The budget notebook market got a bit more interesting on Friday. Goolge has announced that anyone that buys a notebook powered by Chrome OS will receive 1TB of Google Drive cloud storage free of charge for two years. At current prices, that's roughly a $240 value for free.

In a blog post on the matter, Google Group Product Manager, Alex Vogenthaler, said the offer is good on eligible Chromebooks starting at $199. Once the promotion expires in two years, buyers will need to foot $9.99 each month if they wish to keep the 1TB of storage space.

Google's good will is no doubt in response to Microsoft's recent move as it relates to cloud storage.

A few weeks ago, the Redmond-based company announced unlimited OneDrive cloud storage is in the pipeline for subscribers of Office 365 Home, Personal or University. That offer is particularly relevant in this situation as HP is bundling Office 365 Personal (among other software) with its new Stream 11 notebook so not only will buyers get free Office software, they'll also get unlimited cloud storage.

Despite their low-end internals, deals like these are certainly swaying buyers and as we've seen time and time again, when companies compete head-to-head for sales, the consumer is the ultimate winner.

Eligible Chromebooks can be found at retail stores, online outlets and on the Google Play Store. Buyers will need to redeem their offer before January 1.