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Google laid out the next step of its Chromebook effort on Thursday by introducing a thin, light, Samsung-built laptop attached to a killer number — $250.“It’s the best laptop that’s ever been designed at this price,” said Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google’s Chrome browser, OS and product teams. “We assume that you have a Windows machine in your home, or maybe a Mac. This isn’t built to replace those machines but instead be an additional computer.” The same way a tablet or smartphone are for many today.With that in mind, the performance and specs of the latest Samsung Chromebook (officially called the New Samsung Chromebook) fall just a bit below that of the mid-range $450 Samsung Series 5 Chromebook launched in May. For example, the new Chromebook uses a Samsung Exynos dual-core ARM processor — essentially a chip designed for use in smartphones and tablets rather than traditional laptops — along with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of built-in storage. The Series 5 Chromebook had 4GB of RAM.Google is also giving Chromebook buyers 100GB of free Google Drive storage for 2 years, so they can store files in the cloud, rather than locally on the device. The New Samsung Chromebook is available for pre-order on Amazon starting Thursday and officially goes on sale Monday. Google is setting up 500 “Chromezone” kiosks in Best Buy stores, staffed by Google employees, to give consumers a chance to use Chromebooks, ask questions, and see what the low-priced computer line is all about. The new Chromebook will also be sold in Google Play, alongside Nexus phones and tablets.“We really want this to be for everyone in your family,” Pichai said. “We really want users to think about this as one extra computer for your kitchen counter, one near the bed, maybe a computer for your kids or family.”
