Google isn’t the only ones pushing forth initiatives for the Education sector. While they have been setting out to make the Chromebooks as popular as they can be, they also have a huge interest in making sure that students and teachers alike have access to tools that can make education a better over all experience. Intel seems keen on bringing something to the table besides just chips for the devices that need them, and has announced a new reference design Chromebook for the Education space that is aimed at providing a compact device design for OEMs. The first device based off of Intel’s reference design has an expected launch of sometime later this year.
This will be Intel’s first move in the Chrome for Education initiative, and the first education based Chromebook that uses Intel’s reference should be decent for students(especially younger ones) as it is said to come with a ruggedized design which would help protect it from drops or dings. It also has a rotating camera that can swivel either direction which might serve a great purpose for parent teacher meetings via hangouts perhaps? It’s also said to be powered by an Intel Baytrail processor, with a company called CTL already getting a device designed off of the reference ready for a release later on.
Other companies already have Chromebooks aimed at students, and Intel’s entry into the Chrome for Education area couldn’t come at a better time with some things like the Google Classroom tool on the way, and the introduction of some new other new Chrome OS devices running the Baytrail processor. Since this is just a reference design it means that Intel themselves aren’t going to be putting out any devices of their own, they are merely providing device makers with something to work off of and get things going. It might not be the most attractive Chromebook we ever saw, but the design isn’t aimed at mainstream consumers so that likely won’t matter. As far as other Chromebooks go, the consumer side of things sees Lenovo entering the market soon with a couple of their own devices set to launch in July and August, as well as newer version from Acer and Dell, and two models from ASUS which will be their first set of Chromebooks.