The latest Chromebook Plus Showcase in NYC was awesome

This week, we were lucky enough to fly up to New York City and attend a very cool event hosted by the ChromeOS team to highlight a lot of amazing stuff that is coming very, very soon. They called it a Chromebook Showcase, and just like we saw back in late September of 2023, this was an event, presentation, keynote, and product tour designed just for Chromebooks and nothing else. And it was fantastic!

New software and AI features

During the keynote, we heard from different members of the team about all the things that will be launching very soon (seriously, very soon this time around) in the world of Chromebooks and ChromeOS. While I can’t share those details just yet, what I can say is the new updates include some really useful stuff that a lot of you are not only going to like, but find incredibly useful as well.

And there’s new stuff for standard and Plus Chromebooks alike, so don’t check out if you aren’t currently a Chromebook Plus owner. From productivity to AI to enhanced accessibility features, there’s a ton to cover once we can actually tell you all about it. And that time is coming very soon and I can’t wait to talk about it all.

New hardware

And, of course, it wouldn’t be a fun event without some new hardware. In what we now feel is going to be a tick-tock sort of pattern for Chromebook hardware releases (one spring, one fall), this get-together did not disappoint.

There are new devices in quite a few sizes and form factors, so we’re obviously coming off our YouTube hiatus to begin covering all of these new devices starting very soon. From price points to build quality, I promise that once we can share our thoughts on all we saw up in NYC, you all are going to be very interested.

A new era for Chromebooks

All of this simply serves to continue the narrative that was started last fall with Chromebook Plus. We’re in a new era of Chromebook with these sorts of events, and I absolutely love it.

It wasn’t that long ago that we would attend events that spent 98% of their time talking about and showcasing anything other than ChromeOS, so to have dedicated events with keynotes and demo areas just for Chromebooks is amazing. It’s an evolution that was needed and still needs to continue to evolve. While it may mean the end of Chrome Unboxed traveling to CES in the early winter each year, I’m glad to trade in my CES badge for a Chromebook Showcase one.