Google has been trying for some time to get consumers to not only buy more Chromebooks, but to convince them to get them with higher-end hardware rather than Windows or Mac-based notebooks. In 2022, it partnered with PC makers like Lenovo, Acer, and ASUS to make Chromebooks that connected to game streaming services like Microsoft's Xbox Cloud Gaming with an Xbox Games Pass Ultimate subscription and NVIDIA's GeForce Now.
Today, a new report claims Google is going to launch a new brand for premium Chromebooks. 9to5Google, citing unnamed sources, claim that Google is currently going with "Chromebook X" as this new brand name, but added that the final branding could change before it launches.
The report says that PC makers who create Chromebook X notebooks would have to include certain hardware specs inside, including the use of specific CPUs. The article lists AMD's Zen 2+, Zen 3 chips, along with Intel's Core 12th Gen chips. It also adds that newer CPUs could also be included. The article says Chromebook X devices must also have a specific amount of RAM and a good webcam. Please note that there is no existence of "Zen 2+" as AMD only ever made Zen+ (found inside Ryzen 3000 mobile chips) and Zen 3+ (inside Ryzen 6000 mobile). Hence it could be a typing error, or perhaps it might be referring to Mendocino, which also features Zen 2-based cores but is built on a smaller 6nm node.
Beyond the hardware specs, the report says Chromebook X notebooks could get some exclusive software features not included in normal Chromebooks. Some of them might include live caption support and auto-blur of backgrounds for video conferencing, along with up to 16 virtual desks, pinned offline Google Drive files, and more.
The report claims we could see the first ChromeOS notebooks under the "Chromebook X" brand (or whatever name Google settles on) sometime before the end of 2023. That would, of course, mean that the company is targeting the holiday shopping season for these somewhat upgraded Chromebooks. Google is not expected to release any Chromebook X notebooks on its own.
Chromebooks have mostly targeted consumers who want a cheaper laptop, so it should be interesting to see how Google and its third-party Chromebook X PC makers market these more expensive models.
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