back to article Samsung prices up Chrome OS netbook for Blighty

Twelve-inch Chrome OS netbook, anyone? Samsung will be bringing just such a machine to the UK late next month for £349. Samsung Series 5 The Series 5 - the sound you hear in the background is Psion fans tut-tutting - runs the other Google operating system on a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N570 dual-core CPU. There's 2GB of DDR3 and a …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Compare the UK price to the US price...

    If the price in the article is real, and prices quoted for US are real, then:

    US price - $349

    UK price - £349

    Yes, it looks like samsung has just changed the $ to a £.

    Looks like you folks be paying about twice what we are going to be paying.

    Once again a company who does not understand economics.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Us folks be paying twice what you are??

      Nope - see @Vitani above - we won't be paying twice cos we won't (if we have any sense) be paying once. £350 is way too high for any brand of netbook. I'll be interested when a new netbook typically comes out at ~£200 and no higher.

  2. ScottAS2

    83% of the internet is taller at one side than the other

    Is the interface really all skewed, or is that just the laziest "let's just mock up the interface in Photoshop" press image ever?

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    20m

    thick body? I'm out!

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Promising..

    ...but gahd, get rid of the tacky OS sticker on the lid.

    Also, I wouldn't use these for mission-critical stuff just yet. Knowing Google penchant for keeping everything in permanent "beta", it's probably not 100% stable yet.

    Will be good to see it develop though...

  5. Vitani

    Pardon?

    £350? No chance. If Chrome OS is going to "work", then the hardware needs to be cheap cheap cheap!

  6. Dave Murray

    Non standard keyboard (even for a laptop)

    Is that a Google search button where caps lock should be? WTF IS CAPS LOCK?

    1. DuncanL

      CAPS LOCK?

      WHY WOULD YOU WANT ONE? IT'S ONLY USED FOR SHOUTING ON INTERNET FORUMS!

  7. James 51

    Psion 5MX, none better

    This reminds me a lot of the AA0 and AA1 except it's double the cost.

  8. Robert Carnegie Silver badge

    It's only a web browser.

    I'm willing to accept that it's quite a good web browser.

    And you can run apps in it. Well. Ever heard of Java?

    But it's just a browser. The operating system only runs one application. Well, and probably Solitaire or something.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      That's a good question

      Does this actually include Java? My guess is no, as that would spoil Google's plans for their Portable Native Client.

  9. Piro Silver badge
    FAIL

    Huh?

    £350 for a crippled netbook? Who are they kidding?

    1. The BigYin

      Yup

      If it was sold at the "true" price (which would have been about £213). Oh wait, tax. Make that about £256. Still pricey, but easier to swallow. But no, same deal as always. Rip-off the Brits.

      There is a simple answer - don't buy.

  10. TeeCee Gold badge
    FAIL

    350 quid?

    For a bloody web browser appliance? Someone's having a giraffe.

    An extra 50 quid to make it actually usable on the move (the usual reason for the form factor)? They're going for the full bloody herd here.......

  11. Miek

    Nice ...

    ... can put Ubuntu on there ?

    1. Mr Floppy

      screw ubuntu

      Puppy will make this fly .. just shame about the price.

  12. wondermouse
    WTF?

    But why would you?

    If this was £150 quid then sure it would be a no-brainer.

    But at £349 you've got enough for a decent netbook with all the functionality of this machine PLUS a generous hard drive too. Plus windows (and ubuntu free as well)

    So who would buy this?

  13. bob_bob
    Thumb Down

    Too expensive

    I will be brief, this is too expensive for a device with no local memory and pretty much no stand-alone (non-networked) ability at all. Surely the oppotunity here was to launch cheap net access becasue the demands on the Hardware are light.

  14. Alan Bourke

    £349 ?

    Good luck with that.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Linux

    Looks like a good Ubuntu machine

    I bought a netbook for Ubuntu last year and it seems tricky to find netbooks with 12" screens, most seem to be 10 inch and a rather pokey 1200 x 600 resolution. I believe this may be a result of Microsoft limiting cheap XP licences to low spec machines. The better screen and the satisfaction of not sending any money to Redmond make this seem like a good deal. Assuming of course you can get Ubuntu on to it without too much fuss, I believe you could with the prototype CR-48 machines..

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Agree

      Given the difficulty in the market that you correctly point out it's not a completely horrible price if you can remove Chrome OS and replace the puny SSD with something larger.

  16. A. Lewis
    Badgers

    Not -

    -if the quality of the photoshopping on that first picture is an indicator of the quality of the machine.

    Seriously, that's a press-quality promotional image? It looks like that screen image was added on in MS Paint!

    To actually get back on topic though: I'd be interested to know if it's possible to hack a desktop linux distro onto these machines. I think they'd make a decent netbook/laptop compromise, though I suppose £350 is a bit steep for that - I'd watch out for a cheap one on ebay. The only problem I can see is that its smaller battery might not handle a beefier OS for longer than ten minutes.

  17. Pete 43

    Cheaper than a Xoom

    Motorola will be pleased

  18. Neill Mitchell

    @AC

    "Once again a company who does not understand economics."

    Neither do you. You haven't factored in import duty and VAT at 20%. So it's no way near twice the price.

    I do wish the likes of The Daily Mail and "Rip Off Britain" would stop peddling this misconception and actually do something positive by educating the general public. Then we'll stop seeing posts like this time and time again.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      No duty

      Get your facts right. There's no duty on laptops or desktop computers, it's just VAT.

      See http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageVAT_ShowContent&id=HMCE_PROD_009989&propertyType=document

      You may claim the difference as "currency risk" or "higher corporate taxes" or "pints are more expensive", or just plain greed but not duty.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      (Compare the UK price to the US price... )

      .. I would bet that that price is before any import (if there is any) or VAT.

      If the dollar to pound conversion was properly done, then import and VAT added in, I would not expect the price to be exactly the same as the US price, but with just a different sign at the front.

      -

      From original Compare the UK price to the US price... AC.

  19. druck Silver badge
    FAIL

    @Neill Mitchell

    Is is a rip off no matter how you quibble about it. N570 based netbooks sell for around £280 including the Windows tax.

  20. spegru

    @ Pete43

    What a great point! Everyone is whinging about the price but if it was a tablet (esp an iThing) then somehow it would be alright.

    What I'd like to know about is the relationship to Android

    One more thing, surely if you can get a smartphone free with a contract the same should be achievable with this thing?

  21. Jack Prichard
    FAIL

    Not for the colonies...

    Here in NZ we pay $10 for 100 MG of mobile data, the average salary if about $30,000 pa. Wired internet to your house is about $60 to $100 per month for around 10 GB.

    This thing only works when connected to the internet.

    Enough said.

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