Earlier this week, Google debuted its first-gen Chromebook lineup by showcasing several devices from industry heavyweights Samsung and Acer.
Both companies designed their Chromebooks around Intel’s power conscious x86 Atom processor, which is expected to facilitate at least 6 hours of active use.
According to an Intel rep, Atom was selected due to “OEM familiarity” with Pine Trail and accompanying ease of platform development.
“It’s interesting to note that Google chose Atom as the lead platform for an OS which is optimized for a faster, simpler, and more secure Web experience,” the rep told TG Daily.
“We worked [quite] closely with Google on this; in fact some of the key features – including fast boot – were taken from Intel’s open-source Moblin/MeeGo project.”
The rep explained that Intel maintained “strong engagement” with Mountain View, while actively contributing to the open source community with projects such as MeeGo which Google clearly benefited from in Chrome OS.
“For example, on fast boot contributions, we enabled Google with optimizations to reduce the BIOS boot time – removing ‘legacy’ support of Windows operating systems and other contributions. This means instant web with about 10sec resume from sleep.
“[Remember], Chrome OS is pretty innovative because essentially it brings a lot of what many people consider to be the best benefits of [devices] like the iPad, to Intel netbooks/Chromebooks. Instant web, [fast] resume from sleep, always connected, same experience everywhere, and built-in security are just some of the key hallmarks of this new OS.”
