Col Mob

Remember last week when HP leaked a 14-inch Chromebook on its own site? That was a big surprise, to say the least -- the company has never put out a Chrome OS system before, and we werent aware this was even that popular a category. Well, HP just officially announced the Pavilion 14 Chromebook, and pretty much the only surprise is the availability date: we had heard it would go on sale February 17th, but its actually available today for $330.

Suffice to say, thats more than what youll pay for Samsungs Chromebook ($249) or Acers C7 ($199). For the money, it offers similar specs as the Acer C7, but the design appears considerably more polished. Meanwhile, with a 1.1GHz Intel Celeron 847 CPU and 2GB of RAM, it should perform a bit better than the Samsung model, which has a nice design, but chugs along on a lower-powered ARM processor. Like most other Chromebooks, this one has 16GB of built-in flash storage, along with a 1,366 x 768 display. Users also get 100GB of Google Drive space (free for the first two years).

Ready to take the plunge on a new all-in-one, but not super pumped about tackling Windows 8? Youre probably not alone, and it looks like HPs got a solution. The companys entry-level Pavilion 20-b101ea AIO desktop now ships with Ubuntu pre-installed, so if youve been considering a jump to Linux but wanted to avoid dealing with a system refresh, this might be just the opportunity youre after. The alternative rig is shipping to UK customers for £349 including VAT, which roughly works out to $530, for blokes across the pond. Interestingly, the Ubuntu machine has yet to appear in HPs US store, where youre only able to snag the Windows 8 configuration, with pricing starting at $450. Those of you with a mailing address in the United Kingdom are in luck, however -- hit up our source link to snag your very own Ubuntu-equipped all-in-one.

Hewlett-Packard didnt have the best 2012, but thats not stopping the US company from getting on the Chromebook bandwagon. The HP Chromebook Pavilion was spotted by Slashgear on HPs own web store, despite the additional information section noting a February 17 "ad embargo" on the information. The little 14-inch Chromebook runs Googles eponymous OS with an Intel Celeron 847 CPU clocked at 1.1GHz, an Intel HD GPU, 2GB of DDR3 SDRAM (expandable up to 4GB), and 16GB of SSD storage space, put to use on the 14-inch HD BrightView LED-backlit display (1366 x 768 resolution). A trio of old-school USB 2.0 slots an HDMI out, and an ethernet jack make up the lions share of ports, while an SD card slot adds expandable storage options. The 2.55Ah lithium-ion battery included will last up to (approximately) four hours and 15 minutes, though wed like to put that to the test ourselves before trusting the specs sheet. Of course, it looks like it wont be too long before we hear more and get our hands on the device, given that Feb. 17th date.