 5. Fully charge the Chromebooks. 6. Repeat steps 1 through 5 two more times. Creating a sales proposal 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. Simultaneously start the timer and power on the system. When the login window appears, stop the timer, and record the result. Enter the password, and press Enter. Simultaneously start the timer and open Google Docs from the shelf to open a new document. When the document is fully displayed, stop the timer, and record the result. Simultaneously start the timer and open Google Drive™ from the Google Docs menu. Open the existing PowerPoint presentation. Select Open to view the PowerPoint presentation in Google Drive Viewer. When the presentation is fully displayed, stop the timer, and record the result. Close the Google Docs document, and close Google Drive. Simultaneously start the timer and open Hangouts call from the apps list. When the invite screen is fully displayed, stop the timer, and record the result. Enter the Google account username for the first Windows client, and send an invite to that Windows client. On the Windows client, answer the Google Hangouts call. On the test system, open Google Drive from within the Google Hangouts call. Comparing Chromebooks for enterprises A Principled Technologies test report 8
Intel processor-powered Chromebook Time to open Salesforce.com app opportunities dashboard (lower is better) Run 1 Run 2 Run 3 Median Time to decrypt Excel spreadsheet (lower is better) Run 1 Run 2 Run 2 Median Total time waiting ARM processor-based Chromebook 00:07.70 00:07.50 00:07.20 00:07.50 00:16.70 00:16.20 00:16.70 00:16.70 00:05.80 00:05.40 00:05.40 00:05.40 00:56.70 00:10.90 00:10.90 00:10.60 00:10.90 01:55.50 Managing a marketing plan Time to turn on system (lower is better) Run 1 00:06.20 Run 2 00:06.50 Run 3 00:06.30 Median 00:06.30 Time to open new presentation in PowerPoint Online (lower is better) Run 1 00:03.30 Run 2 00:03.50 Run 3 00:03.40 Median 00:03.40 Time to connect to Google Hangouts call with nine other participants (lower is better) Run 1 00:06.70 Run 2 00:06.30 Run 3 00:06.50 Median 00:06.50 Time to open MindMeister project plan mind map from Google Drive (lower is better) Run 1 00:18.60 Run 2 00:18.40 Run 3 00:17.70 Median 00:18.40 Time to open new document in Word Online (lower is better) Run 1 00:04.20 Run 2 00:04.40 Run 3 00:04.50 Median 00:04.40 Time to open project in Asana app (lower is better) Run 1 00:06.80 Run 2 00:06.70 Run 3 00:06.60 Median 00:06.70 Time to open existing presentation in PowerPoint Online (lower is better) Run 1 00:06.20 Run 2 00:06.70 Run 3 00:06.10 Median 00:06.20 Comparing Chromebooks for enterprises 00:11.50 00:11.50 00:11.10 00:11.50 00:07.00 00:07.00 00:06.70 00:07.00 00:17.60 00:17.60 00:17.40 00:17.60 00:58.00 00:58.70 00:57.40 00:58.00 00:08.20 00:08.00 00:08.00 00:08.00 00:13.30 00:13.40 00:12.90 00:13.30 00:12.80 00:12.50 00:13.00 00:12.80 A Principled Technologies test report 15
Intel processor-powered Chromebook Time to view calendar in Outlook Web App (lower is better) Run 1 Run 2 Run 3 Median Time to open Harvest timesheet (lower is better) Run 1 Run 2 Run 3 Median Time to open Pandora (lower is better) Run 1 Run 2 Run 3 Median Total time waiting ARM processor-based Chromebook 00:07.80 00:07.30 00:07.40 00:07.40 00:17.00 00:17.20 00:16.70 00:17.00 00:03.70 00:03.70 00:03.90 00:03.70 00:07.00 00:06.90 00:06.80 00:06.90 00:03.80 00:03.80 00:04.20 00:03.80 01:06.30 00:06.40 00:06.80 00:06.20 00:06.40 02:13.80 Planning a corporate event Time to turn on system (lower is better) Run 1 00:06.70 Run 2 00:06.40 Run 3 00:06.40 Median 00:06.40 Time to check HootSuite dashboard (lower is better) Run 1 00:03.10 Run 2 00:03.30 Run 3 00:03.40 Median 00:03.30 Time to open MindMeister brainstorming mind map from Google Drive (lower is better) Run 1 00:11.90 Run 2 00:12.30 Run 3 00:12.20 Median 00:12.20 Time to open new presentation in Google Slides (lower is better) Run 1 00:05.50 Run 2 00:05.50 Run 3 00:05.60 Median 00:05.50 Time to connect to Google Hangouts call with nine other participants (lower is better) Run 1 00:06.70 Run 2 00:06.30 Run 3 00:06.60 Median 00:06.60 Time to share Google Slides presentation in Google Hangouts call (lower is better) Run 1 00:09.20 Run 2 00:09.50 Run 3 00:09.20 Median 00:09.20 Comparing Chromebooks for enterprises 00:10.90 00.11.20 00:11.40 00:11.20 00:06.60 00:06.40 00:06.30 00:06.40 00:22.90 00:23.20 00:23.40 00:23.20 00:11.40 00:11.50 00:11.60 00:11.50 00:17.80 00:17.60 00:17.40 00:17.60 00:30.70 00:30.20 00:30.90 00:30.70 A Principled Technologies test report 17
