Monday Poll: What do you want in a Chrome OS tablet?

It wasn’t too long ago that the Chrome OS tablet was on its last leg and unfortunately, Google’s own Pixel Slate did little to save the form-factor. Many would argue that the ultra-premium detachable Chromebook was such a flop that it soured other manufacturers from even attempting to create another device in the same vein. Lucky for us, the maturation of Chrome OS in its tablet form combined with some premium-ish hardware from the likes of Lenovo and HP has saved the Chromebook tablet from the chopping block. Our hopes are high that we may actually see a few more premium Chrome OS tablets hit the market over the next year and that could open up the doors to more OEMs giving the form-factor a go.

Sure, Google needs to put in some work to get all the gears running smoothly on Chrome OS tablets. For example, Android app performance runs that gamut from horrid to decent but there’s little rhyme or reason as to which processors are going to do the trick.That leads me to the biggest obstacle for Chrome-blets at the moment and that’s the fact that we have yet to see high-end mobile chipsets in these devices. Not since the Slate and original HP x2 have we seen a Chrome OS tablet with a CPU powerful enough to actually perfrom admirably. Granted, we have high hopes for MediaTek’s upcoming mid-range and flagship ARM SoCs but where are the mobile Intel Chrome OS tablets. For that matter, why are we just now getting Snapdragon 7c Chromebooks? Don’t get me wrong, the HP Chromebook x2 11 is a beauty to behold but it’s not winning any benchmark awards. They should have skipped the 7c entirely and released these new tablets with the newer 8c compute chip. My opinion. Rant over.

Anyway, I’m not here to stir the pot. Instead, I want to hear from you. Tablet mode on Chrome OS has gotten really good in most aspects and the hardware coming out is as good as just about any Android tablet you’ll find. That said, what’s it take to make Chrome OS tablets better than “just good enough?” What would you want to see in new Chromebook tablets as more devices hit the market over the coming year? is the OS where it needs to be to focus on premium internals or does Google need to do some more tweaking before we worry about buying the iPad Pro of the Chrome OS world? I’ve listed a couple of common “wants” that many consumers look for in a mobile device. Vote for the one that matters most to you. If you think there’s something else that Chrome OS tablets need to make it to the next level, fill in your answer and we’ll add it to the list. Check back Friday for the results.