Well, the first two ChromeOS notebooks (netbooks? Chromebooks, apparently) are out of the gate, an 11″ from Acer for $349 and a 12″ from Samsung for $429 with Wi-Fi only and one with 3G for slightly more. Due next month sometime.
Hm.
Let’s remember that what you’re getting here is a browser with a screen, keyboard and touchpad attached. It’s not materially that much different than a tablet, although in the Acer’s case you are definitely undercutting the iPad on price. Still, it sort of makes you wonder what the point is in Chrome when you could instead get an Android tablet or iPad and get a browser PLUS native applications.
More to the point, though, I bought a Dell Inspiron Mini 1012 netbook for $300 and ran Chrome browser on Ubuntu – this time last year. Hell, you can buy a Dell Inspiron Mini1018 and install Chrome browser on it for $279. Now in fairness, it looks like Acer isn’t skimping on the battery, RAM or storage – 2 GB RAM, 16GB of solid-state drive and a 6-cell battery are certainly nice, and more or less what you should expect for $350.
I really think Google is missing out on an opportunity to spend some of that cash in the service of gathering market share – if they could bring this thing in for $200, they’d have a genuinely kick-ass alternative to tablets and netbooks, something lean and light with all the benefits they’re pitching of a constantly-updated browser/OS with no “computer” overhead. But without a compelling price-point value proposition…I don’t know. I’d certainly take one for 30 days and test the hell out of it, but based on my extensively–rehashed netbook experience, I’m not convinced it’s a dealmaker for me.