Google to launch lap-tops in UK next month

Google is to launch its own lap-tops in June using Intel processors and the Chrome operating system. Their USP is said to be simpler operation.

Samsung and Acer will be the first companies to sell the laptops in the UK. They’ll cost between £214 and £350.

Battery life is a day, says Google. Boot time is eight seconds. They are called Chromebooks.

The big snag with the things is that, being Google, it is optimised for web-based applications. With the spotty state of 3G in the UK - and it’s 10X worse in the US - this will be a big obstacle to take-up of these lap-tops.

"Ultimately the most precious resource is the user's time,” says Google co-founder Sergey Brin, “I think the complexity of managing your computer is really torturing users out there. It is a flawed model and I think Chromebooks are a new model and this is the way things are going to be."

But if you can’t get a connection, the best laptop is a dead machine.