The LTE version costs $1,449, which is $150 more than the entry level variant at $1,299. Then again, it comes with twice the storage capacity, but that still only makes it a device with 64GB of storage. Then again, we could see some users upgrading to the 64GB model for the storage alone, with LTE being a nice perk that comes with the package.

Obviously, though, you’ll have to pay a monthly fee through Verizon if you want to use more than 100MB per month. According to GigaOM, $9.99 will get you an unlimited day pass. $20 per month will land you 1GB of data, $35 for 3GB, and $50 for 5GB. The free 100MB-per-month deal only lasts two years, so all LTE Pixel users will end up paying a monthly fee sooner or later.

Verizon customers can also add their new Chromebook Pixel to their existing Share Everything plan for only $10 per month. This allows Verizon customers to not have to pay more for data than what they’re already paying for. If you’re not familiar with the Pixel, it’s Google’s newest product and it sports a super high resolution 2560×1700 display, as well as an Intel Core i5 dual-core 1.8GHz processor and 4GB of RAM.

[via GigaOM]

The C710-2055 comes with an Intel Celeron 847 processor clocked at 1.1GHz with 4GB of RAM. There’s also a larger 320GB hard drive for storing various files, along with cloud storage that Chromebooks are known for. Acer claims that this new model will last six hours on a single charge, compared to four hours with the previous model.

Acer says that while the C7 is particularly aimed for educational uses, this new Chromebook is still a good choice for anyone needing a low-powered computer for everyday use. As for looks, the new model doesn’t seem to be all that much different from the C7 we reviewed late last year, but that’s not particularly surprising, since it’s mostly just a hardware bump anyway.

The new C710-2055 is priced at $279, which is a little steep compared to the $199 of the original C7, but you’ll also get better and faster internals if you need them, along with more storage space. The new model comes with a 11.6-inch display, and the whole unit weighs just over three pounds. The Chromebook is available now in the US at various retailers.

This specific Chromebook looks to take on Apple’s MacBook Pro lineup, instead of just being an affordable option like past Chromebooks from HP, Acer, Dell, Samsung, etc. The Chromebook Pixel sports a 12.85-inch display with a staggering resolution of 2560×1700, making it a higher resolution than the Retina MacBook. Although, it has a 3:2 ratio, which is fairly odd in this day and age.

The Pixel comes with an Intel Core i5 dual-core 1.8GHz processor, 4GB of RAM, and two SSD options: 32GB or 64GB. Of course, that’s not a lot of storage for all those media files you have, so Google is throwing in 1TB of Google Drive storage with a purchase of a Pixel, which will be free for three years.

You can pre-order the Pixel right this second on the Google Play store, and it’ll cost you a crazy $1,299, which is right on par for what you’ll pay for a MacBook Pro, but we’re certainly not used to seeing this kind of price for a Chromebook, since most of them have been price in the $200-$300 recently.

Granted, the Pavilion 14 is a little bit more expensive than what you’ll pay for other new Chromebooks, and while it doesn’t come with any hardware that’s crazy impressive, the overall design of HP’s Chromebook might be a big seller for some people. The 14-inch display has a 1366×768 resolution, and on the inside there’s an Intel Celeron 847 processor clocked at 1.1 GHz.

Other than that, there’s 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage, which certainly isn’t a lot by any means, but users will get 100GB of Google Drive storage for free for the first two years. As far as ports go, there’s HDMI, three USB 2.0 ports, an SD card slot, and Ethernet. The laptop also weighs in at around four pounds, making it a bit chunkier than other models.

This marks HP‘s first go at a Google Chromebook, joining the likes of Samsung and Acer, who have more competitively-priced options at $249 and $199, respectively. If battery is a huge concern for you, HP’s Pavilion 14 comes in at four hours and 15 minutes, which isn’t too great for a Chromebook considering that Samsung has them beat, but either way, you can buy it now for $330.

The search giant announced the news on their Enterprise Blog, and said that the impact of the Chromebook program was tremendous. It has allowed the schools to enable tech support internships, offer homebound students to collaborate remotely, and teach students to become “digital leaders.” With that said, it doesn’t seem like the program will hit a wall anytime soon.

Google also doesn’t mention what kind of Chromebooks they’re handing out to schools, as their are many different models from various manufacturers, but the company said that “there is a device for any school, any student, anywhere.” Either way, the computers will no doubt teach students more about technology and the internet, that way they can be prepared for the real world.

Out of the 2,000 schools that have joined in on the program, Google notes a few schools that were just recently added to the list. St.Thomas Aquinas High School in Florida (previously mentioned) is one, and Rocketship Education in San Francisco, California in another, with 1,100 Chromebooks at its disposal. Transylvania County Schools in rural North Carolina also recently joined the program, with 900 Chromebooks split between the county’s schools.

