Last month, Google unveiled Chrome OS, a lightweight browser-based operating system for netbooks. But the company didn’t offer any details on what kind of device could run the OS.

Now specs for a netbook with Chrome OS have leaked and it looks pretty.

The Google netbook will reportedly have a 10.1-inch high definition multi-touch display, a 64 GB solid state drive, 2 GB RAM and connectivity features such as Wi-Fi, 3G, Bluetooth and Ethernet port, says British publication IBTimes.

The netbook is also likely to have an Nvidia’s Tegra system-on-a-chip that can boost audio and video capabilities of the device significantly and be powered by an ARM CPU. It’s not clear whether these are just minimum requirements for a Chrome OS netbook or if all Chrome OS netbooks will adhere exactly to it.

Google announced the creation of Chrome OS at an event on the company’s Mountain View, California-campus in November. The Linux-based Chrome OS promises blazing fast boot times, at around seven seconds.

Chrome OS will only be available on specific hardware from companies Google has partnered with. Last month, Google said it is talking to hardware manufacturers to create the netbook in line with its specifications and design.The company has also said it plans to have Chrome OS ready for the holiday season of 2010.

Netbooks running the OS could be available for less than $300, say reports, thanks to either subsidies from Google or from telecom carriers such as AT&T that are likely to offer it with a two-year data contract.

See Also:

• Five Things Google’s Chrome OS Will Do for Your Netbook
• Google Chrome OS: Ditch Your Hard Drives, the Future Is the Web …
• Why Google Should Cool It With Chrome OS
• Google to Demonstrate Chrome OS in Thursday Event

Photo illustration: Charlie Sorrel/Wired.com; Original photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Well, here we go: NVIDIA just gave us the heads-up that the next generation of Ion chips (which we’ll be calling Ion 2 until it gets a proper name) will be compatible with Intel’s new Pine Trail platform and arriving in Q1 of 2010. That’s good news, seeing as the Pine Trail-based Eee PC 1005PE we just reviewed didn’t offer much of a performance benefit over the older Diamondville chips and definitely couldn’t bust through the first few seconds of a YouTube HD clip. Though we got NVIDIA to confirm that it’ll improve some of the battery life concerns we’ve had, we couldn’t get much out of them in terms of how Ion 2 will play with the Intel GMA 3150 GPU that’s now integrated into the Atom N450 die. NVIDIA also didn’t hold back when it came to Intel’s reliance on third-party HD accelerator chips for video duties — they think customers want richer gaming and multimedia experiences on netbooks than Atom alone can offer, and they don’t seem to care that Intel keeps calling Ion “overkill.” All drama aside we’re looking forward to just getting some YouTube and Hulu HD playback on our netbooks — we’ll see what NVIDIA has to show off at CES.

NVIDIA Ion 2 coming in early 2010, compatible with Pine Trail originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New Atom chips from Intel means better netbooks, right? Sorta. Here’s the skinny on the new netbook brains.

Pine What?

Okay, so one of the big things about the new Atom chips is that for the first time, it integrates a graphics core and a memory controller directly onto the same die as the processor. This whole platform, that is, the processor, graphics and memory controller is “Pine Trail,” while the processor by itself is “Pineview.”

More specifically, the graphics core is 45nm die shrink of Intel’s GMA 3100, redubbed GMA 3150, that runs at 400MHz. So, not only does it still suck, it also doesn’t hardware accelerate H.264 video as AnandTech points out, meaning it’s completely useless for Flash video, even with all of the new Flash acceleration hotness Adobe is delivering next year.

Instead, netbook makers will still have to bundle, at the very least, an “HD decoder” that accelerates H.264 for decent Flash playback, and it’s not anywhere near Nvidia’s Ion in terms of graphics performance. (This chip from Broadcom, to be precise.) And, not that you’ll be pushing 1080p video out of your netbook, but video res is capped at 1366×768 out of the HDMI and DVI ports. Bottom line, Intel’s stock offering still blows goats when it comes to video, and we’re still waiting to see what Nvidia’s going to do about it, given that they can’t plug in Ion the way they used to. (Anand speculates they might just tack on through a PCi Express port.)

