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Want a cheap notebook but don’t care for Microsoft’s Word and friends? Google has just the thing.
Google has teamed up with Samsung and announced two new computers running its Chrome OS.
Samsung’s new Chromebook is a 12.1 notebook, while the Chromebox is a sleek CPU that connects to an external display.
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The new computers are second-gen Chrome devices, with Google proudly boasting the Chromebook benefits from a performance boost, allowing it to run up to three times faster than its predecessor.
Google’s Chrome OS is a peeled back operating system, built upon Linux and works exclusively with web applications. It adopts a mobile philosophy, focusing on web browsing and email, and comes with a cheaper price tag.
Inside, Samsung’s series 5 Chromebook is Intel’s entry level Celeron processors, 4GB of RAM and a 16GB SSD. It supports hardware accelerated graphics, has two USB ports and Google claims it’ll boot in seven seconds and resume from standby instantly. (Even Intel’s Ultrabooks take 1.5 seconds to boot.)
The Chromebox can be connected to two 30″ external displays and has six USB ports.
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The present rendition of Chrome OS is reliant on internet connectivity, but the SMH report Google intends on making it more usable when an internet connection isn’t available. Currently the Chromebook’s file system is integrated with Google’s drive, but Google has said it will roll out offline support in the coming weeks, while many of the applications available from its Chrome Web store can be used offline.
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Multimedia has been reworked on Chrome OS, with the media player and photo editor getting a makeover. People can remotely log into their Mac or PC via Chrome’s Remote Desktop, which simulates the desktop experiences within Chrome’s OS.
Just like a tablet, the Samsung’s Series 5 Chromebook will be available in WiFi+3G or WiFi only variants. Australian pricing nor availability has been set, but in the US, the 3G capable version is selling for $US550 while the WiFi only model retails for $US450. The Chromebos sells for US$330.