The model that Netbooknews found wasn’t packing one of Intel’s latest Ivy Bridge processors. The Verge, however, did confirm with Google that the Chromebook being demoed had a Sandy Bridge CPU under the hood, which sits nicely with the code update that Google pushed out to Coreboot not too long ago.

A Sandy Bridge powered Chromebook would be an interesting move for Google. The original Chromebooks were criticized for their often sluggish performance thanks to the Atom processor used, so the huge boost in CPU power would help tremendously. Not only that, but the HD 3000 GPU found on Sandy Bridge processors would help with video decoding on the web, as well as rendering browser-based games. No word yet on when we’ll be seeing a Chromebook with a Sandy/Ivy Bridge processor.

Google added a new commitment to Coreboot, a low level system process of Linux that talks to the computer’s hardware to function correctly. The new code in Coreboot adds support for Cougar Point and Panther Point, Intel chipsets that are part of Sandy and Ivy Bridge. Cougar and Panther Point handle communication duties

While low-power Sandy/Ivy Bridge processors would bring a great boost in performance, it could adversely affect battery life as a result: right now the current Chromebooks can get through a day even with moderate use. However, with the right processor and careful power management profiles, it may not be an issue.

Graphics would also see a big boost with newer Intel processors. That would come in handy for any browser-based gaming, not to mention web and local video playback. While there’s no guarantee we’ll see a suped-up Chromebook in the future, it seems odd that Google would go to the trouble of adding the code without an OEM following up with a product later on. DigiTimes reported last year that Google was working with Intel to bring the Core i line of processors to Chromebooks.

[via CNET]

Both parties have indicated that Microsoft will indeed be receiving royalties from Quanta under the agreement, but the amount and means for this exchange have not yet been revealed. Microsoft will likely be twiddling their thumbs over this latest victory, especially since they already long ago eclipsed their Windows Phone 7 earnings with licensing deals from Android-based phones made by manufacturers such as HTC.

Horacio Gutierrez, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel, Intellectual Property Group at Microsoft, seemed particularly pleased:

“We are pleased to have reached this agreement with Quanta, and proud of the continued success of our Android licensing program in resolving IP issues surrounding Android and Chrome devices in the marketplace.” – Gutierrez

It’s important to note, and Microsoft reminds us today, that this patent agreement wave with Android is certainly not the beginning of the group’s IP claim program. Microsoft launched its IP licensing program all the way back in December of 2003, since then entering into over 700 licensing agreements “to develop programs that make it possible for customers, partners and competitors to access its IP portfolio.”

So it’s a GOOD thing, right?

Also note – it’s not that Quanta has exactly made a big name for themselves with Android or Chrome OS based devices, but they HAVE created some interesting bits. Check out this video from back in 2009 which shows off a Quanta Android Smartbook:

Exact details of the Android install are unknown, so we don’t know exactly what’s running and what isn’t at present. Since the Cr-48 lacks a touchscreen, control will have to be done via the trackpad; as we saw on the Toshiba AC100 that’s not ideal.

[via Android Community]

To take part, all you have to do is sign up as a fan of the SlashGear Facebook page, and share the link to this competition on your Facebook wall with a post saying why you want a Cr-48 notebook. Remember, Google is pushing their cloud apps in a big way with Chrome OS, and the Cr-48 is all about cutting ties and going mobile.

We’ll draw the first SlashGear winner at random on Thursday December 16 2010 at midnight PST, the second on Friday December 17 at midnight PST, and the third on Sunday December 19 at midnight PST. Unfortunately, due to the terms of Google’s pilot scheme, only US entrants can be accepted. Good luck!

Rules:

Competition is open to residents of the US over the age of 18. Family members of Google and SlashGear/Android Community are not permitted to enter. Competition entries are only accepted via the specified SlashGear Facebook page; entries left in the comments section of this or any other post will not be recognized. One entry per person (and yes, we check). Winners of the SlashGear Cr-48 giveaway are ineligible to win the Android Community Cr-48 giveaway, and vice-versa.

The winners will be announced on SlashGear and contacted via email; they will be expected to respond within 24 hours else their prize may be forfeit and another winner selected. Editors decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. Winner agrees that their name and details of their entry may be used for promotional purposes by, but not limited to, Google and SlashGear.

Prize consists of three Google Cr-48 notebooks to be shared between three winners. There is no cash alternative. Should this prize become unavailable, SlashGear and Google reserve the right to substitute another prize of equal or greater value.

