The world of Chrome OS is currently on fire with news of new features and devices with every turn you take. At the forefront, of course, are the rumored Pixelbook devices we are all hoping and praying to see at Google’s hardware event expected to happen in early October.
Then there’s Cheza. The first-ever SnapDragon-powered Chromebook is exciting news, indeed but unlike many, we do not expect to see this much-anticipated device before mid-2019. Sure, we could get a sneak peek at CES in January. However, those hoping to pick one up for the 2018 holiday shopping season? I’m afraid I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Next is all that’s new with Chrome OS itself. As you may have seen in Robby’s latest video, version 70 of the operating system has brought some significant updates and optimization to the tablet experience on Chromebooks as well as a number of other features to look forward to.
I could go on all afternoon about the latest and greatest from the developers of Chrome OS but today I’m going to circle back to something a lot of Chromies may have forgotten.
AMD Chromebooks are on the way
Now, I will admit that the subject of an AMD-powered Chromebook, as of late, is usually greeted around the office as follows.
We’re just a few months shy of 2 years since the appearance of an AMD processor being used as the base for a new Chrome device and after all this time, we were really starting to wonder if the project had just been abandoned. There have been updates here and there and even a new AMD chipset added to the repository but alas, no Chromebook to be found.
Despite silence from AMD and Google’s camp both about the project, development moves forward and I have even received confirmation from one source confirming the existence of a pre-production AMD Chromebook being tested or “dogfooded” as the tech-types refer to it.
If that weren’t enough to restore hopes that we will see a Chromebook of this flavor, there have now been three more AMD boards added to the Chromium repository.
Keeping with the theme of characters from the video game franchise “Mass Effect,” new devices code-named ‘Liara’, ‘Aleena’ and ‘Careena’ have recently been put into development and all three devices are being built as variants of the familiar ‘Kahlee’ board that utilizes the Raven Ridge chipsets from AMD. The processor is built on AMD’s Zen architecture and features onboard Radeon Vega Graphics touted to achieve performance in the range of 150% and higher than comparable chips.
The details on these three devices are scant at best but being that they are variants of the long-in-development ‘Kahlee’ board, it’s plausible that they could see the light of day sooner than the average Chromebook. Like ‘Cheza’ I wouldn’t anticipate seeing official news about an AMD device before the end of the year. Then again, you never know. I, for one, will be watching closely. I’ve been waiting a long time to see a Chromebook powered by AMD and I feel as if that time is drawing very near.
Stay tuned.
