Google Chrome OS Lands on Chromebooks and Chromeboxes You Can Actually Buy.

Google Chrome OS Lands on Chromebooks and Chromeboxes You Can Actually Buy

We've already seen Google's Chrome OS. Now, it plays nice with USB storage and devices. And finally, there's hardware you can get your hands on.

When Google announced the OS, all they had to demonstrate the truest form of Chrome OS on was their CR-48 reference prototype, which was never intended for sale. It was attractively minimal, but didn't pack much of a punch when it came to its guts. Acer and Samsung have stepped in to solve this problem.

Better hardware. Trackpads don't suck. Intel now making dual-core processors for Chromebooks. And cameras now connect to Chrome OS. If you plug in a camera or thumbdrive, you can manage files or play media files. And Chrome OS will now let you run Gmail offline.

Samsung's Chromebook have a 12-inch screen with a battery that lasts 8 hours. The Wi-Fi model will cost $429 and the 3G model will cost $499. Acer's Chromebook has an 11.6-inch screen, has a battery that will last 6.5 inches and cost $349. They'll be available starting on June 15.

Additionally, Google announced a Chromebox, a small, low-power desktop device intended for the business world. Like the Chromebooks, it runs Chrome OS, but comes with a bunch of utilities for system administrators. [Google IO]

Chrome OS Gets More Computer-y Features

Google's cloudtastic Chrome OS got a little shot in the butt today, with the addition of some features you'd expect from any non-Chromebook system. The updates aren't the most stunning, but they'll make Chrome feel more like a real computer.

Now included in Chrome OS is a new file manager, which looks like a pretty generic PC file manager. Column view. Pretty straightforward and rudimentary, but a way to...manage your files.

A basic media player's now included as well, able to play songs and videos. Yeah. There's a fullscreen mode.

Maybe the only semi-exciting new feature is the addition of contextual app buttons that go along with whatever you install. Transfer over a bunch of photos? Use Picasa? Install the Picasa app for Chrome OS, and you get a nifty set of Picasa buttons, right in the file manager. So, hey!

I just found some info about the laptops by samsung and acer

Official: Samsung reveals Chrome OS laptop -- the Series 5 -- Engadget
*www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2011/05/5-11-samsung-series-5.jpg

Google unveils Acer Chromebook: $349, 11.6-inches with 6.5-hour battery -- Engadget
*www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2011/05/acer-zgb.jpg

wow great information.i never heard about the chrome os before.is it possible to get the desktop version of this os?

yup. possible & it should work just fine provided you have an active internet connection. after all, its fully cloud based.

their plan is to get it on desktops too. I have got hands on beta version of it but never tested it out. I think it is freely available on internet.

will it work with usb.so that i can chck it.

Those of you who haven't heard about Google's Chrome OS, and are interested in trying it out can visit this link.

Thanks for the link SyGeek. I had tried running an image in VMWare but in vain.
This should give me another chance. Eager to experience Google's OS!

The VMware image is known to be buggy. Try installing the "USB image" on a spare USB stick.

Yes there is a desktop version also coming out (talking about hardware here) after the laptops are launched.

Chrome OS is not worth using in a Desktop.

Jolicloud > Chrome OS IMO.

^^ Its Joli OS now. And I think, Chrome OS would take no time getting ahead of Joli, since Joli isn't backed up with a company as Giant as Google!

JoliOS used to be better than ChromeOS. ChromeOS will leave JoliOS in dust once it becomes widely available and used.

Chrome OS has to be proper OS rather than a full screen web browser calling itself as an OS to be actually "beat" Joli OS.

Errr...you didn't use ChromeOS, did you? It's not a stretched browser. It's way more developed now with much more support for webapps and now with a filemanager. It has totally beaten the crap out of JoliOS (which it accepts itself).

SyGeek said:
Errr...you didn't use ChromeOS, did you? It's not a stretched browser. It's way more developed now with much more support for webapps and now with a filemanager. It has totally beaten the crap out of JoliOS (which it accepts itself).

I can run any Webapp in any HTML5 browser I use (heck I can use Chrome/Chromium if the web app doesn't work in Opera or Firefox 4). Not sure what you mean my "much more support for webapps" here.
Chrome OS will win only because of its out of the box support with the Chromebooks and Chromeboxes not because it's a special OS or anything.

cant use it as a windows replacement though... it probably won run any of the apps...

^^ Its not Meant to be a windows replacement in any way! Just a light weight way to surf web!

Liverpool_fan said:
Not sure what you mean my "much more support for webapps" here.

I mean it in the sense that the whole OS is built around the whole idea of web and webapps.

its too far from replacing windows,linux.still the os needs to go a long way.

I don't see the use of having a browser based OS, atleast in India where the broadband speeds still suck big time, not to forget lot of power cuts

^Agree with that. The average people are still stuck at 30-70KBps (256-512 Kbps) bandwidth.