Google Opens First Retail Store, in London Selling Chromebooks

In a push to push its Chrome operating system, Google has opened its first ever high street store in London, selling the 12.1 inch Samsung Chromebook.

The store - named The Chrome Zone - is located within the Currys and PC World superstore on Tottenham Court Road and sells the Chromebook, which went on sale in the UK in July, in Wi-Fi only and Wi-Fi and 3G versions for £349 and £399 respectively.

The Samsung Chromebook, measuring just 20mm thick, is powered by a 1.66GHz Intel N590 duel-core processor and comes with 2GB of DDR3 memory and a 16GB solid-state drive. The small drive is because no files are stored on the laptop itself, instead all files and user data are stored online in the cloud. This 'cloud computing' means that files can be accessed even if the laptop is lost or broken.

"Chromebooks are the perfect laptops for people who live on the web, and offer a faster, safer and more secure online experience, without all the time-consuming and confusing maintenance required by typical computers", said Arvind Desikan, head of consumer marketing for Google UK.

Category director at Dixons Retail said: "We have dedicated staff who have been specifically trained in using the Chromebook to demonstrate all its unique benefits and features to customers."