As the second half of 2019 passes by, new Chromebooks are hitting the market. Today at an event in Berlin, Acer unveiled four new Chromebooks for (very) late 2019 that start at $249.
Earlier this week, our Damien Wilde shared his love for the Lenovo S330 Chromebook, a budget-friendly (and ever-on-sale) favorite Chromebook. Following recent leaks, Lenovo has today announced a follow-up in the form of the S340 Chromebook, which features an Intel processor instead of MediaTek.
Last year’s Lenovo Chromebook C330 stole hearts for many Chrome OS fans, and now it’s getting a successor. As teased last month, the Lenovo Chromebook C340 series has gone official. Here are all the specs and pricing details.
ASUS is no stranger to the Chrome OS world, and today the company has announced a new wired keyboard with a UK layout for Chromebooks and Chromeboxes.
The Lenovo S330 Chromebook is the de facto entry-level Chrome OS machine on the market right now thanks to its low price-tag, solid spec sheet, and a reasonably impressive performance. Considering that the Lenovo S330 Chromebook is now 12-months old, it still manages to be one of the best value Chromebook packages on the market today.
Shopping for a Chromebook is a fairly subjective process, but my personal favorite and daily driver has been the Lenovo Yoga Chromebook C630, as it’s the only Chromebook on the market with an optional 4K display (for now). Since its release, other Chromebooks have bested it for performance, by offering more RAM and a faster processor. Lenovo appears to be responding by preparing a new model of the Yoga Chromebook C630, with an i7 and even higher performance than before.
In the Chrome OS world, Lenovo is one of the biggest names currently. That’s especially true of mid-range options, where the affordable C330 has become very popular. Today, a teaser video uploaded by Lenovo reveals a trio of mid-range C340 Chromebooks with processor upgrades and much more.
Over the past few weeks, details have slowly been leaking out about a Chromebook codenamed “Atlas,” which we believe to be the next iteration of Made by Google Chrome OS hardware. We’ve now uncovered Geekbench benchmarks for Atlas, showing that the Pixelbook 2 candidate’s underlying hardware will be almost identical to that of the Pixel Slate.
Since the advent of Linux apps on Chrome OS, what makes a device one of the best Chromebooks on the market has been changing. Now, more than ever, performance matters, and OEMs like Acer are beginning to meet the demand by bumping up specs across the board. Today, Acer has posted specs for a souped-up version of their Chromebook Spin 13 with a top-of-the-line Intel i7 processor.
Google’s Chrome OS is maturing in a lot of ways, but one simple feature that it totally lacks is a screensaver. That may soon change, though, as a commit strongly hints that Chrome OS may be adopting the Chromecast backdrop images for a new screensaver-like “Ambient Mode” for Chromebooks.
For the last year or so, we’ve been following the development of a Chromebook, codenamed “Atlas,” which has all the normal traits of a Made by Google device. A new image has surfaced of the “Atlas” Chromebook, giving us another preview of what Google may have in store for us later this year.
A fairly obvious Chromium commit this week has revealed that Google is working on a feature that most people probably already assumed existed. In a coming release, Chrome OS will be able to use USB tethering with iPhones.
Back when Chrome OS first started getting popular, the Acer C720 Chromebook quickly emerged as one of the best options. Last month, though, that popular Chromebook got its last update. Now that the Acer C720 Chromebook is dead, let’s take a quick look at what that means for those who still own it, and what the best models are for replacement.
When premium Chromebooks first started becoming popular, my favorite was the ASUS Chromebook Flip C302. Back then, it was an underdog compared to the Samsung Chromebook Plus and Pro, but in 2019, the market has grown dramatically. Does the ASUS Chromebook Flip C434, the C302’s successor, hold up? I’ve spent the past few weeks finding out.
Google’s efforts in the tablet space have rarely been successful, and we all thought the company had called it quits after discontinuing the Pixel C a couple of years back. Today, the company has confirmed that it’s stepping out of the tablet market following the Pixel Slate and will focus on laptops only from this point forward.
Earlier this month, Google officially killed off the Celeron model of the Google Pixel Slate, effectively making the $799 Intel Core m3 model the new base model. So, is the Core m3 powered Pixel Slate actually worth picking up? I’ve spent the past few days finding out.
Last year, Google started work on a new project for Chrome OS that had a lot of promise for users. Project Campfire, as it was called, enabled the ability to reboot a Chromebook into Windows or a full version of Linux. Unfortunately, Google is apparently pulling the plug on that project.
Years ago, Chromebooks were essentially just for those seeking ultra low-cost internet machines. Now, Google’s Chrome OS can be found on more expensive machines that are well worth their cost. If you’re looking to stick with the basics though, there are still options, and the Lenovo Chromebook C330 might be the best one of them all.
Before Google’s Pixel Slate launched, we discovered that two additional Chromebooks were in-development with built-in fingerprint support. During today’s Next@Acer event, both of these fingerprint sensor equipped devices showed up as the Acer Chromebook 714 and 715, and we were able to go hands-on with them.
As Chrome OS continues to improve and offer consistent features and experience across all devices (with the exception of the Pixel line’s special treatment), the only real difference between two Chromebooks is the external and internal hardware. The Acer Chromebook 514 has hardware that certainly sets itself apart from the pack, but not always in a good way.
At the 2018 Made by Google Event, Google debuted the Google Pixel Slate with new-to-Chrome-OS fingerprint support. Before that device has even had the chance to launch, it seems two more upcoming Chromebooks are gaining the same fingerprint capability.
Update: New details have come to light about the two devices.
Lenovo is currently making one of the best workhorse Chromebooks we’ve ever seen with the Yoga Chromebook. The 15-inch monster is one of our top recommendations for Chrome OS at the moment, but strangely, the less expensive FHD models have disappeared from sale on the company’s official site.
Lenovo is one of the biggest names in the enterprise market and this week at MWC the company is showing off a few new laptops. Included in the lineup is the new Lenovo 14e Chromebook Enterprise, which promises to be a durable option while also being the first AMD-powered Chromebook from the company.
Chromebooks used to be the laptops that cost a dime a dozen, but in 2019 you can get premium Chrome OS devices that pack the specs and designs that are capable of getting real work done. For the past couple of months, I’ve been using the Lenovo Yoga Chromebook, and for getting things done, it’s one of the best options currently available.