“In the US, you even lose legal rights if you store your data in a company’s machines instead of your own. The police need to present you with a search warrant to get your data from you; but if they are stored in a company’s server, the police can get it without showing you anything. They may not even have to give the company a search warrant.” Richard Stallman

In fact, Stallman sees Chrome OS as another example of governments pushing for easier access to user data without having to jump through too many legal hoops. “The US government may try to encourage people to place their data where the US government can seize it without showing them a search warrant,” he suggests, “rather than in their own property.”

Google, meanwhile, is arguing that users are better served by not having to worry over hard-drive maintenance, local backups and other day to day chores. Indeed, for some users, those benefits may well outweigh any potential privacy concerns. Still, it’s the flipside to cloud computing that we seldom hear about, and could give many Chrome OS users pause for thought before they pick up a machine in mid-2011.

All this and MORE today on The Daily Slash!

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To see more Daily Slash posts, click here: [The Daily Slash] or here: [SlashGear Morning Wrap-Up]

Video destruction after the cut

There’s also death by burning – including a craftily toasted marshmallow – and the liberal application of ice cream to the 12.1-inch ultraportable. All very tongue-in-cheek, but it does give Chrome UX designer Glen Murphy an opportunity to highlight how handy it can be when all your documents are safe on some remote server.

An Engadget tipster, meanwhile, sent them in some rather more useful teardown shots (we’re guessing they were motivated by actually wanting to reassemble their Chrome OS notebook afterward). If you’re looking on in horror and thinking that you could’ve put a Cr-48 to better use, then stay tuned to SlashGear; we’ve got some interesting news later on today.

According to Kessler, “the build quality on the Cr-48 is mostly great, all rubberized plastic but the damn battery doesn’t sit flush with the bottom.” Google has purposefully left the 12.1-inch notebook generally unmarked and logo-free, targeting it solely at pilot users while commercial variants from Acer and Samsung are expected in mid-2011.

Previous leaks have suggested that Google ordered around 60,000 Cr-48 notebooks from OEM/ODM Inventec, though the search giant has warned that stocks are limited and not everybody who applies will be successful. The online application process is in part a test to see how web-centric your daily PC activities are, important given the cloud-nature of the Cr-48.

Kessler isn’t the only person to have received a Cr-48, with a quick Twitter search turning up at least two others claiming to have taken delivery today.

[Thanks Tony!]

SlashLEAKS
In light of the current massive amount of important being placed on the WikiLeaks/Julian Assange situation, there’s been an open letter to the current Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard penned and signed by a slew of writers, publishers, academics, lawmakers and so forth, amongst them Professor Noam Chomsky (pictured in a piece of art by Shepard Fairey below), Helen Garner, and Adam Bandt. This is a clip from that letter:

“We believe this case represents something of a watershed, with implications that extend beyond Mr Assange and WikiLeaks. In many parts of the globe, death threats routinely silence those who would publish or disseminate controversial material. If these incitements to violence against Mr Assange, a recipient of Amnesty International’s Media Award, are allowed to stand, a disturbing new precedent will have been established in the English-speaking world.

In this crucial time, a strong statement by you and your Government can make an important difference.”

Read the whole letter [here.]

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They outlined the details of this beta program which will be available to business and to consumers.   If you are one those chomping that the bit to get your hands on this reference design hardware google wants to hear from you.   Just use your browser, use Chrome for a better chance at getting on, and visit www.google.com/chromenotebook.

Be ready to give feedback as Google wants lots of notes to help make the product better and to work out the kinks.

New evidence that comes from Google’s own Code site that stemming from comments made by a Google worker has lead to a date coming forward for the possible launch of Chrome on November 11. That launch would give a few weeks for the Chrome tablet we heard about before to hit market. Other bug comments on the Google code site point to a RC version of the OS may be ready to go already.

Two times in the comments of the Code Site a Google worker stated “We will push this after November 11″ according to TechCrunch. The publications also figure that we could see the final code freeze on November 11 and then perhaps the OS will ship a week later on the anniversary of its unveiling event. That would certainly make sense for some Google theatrics wouldn’t it. The Chrome web store is also debuting this month so things are starting to add up. I have to wonder if Chrome is the OS that Google is pressing the large tablet firms like LG to wait for rather than Android.

“Microsoft is welcome to put Internet Explorer on our operating system, [though] it’s highly unlikely they would do it.  They would have to port it and the port is not trivial…the ball is in their court.  All of it is open.  Even if we had an evil moment [and tried to block Microsoft], we would be unsuccessful.” Eric Schmidt, CEO, Google

Echoing recent discussion about whether a browser-based work environment is a realistic proposal, Schmidt also revealed that he was resistant to the idea of both the Chrome browser and the Chrome OS when co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page first suggested it six years ago.  “I wanted the operating system to kind of be out of the way,” Page explained, “if you live your life in the browser maybe you don’t want all the stuff that came from Eric’s generation.”