ABOUT PRINCIPLED TECHNOLOGIES Principled Technologies, Inc. 1007 Slater Road, Suite 300 Durham, NC, 27703 www.principledtechnologies.com We provide industry-leading technology assessment and fact-based marketing services. We bring to every assignment extensive experience with and expertise in all aspects of technology testing and analysis, from researching new technologies, to developing new methodologies, to testing with existing and new tools. When the assessment is complete, we know how to present the results to a broad range of target audiences. We provide our clients with the materials they need, from market-focused data to use in their own collateral to custom sales aids, such as test reports, performance assessments, and white papers. Every document reflects the results of our trusted independent analysis. We provide customized services that focus on our clients’ individual requirements. Whether the technology involves hardware, software, Web sites, or services, we offer the experience, expertise, and tools to help our clients assess how it will fare against its competition, its performance, its market readiness, and its quality and reliability. Our founders, Mark L. Van Name and Bill Catchings, have worked together in technology assessment for over 20 years. As journalists, they published over a thousand articles on a wide array of technology subjects. They created and led the Ziff-Davis Benchmark Operation, which developed such industry-standard benchmarks as Ziff Davis Media’s Winstone and WebBench. They founded and led eTesting Labs, and after the acquisition of that company by Lionbridge Technologies were the head and CTO of VeriTest. Principled Technologies is a registered trademark of Principled Technologies, Inc. All other product names are the trademarks of their respective owners. Disclaimer of Warranties; Limitation of Liability: PRINCIPLED TECHNOLOGIES, INC. HAS MADE REASONABLE EFFORTS TO ENSURE THE ACCURACY AND VALIDITY OF ITS TESTING, HOWEVER, PRINCIPLED TECHNOLOGIES, INC. SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, RELATING TO THE TEST RESULTS AND ANALYSIS, THEIR ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS OR QUALITY, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE. ALL PERSONS OR ENTITIES RELYING ON THE RESULTS OF ANY TESTING DO SO AT THEIR OWN RISK, AND AGREE THAT PRINCIPLED TECHNOLOGIES, INC., ITS EMPLOYEES AND ITS SUBCONTRACTORS SHALL HAVE NO LIABILITY WHATSOEVER FROM ANY CLAIM OF LOSS OR DAMAGE ON ACCOUNT OF ANY ALLEGED ERROR OR DEFECT IN ANY TESTING PROCEDURE OR RESULT. IN NO EVENT SHALL PRINCIPLED TECHNOLOGIES, INC. BE LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES IN CONNECTION WITH ITS TESTING, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. IN NO EVENT SHALL PRINCIPLED TECHNOLOGIES, INC.’S LIABILITY, INCLUDING FOR DIRECT DAMAGES, EXCEED THE AMOUNTS PAID IN CONNECTION WITH PRINCIPLED TECHNOLOGIES, INC.’S TESTING. CUSTOMER’S SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDIES ARE AS SET FORTH HEREIN. Comparing Chromebooks for enterprises A Principled Technologies test report 19
A Principled Technologies test report 4 Comparing Chromebooks for enterprises discussion. After the meeting, he opens a new document in Word Online to jot down
Compare Chromebooks* for Enterprises Compare Intel®-based and ARM-based Chromebooks* for battery life and in various enterprise workflows.
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Comparing Google & HP Chromebooks: I get why people like them, but they're not ready for enterprise.
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