Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) and Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) along with several hardware manufacturers unveiled a new line up of highly competitive Chromebooks during a press conference in San Francisco on Tuesday.
Consumers will be able to choose from at least 20 designs of Chromebooks that will be available later this year, up from four designs in September last year. The new devices support 64-bit Chrome OS and are based on conflict-free microprocessors.
Hardware manufacturers including Acer Incorporated (TPE:2353), ASUSTEK Computer Inc. (TPE:2357), Lenovo Group Limited (ADR)(OTCMKTS:LNVGY), and Toshiba Corp (TYO:6502) will release the first Intel Celeron branded Chromebooks based on Intel Bay Trail-M system-on-chip (SoC). The new Chrome devices offer 11 hours of battery life with balance performance and offered at a range of affordable prices. The Chromebooks are fan less, quiet, thin, light, and many are touch enabled.
Acer and Dell will also release Chromebooks integrated with the 4th generation Intel Core i3 processor, LG Electronics Inc.(KRX:066570) Chromebase and Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) Chromebox are powered by Celeron processors based on Haswell architecture.
Navin Shenoy, vice president and general manager of Mobile Client Platforms Group at Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) said the company is the number one microprocessor in the Chrome systems, and it is the largest contributor to the Chromium OS after Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL).
“We’ve been working on five generations of Chrome… Intel chips are the first and only to support 64-bit Chrome OS. This deep history and investment combined with our stellar Bay Trail and Haswell SoCs mean Intel can offer the best performing devices at every price point in the Chrome category. When people are shopping for Chrome devices, they should look for Intel Inside,” said Shenoy.
On the other hand, Caesar Sengupta, vice president, product management, Chrome OS at Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) said the search engine giant and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) has been strong partners since the inception of Chromebooks. According to him, the new wave of Intel-based Chrome devices serves evidence for continued innovation. He also emphasized that two of the three best-selling laptops on Amazon.com, Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) during the most recent holiday season are Chrome devices, which are used by almost 10,000 schools.
Sengupta emphasized that consumers will be able to choose from a range price points and designs that fit their needs. He added that there is a popular misconception that Chromebooks do not have the ability to directly run software. He pointed out that thousands of apps have been created for Chromebooks including video games. Sengupta said emphasized that “playing games works very well” with Chromebooks.
