Haswell signs up four new Chromebooks

Chromebook hardware gets a boost from Intel's Haswell chip as Google and Intel debut new, low-cost Chromebooks.

by Seth Rosenblatt

September 11, 2013 10:30 AM PDT

Google and Intel debut four new Chromebook models with Haswell chips, including two from new Chromebook makers Asus and Toshiba.

(Credit: Google) 

 

A new line of Chromebooks is coming soon powered by the battery-sipping, high-speed Haswell chips.
Google and Intel announced the new models from Hewlett-Packard, Acer, Asus, and Toshiba at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco on Wednesday.

Because of their Haswell-based internals, these new Chromebooks are expected to have a battery life in the range of nine hours. And following the lead of the popular $250 Sasmung Series 3 Chromebook and Acer's $199 C7 Chromebook, they're expected to cost under $300 for the Wi-Fi only models, as opposed to Google's high-end, $1,300 Chromebook Pixel.
Google didn't have much to say about any of the models, leaving the details to the Chromebook makers to announce.
Some highlights include multiple colors and an optional, pricier 4G model for the upcoming HP Chromebook 14, and what appears to be a boxier, less rectangular design for Asus' coming Chromebox as compared to Samsung Series 3 Chromebox from 2012.

A view of the as-yet-unnamed Acer Chromebook with Intel's Haswell processor.

(Credit: Acer)

Google has scored something of an unexpected hit with the low-cost Chrome OS-powered hardware, which now make up somewhere between one-fifth and one-quarter of the sub-$300 PC market, according to NPD.
Schools have driven much of this adoption, as more than 5,000 schools in 20 percent of school districts in the US have given Chromebooks to their students.
Beyond academic interests, the newly-announced Chrome Apps Google hopes will serve to bolster two of Chrome OS's major weaknesses: offline support, and app design that can compete with mobile platforms.

Updated at 11:13 a.m. PDT with more details on the new Chromebook models. CNET will update this story with specifications on the new Chromebooks when we learn them.

Seth Rosenblatt

Senior writer Seth Rosenblatt covers Google and security for CNET News, with occasional forays into tech and pop culture. Formerly a CNET Reviews senior editor for software, he has written about nearly every category of software and app available.