Google Drops Prices on Chromebooks, Introduces New All-Black Model

The winter holiday season is coming, which means one thing. No, not Santa Claus, the Christmas spirit, the same movie reruns, not even your grandma getting you socks again. No, it means that everyone will be trying extra hard to sell you something.

Presenting the new and improved Chromebooks. Well, they're not exactly new, but they are improved since Google has been churning out updates to Chrome OS ever since the devices became available.

So, if you buy a Chromebook now, it will be better than the one available six months ago, even though the hardware hasn't changed.

One thing that has changed though is the price, the cheapest Chromebook, the Acer built WiFi-only version is now $299.99, €221 down from $349.99, €259.

"For folks in the United States, Samsung is introducing a sleek, black version of its Wi-Fi only Samsung Chromebook Series 5," Venkat Rapaka, Senior Product Manager at Google announced.

It's just the color that has changed though, other than that it's the same old Chromebook.

"We’ve also been working closely with our partners to continually improve the overall Chromebook experience while making them even more affordable. So, we’re excited to share that beginning this week Acer and Samsung Chromebooks will be available starting at $299," he said.

Google is also touting some of the bigger updates that Chrome OS has gotten lately. There is now a new login page, a much cleaner and better looking one.

Thanks to Google Chrome 15, Chromebooks also get the redesigned new tab page, with the huge app icons and separate panels for apps and most visited sites. It's not the most useful of features, but at least it looks good.

Google hasn't shared any sales figures for Chromebooks, they're probably not that impressive, but it probably hopes to push some more devices to customers this holiday season, so expect to see a lot more advertising for the web-only laptops.