Another Snapdragon Chromebook tablet is on the way with ‘Gelarshie’

We just released a video last week to address a growing ‘problem’ in the Chromebook ecosystem: the decision on which tablet is the best for each user. No, we don’t have tons of them at this point, but there are enough options out there that make the end decision a bit more difficult than it has ever been before. With different processors, different form factors, and different strengths, the collection of current Chromebook tablets is much easier to navigate if you know what you want going in.

That being said, today’s news will only continue to add to the positive problem of too much choice in the Chromebook tablet market, as we now have yet another tablet/detachable on the way with a device code named ‘Gelarshie’. Forked from the same family that brought us the HP Chromebook x2 11, the Lenovo Duet 5, and the upcoming Duet 3, ‘Gelarshie’ will come with some form of the Snapdragon 7c onboard.

All the commits currently surrounding ‘Gelarshie’ are only a few weeks old at this point, so we’re still digging for more details on this one. Will it be a larger tablet like the Duet 5 or a smaller variety like the Duet 3 or HP x2 11? Hopefully we can uncover some of those details over the coming weeks, but for now it’s nice to know the Snapdragon Chromebook train is still running strong. Oh, and in case you were wondering how we know this will, in fact, be a detachable device, check the commit below. Clearly there is a detachable keyboard (‘Gelatin’) just for this Chromebook, derived from ‘Zed’ – the keyboard for the HP Chromebook x2 11.

Waiting on a few Snapdragon Chromebooks

Running into this new device brought my attention back to other unreleased Snapdragon Chromebooks. While all of the devices we have already and those we are still waiting on all come from the same baseboard (‘Strongbad’), they most certainly don’t all have the same processors inside. While the HP x2 11 comes with the Snapdragon 7c Gen 1, the Duet 5 and Duet 3 both come equipped with the more-capable Gen 2 version. Clearly the Snapdragon Compute Platform isn’t handled exactly like we see with Intel-based Chromebooks, so that could make things very interesting with the rest of the devices we’ve yet to see.

‘Gelarshie’ joins ‘Quackingstick’ and ‘MrBland’ as yet-to-be released Chromebook tablets with Snapdragon processors inside. While we may assume that means at least Gen 2 Snapdragon silicon, it may not. But it also could mean we might see the newer Snapdragon 7c+ Gen 3 as well. With this platform, it isn’t exactly clear which 7c chip is inside, so we’ll simply have to dig for more clues or wait until these Chromebooks actually arrive.

Add to all this the fact that we’ll most certainly see a few tablets with the MediaTek Kompanio 800 and 1000 series inside and the Chromebook tablet market looks set to explode in the next 6-12 months. Maybe more important than anything at this point will be Google’s investment in Chrome OS and Android to bring the updated ARCVM container to all Chromebooks along with Android 12. There are some great improvements in Android 12L that would be fantastic on Chromebooks, but that Android framework needs to be in place before these devices can take advantage. Here’s to hoping for more Chromebook tablets and better Android app performance as 2022 progresses.