Google has confirmed that its next-gen lineup of upcoming Chromebooks will be powered by Intel Haswell processors – boasting extended battery life and improved performance compared to earlier models.
Acer, HP and Toshiba will offer some of the first Haswell-powered Chromebooks, while Asus is slated to debut a new Haswell-based Chromebox. As Liliputing’s Brad Linder notes, this is the very first time Asus and Toshiba will be selling Chrome OS devices.
“The updated HP Chromebook14 measures 0.81 inches thick, weighs 4.1 pounds, boots in 7 seconds, and offers up to 9.5 hours of battery life, which is about twice as much as you’d get from the previous model,” writes Linder.
“It has 16GB of storage, WiFi, HDMI, USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports and optional 4G mobile broadband with 200MB of free data per month from T-Mobile for two years. The new HP Chromebook14 is expected to ship before the holiday season for about $300.”
Meanwhile, Acer’s upcoming Chromebook – which measures 0.75 inches thick and weighs 2.76 pounds – is equipped with an an 11.6 inch display, boots in 8 seconds or less and promises up to 8.5 hours of battery life (more than twice that offered by the Acer C7 Chromebook).
Additional specs? 1366 x 768 pixel display, an HDMI port, two USB ports and an SD card slot. The new Acer Chromebook is expected to hit the streets by the 2013 holiday season.
