The Samsung Series 5 Chromebook launched for $429 for WiFi-only with a WiFi+3G model costing $499.--Acer's Acer AC700 Chromebook cost $349 at launch. The new $299 price point is for the WiFi versions only. Samsung is now selling a black version of its WiFi only Samsung Chromebook Series 5 for $349, a notebook that is currently available to U.S. users only. Though Google positioned the price cuts as holiday discounts in a blog post, the cuts also may signal that Chromebooks aren't selling as strongly as the OEMs and Google would have liked. Google is trying to punch up interest.
The search engine is inviting potential customers to test Chromebooks at the Samsung Experience in New York City and has tapped Virgin America to let travelers on four different flight routes check out and use Samsung Series 5 Chromebooks paired with complimentary WiFi access free for the duration of their flight.--Meanwhile, Chromebooks and the rest of the Chrome ecosystem are getting upgrades. Google refreshed the Chromebook operating system—which, like the Chrome browser, gets upgraded every six weeks. Google claims Chromebooks now sport a new log-in experience. Moreover, Google refreshed the New Tab page in Chrome to make it easier for users to access and manage applications and bookmarks; these include shortcuts to the File Manager on Chromebooks and to music applications and games in the Chrome Web Store.
According to a post at Google’s official blog, Chromebooks from both Acer and Samsung will be available starting at $299 "beginning this week." Samsung dropped the price of its Series 5 Chromebook from $429 to $349, and added a black model -- it was previously only available in white. Meanwhile the other Chromebook maker, Acer, now sells the Wi-Fi version of its Cromia (AC700) Chromebook for $299 and the Verizon 3G variant for $399. Remember Chrome OS and Chromebooks? I put it to use on the Acer WiFi model, bringing the price down to $249. I found the better CPU (the CR-48 has a single core Intel Atom processor, the commercial units have dual-core Atoms) and improved trackpad made a huge difference and the Acer has become a favorite web-surfing, Google Docs-writing, Flash-game playing machine around our house.
Tablets are the hot holiday gadget this year, but if you're in the market for something with a keyboard that's still a little bit different, Google (and Acer and Samsung) have good news: price drops on Chromebooks.-Samsung is also adding a black (the earlier model was white) WiFi only Chromebook at $349. The Samsung Series 5 with 3G has dropped to $450 (a $50 reduction). Google has a blog post with more details about these new Chromebook developments.
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