So, the cat is out of the bag guys! June 15th is the date.

Are any of you guys looking forward to buying any of the two devices or will you be sticking with your CR-48? It's a shame they only start selling in the USA to begin with. Even so, I think I will have to dfind a way to get one of these to the UK.

I'm definitely be going for the Samsung by the look of things. It's sleek, probably the best looking netbook I've seen so far. The specs don't seem to differentiate them much though.

Have to agree with you there Nigel, I much prefer the Series 5 to the Acer, looks much slicker and nicely rounded. I've seen shots of the Series 5 with a white top, hopefully that version will make it to the UK.

I definitely am sticking with my Cr-48 that I got in February, since I definitely want to continue testing development versions of Chrome OS (on the Dev and Beta channels) and since I got the Cr-48 for free and know that Google didn't ask for any credit card or other data for Cr-48 users, I don't want to give up my Cr-48 and start paying monthly.

I am wondering, will Google now offer a downloadable version of the OS to use on our existing laptops and netbooks or do we have to look solely to builders like Hexxeh to fill that void? Do you think Google will devote any time to hardware/compatibility issues with ChromeOS and laptops or netboooks other than those which have been revealed this week?

Dan

As of right now, the Samsung, although I'm waiting until Christmas before I buy the rest of my family Chromebooks. The plan being to get them all the Samsung with the Gobi chipset. Most of them won't use it, but it's useful enough to where I think it's a must just in case they need it. So, that's 5 notebooks x $500 is 2,500. They better love me for this! On another note as soon as that Samsung CrOS Desktop comes out, that's going STRAIGHT into my ambulance corps, as I don't want to have to deal with them downloading virus anymore onto the computer we currently have. Lastly, I would really like something in the ThinkPad X1 form factor but at like a 1/4 of the cost, but I think that something along the times of a X220 would do quite nicely as well. Even with the Cr-48, I do love it (this keyboard is AWESOME), but I feel I need something with just a little more power. I want the full web experience without it stuttering.

I'm probably going to stick with the Cr048 for myself for now. But, the fiancee wants a Chromebook. Of the two, I think I prefer the Acer, for the simple reason that it has HDMI out, the Samsung doesn't.

Ok, so I was wrong, both Chromebooks have LED screens. Sources: Samsung & Acer.

Okay, since I posted that reply back on May 11, a full 6 months and 8 days ago, I have made my decision as to which is a real candidate to replace the now defunct Cr-48 on December 1: the Acer AC700, for two reasons: (1) the HDMI out as +ssaint04 said, and (2) the 1366x768 screen resolution with 16:9 aspect ratio. Widescreen just feels nicer, especially with HD YouTube videos and Google+ hangouts...

Edit: Oh, not to mention that it's cheaper than the Samsung Series 5...

Of course if compare between their Windows's machine also the clear winner is Acer because of you can get lot of stuff with a cheap price.. But, yes there's always but especially with the battery capacity, durability and those stuck/dead pixels that always happened to Acer's notebook screen.. And their warranty service is not the best too compare to Dell, Asus or even Sony.. All those things happened here in my country but hopefully they perform well at US..

Well, now that I actually have an AC700 (got it for Christmas but paid for half of it), I have to say it was one of the best investments I ever made. Other than the Acer branding and design, it is almost exactly like the Cr-48. The touchpad is the same, the keyboard is almost exactly like it was on the Cr-48 (minus the status lights on the keys), and of course, Chrome OS functions almost exactly like it did before. Of course, it came preinstalled with the Stable Channel, but I personally upgraded to Dev to get more functionality. Three-finger click, two-finger click, scrolling, one-finger click, and drag-and drop all work fine for me. The only issue, however, is that I have to be very careful with it while traveling, as the outer shell does have a tendency to split slightly open (though a slight squeeze squeeze does fix the problem). Have been having no problems with dead pixels, though the button used in opening New Tabs doesn't seem to play well with my self-authored Chrome theme (why, well, I have no idea). The main drawback, however, is that the screen isn't matte like it is on the Samsung Series 5 and Cr-48, so I have to keep constantly closing the blinds behind me to minimize screen glare. Have yet to test HDMI, but I would assume that it does work pretty well (and I happen to have a TV that supports HDMI as well, but I need a cable...). Overall, I would rate the AC700 a 9.5 out of 10. The Samsung S5? Maybe a 9, since it doesn't have HDMI and you need to crack the entire device open to replace the battery (the AC700's battery loads similarly to the way the Aspire One battery does, but at a price: not as many cells, meaning less battery life).