14 DAY TRIAL // Expected to arrive in just a couple of hours in the US, Samsung's Series 5 Chrome OS netbook was recently listed by two major European retailers that will sell this laptop from June 24 with prices starting at €399.
Samsung is one of two partners selected by Google for the consumer launch of Chrome OS, and its Series 5 netbook range will comprise two models.
The main difference between the two comes from the connectivity options supported, since Samsung will be releasing both a Wi-Fi plus 3G model and a Wi-Fi only version of the Series 5.
The rest of the hardware specifications are identical and both netbooks are powered by an Intel Atom N570 processor, which packs two computing cores with Hyper-Threading support running at 1.66GHz, and 2GB of system memory.
Graphics is handled by the integrated Atom GMA 3150 GPU and storage is provided by a 16GB solid state drive which is based on a Samsung design.
As far as the screen is concerned, this measures 12.1-inch in diagonal, it features LED back lighting, and it also packs an anti-reflective coating which should make it behave better when exposed to direct sunlight. Its resolution is set at 1280x800 pixels.
Alongside its 0.79-inch thin chassis, Samsung has placed two USB 2.0 ports, a 4-in-1 memory card reader, a headphone out jack as well as a special port for an optional VGA dongle.
Samsung Series 5 netbooks also include a 1MP webcam as well as a 6-cell battery pack, which can provide up to 8.5 hours of use, according to the manufacturer.
As mentioned earlier, pricing will start at €399, including VAT, for the WiFi-only version, while the 3G edition is listed at €449.
The Samsung Chromebooks will be carried by Amazon and Pixmania. The former will start shipping the units on June 24, while the latter four days later, on June 28. (via Notebook Italia)