The big news: AMD’s jump into the market. Plus, new Google-powered laptops and convertibles from Acer, Asus and HP.
Google was as visible as any company at CES in 2019, with loads of promotion, integrations with other companies and product announcements of its own. Its Chrome operating system got some love, too, featured in a handful of new laptops and convertibles from Acer, Asus and HP.
Marking one of the most significant milestones for the operating system in years, AMD announced that it has retooled two of its A-series processors to run Chrome OS. This will give Intel some real competition in the low-price Chromebook market for the first time — and offer consumers more choices, and perhaps lower prices, for Chromebooks in 2019.
As a whole, the Chromebook category has made serious strides over the past two years. While once a lackluster option for classrooms and the extremely budget-sensitive, improving hardware and access to Android apps via the Google Play store have now made Chromebooks a valid option for work and entertainment. There remain exceptions, of course: If you’re into serious gaming, video editing or other hardware-intensive tasks, you’ll still need a machine running Microsoft Windows or Apple’s MacOS.
