When Lenovo launched three new Intel-powered Chromebooks recently, the company didn’t mention that there would be a fourth model powered by an AMD processor.
But it looks like the company went ahead and released one anyway, because a new Lenovo Chromebook S345-14 with an AMD A6-9220 processor and a 14 inch touchscreen display, 4GB of RAM, and 32GB of storage is available for purchase from Best Buy for $329.
That’s not a bad price for a laptop with an aluminum body, a full HD touchscreen display, and a 180-degree hinge… although AMD’s A6-9220 processor with Radeon R5 graphics isn’t exactly a speed demon.
As noted by About Chromebooks, it looks like Lenovo may also offer cheaper models with an AMD A4-9120 processor and Radeon R4 graphics.
Weighing about 3.3 pounds and measuring about 0.7 inches thick, the Chromebook S345-14 seems to be about the same size as a Lenovo Chromebook S340-14 with an Intel Celeron N4000 processor, but the AMD model is about 0.3 pounds heavier.
Other features appear to be pretty much the same including the 1920 x 1080 pixel display, 180-degree hinge, two USB 3.1 Type-C Gen 1 ports, two USB 3.1 Type-A Gen 1 ports, microSD card reader and headset jack.
Nice to see some upgraded AMD Chromebooks with A6 processors instead of a dumbed down A4. Decent specs for a $329 Chromebook. But can it run Linux Beta?
What’s a “aluminum display” ?
They probably “quietly” released it because it’s using a CPU that is old as shit. The A6-9220 came out in 2017, and uses a Microarchitecture that came out in 2015. This was the last Pre-Zen AMD generation, they are very inefficient, and they were very outdated even when they launched.
I almost want AMD to palm these off as a sub-brand. That isn’t really viable as an option.
I am not aware of Zen units scaling down to the target performance and cost for a Chromebook type device and also being used there. Wouldn’t that be nice?