It seems that a new Chrome OS device will likely come out this year, but this one is a little more special than ‘ooh it doesn’t cost too much, let’s get it’. Remember ASUS’ new Chromebook C300 that went up on their site a few days ago? This new one is a little more unique than getting to choose colors, too, and might put itself in league with the Chromebook Pixel. ‘The Pixel?’ you ask ‘What’s that, and why would it matter to be similar to it?’ Well here’s why.
First, the Chromebook Pixel is a gorgeously designed 2560 by 1700 pixel touchscreen laptop, powered by the Chrome OS, obviously, given its name. It is powered by an Intel i5 dual-core processor running at 1.8 Ghz, pairing up with the integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000 graphics card. This guy will put you back between $1,300 for the 32 GB Wi-Fi only model to $1,500 for the 64 GB LTE-connectable model. What does this newest Chrome device leak have to do with this?
This latest leak supplies us with the information regarding the processor, graphics card, and maker of the processor. The maker is a company called Rockchip, a firm from China, who just recently announced their RK3200 line of chipsets (they make processors like Qualcomm, System-on-a-Chip/SoC style) and their installation in devices of various types beginning in the second quarter of this year. This new Chrome product will have one of the RK3200 processors, the RK3288 specifically, which is an ARM Cortex A17, which for us laymen means that it’s the newest type of processor and architecture.
This brand new chipset reportedly running at a whopping 1.8 Ghz, and that’s great to hear, especially because the RK 328 is a quad-core processor. It will also have a Mali-T746 graphics card, which is a new tier between the T720 and T760. The T760 has up to 16 cores, and the T720 has up to 8, so it’ll have to wait to know exactly how many cores it has and can use. But either way, this setup of processor and graphics lead to one thing: 4K output capability. Yes, this new Chrome device could have a 4K (4x the number of pixels compared to 1080p HD), and specifically, it could have a 4K by 2K display at max, according to Rockchip’s processor spec sheets.
The likelihood of Chrome OS being sold on one of Rockchip’s setups is high, because in April, the company demonstrated just that (Chrome OS running on their new processor and graphics setup, that is). This new chipset has been dubbed Veyron while in testing, most likely because of the speed and power it utilizes when powering a device. Keep an ear out to catch the name Veyron online anywhere (and not attached to Bugatti, mind you), but keep an eye out for sure for any updates on Google’s new probably-Rockchip-powered Chrome OS device.