A Chrome OS-powered convertible equipped with a Kaby Lake-generation processor was spotted in the Chromium Gerrit repository earlier this month, with one reference to the device explicitly stating its “board support” is meant to be “posing as an eve,” with “eve” being the codename of Google’s own Pixelbook. The device in question is referred to as “Atlas” and will apparently run a Chrome OS build that’s essentially being cloned from the Pixelbook, suggesting it will end up being delivered in the form of a convertible capable of functioning as a traditional laptop and tablet, in addition to supporting a so-called tent mode for media consumption. The commercialized product is still expected to be modified to a degree given how Google’s ultra-premium 2017 Chromebook debuted as a reference device in the first place, meaning Google always intended its OS build to be cloned by other manufacturers, at least while their Chrome OS computers are in an experimental phase of development.
The newly discovered commit referencing the existence of the Atlas doesn’t provide any more details on the product and it’s presently unclear who’s working on the spotted Chromebook. Google is unlikely to be Atlas’s manufacturer given how the firm isn’t due for a new high-end Chrome OS machine until late this year, whereas the same could be said of Lenovo which just announced a wide variety of laptops running the open-source operating system at Mobile World Congress last month. HP or Dell may hence be more likely candidates for the role of the Atlas’s manufacturer, with Acer being another possibility.
Regardless of the exact hardware specifications of the Atlas, Kaby Lake Chromebooks are expected to become much more prevalent on the market over the course of this year. The Pixelbook itself has been met with a mixed response from consumers and critics alike, with many hailing its overall design and capabilities but being skeptical about its $999 starting price which puts it in the high-end segment of the market and pits it against much more popular Windows laptops.