Google lowers prices for ChromeBook
The Chromebook has some good thinking behind it, including very quick (~8 second) boot times, a simple user interface, a surprisingly decent app store, and good security. But since ChromeOS is essentially just a web browser, it’s also very limited, and many apps still require a pervasive Internet connection. And as critics have noted, you can simply run the Chrome web browser on a Windows laptop or netbook to get most of the benefits of this system plus all of the power and versatility of a real computer.
If you believe the recent report in the “Digitimes,” first published sales figures for the Chrome Books that have been found with the Google Chrome of OS-equipped sub-notebooks so far not widely prevalent. Permit even though according to the report between June and late July 5000 appliances sold by Acer any conclusions about the sales figures for the following months and Samsung no concrete sales figures are known, can not be obtained the impression that the Chrome Books are among the best-selling notebooks. Otherwise would have long since followed suit and other manufacturers developed their own Chrome Books. With regard to the upcoming Christmas season would boost Google’s business and has now announced a price cut.
Falling prices in the U.S.
According to the blog entry in Google will now exclusively manufactured by Acer and Samsung Chrome books now with prices starting at $ 299 (€ 220) are offered. At market launch, the price was still at 350 to 500 dollars. At just under $ 300 the price drops but only for the Acer AC700-1099 Chromebook with WiFi, the Samsung Series 5 WiFi will cost about 350 dollars. Google first announced the price cut only in dollars, on the German Chromebook website leads the “Buy” link is still in the normal sales page from Amazon, on which there is only a model from Samsung. However, the price is still € 399 for the wireless version of the 12.1-inch laptops, the version with 3G module for UMTS data connections will cost around 50 € more. Also, which also announced new version of Chrome Book Samsung enters the U.S. market only for now: The Samsung Series 5 Chromebook will start there for the Christmas season in the WiFi-only version in the all-black housing.
Google wants to boost Christmas sales Chrome with cheaper books.
We tested the Samsung Chromebook in August and assessed include the fast system startup, the quiet operation and long battery life to be positive. At the time, the benefits of off-line equipment was still heavily restricted. Google saw in the fall with an offline Gmail for possible use of an initial improvement, there are now also documents within Docs without an Internet connection of at least cost. About two weeks of the U.S. group also published a book-Chrome update that added a new login, support for the NTFS file system and an improved performance, and removed some bugs.