Dell has arrived fashionably late to the Chromebook party with the introduction of a less-than-$300 laptop featuring Google’s cloud-powered operating system and complementary software. Designed for use by students and teachers, the Dell Chromebook 11 comes with fourth generation Intel Celeron 2955U processor, 16GB of flash storage and either 4GB or 2GB of RAM depending on the model. It boots in under 8.4 seconds and manages 10 hours of battery life.

The machine sports an 11.6-inch 1366×768 monitor and a front-facing 720p webcam that “creates exciting opportunities for collaborative learning in a variety of learning environments,” Dell said. The company hopes to start shipments in the first quarter of 2014.

The Chromebook 11 connects to an online configuration tool that lets admins manage applications and enforce safe browsing practices across multiple devices. The service also provides automatic software updates, sandboxing, verified boot and data encryption, among other “in depth” security capabilities. For end users, a new Wyse PocketCloud app allows files to be accessed and edited across different platforms, including Windows and Mac.

“Dell believes that when implemented successfully, teachers, students and technology work together to enrich the learning process,” said Neil Hand, the vice president of Dell’s Tablet and Performance PC Group. “The Dell Chromebook 11 will give schools and districts another tool to consider as they plan their digital content and curriculum strategies, and its competitive pricing will help open access to technology for more students around the country.”

Acer, Samsung and Hewlett-Packard all managed to come out with Chromebooks before Dell, but the rushed release came with a price. In November, HP had to stop selling its Google-powered laptops after a number of customers complained that their power supplies would overheat to the point of melting. Users were told to stop using their factory chargers until further notice.