Samsung Chromebook 2 set for 1 May UK release date

Samsung's Chromebook 2 will be available from May in the UK, although pricing for the device is yet to be confirmed.

The second edition Chromebook will ship in an 11.6-inch version and a 13.3-inch model, both with Samsung's own Exynos 5 Octo processor.

The 11.6-inch Chromebook 2 in black will hit the shelves first, on 1 May, while the 13.3-incher and white version of the notebook will ship on 12 May.

The Samsung Chromebook 2's US prices have been revealed though, with the 11.6-inch computer available for $319.99 (193.92) and the 13.3-inch version costing $399.99 (242.40).

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This pricing sits in line with the original Chromebook - the 11.6-inch version retailed for 229 at launch.

Specs for the latest version of Samsung's cloud-operated notebook are pretty similar to the first edition, although screen resolution has been upped, with the 11.6-inch version boasting a pixel count of 1366x768 and the 13.3-inch featuring a full-HD display of 1920x1080 pixels.

Samsung has opted to give the 13.3-inch Chromepook more power, packing in a 2.1GHz XPU and 4GB RAM, while the 11.6-inch includes a 1.9GHz XPU and 2GB of RAM.

Both will be available with 16GB solid-state storage and take some design elements from Samsung's Galaxy Note 3 phablet with a stitched faux leather look.

The Chromebook 2 will offer 8.5 hours of battery life, with Samsung saying it will last a full working or school day's worth of use from a single charge.

In the US, the Samsung Chromebook 2 series will arrive with a package of premium apps worth more than $100 (60) but the manufacturer is yet to announce whether apps including Air Droid Premium, Wunderlist Pro and LittleBridge.com will ship on devices here in the UK.

Mike Abary, senior vice president of consumer IT product marketing at Samsung America, said: "Since we introduced our first Chromebook in 2011, Samsung has been committed to continually developing our designs and features to meet our users' ever-changing needs, while staying true to the core Chromebook attributes of simplicity, speed and security.

"Samsung has been the top selling consumer Chromebook brand for the past three years and we'll continue to grow our leadership position in this space with the launch of the Chromebook 2 Series."

Samsung has predicted Chromebook use will increase four times in 2014, with the majority of users being schools.

It is estimated that there are 25,000 Chromebooks being used in UK educational establishments at present and Samsung holds 90 per cent of this share.