Google vs. Apple: When Your Computer Breaks, Where Are You Better Off?
Which is better for personal disaster recover: Google Cloud or Apple?
That was the subject that came up in recent conversation over drinks with a couple of colleagues.
I represented the Apple purists. My everyday computer is a 2015 MacBook Air. My phone is an iPhone 7 Plus. I've got an iPad mini and I love my AirPods.
"S" loves Chromebooks. He dual-boots them into Linux. He praised his Chromebook Pixel. It's feather-light and gets a 7-hour battery charge, he said.
That had me sitting up and taking notice. My MacBook Air gets about four hours if I nurse it.
!['S,' 'F' and I discuss cloud disaster recovery. Image: [CC BY 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons](https://img.lightreading.com/enterprisecloudnews/2017/06/733985/4376.jpg)
S said he was on a trip one time and didn't have a notebook with him. No problem! He went to a consumer electronics store, bought a cheap Chromebook, logged into Chrome and in moments he had all his documents and favorite apps right there on his desktop. Thank you, Google cloud!
Also present: "F," who switches regularly from one platform to the next, so he can be familiar with everything. He said he doesn't have a preference. When I saw him working earlier, he'd been using a Microsoft Surface.
Like S, F relies on Chrome and the Google cloud too, to keep his information synchronized when he's switching hardware platforms.
I had to remain silent. Apple doesn't provide inexpensive options. If my MacBook Air failed -- and they do fail, everything does -- I'd be in trouble. I can't afford to be without a computer for days.
Apple's gotten pretty good in the cloud, but only when it comes to syncing between Apple devices. Several apps I use daily rely on iCloud to sync between my multiple devices and to back up their data.
I thought about that gloomily for a day and then I brightened: If the MacBook Air fails I'd just run to the Apple Store and get myself one of those new 10.5" iPad Pros, with the Smart Keyboard and Pencil. I could be up and working with that!
So, like the Chrome fans, we Apple users can rely on the cloud for disaster recovery if we're out on the road. I was pretty happy about my solution.
Of course, S's solution set him back about $250. My solution would be $1,258.18.
I said it was a solution. I didn't say it was a good one.
Related posts:
- Google & Microsoft Tout Multi-Cloud, but Where's Amazon?
- Is Apple's Car 'The Mother of All AI Projects'?
- Apple's Cloud Strategy Will Save the iPad
- Apple Adding 'Business Chat' to Messages, for Enterprise Customer Service
- Apple Tunes Up Siri & Cloud Services
- Google Cloud Spanner Hits General Availability
- Google's Pichai: Cloud's One of Our 'Biggest Bets'
- Why Evernote Picked Google Cloud Over Amazon
- Google Espresso: A Shot at Amazon Cloud
- Google Cloud Targets Microsoft Users
— Mitch Wagner
Editor, Enterprise Cloud News

At least, not when also combined with personal, local backup (external hard drives, etc.).
That's, of course, in buying from the big boys. Custom builds or semi-custom builds are different stories, sometimes.