Another 12th-gen Intel Alder Lake Chromebook is inbound as we near CES 2022

As we come to the end of 2021 – just like in year’s past – we fully expect to begin seeing official news of next-gen Intel-powered Chromebooks at any time. With CES 2022 just a few weeks away (crazy, right??), it comes as no surprise that there is a continuous trickle of new 12th-gen Intel Alder Lake Chromebooks entering into development. With the new Chromebook we’re introducing today, our ongoing list has grown to 13 total Alder Lake Chromebooks in the works, and I don’t think we’re going to slow down anytime soon.

For those unaware, Alder Lake will bring substantial performance improvements both in the CPU and GPU departments compared to Tiger Lake and should provide for big gains in the battery department as well. With stiffer competition from Snapdragon 7c and MediaTek Kompanio Chromebooks on the horizon, Intel needs to stay relevant by keeping performance solid – as it currently is with Tiger Lake – and offering users better experiences with battery life.

As I stated in my review of the excellent, Snapdragon 7c Gen 2-powered Lenovo Chromebook Duet 5, the battery life we’ll start expecting from ARM-powered Chromebooks is about to change significantly. That device was regularly getting me 14+ hours of use on a charge and for many users, the performance loss versus the latest Intel devices isn’t that big of a deal when you are talking about the freedom that a 14 hour battery gives you. Intel’s Alder Lake devices will hopefully bring both the power and battery life Chromebook users desire, so we’re excited to see what sort of numbers will come along with these new Chromebooks.

New Chromebook in development: ‘Draco’

So, that brings us to today’s new Alder Lake Chromebook in development: ‘Draco’. As a newcomer, there’s not a lot we know about this board just yet aside from the fact that it will obviously house some form of Intel’s Alder Lake SoC. And, honestly, that’s about all you need to know. With the upgrades Alder Lake is slated to bring, Intel’s stamp on the outside of any Chromebook coming in 2022 will be a good start.

We’ll be keeping an eye on this new device and the other existing Alder Lake Chromebooks in development as we move into 2022. We still have quite a few Tiger Lake devices in the works, too, so between 11th-gen and 12th-gen Chromebooks with Intel inside, there will be a ton of powerful, fast, GPU-equipped devices coming our way just in time for things like Steam games and proper video editing via LumaFusion.