Google Might Be Preparing a Kaby Lake G-Powered Chromebook

[Chino]

Chromebooks are all the rage right now. As a matter of fact, Acer recently released the first convertible Chromebook and a couple of other premium models aimed at business users. Google isn't staying behind either. A device under the codename "Kidd" was recently discovered in a Chromium OS code commit. Kidd is allegedly supposed to be a Chromebook, and the first to come with a quad-core Kaby Lake G processor with AMD Radeon Vega graphics inside. The Kaby Lake G family is comprised of the Intel Core i5-8305G, i7-8705G, i7-8706G, i7-8709G, and i7-8809G. That's a total of five processors for Google to choose from. But, at the moment, it's unclear whether Kidd will employ a 65 watt model or opt for a more powerful 100 watt variant.

The latest Chrome OS update brought support for Linux applications. Therefore, users can now install Steam on their Chromebooks. While GPU acceleration isn't quite there yet, it's on the roadmap. Support for GPU acceleration should arrive later this year. Once that happens, users will finally be able to game on the Chrome OS. So, expect to see a lot more Chromebooks with Raven Ridge and Kaby Lake G processors very soon.


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[ghazi]

Who buys a Chromebook to play games?

 

[Apocalypsee]

Who buys a Chromebook to play games?

Damn straight. Who in the right mind think Kaby Lake-G is what Chromebook needs? Such a waste of silicon

 

[Caring1]

It seems more likely to be a Kaby Lake - R Processor, or possibly a Raven Ridge APU.
Yes I saw the doc says G.

 

[Arjai]

Chromebook? Gaming? WTF? I just puked a little.

 

[Space Lynx]

Damn straight. Who in the right mind think Kaby Lake-G is what Chromebook needs? Such a waste of silicon

Chromebook? Gaming? WTF? I just puked a little.

I actually use Chromebook for University, portability, business, finance, etc. Long battery and portability, and play Hearthstone and Elder Scrolls Card Game on it, and while my intel 3060 can play these games it is a little laggy sometimes, it would be nice to have a smoother experience, as long as it doesn't affect battery life.

 

[Flanker]

Apple has the fanbase to do this, but I think the average user of Google's products are too savvy.

 

[Space Lynx]

Apple has the fanbase to do this, but I think the average user of Google's products are too savvy.

All depends on the pricepoint they can offer this at. Apple is notorious at making you pay more than what its actually worth, because you are paying for the "ecosystem" Google so far has not charge this kind of tax.

 

[Valantar]

Apple has the fanbase to do this, but I think the average user of Google's products are too savvy.

MacBooks are used for content creation, especially photo and video editing, which benefits from a half-decent GPU. Chromebooks? Yeah, not so much. They're quite literally web browsing machines. While they can run "apps", those are not exactly powerful and resource-hungry apps.

 

[Flanker]

MacBooks are used for content creation, especially photo and video editing, which benefits from a half-decent GPU. Chromebooks? Yeah, not so much. They're quite literally web browsing machines. While they can run "apps", those are not exactly powerful and resource-hungry apps.

Yeah it was probably a generalization that is uncalled for. It was based on the dozen of people I personally know that use macbooks. One of them does content creation of any sort. Others just use it for facebook and listening to music. One friend of mine had to borrow an ASUS laptop because his powerpoint files created from a Mac look messed up when opened up in his Windows computer at work. Although, that is probably more like MS trolling Mac users that uses Office.

 

[Valantar]

Yeah it was probably a generalization that is uncalled for. It was based on the dozen of people I personally know that use macbooks. One of them does content creation of any sort. Others just use it for facebook and listening to music. One friend of mine had to borrow an ASUS laptop because his powerpoint files created from a Mac look messed up when opened up in his Windows computer at work. Although, that is probably more like MS trolling Mac users that uses Office.

Oh, there's no doubt that the vast majority of Mac users are not at all content creators - I doubt the ratio there is any different than PC users in general. The vast majority of MBP users have significantly overpowered hardware for what they do. I find it rather hilarious when people buy $2500 15" MBPs and exclusively use them for watching videos, web browsing and text editing. Heck, I use my 6-core desktop as much for web browsing and writing as I do gaming or photo editing But just like on PC, there's a noticeable subset of Mac users that does demanding things like photo editing or light video editing. While I have absolutely zero actual insight into or knowledge about chromebook users, given the hardware and software available for the platform I sincerely doubt there's anything near a comparable percentage of users doing content creation.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Who buys a Chromebook to play games?

Right? ChomeOS is a bit of a waste. Making Android desktop/laptop/netbook friendly would make FAR more sense, which is why I use AndroidX86 on one of my Dell laptop's(Corei5 based). And really, who in their right mind would game on one of these?