Lenovo appears to be refreshing its Chromebook lineup with three new models featuring 11.6 inch and 14 inch models with entry-level specs, and a 15.6 inch model with some slightly more premium touches (like a backlit keyboard).
The company posted a YouTube video providing a few (very few) details, but spec sheets on the company’s website flesh out most of the rest of the details.
We still don’t know the price or release dates yet, but it looks like the all of the new Lenovo Chromebooks Intel processors, unlike the company’s previous-gen Chromebooks, some of which had MediaTek chips.
Lenovo Chromebook C340-11
This is the smallest, and likely cheapest of the bunch. It sports an 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel touchscreen display, a 360-degree hinge for a convertible tablet-style design, and it’s powered by an Intel Celeron N4000 dual-core Gemini Lake processor.
The Chromebook C340-11 has 4GB of LPDD4-2400 RAM (soldered), up to 64GB of eMMC 5.1 storage, a 42 Wh battery and a 45W USB-C charger.
It supports 802.11ac WiFi and Bluetooth 4.2 and the system features two USB 3.1 Type-A ports, two USB-C ports, a microSD card reader, and a 720p webcam and mono microphone.
It measures 11.4″ x 8.2″ x 0.7″ and weighs just under 2.7 pounds.
Lenovo Chromebook C340-15
The largest model is also the most powerful. Sporting a 15.6 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel touchscreen display and convertible tablet-style design, this 4.4 pound laptop measures 14.2″ x 9.8″ x 0.7″ and it’s the only new Chromebook featured in Lenovo’s video to sport a backlit keyboard and a numeric keypad.
Lenovo will offer 8th-gen Intel “Kaby Lake Refresh” processor options including a Pentium Gold 4417U or Intel Core i3-8130U, and the Chromebook C340-15 will be available with 32GB, 64GB, or 128GB of eMMC 5.1 storage.
It still sports just 4GB of RAM though. In this case, you get DDR4-2133 memory that’s soldered to the motherboard.
Other features include a 56Wh battery, 45W USB-C charger, 720p webcam with dual array microphones, a USB 3.1 Type-A port and two USB-C ports.
Lenovo Chromebook S340-14
This new 14 inch model isn’t a convertible, but it does have a 180 degree hinge that lets you fold the screen so that it’s flat against a table, if that’s useful.
Lenovo will offer 1366 x 768 or 1920 x 1080 pixel display options, with optional support for touch.
With an Intel Celeron N4000 processor, this isn’t exactly a high-power laptop. I wouldn’t be surprised if has a starting price similar to that for the 11.6 inch Chromebook C340-11.
Lenovo says the notebook should support up to 8GB of LPDDR4-2400 RAM, but all the configurations listed on the company’s website show 4GB.
Other features include up to 64GB of eMMC 5.1 storage, a 42 Wh battery and 45W USB-C charger, two USB 3.1 Type-A ports, two USB Type-C ports, a microSD card reader, a 720p webcam, and a microphone.
The 14 inch laptop measures about 12.9″ x 9.2″ x 0.7″ and weighs 3.1 pounds.
via Lenovo and Android Police
From my experience with the Lenovo Yoga Book, Lenovo don’t update their OS, not since 2 years, it’s a major security risk.
So yes, a Chromebook could be a good move, but with the good manufacturer. Avoid Lenovo for a Chromebook.
Still not quite clear on why people buy Chromebooks at all. I understand they can do most of the basic things people need, but what is it they can do that a Windows or Mac computer can’t exactly? Viruses and malware aren’t an issue if you are even a little smart and have common sense. The prices on Chromebooks are rarely significantly lower than Windows PC’s with similar specs. From where I sit it seems that a Win 10 computer can do everything a Chromebook does and so much more. Unless you’re completely infatuated with Google and their ecosystem and have no desire to venture outside of it or you’re just uninformed, why buy one of these things?
It seems to be schools buying virtually all of them for some reason. It’s at 1.35% of all desktop operating systems, but over 60% of all desktop operating systems in k-12 classrooms.
Assuming I’m interpreting this right.
https://hostingtribunal.com/blog/operating-systems-market-share/
They’re significantly cheaper and easier to use. Easier to maintain, no need to worry about windows updates or system restore or breaking anything. Boot up is quicker. Performance is fast even with low-ish specs. Most people are ok with doing everything through a browser, so Chrome OS is good enough. It’s good for non-techies. If you’re techy enough you would just install Linux.
When was the last time you had a low-end, disposable type Windows 10 machine update in less than 15 seconds after not touching it for several months? For someone who wants something cheap and no frills with an actual keyboard there’s nothing else quite like them. My only Chromebook, an ancient relic from 2012, still works fine as a worry free travel companion for when I want to take a more capable machine with me. My smartphone can handle most of the tasks that the Chromebook could, sure, but doing rudimentary research on a smartphone is a chore (I need my spatially sorted tabs). Now a fairer and less snarky criticism would be their relatively short support windows. My Samsung ARM Chromebook just received its last update earlier this month and, while I got my ROI out of the $150 i paid in 2013, 7 years of support is way too short.
So true a chromebook has to cost no more than $200 for me to be interested…furthemore the support period is way too short at much less than 5 years, what you find on the shelf at Best Buy often have only a few years of support left! We should not be encouraging electonic waste IMO!
One thing you didn’t mention is that Convertible/touchscreen Chromebooks are great for running Android apps on them as well. In the case of the Chromebook I’ve got, I bought it because for ~$250 I could have a pretty sweet Android Tablet _plus_ the benefits of having a simple web browsing laptop. When you consider it that way and compare it to some of the other Android tablets on the market right now it seems like a pretty good deal to me. (Sure – you _could_ run Android apps on a Windows 10 laptop via something like Bluestack, but _not_ on a low-end Windows 10 laptop)
Thank God people buy Chromebooks, as this keeps the price of similarly spec-ed Win10 notebooks at the same level. For people who just want to use a browser, ChromeOS is much better than Win10.
Most Chromebooks run Android apps. Many, including almost all released within the past two years, run Linux. At this point, it’s much more than the browser, though it can be run browser only if you wish. Or it can be a desktop os too. Your choice.
Speaking of the browser, it’s the full flavored desktop version. With extensions, and desktop-style multitasking. This is superior to what you’d get with iOS or Android tablets.
On top of all that, it’s got one of the best security models you can find in off the shelf consumer hardware. Easy to maintain. Updates are non-intrusive. Runs faster than Windows even on weak machines. It’s a machine you can use for development. Or you can hand it off to a grandma or a ten year old without worrying about fixing a broken, infected system later.
I’m glad there’s Chromebooks (and Chrome OS) available. Have you ever tried giving your non-computer savvy parent tech advice over phone and have it be a pleasant experience? Especially when you’re trying to diagnose the problem. Chromebooks are a great way to avoid all that IT support, IMHO.
I bought mine to load Linux (GalliumOS 3.0) on after I’d deleted Chrome OS. Works a treat as long as you understand the hardware limitations.