Chrome OS gets a facelift in time for Christmas

It seems that Google has been busy updating its Chromebook OS in time for Christmas.

As Venkat Rapaka, Senior Product Manager at Google, said in a blog post earlier today, Chrome OS has had a bit of a facelift, with a new “fresh, clean login experience” being rolled out on the main ‘stable’ release.

Google also recently gave the ‘New Tab’ page a bit of an overhaul to make it easier to manage apps, bookmarks and ‘most visited’ websites. And now, it’s added some new shortcuts too, taking users directly to the Chromebook File Manager, as well as to music apps and games in the Chrome Web Store.

We reported on the launch of Google’s Chromebooks back in June, and the streamlined, stripped-down laptops are designed to boot in around 8-seconds, adopting a browser-based approach to personal computing, meaning that all your files are managed in the cloud.

Now, Google has also announced that “a few updates to the lineup of Chromebooks that make them more giftable to loved ones.” Namely, a new black Samsung Chromebook Series 5 will be available in the US, as well as a new line of Acer and Samsung Chromebooks, starting at $299.

Meanwhile, here’s Google new ‘How to set up a Chromebook’ video. Hint: there’s not a lot to it…

http://youtu.be/DazdIFMbC_4