These are the three chips Intel’s launching today, only one, the N450, is for netbooks, and as you’ll notice, it’s 1.66GHz single core chip (Intel thinks that’s just fine) and supports just 2GB of RAM. The improvements you’ll see with the N450 over the current Atom chips aren’t exactly explosive—they mostly come from faster memory, and even Intel admits they’re incremental.

Sure, it’s 20 percent more efficient than the last Atom chips, but if you want remotely decent video performance in a netbook right now, it looks an Nvidia Ion-based system is still the way to go, even with Intel flashing new silicon. If you can stick it out for another month, it might be worth seeing what’s a little further around the bend. [Intel]

“What do you expect from an $80 netbook,” asks our friend Sascha of Netbook News? You may of course answer “Not much” but that would be cynical. After all, a box with a 7-inch screen, three USB ports (suck it, MacBook Air), Ethernet and a card reader is surely $80 worth of electronics already?

The MenQ EasyPC E700 is actually made by Cherry Pal, whose tiny Cherry Pal PC we looked at last year. Back then the machine had cloud-based storage, no screen, a 400 MHz Freescale processor and a huge 256MB RAM crammed into a box which looked like a cheap, telco-provided router. It cost $250.

The new MenQ has even lower specs, but is a third the price and is a standalone machine. The chip a 400MHz ARM processor from Samsung, it has 64MB RAM and runs Windows CE (remember that?) and the screen resolution is 800×480. There’s even Wi-Fi in there.

Amazingly, Sascha says that this thing is fast. It runs a web browser, and if you’re used to using a netbook, that’s pretty much all you need. We’re not sure how it would fare on those awful sites that insist on using Flash, but the spec sheet says that YouTube works just fine, along with Skype. Oh, and the system boots in a second.

Still not impressed? Then consider this: The MenQ, an entire computer, costs the same as a 4GB iPod Shuffle. Do you want one now?

$80 Netbook! What Do You Get? [Netbook News. Thanks, Sascha!]

EasyPC [MenQ]

Yesterday, we saw the best laptops at any price. But what about their little brothers, the netbooks? Quite simply, here are the three best models that you should choose from, provided by Mark Spoonauer from Laptop:

Toshiba mini NB205

Starting Price: $399.99 ($382.36 now at Amazon)
If you’re going to be staring at a 10-inch screen for hours on end you deserve a design that doesn’t feel claustrophobic, and the 3-pound NB205 delivers with the biggest touchpad in its class and a spacious chiclet-style keyboard. This netbook doesn’t look cheap either, thanks to the textured lid and slick color options (black, white, pink, blue or brown). We’re not fans of Windows 7 Crippled Edition, but the NB205’s nearly 9 hours of battery life and 250GB hard drive make this $399 machine a great deal. [Review]

HP mini 311

Starting Price: $399
What a difference Nvidia graphics make. This Atom+Ion-powered netbook can not only handle mainstream games like World of Warcraft without breaking a sweat, it takes full advantage of Flash Player 10.1’s hardware acceleration for dramatically smoother Hulu playback on the 11.6-inch screen (or bigger screen via HDMI). You can even edit video on this 3.2-pound powerhouse, which comes with a stylish HP Swirl pattern in black or white. If you care about longer battery life, get the cheaper Windows XP version.
[Windows XP Review] [Windows 7 Review]

Samsung N140

Starting Price: $384.99
Samsung made a splash last year with its first netbooks for the U.S., and the $399 N140 builds upon the success of the NC10 but modernizing the design, adding Windows 7 (though it’s Starter), and beefing up the hard drive to 250GB. Available with a burgundy or blue lid and outlined with silver trim, this Atom machine performs like other netbooks but features a glare-free matte display and comfy keyboard. You also get decent audio courtesy of SRS Sound. [Review]

Mark Spoonauer is the editor-in-chief of Laptop Magazine and Laptopmag.com, which reviewed over 130 notebooks and netbooks during 2009. To see all of their top picks of the year, click here.