Google's Chromebook hardware is currently offered by two manufacturers — Samsung and Acer — with two different product designs. Both manufacturers are offering Wi-Fi only and 3G versions of the device.
“Nothing but the web,” Google Chrome's Twitter account wrote Thursday evening, linking followers to the sale page. Chromebook pre-orders ship on June 15.
As a web-only device, the Chromebook fits in perfectly with Google's vision of a cloud-based future. Essentially, the Chromebook takes the netbook and strips it of the components found in most laptop computers. There's no visible operating system outside of Google's Chrome browser (hence the name), which means the interface is entirely web-based. There's also no significant local storage (though it does have a removable SD card slot), which means everything you're using on the device must be stored and accessed remotely from online servers.
Of course, Google's cloud-based vision has you covered there. Want access to your photos? Upload them to Picasa, Google's photo storage site. Hankering for music? Google Music (now in beta) stores all your music on the internet, streaming songs to the device. The same goes for documents (Google Docs), calendars (Google Calendar) and most other things you could think to use on your netbook.
Acer's cutely titled “Cromia” comes with an 11.6-inch HD display, 6-hour battery life, and weighs just under 3 pounds. The Wi-Fi only version costs $380, and the Verizon-carried 3G version comes priced at $450.
Samsung's model comes with a bump up in features, as well as a boost in price. The display is larger by about an inch, and it's a little heavier at 3.1 pounds. But Samsung says its Chromebook gets an added 2.5 more hours of battery life than Acer's slightly cheaper model. Samsung's model will start at $430 for Wi-Fi, and $500 for a 3G version.
Google first debuted the Chromebook at the company's developer-centric event in May, Google I/O.
source: Gadget Lab
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