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Lenovo jumped out of the gate with the first 8th gen 15.6″ Chromebook on the market. Until recently, they held the keys to that space as the only latest-gen Chromebook on the market sporting a massive display. That changed earlier this year as Acer, ASUS and HP all launched 15.6″ models of their own with HP and Acer offering the first-ever Chromebooks available with numeric keypads.
While the Yoga Chromebook is still a force to be reckoned with, it appears that Lenovo isn’t going to stand by and be outshined by the competition. As I scrolled through my discover feed today, I noticed a new YouTube video from Lenovo titled “Lenovo Chromebook Product Tour.” I didn’t think much of it until I noticed the image in the video.
Ok, I’ll bite. As I watched the one minute video, my eyes were treated to a colorful display of a highly-produced marketing video that features Chromebooks with colors such as Platinum Grey, Sand Pink and my favorite, Dark Orchid. I excitedly started digging for more information on these mysterious Chromebooks. Take a look at the video and then we’ll discuss all the new goodies.
So, it looks like Lenovo is about to launch three distinct new models to their Chrome OS lineup that include another 11.6″ convertible, a 14″ 180-degree and a 15.6″ convertible that is equipped with a numeric keypad and backlit keyboard.
The C340-11 and S340-14 appear to be the spiritual successor to the C330 and S330 released last year with the aging MediaTek MT8173 ARM processor. The new models will instead be powered by Intel Celeron N4000. The dual-core Gemini Lake chip should bring performance gains of fifty percent or better over the MediaTek SoC.
The Chromebook C340-11 will offer an 11.6″ 1366×768 touch display at 250 nits and will come with 4GB of RAM and either 32GB or 64GB of storage. Port selection will be liberal with two USB 3.1 Gen 1, 2 USB-C, a MicroSD slot and a 3.5mm audio jack. It will come in Platinum Grey and Sand Pink.
The Chromebook S340-14 features a 180-degree fold-flat chassis that comes with an HD non-touch or FHD w/optional touch display, 4GB of RAM and up to 64GB of storage. It’s also the one that comes in that sweet Dark Orchid or not-so-stunning Onyx Black.
Now, on to the big dog. The Lenovo Chromebook C340-15 isn’t so much a replacement for the Yoga C630 as it is another option for the productivity-minded. It comes in one color, Mineral Grey that favors ASUS’ devices. On the inside, you’ll get the option of a Pentium Gold 4417U or the Kaby Lake Core i3-8130U.
You can get up to 128GB of storage but (and I cringe as I write this) the only listings I can find for the C340-15 show 4GB of RAM. There are currently more than a dozen internal documents listing variants for multiple countries and regions. None of them include 8GB of memory. Lenovo, if you’re reading this, please make an 8GB variant. This is a power user’s dream device but 4GB just won’t cut it.
The keyboard, like Acer’s Chromebook 715, features the full-size numeric keypad and is backlit as it should be. On the outside, you get one USB 3.1, two USB-C, a MicroSD card slot and a 3.5mm audio jack. We don’t have any pricing on the new models yet but I have reached out to my contacts at Lenovo to see if we can get some more information on the colorful, new Chromebooks. Stay tuned.
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