Chinese chip maker Rockchip has been working to make sure Google’s browser-based Chrome operating system can run on devices with the new Rockchip RK3288 processor.

Now the company is showing off an early prototype of an RK3288-powered Chromebook which could be ready to hit the streets in the third quarter of 2014.

rk3288 chrome

Charbax from ARM Devices got an early look at the Chromebook which is currently running Chromium OS, the open source version of Chrome.

The device is a 13.3 inch laptop with a 1366 x 768 pixel display, 2GB of RAM, and an RK3288 ARM Cortex-A17 quad-core processor with ARM Mali-T764 graphics.

Right now the only Chromebooks on the market with ARM-based chips use Samsung Exynos processors. Rockchip seems intent on changing that in the coming months.

While the company is showing off prototype laptops with Chromium OS, Rockchip makes processors, not tablets. So it’ll be up to the company’s hardware partners to decide if and when to bring Rockchip Chromebooks to market.

In the rambling 6 minute demo video, Charbax checks out a graphics performance test, watches full-screen video, and loads a website or two… and spends a lot of time trying to get the Rockchip team to explain the differences between Chrome OS and Chromium OS.

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21 replies on “Rockchip shows off a Chromebook with an RK3288 CPU”

  1. aside from being one of the worst videos made about a product ever, the actual product entices me, this will most likely never ship (unfortunatly) butfrom what little performance testing we saw him do, scrolling looked great, with a few tabs open it didnt seem slow or sluggish, it seemed to run those online benchmarks pretty well, this shows what the RK3288 and the Cortex A17 are made of, and i would have a hard time not buying one of these if it came to the market at the rumoured $149-$199 price point.

    even if the screen is a little low res

      1. because rockchip dont make hardware, they make the silicon, the product in this video was most likely a tech demo piece thrown together, dont get me wrong, i hope it ships, i just doubt it iwll

        1. but as everytime chip maker do reference design, computer maker follow it… So you will probably seen tens of products similar to this one, or with few upgrade this autumn.

          1. yeah i know that, but like i said *This* one will likely never ship, its a reference design for them to take change and thens sell, this one, even though its a blatant MBA ripoff, is pretty gorgeous, if this ever does make it to maret i smell lawsuit

          2. The rk3288-based popo p8 and ifive mini 4 are blatant ipad mini rip-offs. Popo and ifive don’t seem to fear the lawsuits so we may see them (and probably teclast) release their own versions of this chromebook.

            I seriously doubt they will come in under 200USD like the guy in the video said on his youtube channel. I think he was just throwing a number out there and it should not be considered a “rumored” price point. I suspect more like 300-350.

  2. If the IPC of the Cortex-A17 really reaches 4 DMIPS/Mhz (as ARM promises), then this Chromebook may be much faster than the XE303C from Samsung and as fast as the Sammy Chromebook2.

    It is a pity that Linux desktops are so hard to install on these machines. ARM should really force some common standards on them.

    1. Where’d you get 4 from? Everything I found put it somewhere 3-3.3 DMIPS /MHz. The A12 is supposedly 40% faster than A9 and the A17 60% (there are still those who say the RK3288 is an A12).

    2. It’s still only a simple(ton’s) Chromebook, not a real computer.
      Why waste your valuable time discussing it? Unless, of course, your time has no value. If you should happen to buy one of these critically crippled things (Chromebooks, in general), rather than a well-equipped laptop for the same price, then obviously neither your time nor your money has any value.

      “If you make a device that is foolproof, only fools will use it.
      –anon

      1. Instead I think you loose time with your statement. far less powerfull arm devices are already really good enough for web surfing/working, linux productivity suites and lot of desktop tasks. Get a try if you already tried Linux, If you only think Windows is the only solution continue on it and have a good time with heavy weight, low battery usage, virus, trojan, and so on… ^^.

      2. Many consumers aren’t looking for a “real computer”. They don’t need a bulky, hot, short battery life, and more expensive x86/windows-based laptop. They just need email, web, and google docs.

  3. Designwise this must be the closest thing to a perfect copy of Apple I’ve ever seen. Tragic that these producers cannot actually design something themself.

    1. * When Jobs copied Xerox mouse, and GUI, Apple Fanboys didn’t now
      * When Jobs copied Archos PDA, Apple Fanboys didn’t now
      * When Jobs copied Archos mp3 player, Apple Fanboys didn’t now
      * When Jobs copied Archos portable video player, Apple Fanboys didn’t now
      * When Jobs copied PC laptop from some Asian companies, and called it MacBook Apple Fanboys didn’t notice
      * When Jobs copied multifinger features from little Taïwanese company, Apple Fanboys didn’t notice
      * When Jobs ask to Samsung to design and make it’s chips during more than 5 years and at the same time ask him lot of money (looking like money laundering operation ? Well Samsung also make war weapons under US companies licenses) for copying him, Apple Fanboys think, WTF they copied Apple.

      Apple fanboys have generally computer science and history knowledge near from zero and they think everyone copy Apple ^^. But as every company, Apple learned from other, bought technologies to other, and as every multinational coroporate, they make poor people working for nothing and sell it at very little-brain-attractive-expansive-price, to make lot of money. They advertise a lot to empty brains to make lot of money. They jail more and more customers, to make more and more money.

  4. He also spends time trying to understand what they clearly said and making himself be misunderstood. I don’t mean to be mean but sometimes I marvel at how much he seems to not know about the field he dedicated himself to.

    1. G+ page says “education: Film, Media” so… yeah, looks like he wanted to be a reviewer and somehow ended up in tech. Reminds me of statements from corporate recruiters that go something like “it’s harder to train a lawyer to do computer science than it is a computer scientist to do law”

      1. That sort of makes sense. He most likely looked for an unoccupied niche, ARM devices before they were a big deal (I get theimpression he’s been around for ages), and decided to fill it. The only thing is that there’s no excuse for, after sip many years in the industry, to not have learned the word “Gigabyte”.

        1. It would probably be more accurate to describe him as a advocate as that’s what he primarily does… He not only reports but promotes ARM in all its potential…

          He even has a deal for paying subscribers to get in on any bargain deals he finds while interviewing the various ARM device vendors he runs into…

          Also, he’s French and also advocates for the French company Archos… thus his primary two sites are for supporting ARM devices and Archos products…

          Mind that as a Advocate he’s more concerned about promoting the platform, than technical details, while his English could be better but mind many of the vendors he speaks to also don’t always have someone who speaks English well either and thus there is a bit of mutual misunderstanding usually in his videos…

          He’s also usually ready to argue for his advocacy… So, if you comment a correction don’t be surprised if he responds and note he can be very stubborn in his point of view…

        2. He knows the word gigabyte, he uses the phrases that are common in China, because that is who he is talking to.

          His videos do completely lack any polish and presentation, and communication is pretty poor, but you get raw, unfiltered situation on the ground in China (often the actual factories they are made in, often talking to the designers themselves). You don’t get that anywhere else.

          Nobody else is challenging him in his niche (Chinese devices), despite the popularity of ARM today. I would take him over 100 bloggers that regurgitate press releases and reblog articles.

          1. He sucks but he’s all we got right now so no point in bitching.

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