Android isn’t Google’s only operating system. The company also offers Chrome OS — a simple operating system based on the Chrome web browser that’s designed to run on low-power laptops or desktops which Google calls Chrombooks or Chromeboxes. But you don’t hear much about Chrome OS these days, because Chromebooks haven’t had much commercial success. But Google says the Chrome…

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Samsung has started to show off its upcoming Chromebox. It’s a tiny desktop computer designed to run Google’s Chrome OS — an operating system based on the Chrome web browser. The box measures 7.6″ x 7.6″ x 1.3″ and has a rear panel that’s choc full of USB ports as well as Ethernet and video ports. It will be ship…

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Samsung is updating its Series 5 Chromebook by swapping out the Intel Atom N570 dual core processor for a faster (but still hardly top-of-the-line) Intel Celeron processor. The new Chromebook will still have a 16GB solid state disk and Chrome OS operating system, which means that basically the laptop will run nothing but a web browser and web apps. But…

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Just as with Android, Google makes the open source base for Chrome OS available for all to download. But if you’re not keen on setting up a 64-bit Linux build environment, what can you do? You can download a pre-compiled Chromium OS from Hexxeh, who’s long been the name to know in Chromium OS DIY builds. Things had been relatively…

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The Acer AC700 isn’t the only Chromebook getting a price drop. Samsung has introduced a new version of the Samsung Series 5 Chromebook which is available for $350. Samsung is continuing to offer the Chromebook in white or silver for $430 and up, but the new model comes in “piano black.” Like the other models, the laptop has a 12.1…

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The Google Cr-48 is the first notebook that was designed to run Google’s Chrome operating system. It never actually went on sale in the US, but Google distributed thousands of the laptops starting late last year as part of a pilot project before Samsung and Acer brought commercial Chromebooks to market in 2011. While the Cr-48 was designed to runs…

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The Asus Eee PC X101 is an inexpensive netbook with 1GB of RAM, an 8GB solid state disk, and a 1.33 GHz Intel Atom N435 processor. Those specs are pretty anemic compared to a typical 2010 or 2011 model netbook, but they all help keep the price low. Asus expects the X101 to sell for $199. But there’s one more…

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Google Chromebooks such as the Samsung Series 5 and Acer AC700 just got a little more useful. Google is introducing offline support for some of its most popular web apps when you’re using Chrome OS or the Chrome web browser on a Windows, Mac, or Linux computer. Today you can already install Gmail Offline beta, a web app that’s available from the…

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Though they’ve only been available for purchase since June, Samsung has already decided to drop the price of its Series 5 Chromebooks. The Wi-Fi only version is now $30 less at Amazon.com, priced at $399. The 3G version is now only $449 — down from its original $499. Acer’s Chromebook offerings remain cheaper at $349 and $429 for the Wi-Fi…

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Google’s Chrome web browser and Chrome OS operating system store bookmarks in a couple of places. There’s a bookmark bar that you can view near the top of your browser, links for frequently visited sites on the new tab page, and you can load an old fashioned bookmark manager. The new tab page also shows icons for any web apps…

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Google is hard at work turning Chrome OS into a fully-functional operating system. Right now Chrome’s claim to fame is that it’s little more than a web browser. Instead of installing and running desktop apps, you run web apps, and when you boot a Chromebook the only thing you see is a login screen and then a web browser. But…

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One of the key features setting Chromebooks apart from normal laptop computers is that they’re designed to boot quickly and resume from sleep even more quickly. Because the Chrome OS laptops have solid state drives and the operating system is designed to do little more than run a web browser, it doesn’t take long to go from opening the lid…

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