Wednesday, May 7, 2014
At an event yesterday, Intel revealed the rather surprising next stage of its strategy for squeezing into the mobile market: Chromebooks! Following the failure of its smartphone efforts, and a slow start in the Windows 8 and Android tablet spaces, Intel now appears to targeting netbooks of all things. Furthermore, not only was Google on hand at the event to trumpet its new allegiance with Intel and x86, but it also took the opportunity to stick a knife in the back of Chrome OS’s support for ARM. As part of this renewed partnership with Intel, Chrome OS slowly shifts to an x86-only OS.
What was distinctly lacking at the Intel/Google event was any mention of ARM-powered Chrome OS devices, and high-end Chromebooks to fill the massive gap between the netbook-class devices and the Core i5 Chromebook Pixel. Acer will be offering the C720 Chromebook with a Core i3 processor for $350, but there’s still just a 1366×768 display; a MacBook Air killer it is not. The lack of ARM devices is easily explained by this being an Intel event, but I don’t think it’s quite that innocuous. During one demo, Intel actually did a side-by-side comparison of a new Haswellish Chromebook vs. Samsung’s Series 3 ARM Chromebook. Unsurprisingly, the x86 Chromebook smoked the dual-core Cortex-A15 Chromebook, showing better performance in 3D games, Hangouts, and multitasking. What is surprising is that Google was on stage for the demo.
While nothing official has been announced, the joint event, the deluge of x86-powered Chrome OS devices, and the damning head-to-head demo would strongly indicate that Intel is now the primary target for Chrome OS. I wouldn’t be surprised if Intel is paying for preferential treatment from Google — not in cash, but with the promise of a fat marketing budget for all the new Celeron and Bay Trail Chromebooks.
By: DocMemory
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