Google begins selling Chromebooks in Australia

Google's Chromebooks have finally gone on sale in Australia, with two of the web giant's three models now available in retail stores.

The Acer C7 and Samsung Series 3 Chromebooks are now being made available at select JB Hi Fi and Harvey Norman stores. While the HP Chromebook is not yet available, the company has promised that it will be on its way.

Australia has missed out on several iterations of the Chromebook since the first purchasable Samsung Series 5 and Acer AC700 Chromebooks went on sale in the US in June 2011. Google created a prototype Cr-48 Chromebook prior to this in 2010, but it was never sold to the public. Samsung refreshed the Series 5 in May last year, before releasing the current Series 3 in October. Acer released the current C7 in the US in November last year.

While in the US, the Acer C7 Chromebook is priced at US$199, it will retail in Australia for AU$299. Likewise, compared to the wi-fi-only US$249 Samsung Series 3 Chromebook, pricing for the Australian Chromebook is billed as "starting at" AU$349.

Buying either Chromebook will also provide owners with 100GB of storage on Google Drive, free for two years.

The devices are yet to show up in Google Play, and while the Acer C7 and wi-fi-only Samsung Series 3 Chromebooks are listed on Harvey Norman's site, they are not yet listed in JB Hi Fi's online catalogue.