14 DAY TRIAL // When it first introduced its Cromia Chrome OS netbook at Google's I/O summit, Acer announced that the WiFi version of this laptop will retail for $349, but it now seems like the company has quietly increased the price of the unit with $30.
Acer hasn't issued any press release to notify anyone about the pricing change, but Amazon’s Chromebook Store lists the netbook at $379.
None of the initial specifications seems to have been changed and the Cromia still sports the same 11.6-inch LED backlit screen that can display 1366x768 pixels.
On the inside, Acer's creation is powered by an Intel Atom N570 processor, which packs two computing cores running at 1.66GHz as well as a GMA 3150 integrated graphics core.
The Intel chip is paired together with 2GB of DDR3 system memory and the netbook also sports a 16GB solid state drive.
Other features include a 1.3MP HD webcam, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, a pair of USB 2.0 ports, one HDMI video output, and a 6-cell Li-ion battery able to provide 6-hours of continuous operation.
The notebook will be available in the US, UK, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, and Italy starting tomorrow (June 15), and more countries should be added to the list later in 2011. In the US, the Acer Cromia will be sold by Amazon and Best Buy.
In addition to the WiFi-only version, Acer will also start selling a 3G-enabled Cromia netbook that will retail for $449.99.
Outside of Acer, Samsung is the only other company that will offer a Chromebook on June 15. The Samsung netbook features pretty much the same specifications as the Acer unit, but it comes with a 12.1-inch display which supports a 1280x800 resolution.
The Wi-Fi only version of the Samsung Series 5 Chromebook is set at $429, while the 3G model will retail for $499.99 US.(via Chromestory)