I was really surprised by this announcement, the announcement of the new Chromebook Plus, and it certainly seems great news not only for the Chromebook family, but for the entire mobility ecosystemAs we’ll see below, these new devices take the best of their long list of predecessors, but represent a leap forward in terms of performance, and therefore in everything we can do with them.

Recall that Google, through several partners, brought the concept Chromebook format to market more than 12 years ago (as of June 2011). Since then, we’ve seen manufacturers experiment with different configurations around the original spec as these devices, without becoming mainstream, gain traction and presence, particularly in certain markets such as education.

During these years The development of the platform was organic, because it constantly adapted to the existing hardware, while Google constantly updated ChromeOS to adapt to these most up-to-date components, giving it new features and improving the existing ones, which over time led to milestones such as the arrival of Linux app compatibility on ChromeOS. However, during these twelve years, there was no great evolutionary leap that marked Google itself. Until now.

With the announcement of the Chromebook Plus we find a substantial development, both in terms of hardware and what we can do with it. Of course, the important point here is that although Samsung introduced a Chromebook in 2018 that included the Plus suffix in its name, that device has nothing to do with the new specification that Google released today. That said, let’s take a look at the minimum technical specifications set by the company for the Chromebook Plus:

• PROCESSOR: Intel Core i3 12th Gen or later or AMD Ryzen 3 7000 series or later
• FRAME: 8 GB or more
• Storage space: 128 GB or more
• Webcam: 1080p+ with temporary noise reduction
• Screen: IPS Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) or better

As you can see, and even more so when we consider that what we have here are minima, we find more than a remarkable leapto the extent that, with the optimization of the operating system for the platform, we are talking about a device that already has the necessary conditions to withstand a large part of the entry-level line of the ecosystem of compatible notebooks.

To present this new specification, Google had at its disposal Acer, ASUS and HP, which have already announced their first devices adapted to this evolution of the Chromebook platform. They are the following.

Of course, this is just the beginning, these Chromebook Plus laptops They will be available at major retailers in Spain from October 9, 2023.but more teams and manufacturers are expected to join this new spec in a short period of time.

What can you do with Chromebook Plus?

So far we’ve talked about the specs and the first gear that will hit the market, but that’s only part of the equation. The second, and what is really important, is What can we do with this new equipment?. And in this regard, Google has taken into account the latest needs and trends to ensure that these systems are able to adapt to the times in which we live.

Of all that was announced, I was most intrigued thatChromebook Plus takes a step towards artificial intelligence in the clientthat is, the system itself has the necessary computing capacity to perform AI-based tasks locally, which is also boosted by Google’s own AI-based technologies, and we’ve already seen that in other devices and services.

Among the features related to artificial intelligence, we find several that are also directly related to one of the minimum specifications determined by Google, the FullHD camera, and these Chromebooks Plus respond to the enormous expansion of video conferencing, both in professional areas and in personal ones. So these teams have built-in artificial intelligence to help improve the clarity and lighting of video calls, cancel background noise and blur the background. In addition, it will also soon be possible to add artificial intelligence-generated backgrounds to video calls, giving these communications a touch of originality.

Google Photos is undoubtedly one of the company’s most important combinations of software and services, and one of the areas where we can see the most clearly Google’s advances in artificial intelligence applied to image processing. The main exponent is undoubtedly the magic eraser, a function that allows us to eliminate unwanted elements from images that are replaced by a generative AI that fills this space based on its environment. The AI-based edition of Magic Eraser will be present in the Google Photos app built into the Chromebook Plus, which will also have smart features like HDR settings, background blur in portraits (bokeh) and photo enhancement suggestions.

For more demanding needs, Google has added some very interesting additions:

• For advanced image editing with the purchase of Chromebook Plus we get three months of free use of Photoshop and Adobe Expresswhich will allow us to assess its operation on the platform and thus respond to advanced needs.
• If we talk about video editing, Google claims that these new devices are up to the task, and to prove it, they are offering a 25% discount for all users who are interested in purchasing. LumaFusiona non-linear video editing application that has already seen great success on other platforms.
• For productive environments where artificial intelligence can make an impact, Chromebook Plus also offers a Duet AI Free Trialan assistant that is integrated into Google Workspace and that significantly speeds up many tasks that we regularly perform in the cloud suite from Google.

Definitely Google bet on this development of Chromebook specificationswhich aims much higher with these new (and future) devices, while still maintaining relatively moderate starting prices.

More information: Google