It’s officially time to explore Google’s Chrome OS and its supporting hardware – Chromebook.

The latest announcement in the portable computing category seems like the next (and more appropriate) generation of compact, low-cost laptops for simple internet-based (i.e., web browser) tasks. It appears purpose built to take advantage of Google’s cloud-first applications – for consumers, schools and (maybe) businesses.

I decided to go with a model that provided the lowest cost-of-entry balanced with required performance for simple web-surfing tasks. The Acer C720 has the latest Haswell Intel processor, for longer battery life, and 2GB RAM for smooth multi-tab web-browsing. It’s also got a 16GB SSD for fast local storage, with a complimentary amount of cloud storage on Google Drive.

When Chromebooks were first announced, I couldn’t help but think of the netbook craze… compact, low-cost, but extremely under-powered machines. This feels different. I’m excited to see where this latest experiment takes me…