It’s been a while since we were last able to arrange the words ‘New’, ‘Samsung’ and ‘Chromebook’ beside each other.

But today, finally, we can, as the famous tech company unwraps its all-new 11-inch Chromebook 3 at the Consumer Electronics Expo (CES) 2016.

And the new model comes as a slight surprise to us.

Why?

Not long after launching the Samsung Chromebook 2 in 2014 the company announced it was to ‘withdraw’ from selling notebooks in Germany, and scaled back availability in other major European countries.

Fast forward 18 months and ‘strong consumer demand’ in the US has tempted them back for another dip in the Chrome OS honeypot.

“We’re seeing more and more people flocking to Chromebooks as families, students and other consumers seek out easy-to-use, highly portable and affordable laptops as resources for personal use, education and even work,” says Gary Riding, SVP of Mobile Computing at Samsung Electronics America.

Check out the full press release for more garb on the machine.

Samsung has a long history of backing Google’s cloud-centric OS. They produced the first ever commercial Chromebook, the Series 5, back in 2011, and was the first to also produce a low-cost, think ARM-based model.

Samsung Chromebook 3 Specs

The new 2.5 pound notebook has been designed to be comfortable to hold with ‘improved grip’ and as with similar devices from other OEMS it has a reinforced metal body to protect against drops and knocks.

It features the following specs:

11.6-inch anti-glare display (1366×768)

Intel Celeron N3050 @ 2.6GHz (dual-core)

2GB or 4GB RAM

16GB eMMC flash storage

11 hour battery

Other details include:

2x USB (1x 2.0, 1x 3.0)

Full-sized HDMI out

180 degree hinge

2 1.5W speakers

MicroSD card slot

Curved keycap keyboard

Price TBA

The Samsung Chromebook 3 will be available in early 2016 at select retailers in the USA and through the official Samsung America website.

No word on pricing, but you can expect it to be fairly competitive with similar low-end entries from ASUS and Acer.

Thanks to reader Marc for sending this tip in!