The trio also touched on Twitter and Facebook, neither of which they now perceive as a threat – or at least not publicly, anyway – and which they have no intention of going into competition with; “we have a rule of not doing what everybody else does” said Schmidt.  As for revenue streams, they believe display advertising “is likely to be the next billion-dollar business at Google.”

[via Android Community]

UPDATE: The screenshots are fake, as we suspected might be the case.  Just a video designer hoping to drum up business. 7/9/2009

More Google Chrome OS feedback after the cut

Only one restart was required to complete the install, and only the Google Talk app was loaded as standard.  The so-called “Chrome Bar” at the bottom of the display has a blue “Start menu” button and clock, and auto-hides; the Windows key and space bring it back up, but on proper Chrome OS netbooks there’ll be a dedicated key.  There’s also the possibility of adding a search box to the bar.

Two forms of navigation are present, “Exploration” and “Browser”; the former is a simple Explorer-type folder navigation, while the latter uses local search in the Chrome browser.  It will also show “most visited” files.  Icons can be resized, and there will be wizards – such as the internet wizard, which is described as “very quick” – to setup different features.

Of course, it would be very easy to fake screenshots like these, and only Google (and their hardware partners) can say whether they’re authentic or not.  It’s probably too early to judge the visual side of the OS, as the Google rep apparently kept reiterating that it was a very early beta, but it looks as though simplicity is the order of the day.

[via Engadget]

Conspicuously absent from the list of collaborators is Samsung, who are already working with Google as part of the Android-helming Open Handset Alliance, and who have a range of well-received netbooks on the market.  Dell and Sony are also missing from the list, though given the pattern of membership from the OHA – where a second round of sign-ups significantly boosted the ranks just a few months later – we wouldn’t be surprised to see one or more big names hop on board shortly.

Google also reiterated that Chrome OS will be a free, open-source project, although it is yet to specify when exactly in the second half of this year it will release the source code.  The first devices running Google Chrome OS are expected to arrive in the second half of 2010.

[via Android Community]

While it’s early to be dismissive, this is far from a slam-dunk success. It feels more like another way Google is attempting to provoke Microsoft. Something, which Google seems to like to do with increased regularity. (Actually, it feels like Google likes to give Microsoft a smack on the side of the head with a sharp stick form time to time).

Launching a new PC OS is not easy even if your target is a cloud. Targeting netbooks in 2010 isn’t the answer either. As I’ve pointed out, netbooks are laptops with a pivotal axis of price. We’re seeing netbooks with 12″ screens, full sized keyboards and 300gb of storage. Does anyone think that netbooks aren’t going to evolve further? Consumers have overwhelmingly rejected Linux flavored netbooks for Windows capable machines that they could actually accomplish things on, such as run PC applications. It does kill the idea of Android on netbooks (which never really had much of a reason to exist and will no doubt confuse vendors on how they deal with Google).

Linux at the desktop is not a new idea and even with the power of Google behind it, it’s hard to see how it overcomes issues that have plagued desktop Linux for years. Even though Linux has come a long way in the last few years, it just hasn’t come far enough and Chrome won’t take it there. There are still too many issues with support for drivers. Sure, a pre-loaded netbook might solve part of that issue but the rate and pace of hardware has not abated and unless there’s a vendor out there willing to take a major gamble and build fully Chrome OS optimized systems, most users will simply not bother to the effort to make it all work.

Finally, there remains the issue of critical PC application support. The most notable for business is Microsoft Office. Yes, I know there are Office apps available for Linux but they just don’t cut it for mainstream use. But it’s not just Office. It’s apps like Photoshop, iTunes, things like the Sling Player and of course games.

There’s no doubt there’s interest in alternatives for a non-Microsoft offering at the desktop for business as well as for consumers. While Linux are notable and laudable, they just aren’t mainstream and Chrome shows no signs of being any different. In fact, Google’s entry into the market may actually hamper desktop adoption efforts by creating fragmentation and taking away needed development efforts for projects like Ubuntu.

Right now, this all about Google putting pressure on Microsoft at a time when MSFT would rather keep the market focus on Windows 7, not some upstart Linux platform. By creating of lot of Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt this morning (after all, every PC runs web-apps really well and no one is looking for devices that web-based only for the most part). They hope to take the attention and luster off of Windows 7 and that’s exactly what they’re doing. In the meantime, show me the OS. Show me the apps. Show me the devices. In the meantime, there’s a lot of interesting stuff between now and the second-half of 2010 to write about it. In the meantime, the Chrome announcement is full of sound and fury but as Shakespeare said, it’s full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.