Google Brings Chromebooks To India With Broadband Bundles. Will You Go For It?

Finally, much hyped ultra-portable ultra-light Google Chromebooks are available in India.

In a blogpost released today, Google announced availability of 2 variations of Chromebooks in India, Acer C720 Chromebook for Rs. 22,999 and the HP Chromebook 14 for Rs. 26,990. Interestingly, Google had recently announced Chromebook 11 in the US, which is quite different from the ones that have been made available in India.

These chromebooks will be available in select Reliance Digital and Croma stores in Delhi and Mumbai from October 17,  You can also pre-order your device at Flipkart Online today from here and here 

Compared to the prices in the US, the pricing for these devices in India is much higher, but they have additional features as well keeping in mind the Indian audiences. The Indian versions have higher battery life, an HDMI port and are based on new intel processors.

Bundled internet plans

Another interesting as well as important aspect about Indian chromebooks is that they come with bundled internet connections. Google has partnered with Airtel and Tikona and are offering broadband internet at discounted rates to Chromebook owners. Airtel is offering free 3G dongles and slightly subsidized rates, while Tikona is offering heavily discounted Wi-fi plans, that includes a free offering of 8Gb internet usage with 45 day validity.

Other Features of Chromebook

Chromebooks are essentially internet-only-OS laptops that allow users to carry out things like browsing internet, using emails, creating documents etc with ease. However, over last couple of years, since the launch of Google web store, thousands of apps have been launched. Users can do most of the things they need need on daily basis. The web store has wide choice of productivity apps, utilities, business tools, games and many more.

With Chromebooks, Google is offering complementary 100GB of space on Google Drive free for 2 years where users can store all their stuff.

All this to go along with Chromebook’s blazingly fast speed!

Is it for You?

For 80 percent people out there, Chromebook might be a perfect choice. If you want a device that can help you check mails, browse internet, use social media sites or create simple documents, you should go for it.

At the same time, Chromebooks do have limitations. It cannot be a replacement for a regular laptop for people who do designing work or have to create complex presentations or spreadsheets or use some traditional desktop software. One has to remember that Chromebooks are suited only for people who use internet software. It does not have a hard-disk, and does not store anything locally. Everything that you do on Chromebook is saved on Google drive, which is accessible, only if you have a internet connection.

So, if you are one of those 80 percent people, you should seriously give Chromebook a serious thought. And what’s more, it is relatively cheap!