If a Chromebook or Chromebox is your daily machine, you’ve got a new official keyboard and mouse combo option available for pre-order now with a native layout, certification from Google, and more. Here’s what you need to know about CTL’s new wireless keyboard combo for Chrome OS.
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Chromebooks have always been thought of as cheap laptops running a glorified web browser instead of an operating system, but times have certainly changed. Today, you can buy powerful Chromebooks and use them to run local Android and Linux apps and, now, that’s extending to games. Google has officially released Steam for Chrome OS, at least in its alpha state, and we’ve been able to take a first look at it in action.
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Just in time for Steam to be making its way to the platform, Google is adding support for variable refresh rate displays to Chrome OS.
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The long-awaited availability of Steam on Chromebooks was just more or less announced (in alpha) at the 2022 Google for Games Developer Summit. That said, Google is light on availability details for the moment.
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While Google hasn’t released a new Pixelbook since 2019, OEM partners have continued to release flagship Chrome OS devices and different form factors. In a rather peculiar Instagram post today, Google talks about a “new Chromebook” from HP as if it were its own.
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Back in 2018, Google joined the Universal Stylus Initiative to boost the adoption of an active pen protocol. USI today announced version 2.0 of its standard with a handful of new features possible.
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Chromebook tablets have been growing in popularity over the past couple of years, and Lenovo especially has been doubling down on the form factor. After launching the Chromebook Duet 5 last year, Lenovo is today announcing the smaller, but equally specced, IdeaPad Duet 3.
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Google announced today that 50 million students and educators now use Chromebooks, and that it’s going to help schools find information about how to fix their devices with a new repair program site.
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Google’s Chrome OS made a huge impact early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, with the quick shift to working and educating at home necessitating more machines, and often super affordable ones. However, the following year has seen those numbers drop quickly. In Q4 2021, Chromebook shipments dropped even further, down over 60% compared to the same period in 2020.
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MediaTek has officially unveiled its next-generation Kompanio 1380 chipset designed for use in high-end Chromebooks and Chrome OS hardware.
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Chrome OS has taken over the education market for many, and Acer is one of the biggest names bringing models to the market. Today, Acer is launching a new batch of Chromebooks for education customers including one with a 3:2 display.
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The new “Logitech Pen” is a stylus built not for just one Chromebook, but for the masses thanks to its use of the USI standard. Unfortunately, though, this is a product meant for the education market, not for the average consumer.
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HP today announced their latest line of Chromebooks for education customers under a new Fortis brand. The line will include the HP Fortis 14 G10 and 11 G9 Q Chromebook, as well as a webcam accessory.
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Chromebooks often miss out on the bleeding edge of laptop tech, but that’s slowly starting to change. A few years after Apple popularized the idea, HP is bringing a haptic trackpad to Chromebooks with its new Elite Dragonfly Chromebook.
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Android apps have become a pretty important part of Chrome OS over the past few years, doing everything from plugging the app gap to making Chromebook tablets a viable Android tablet replacement. However, Chrome OS 96 seems to be causing issues with Android apps for some users.
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After announcing its flagship mobile and gaming processor, Qualcomm today unveiled the Snapdragon 7c+ Gen 3 for “entry-tier” Chromebooks.
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Earlier this week we reported that Zoom was starting to cut off its original Chrome OS app, leaving Chromebook owners with a new PWA that unexpectedly pulled Gallery View support for many. Now, we can confirm that Zoom intends to bring this feature back in the coming weeks.
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Video conferencing app Zoom exploded in popularity during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, and remains quite popular to this day. To better serve its Chrome OS users, Zoom announced earlier this year that it would launch a new Progressive Web App(PWA) that has since launched in beta with some new features. In recent weeks, Zoom has discontinued the functionality of its original Chrome OS extension, leaving users only with the PWA, which is experiencing multiple issues.
This post has been updated after publication for clarify and to reflect information from Zoom.
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Google started pushing Chrome OS tablets a few years ago, but with the Pixel Slate being a rather spectacular failure, the task of bringing that idea to life fell to the company’s partners. Lenovo was the first to strike excellence with its IdeaPad Duet in 2020, and now HP has brought the vision a step closer. I’ve spent a few weeks with the HP Chromebook X2, and I think it’s a bit closer to the “ideal” Chrome OS tablet.
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2020 was a rough year for many, but it turned out to be one of the best years ever for Chromebook shipments. Following that high, though, Chromebook numbers have dropped dramatically in Q3 2021.
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Chromebooks rely primarily on web apps to run just about everything, with Android apps plugging some of the holes, but even that left Chromebook owners without access to the Adobe Creative suite. The tide is finally changing, though, as Adobe today announced that Photoshop is coming to the web and in turn, Chromebooks starting with a public beta.
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The explosion of Chrome OS over the past 18 to 20 months and at-home working similarly expanding unlike ever before, it’s refreshing to know that you don’t need to deal with cheap, underpowered Windows laptops or PCs to get actual work done. A case in point is the excellent Acer Chromebook Spin 713.
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At today’s Next@Acer event, the company unveiled a suite of new Chromebooks including the revamped Acer Chromebook Spin 514.
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Last March, Google announced a “Works With Chromebook” program to certify and badge accessories for Chrome OS. The latest peripheral to come out of this certification is docking stations.
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