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Google unveils new Chromebooks and Chromebit, the dongle that turns your display into a Chromebook

By Koh Wanzi - on 1 Apr 2015, 3:04pm

Google unveils new Chromebooks and Chromebit, the dongle that turns your display into a Chromebook

Google’s Chromebooks made computing easier. The speedy boot times of the Chromebook, Chrome OS, and its connection to the cloud aimed to eliminate the hassles of everyday computing and help people accomplish their tasks with greater productivity. Clearly, Google’s customers agree, and Chromebooks made up 21% of all notebooks sold in the U.S. in 2013.

Google has now announced the release of three new Chromebooks from Haier, Hisense and ASUS, along with the Chromebit dongle, which will give consumers even more options when it comes to accessing the convenience of Chrome OS and the Chromebook.

Haier Chromebook 11 and Hisense Chromebook

According to Google, customers shouldn’t have to make a choice between performance and affordability. With the Haier Chromebook 11 and the Hisense Chromebook, Google has two new 11.6-inch devices that aim to make Chromebooks accessible to an even larger section of the market with lower price points.

Haier Chromebook 11 (Image Source: Amazon)

The specifications for the Haier Chromebook 11 are as follow:

• Size and Weight: 290mm x 205mm x 17.9mm, 1.15kg
• Screen: 11.6 inches
• Processor, Memory, and Storage: Rockchip 3288 1.8GHz, 2GB RAM, 16GB eMMC
• Battery: Up to 10 hours of battery life
• Ports and Connectors: 2x USB 2.0 Standard A ports, SD Card Reader, Headphone/mic combo, 1x HDMI
• Wireless: 802.11ac (supports a/b/g/n/ac), 2.4 and 5GHz, 2×2 spatial streams, Bluetooth 4.0 BR/EDR/LE, Smart Ready controller

Hisense Chromebook (Image Source: TechCrunch)

The Hisense Chromebook features quite similar specifications:

• Size and Weight: 297.7mm x 224.55mm x 15.3mm, 1.2kg
• Screen: 11.6 inches
• Processor, Memory and Storage: ARM Cortex-A17 Quad-Core processor 1.8GHz, 2GB RAM, 16GB eMMC
• Battery: Up to 8.5 hours of battery life
• Ports and Connectors: 2x USB 2.0 Standard A ports, SD Card Reader, Headphone/mic combo, 1x HDMI
• Wireless: 802.11ac (supports a/b/g/n/ac), 2.4 and 5GHz, 2×2 spatial streams, Bluetooth 4.0 BR/EDR/LE, Smart Ready controller

The new Chromebooks can be pre-ordered now on Amazon and Walmart respectively, and at US$149, they are the cheapest Chromebooks so far. With that said, users may find Haier’s offering a better deal given that it is slightly thinner, lighter and claims to have longer battery life.

ASUS Chromebook Flip

ASUS Chromebook Flip (Image Source: Google)

The ASUS Chromebook Flip is a premium, all-metal convertible that at just 15mm thin and weighing in at less than a kilogram, aims to be the Chromebook you can take anywhere. At just 10.1 inches, it’s smaller than most Chromebooks on the market and is approaching the territory of tablet-sized devices.

And as you may already have guessed from the name, it comes with a hinged display that can be bent flat to enable the device to be used as a tablet. Of course, it comes with a touchscreen to complete the tablet experience and an onboard accelerometer that enables you to use it in either portrait or landscape mode. It’s also not yet clear whether the touchscreen will see full use, given that Chrome OS wasn’t really designed as a touch-based interface. However, Google says that Android developers will now be able to use a beta version of App Runtime for Chrome, which means that they can port their Android apps over to Chrome OS. We don’t have further details for the Chromebook Flip at this time, except that it will release later this quarter at US$249.

ASUS Chromebit

The ASUS Chromebit will be available in three colors. (Image Source: Google)

The Chromebit is a dongle with the chops to turn any display into a computer. It is similar to your standard Chromebook, with 2GB of RAM, Rockchip’s 3288 processor, and 16GB of storage, except it comes in a package that’s smaller than a candy bar. It is equipped with one HDMI and one USB port, which will allow users to connect it to an external display and hook up peripherals like a keyboard and mouse. Alternatively, your input peripherals can also be connected via Bluetooth. 

The Chromebit will be available for less than US$100 in the second half of the year, and we’ll keep you updated when we have a more specific price.

Source: Google, Mashable, The Verge, Venture Beat

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