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We’re getting a little antsy around the office waiting for the Acer Chromebook Spin 13 to make its arrival to market. We have it on good authority that it will be happening very soon and we’re keeping our fingers crossed that Acer will make good on their September launch target.
In the meantime, let’s talk about some other devices to be excited about.
Three additions to the Chromium repositories this week point to new Kaby Lake devices that could follow in the footsteps of Acer’s upcoming flagships.
nami: add new models as skeletons for firmware
Add new models syndra, ekko, and bard.
‘Nami’ is the baseboard for the emerging 8th generation Kaby Lake Chromebooks that will soon grace us with their presence. The Acer Chromebook 13 and Spin 13 use this baseboard as does ‘Vayne’ which I have been tipped to be the Dell Chromebook Inspiron 14 announced last month at IFA.
Syndra
The first device, ‘Syndra’, was added using the configurations of the ‘Sona’ board which was presumed by some to be made by HP. However, in my searching, I have found no evidence to that point. As a matter of fact, ‘Sona’ doesn’t even have an overlay file to speak of which is a telling sign that it may simply be a reference device or perhaps a Chromebook project that was scrapped in favor of something else. I tend to think it is the former and know that ‘Syndra’ is cloning files from ‘Sona’ in preparation for development. Perhaps ‘Sona’ was just the test bed for ‘Syndra’ but that is still a mystery.
There isn’t a lot to go on at this point but I would presume ‘Syndra’ will be a convertible Chromebook but that’s simply a guess. As developers continue adding code for the new device, we will get a better look at what to expect from ‘Syndra’. Who knows? Maybe we’ll see an 8th Gen detachable headed our way in the near future.
Ekko and Bard
The other two devices have been added as a pair. ‘Ekko’ and ‘Bard’ began development just last week and are taking their cues from another duo of devices, ‘Akali’ and ‘Akali 360’. I am 99.99% sure that these are the code names for the Acer Chromebook 13 and Spin 13. That leads me to believe that ‘Ekko’ and ‘Bard’ will be a convertible and a clamshell with very similar specs both from the same OEM.
Who? No clues right now but perhaps these will be HP’s next addition to the Chrome OS market. ASUS is due as well but I don’t expect to see anything from them until closer to the end of the year.
I’m personally very excited to see these new Chromebooks in the works. Not because they will bring any new features but because seeing manufacturers committing to producing high-end, flagship devices is encouraging. The Chromebook market needs competition in that arena. The Pixelbook is awesome and I’m sure the next iterations will be, as well but options are great. Not to mention the fact that each OEM that makes Chromebooks brings their own unique identity to their devices. Variety is the spice of life, you know.
We’ll add ‘Syndra’, ‘Ekko’ and ‘Bard’ to the list of things to keep an eye on and keep you posted as we learn more.
Source: Chromium repository
