Another new MT8189 Chromebook ‘Baze’ joins the ‘Skywalker’ family

Just when we thought the family was already well established, it looks like another Chromebook is joining the party. We’ve been keeping a very close eye on ‘Skywalker’ – the development baseboard for MediaTek’s upcoming MT8189 ARM chip – and were already surprised and excited to uncover a family of five new development boards that spawned from it. But the development for this particular SoC is clearly still hot, because we’ve now found a sixth board joining the ranks: say hello to ‘Baze’.

A quick refresher on ‘Skywalker’ and the MT8189

For those just joining this particular story, let’s do a quick recap. The MediaTek MT8189 is a newer ARM SoC that we fully expect to be a notable step up in performance from the already-capable Kompanio 838 (MT8188) that powers devices like the latest Lenovo Chromebook Duet 11. While the exact specs are still a bit of a mystery, MediaTek has a solid track record of delivering significant performance and efficiency gains with these newer chips.

‘Skywalker’ is the foundational development board that Google and MediaTek are using to get the MT8189 chip ready for ChromeOS. Think of it as the parent board from which new, unique Chromebook models can be built.

Welcome ‘Baze’ to the family

Initially, we found five boards that branched off of ‘Skywalker’, all continuing the fun Star Wars naming theme: ‘Obiwan’, ‘Luuke’, ‘Yoda’, ‘Anakin’, and ‘Quigon’. Now, we can add ‘Baze’ to that list, and for those keeping score at home, Baze Malbus was one of the Guardians of the Whills from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, so the theme is alive and well.

The discovery of a sixth board is what makes this so significant. With past MediaTek baseboards, we’ve usually only seen a couple of actual devices make it to market. Seeing this family expand to six distinct development boards strongly signals that there is broad manufacturer interest in the MT8189. It means more companies are likely experimenting with and building devices around this chip.

More boards in development greatly increases the chances that we’ll see a diverse range of MT8189-powered Chromebooks hitting the market down the line. We could see traditional clamshells, convertibles, and detachables all sporting this new, efficient ARM processor.

While we still need to learn more about the exact specifications of the MT8189 and what form factor a device like ‘Baze’ will ultimately take, its existence is fantastic news. It’s a clear indicator that the future for capable, ARM-powered Chromebooks is bright and that we’ll have plenty of new hardware to look forward to. As always, we’ll be tracking ‘Baze’ right alongside the rest of the ‘Skywalker’ family and will update you as we learn more.