The highly anticipated Samsung Chromebook 2 has hit a bit of a snag: the release has been pushed back by a month for unknown reasons.
BetaNews reports that their existing pre-order of the 13.3″ Chromebook 2 on Amazon has been delayed a number of times from early to mid and, now, the end of May. Samsung has confirmed the delay.
Both the 11.6-inch and 13.3-inch models of the Samsung Chromebook 2 were made available to pre-order earlier this month. At the time, Samsung listed an “early May, 2014” shipping date whilst Amazon listed a more optimistic April 28 for both models.
As of writing, Samsung US’ online store shows a wait of 10–14 business days for the black 11.6-inch Chromebook 2 – the only model still available to pre-order directly from Samsung – while Amazon has since modified its release dates to May 7 and May 29 for the 11.6 and 13.3-inch models respectively.
No Explanation Yet
There aren’t any clues as to what may be causing the delay just yet. Kevin Tofel of Gigaom notes that the upgraded Exynos 5 Octa processor could be the culprit following only modest benchmark results of the eight-core chip that may require further optimisation in Chrome OS before release. It’s worth mentioning that the 11.6-inch model also features another Exynos 5 Octa processor, but its delay on Amazon to early May is far less drastic than that of its bigger sibling.
The delayed 13.3-inch Chromebook 2 features 4GB of RAM, a 16GB SSD, and a 1920×1080 display that trumps the 1366×768 displays in the vast majority of Chromebooks as of late, including the smaller Chromebook 2 model, and retails for $399 in the US.
If you pre-ordered a Samsung Chromebook 2, have you cancelled your order or are you waiting out the extra month?
- Source: Gigaom