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Lilbits: Broadband access, electronics shopping moves online, and do expensive Chromebooks make sense?

Often when I write about Chromebooks, somebody chimes in with a comment about how they’re not “real” laptops, and people would be better off buying a Windows machine. When I write about a Chromebook that costs more than $400, someone will inevitably complain that it’s too much money to spend on a laptop with a […]

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Acer Chromebook 511 with Snapdragon 7c chip coming this year

This week Google announced that 40 new Chrome OS devices are on the way this year, but the company didn’t provide details about specific brand names, models, or specs. But it looks like the company may have inadvertently confirmed that at least one model will be an Acer Chromebook 511 powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c […]

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Lilbits: Microsoft Edge gets more interesting, Chromebooks outsell Macs, and a 31.2 inch color E Ink display

Now that Microsoft’s Edge web browser is based on Google’s open source Chromium project, it behaves a lot like Google’s Chrome browser… and for the most part that’s left me wondering why you’d use Edge instead of Chrome. Microsoft has been adding features that help set its browser apart, but up until now I haven’t […]

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Google Pixel smartphone display mirroring may be coming to Chromebooks

Google makes the Chrome OS operating system that runs on Chromebooks and the company also makes the Android software that runs on billions of smartphones. In recent years the company has been bringing the platforms closer together by doing things like allowing you to run Android apps on a Chromebook, use an Android phone to […]

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Canalys: Tablet and Chromebook shipments hit all-time highs in Q4, 2020

According to the latest global PC market report from research firm Canalys, PC makers shipped 458.2 million computers in 2020, up 17 percent from shipments in 2019. Much of that growth came in the fourth quarter of the year, with a total of 143.7 million units shipped, up 35-percent from the same period a year […]

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Intel Evo certified Chromebooks with Tiger Lake processors are coming soon

The first Chromebooks with 11th-gen Intel “Tiger Lake” processors are coming soon, and some will be the first Intel Evo-certified Chromebooks. The Intel Evo platform debuted in 2020, with Intel providing a set of experience goals for laptops with long battery life, fast charging, quick resume from sleep, and other features. Since then more than […]

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Lilbits: Chromebook explosion, Huawei’s respite, and PinePhone KDE Community Edition

The global pandemic has been hard on everyone… except maybe for PC makers. With more people working and schooling from home, a lot of people have been looking for laptops, tablets, and other devices capable of handling your daily Zoom quota. That’s been enough to reverse a trend in recent years that’s seen PC shipments […]

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Chromebook lifespans creeping upward: some models get 9 years of OS updates

Buy an old Windows laptop and you’ll probably be able to keep installing Windows updates until you decide that your system doesn’t have enough RAM or a fast enough processor to meet your needs anymore. Buy a Chromebook and the clock has already started ticking on software updates. Google guarantees to deliver OS updates for […]

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CrossOver lets you run Windows apps on Chromebooks (now out of beta)

The first Chromebooks were designed to run web apps only. But a few years back Google added support for running Android apps, and then Linux apps. Now you can also run Windows applications on a Chromebook… although it requires installing a third-party tool that sells for $40 and up. CodeWeavers has announced that CrossOver 20 […]

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AMD introduces Ryzen and Athlon chips for Chromebooks

Last year AMD introduced its first chips designed for Chromebooks, and within a few months a handful of PC makers began selling Chrome OS laptops powered by the inexpensive, low-power processors. Now AMD is taking aim at higher-performance Chromebooks. The company has introduced a new line of Ryzen and Athlon chips for Chromebooks. And unlike […]