As an early Christmas gift, Google is slashing the price of its web-only Chromebooks to just $299.

Google's senior product manager Venkat Rapaka announced that the search engine giant was working with both Acer and Samsung to lower prices on current models of the Chromebook laptops.

"We're excited to share that beginning this week Acer and Samsung Chromebooks will be available starting at $299," he wrote on Google's official blog. The blog post also detailed some new features to the Chromebook including a fresh, streamlined user interface and a new tab page with added shortcuts.

Acer and Samsung Chromebooks with Wi-Fi will now sell for $299, while the Wi-Fi and 3G Samsung Series-5 will now sell for only $349 from its original price of $429. Samsung is also releasing a piano black version of its Series 5 Wi-Fi Chromebook.

The Chromebook was introduced by Google in June this year as the first completely cloud based computing device. Application updates occur automatically, boot-up only takes eight seconds and data storage takes place in the cloud. The Chrome operating system uses various web apps that Google offers free like Google Docs, Calendar and Gmail account. You can also get more apps from Google's Web Store like Angry Birds if you need more software or utility programs.

The specs of the available Chromebooks are fair but nothing spectacular. The Samsung Series 5 Chromebook has a 12.1 inch screen with an Intel Atom N570 processor. It only has a 16 Gb onboard storage since you're expected to save everything on the cloud. It also has a webcam, two USB 2.0 ports and a media card reader. It doesn't have an Ethernet jack so you need Wi-Fi to go online. Acer's Chromebook will have an 11.6″ HD widescreen display, the same Intel Atom Dual-Core Processor, HD webcam, high-definition audio support, the Chrome keyboard and a HDMI port alongside the Wi-Fi and 3G connections.

The device didn't make much of an impact in the market since users weren't keen with their device to be completely web-based. If your Internet connection goes down you're basically left with a fancy box. If you think the price is good enough or you just want to give the Chromebook as a gift, the device can be bought online from Google's retail partners- Amazon, Best Buy and TigerDirect. com. Samsung and Acer both said they would release Chromebooks in Australia by the end of the year but there isn't a specific date announced yet.