Samsung confirms two new Chromebooks for the UK

Update:

Samsung has been in touch to confirm the UK prices for the Chromebook 2 Series. The 13.3in will cost £329 and the 11.6in will cost £249. The latter will be available from 1 May with the former released on 12 May.

Original story:

Faster, slimmer and lighter Samsung Chromebooks are on the way to the UK in May, with the company confirming the launch of its new 11.6in and 13.3in models

First announced in March the Chromebook 2 series takes design inspiration from Samsung’s premium phones and tablets. On the lid is the same faux-leather stitching seen on devices such as the Galaxy Note 3 smartphone.

The 13.3in Samsung Chromebook 2 has a 1920 by 1080 HD display, Samsung’s Exynos 5 Octa 2.1GHz processor and 4GB of RAM. There’s also 16GB of internal storage, an HDMI port, USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports and a microSD card reader. The high-end Chromebook 2 only comes in what Samsung describes as ‘luminous titan grey’.

The lower-spec 11.6in Samsung Chromebook 2 has a 1366×768 display, a 1.9GHz Samsung Exynos Octa processor, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. It also has HDMI, USB 2.0 and 3.0 and a microSD card reader. It will be available in two colours – black and white.

Both laptops should last about eight hours on a full charge and are lightweight at 1.4kilos and 1.1kilos respectively.

Samsung’s UK prices are a lot higher than in the US. In America the 13.3in model costs $399 (about £239) and the 11.6in model costs $320 (around £190).

Simon Stanford, vice president of Samsung’s IT and mobile division in the UK and Ireland said he was “delighted” to bring the Chromebook 2 series to the UK:

“Since we introduced our first Chromebook in 2011, Samsung has been committed to continually developing the design and features of the series to meet our customers’ ever-changing needs, while staying true to the core Chromebook attributes of simplicity, speed and security. The Chromebook 2 Series does just that.”