Is £400 too much for a laptop with no software?

The news that Google's Chrome operating system is finally coming to netbooks, or 'Chromebooks', has been making headlines today. The real headline though is undoubtedly the price. £350 with Wifi or £399 with Wifi and 3G. But is the price too high? We compare it to the competition...

First of all, here are the specs of the Samsung Series 5, as stated by the company itself:

• CPU: Intel N570 1.66Ghz Dual Core
• Operating System: Chrome OS
• Storage: SSD 16GB
• Memory: 2GB DDR3
• Screen: 12.1-inch WXGA LCD (1280x800), SuperBright (300 nit)
• Resolution: 1280x800
• Security: TPM
• Battery: Li-Ion Polymer 61 Wh, Up to 8.5Hrs
• Weight: 3.2 lbs.
• I/O Ports: 2 x USB, SIM Card Slot, 4-In-1 (SD, SDHC, MMC), VGA Dongle, DC-in

It seems fair to say that the Series 5 isn't exactly a 'high-spec' computer, but then again it isn't supposed to be. This is a netbook (sorry, 'Chromebook') designed to boot up quickly (hence the SSD) and do all of the 'grunt-work' online.

The use of cloud-based apps like Google Docs is certainly interesting, but it is worth remembering that you can use a lot of these apps for free on any computer connected to the internet. In fact, a lot of what Google seems to be offering as part of Chrome OS is already available for free to any other user of its services (Gmail, Google Calendar, etc.).

Chrome OS and Chromebooks are both very good and very intriguing ideas, but for our money the price is a bit steep.

Chromebooks rely heavily on 'the cloud' to run all their software and store all their information, so they need to be online to work properly. Consequently, it is probably a better idea to go for the Wifi and 3G option, priced at £399 as this should allow you to get online anywhere at any time.

So, what else can £399 get you?

We headed over to eBuyer and looked at the netbooks they currently have for sale. It is fair to say that at the time of writing most of the netbooks available were cheaper, in some cases significantly, than the Samsung Series 5 Chromebook.

We don't mean to rustle feathers, but these netbooks have Windows 7 installed on them, which is a 'proper' operating system (that costs the manufacturer money to install) so the Chromebooks should be cheaper. Right? Wrong.

For £400 or less (the cheapest being £178.04) you can buy pretty much any of the netbooks on offer. A lot of these have better specifications and most of them are significantly cheaper than the Samsung Series 5 Chromebook.

The Chromebook is undoubtedly a very clever idea, but it seems misplaced to set the prices so high. For under £300 the Chromebooks would be pretty hard to resist and really offer something different. For £400 they simply don't stand out enough, or to put it bluntly they feel quite overpriced.