Watch Out Windows: First Chrome OS Netbooks Reportedly About to Land

From DailyTech: Microsoft's reign as kingpin of the netbook operating system world may soon be challenged. According to a report in Digitimes, several hardware makers are preparing new netbooks for the holiday season that ditch Windows and instead use Google's Chrome OS, a highly customized Linux distribution.

According to the report, the first Chrome OS product to land will be a first-party design, with hardware from Ivantek. Google reportedly is following a similar model to the Nexus One with the device and will be selling it exclusively online. It will not ship to traditional retailers.

The netbook's hardware is designed by Ivantek, but only a few details are available at present. The lightweight laptop is expected to employ an ARM processor. ARM has certain energy efficiency advantages over x86 architectures, but currently is not supported by any Windows PC operating system. ARM processors are found in popular smart phones like the iPhone 4 and Samsung Epic 4G (Samsung Galaxy S).

Google is reportedly hoping to initially ship 60k to 70k units.

Acer, who makes the best-selling Acer Aspire One netbook, and Hewlett-Packard, the world's largest computer brand are expected to follow with competitive designs in December, according to parts suppliers. Both vendors will have their hardware manufactured and designed by Quanta Computer.

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