In the two months since Intel launched its Gemini Lake Refresh line of inexpensive, low-power notebook processors, we haven’t seen many PCs that are actually powered by the chips. There’s HP’s new ProBook X360 G5 EE… and until now that was about it.

But today CTL introduced the new CTL NL71 Chromebook series featuring Intel Gemini Lake-R chips. These small, rugged Chromebooks have list prices ranging from $269 to $399 depending on the configuration, but at the moment they’re going for about $30 off if you order from the CTL website.

The entry-level NL71 model is a rugged Chromebook with an 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel anti-glare display, a 180-degree hinge, an Intel Celeron N4020 dual-core processor, 4GB of LPDDR4-1600 memory, and 32GB of eMMC storage.

It weighs about 2.5 pounds and measures 0.8 inches thick, and the little laptop has a carrying handle, a 720p camera that flips 180 degrees so it can face the user or face away, two USB 3.0 Type-A ports, a USB-C port, HDMI and audio jacks, and an SD card reader.

While CTL’s products are generally designed for classroom use, they’re available for anyone to purchase — and if you pick up the NL71, what you get is a ruggedized, fanless laptop with a water-resistant keyboard, peel-resistant keys, reinforced ports and hinges, and a drop-resistant case.

Most of the above applies to the entire lineup, but here’s an overview of the differences between the four CTL NL71-series Chromebooks available at launch:

  • CTL NL71 – Celeron N4020/4GB/32GB/$269 list price
  • CTL NL71CT – Celeron N4020/4GB/32GB/touchscreen/$299 list price
  • CTL NL71T – Celeron N4020/4GB/32GB/touchscreen & 360-degree hinge/$339 list price
  • CTL NL71TW (1) – Celeron N4120/4GB/32GB/touchscreen/360-degree-hinge/EMR pen/$379 list price
  • CTL NL71TW (2) – Celeorn N4120/8GB/64GB/touchscreen/360-degree-hinge/EMR pen/$399 list price

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One reply on “CTL launches NL71 series rugged Chromebooks with Intel Gemini Lake Refresh chips”

  1. You don’t have a high chance putting native Linux on these.

    https://www.reddit.com/r/chrultrabook/comments/aufp1q/getting_started_read_this_first/

    “Apollolake/GeminiLake devices do not have custom UEFI firmware available, and do not have any custom drivers available. They are all unsupported.”

    https://www.reddit.com/r/chrultrabook/comments/edi1br/plans_to_support_snappy/fbi1pwi/

    “I have zero plans to support any future Atom platforms (Apollolake/Geminilake) for UEFI firmware.”

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