Google Chromebooks get goodies, lower prices for Christmas

Google is putting in more goodies in its Chromebooks for the holidays, dropping the notebooks' prices and giving the Chrome OS a facelift that starts with a cleaner login experience.

 

Senior product manager Venkat Rapaka said they have also revamped the Chrome OS' New Tab page to make it easier for users to manage apps, bookmarks and most visited sites.

 

“By popular demand, we’ve added a few handy new shortcuts to the New Tab page: a shortcut to the File Manager on your Chromebook, as well as to music apps and games in the Chrome Web Store,” Rapaka said in a blog post.

 

Rapaka said they also gave the Chrome Web Store a new look, so a user can easily scan the wall of images to discover fun and useful apps and extensions.

 

The Chromebook also gets some hardware updates to make them more “giftable” to loved ones – Rapaka said Samsung is introducing a sleek, black version of its Wi-Fi only Samsung Chromebook Series 5.

 

Also, Google said the Chromebooks are more affordable, with Acer and Samsung Chromebooks pricing their products starting at $299 starting this week.

 

Lower pricing

 

Tech site CNET noted that, when Google unveiled the product in May, the base price was $349.

 

“But the price drop suggests the devices aren’t moving off store shelves as quickly as the company and its partners want, said Roger Kay, president of market research firm Endpoint Technologies Associates. Kay believes Chromebooks have sold ‘poorly’ since their launch,” it said. — TJD, GMA News