Google Brings Chromebooks To Six New Countries & Expands U.S. Availability

Google announced yesterday that it will be rolling out its affordable Chromebooks (in the Acer, HP and Samsung models) to the following international markets: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, and The Netherlands. In the U.S. market, Google will be expanding its Chromebook availability to more than 1,000 Best Buy stores nationwide, doubling the number of stores Chromebooks are presently sold in.
Samsung Chromebooks have been on the top of Amazon.com’s best-selling laptop list for 140 days since it was first launched. The model sells for $249.00—more than two-thirds cheaper than Apple’s best selling Macbook Air notebooks—and can now be found in the new countries for prices ranging from $250 to $400. You can check for prices in your own country here.
Chromebooks are thin, lightweight notebooks with a browser-based operating system, which uses Google Chrome and Google Drive as its main applications. With Google Drive, users get access to online documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and collaboration, and Google Chrome provides most of everything else.

The Web focus, however, means that Chromebooks can’t run applications like Microsoft Office, Skype, Photoshop, or anything that comes with an installer. Chromebooks are designed to run online applications and services, and you will mostly need a Wi-Fi or 3G connection to use the computer at all. If you don’t have one, it’s possible to run Chrome with limited access in offline mode, and access your Google Drive documents offline as well. If you’re curious, you can read our full review on the latest Samsung Chromebook Series 3.
What do you think of Chromebooks? Will you consider purchasing one?