Google Chrome OS: Samsung, Acer Netbooks Coming soon

Google launches an internet ready laptop that it said would offer a cheaper alternative to the traditional PC. Companies such as American Airlines and Kraft have been lining up to try out the new machine in the hopes of saving large amounts on their PC costs, executives at the search company said.

Acer and Samsung will start selling consumer versions of the notebook computers running the new operating system, known as Chrome OS, by the middle of next year, they added.

Google is instead making unbranded, Chrome OS-based netbooks available to qualified users, developers, schools and businesses who want to test it and provide Google feedback on how the platform can be improved.

Google officials made the announcements, along with the launch of the Chrome Web Store, at an event in San Francisco Dec. 7.

While traditional PC and Mac machines typically take minutes to boot up, Chrome OS machines boot in seconds, Chrome can also put Chrome OS netbooks in standby mode and recover state within seconds instead of minutes.