Google has announced the launch of Google Chrome browser-based notebooks or Chromebooks in the US and six other European countries from June 15. These notebooks will be manufactured by Samsung and Acer.
Chromebooks will also be available on a subscription model for corporates and educational institutes. Monthly subscriptions with all in one service start at $28 per user for businesses and $20 per user for educational institutions.
Google has been talking about its browser-powered notebooks for quite a while now and started shipping developer samples of the device about six months back.
Unlike regular notebooks, Chromebooks do not have an operating system. They instead have the web-browser that relies totally on the Internet for all the applications that a user might want to run. While some applications, like recently announced Angry Birds, can run offline, most applications would need that the user is connected to the Internet.
Also, unlike regular notebooks, Chromebooks do not have any inbuilt memory. They rely totally on the web for storage.
Other features of Chromebooks include an 8-second boot time, the ability for users to customize any Chromebook they use by authenticating it with their Google account and seamless automatic updates.
The Samsung Chromebook features a 12.1" screen, a dual-core Intel processor, HD webcam and sports a battery life of 8.5 hours of continuous usage. It can be connected to the Internet using Wi-Fi and 3G. The Acer Chromebook sports an 11.6" screen, an Intel Atom dual-core processor, HD webcam and 6 hours of battery life.
There was no announcement on their availability in India.