Inventec ships 60K Chrome OS netbooks for testers

Inventec today confirmed that it had already shipped 60,000 of Google's Cr-48 netbook. The systems will all be part of the Chrome OS Pilot Program destined for early testers and the press. The official word to Digitimes corroborates an earlier rumor, although it will be given away and not sold.

The 12-inch system has a single-core Atom, an eight-hour battery, 802.11n Wi-Fi and a webcam. Its signature feature will be a free 100MB of Verizon 3G over two years through a Qualcomm Gobi modem built-in, although heavy users can pay $10 a month or more to get more bandwidth.

While Acer and Samsung netbooks based on Chrome OS aren't due until mid-2011, an unnamed source said Acer had developed a 10-inch system with a dual-core, 1.5GHz Atom N550 with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. It's not clear whether this was intended to be the shipping system, though the impending launch of Intel's Oak Trail platform makes it more likely that Acer might upgrade before it ships.

By Electronista Staff