Google began to aggressively pursue its Chromebook business again last month with a $250 Chromebook from Samsung. At the time, Google said that the new cheap notebook was for everyone. The $250 price tag may have been a bit too much for some, however, as Google has partnered with Acer to bring an even cheaper Chromebook to the masses.
Google and Acer announced today that the C7 Chromebook will be available in the US and UK tomorrow for $199. For the price, consumers will be getting a pretty decent notebook out of the deal. The C7 features a full-size keyboard, fully clickable trackpad, 11.6-inch display, an Intel Core processor, a 320 GB hard drive, and 3.5 hours of battery life.
Like every Chromebook before it, the internal components aren’t that important. Google’s vision is that the Chromebook complements any existing computers in the household, not supplant them. Much like a tablet, the Chromebook is hardware built specifically with Google’s Internet services in mind. That’s why every Chromebook comes with 100GB of free storage on Google Drive. It also integrates with all of Google’s other services under a single account so that users can access all of their content at once.
The Acer C7 Chromebook will be available tomorrow in the US on Google Play, BestBuy.com and in select Best Buy stores. The UK will have a larger variety of choices available with the C7 offered on Google Play, Amazon UK, PC World and Currys. Google says it’s working to bring the C7 to other countries soon.
With a $249 and $199 Chromebook, Google is now poised to take some decent business away from the traditional notebook market. Granted, the category isn’t that popular anymore due to the proliferation of tablets, but Google stands to gain with lower prices compared to the higher prices of Windows PC notebooks. It will be interesting to see if Chromebooks are able to outperform notebooks this holiday season.