Google Branded Touch Chromebook Rumored To Be Released Early 2013

The Chinese news organization, The Commercial Times is reporting Google will launch its own 12.85-inch touch notebook with Chrome OS in the first quarter of 2013. Yes, that said TOUCH. The news agency says Compal Electronics and Wintek are already working on OEM and touch panel production. The screen will reportedly combine the touch sensor and glass via a process called optical lamination which allows for a much thinner device. New iMacs and some smartphones also use this process to achieve razor thin form factors.

Since Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility there has been a great deal of speculation regarding when Google would produce its own hardware. That speculation along with comments from former CEO Eric Schmidt about Google’s desire to be in the hardware business and you get a sense this might be the beginning of Google hardware. A touch chromebook would certainly place Google in a position to compete with Microsoft’s Surface and maybe even go after Apple’s iMac market.

Source: The Commercial Times
Via: The Next Web

Google Chromebook notification sign-up now available in Google Play Store

Last week Google announced they were re-introducing their Google Chromebook laptop. Today the device appeared in the Google Play Store with a price of $249. Interested buyers can sign up to be notified when it is ready for purchase, which is expected to be in only a few days.

The Chromebook is powered by a dual-core Exynos processor, 2GB of RAM, a 16GB SSD, and sports an 11.6-inch HD display. To help with the small hard drive, Google is offering buyers 100GB of Cloud Drive storage for two years. Weighing about 2.5 pounds, Google indicates the battery life is about 6.5 hours. Google opted to develop their own operating system for the device using their Google Chrome Browser as the base.

The Chromebook may not fit the needs of a traditional laptop user since it is rather unconventional, but at only $249 there is not much risk in giving it a try to see if it may be a good fit for some uses. To sign-up or learn more about the Chromebook, use the source link.