UK Netbook Review

Ok, it’s not late May, early June as we thought earlier, but now there’s more definite news that Acer is working on a netbook that will run Google’s Chrome OS. The sleuths at Macles spotted a few details and posted them.

Since the very beginning Google has hinted that Acer, HP and Dell would be the first manufacturers to get access to their new custom, browser-based operating system for netbooks. Although that news is from about a year ago, it seems the trio are still in line to debut Chrome OS later this year as Blogger Lee Matthews discovered.

Previously we’ve written than Acer would introduce Chrome OS device mid-year and launch Chrome OS device by Q3 2010. It’s been some time since we received any new details on Chrome OS, Google’s web-focused operating system for netbooks. Now, Venturebeat has learned from multiple sources that Acer will launch Chrome OS devices at the Computex Taipei show, which will be held from June 1 to June 5.

Google’s Chrome OS open source netbook operating system is due to be launched later this year. Chrome OS is built around a web browser, and the idea behind the browser is to be a lean, quick and snappy internet consumption OS. None of that is new, but at an event recently, Google CEO Eric Schmidt let a few more details drop. Schmidt says he expects netbooks running Chrome OS to sell for about $300 to $400, which is on the lower end of what current Windows netbooks sell for in the US market.

Google’s Chrome OS is scheduled to officially launch at the end of this year, but according to Digitimes, we could be seeing netbooks with Google Chrome much earlier than that. They report that Acer is planning to launch devices running Google’s Chrome OS in the middle of 2010. Sound familiar? Yup, we heard the same news late last year, and also earlier this year with Samsung’s plans to launch a Google Chrome OS netbook later this year.