Annoucement: Battle of The ChromeBooks, Head to Head

Today we have a very special Announcement, over the coming weeks we will be doing a Battle of the Chromebooks series. We will be reviewing all the different models, and comparing and contrasting there specs, we will also do benchmark testes and find out once and for all, which chromebook is the best. There will be different categories such as price, features, specs and benchmarks and each of them will be scored out of 5 to get a final over all score. So let us know which two Chromebooks do you want to go head to head first?

How to Install Linux on Your Chromebook and Get More Bang for Your Buck. Part 1 (Crouton Method)

This is part one of a two parter on different methods to run Linux on your Chromebook. Part two will be coming soon using ChrBuntu and the dual book method so make sure you subscribe for updates.

Do you think your Chromebook is fantastic but sometimes you wish you could get access to a few more offline desktop features without switching laptops or computers. Well fear not because there is a solution to use  Ubuntu (Linux) on top of you Chrome OS without the need for a dual boot setup.

Step One: Developer Mode
This may sound scary but its actually extremely simple to do. Make sure you back up anything you have stored locally on your hard drive in the cloud though as it will wipe all local data.

1. Press and hold the Esc and Refresh Keys together, then press the Power button (while still holding down the ESC and Refresh Keys.) This will force you Chromebook to reboot into Recovery Mode. 
2. As Soon as you see Recovery Mode pop up (a screen with a yellow exclamation point then press Ctrl+D. This will bring up a prompt asking if you want to switch on Developer Mode - Press Enter to continue.
3. After some time a new a screen will pop up for only a few moments, the Chromebook will then re-boot itself and go through the process of enabling Developer Mode, this may take up to 15 minutes so be patient.
4. Once this is done it will return to a screen with a red exclamation point leave it alone until it reboots into Chrome OS.

Note: some older models have a physical switch on the underside of the Chromebook to Enable Developer Mode, if this is the case, Google instructions for you particular device it should be very similar.

Step Two: Install Crouton

1. Dowload Crouton from https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton and save it in your downloads folder.
2. Press Ctrl+Alt+T to bring up a terminal on your Chromebook.
3. at the terminal type "shell" and press enter
4. next run the following command by typing "sudo sh -e ~/Downloads/crouton -" and press Enter
5. Then let your computer install Crouton, This can take a while so crack open a drink. Once its done it will ask you for a username and password for your new Ubuntu install.
6. once its all done type the following into you terminal to run your new install "sudo startxfce4" and click enter.

Now that its installed so can switch back and forward between Chrome and Ubuntu using
Crtl+Alt+Shift+Back and Crtl+Alt+Shift+Forward on an ARM based Chromebook or
Ctrl+Alt+Back and Ctrl+Alt+Forward in an Intel Chrombook. For Intel you will also need to press Ctrl+Alt+Refresh to bring up the desktop.

Chromebook Stocked Stores Triple to 6,600

Google announced earlier this week world wide 6,600 stores now stock chromebooks. Chromebooks are now stocked in store in over 11 markets world wide. In the US Walmart has the Acer chromebook available in over 2,800 stores while Staple has Acer, HP and Samsung chromebooks in there over 1,500 stores nation wide.

In the UK Dixon's has had Chromebooks for some time now but with the recent addition of 116 Tesco stores as well as All Media Markt and Saturn Stores in the Netherlands, FNAC in France and elgiganten in Sweden, the UK market is now burst wide open.

 In Australia Harvey Norman and JB Hi-Fi Carry the Acer the HP and the Samsung models of chromebook although no-one stock either the series 5 or the Pixel on Australia shores yet.

David Shapiro, Director of Chromebook Marketing has been quoted saying "We-re working hard to bring Chromebooks to even more countries later this year."

Walmart and Staples to stock Chromebooks

Walmart and Staples have announced they will both be stocking Chromebooks, which is excellent news for Google as exposure for the devices spreads. Walmart is only  a $200 Acer model with 16 GB of solid state storage. Staples will sell a variety of Chromebooks from manufacture’s such as Acer, HP and Samsung.

Meanwhile Samsung have confirmed that there mid-range series 5 550 Chromebook is being fazed out with no plans for a replacement anytime soon, this means you either have the cheaper entry level chromebooks, or the top of the like Pixel for $1,300 leaving the market wide open for a mid-range device.