Amid a flurry of Chromebooks at CES 2023, another 12th-gen Intel device begins development

We saw some truly great hardware at CES 2023 – some Chromebook, some not – and it is always tempting in the midst of all that new hardware to think things should cool off for a bit. Those feelings are simply not reflective of reality as development presses on regardless of what new toys are hitting the market. Such is the case with yet another, new 12th-gen Alder Lake Chromebook beginning development. Meet ‘Omnigul’.

As Chromebooks go, this one is an absolute baby, only really beginning development just 4 days ago. In simple terms, that means we don’t know a whole lot about this one just yet, apart from the fact that it is based on ‘Brya’ and will have some sort of options for 12th-gen Intel silicon inside.

There are a few inferences we can make from this, namely that ‘Omnigul’ won’t be a budget-minded Chromebook and will have the opportunity to be built with mid-range to high-end hardware on the outside. One clue to help us along is the fact that we’re seeing preparations being made for NVMe storage. While this isn’t a marker of a high-end Chromebook any longer, it definitely means it won’t be in the budget category.

Apart from these tidbits, however, we still have to give this one some time to develop before we can know much about it. Keep in mind that devices ranging from the new HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook to the moderately-priced Acer Chromebook Spin 714 all come with Alder Lake on board, so the fact that ‘Omnigul’ is in this family really only gives us a small window into what it could be in the end.

For now, it’s just exciting to continue seeing the development of new Chromebooks with these processors inside. Sure, we could move on to looking out for 13th-gen Raptor Lake Chromebooks, but those devices won’t have too much upside on 12th-gen versions. Until 14th-gen Meteor Lake starts truly moving into full development on Chromebooks, I’m happy to see Alder Lake continue its inclusion in more and more devices as ChromeOS gets better and better on this hardware.