Samsung has just announced a new Chromebook and the first Chromebox. The newest Chromebook is a fast and portable laptop for everyday users, but most people don't use one.
Google seems to be focusing its adoption efforts on several verticals, including schools, retailers, call centers and airlines.
These focus areas probably build on areas where Google has had success so far.
Google says more than 500 schools have used these devices. Retailers such as Dillards are planning to deploy Chromeboxes in more than half of its US stores, while others such as Kaplan are moving their New York-based call center to Chromeboxes.
Chromebooks will be available online June 15, 2012, in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Netherlands, Italy and Spain. More countries will follow in the coming months. In the U.S., Chromebooks will be available from Amazon and Best Buy and internationally from leading retailers.
The new Chromebook and Chromebox, based on Intel Core processors, are nearly three times as fast as the first-generation Chromebooks. The new Chromebook boots in less than seven seconds and resumes instantly.
The new versions also have a new user interface said to make it easier to find and launch apps, and use alongside browser or other apps. Commonly-used apps can be pinned to the screen for quick access, with multiple windows displayed side-by-side.
Since most of my "PC" usage is for content creation, I never use a tablet as a "replacement" for a notebook. I also travel quite a lot and use cloud apps on a number of machines. The Chromebook is the device always packed in my backpack.
As a "cloud" device, you can't do much without a Wi-Fi connection. That means on airplanes I just do something else (that's when the tablet gets used, mostly for reading, for example). The only "offline" format I have found troublesome are PDFs. But then I find PDFs annoying on all my machines.
You might still have trouble finding anybody you know using a Chromebook on a regular basis, though.
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