chrome os

ASUS has made a bunch of announcements at CES 2021, but one of the most interesting is the latest iteration of its Chromebox. ASUS has been making Chrome OS boxes for a long time now, but this one stands out from its predecessors because of its fanless design. In fact, that design informs the name of the product, which is simply Fanless Chromebox. It's safe to say that ASUS probably isn't winning any awards for the creativity of its naming conventions.

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There's a new Chromebook in town from Acer this week with the Acer Chromebook Spin 514. This device is the first Acer Chromebook with a new AMD Ryzen 3000 C-Series mobile processor inside and AMD Radeon graphics. The Enterprise version of the Chromebook Spin 514 includes a full-sized HDMI port and the full collection of Chrome OS "built-in business capabilities" like zero-touch enrollment.

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Samsung is adding to its Chrome OS range, with a new notebook, the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2, joining the line-up as a more affordable option. Adding to, rather than replacing, the existing high-end Galaxy Chromebook launched last year, this second model trims the starting price to under $700 but introduces features like a QLED display for the first time.

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The use of QR codes has seen a surge in the past few months despite being around for more than a decade. A distant cousin of bar codes, the indecipherable patterns are able to hold more information, usually links to websites or online documents. This has become especially handy during the ongoing pandemic where QR codes are used for almost anything, from menus to contact tracing forms. Fortunately, smartphone cameras have become more capable of handling those codes and Chrome OS will finally be catching up.

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Another Google product will be biting the device right at the turn of the year. Granted, there are indeed some products and services that are long overdue their retirement, it's still somewhat notable when Google adds another body to its notorious graveyard. This time, it will be Google Cloud Print that will be signing off after the last day of the year, forcing its remaining users, if they do still exist, to connect directly to printers in their network.

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Chromebooks, just like their Windows laptop counterparts, come in all sizes and prices. Google's Chrome OS platform, however, has traditionally been pushed to more "economical" devices aimed at academic institutions and workplaces. From time to time, there do come premium models, like Samsung Galaxy Chromebook that may have ended up being too premium for its own good. A sequel has been rumored to be on its way and, if the rumors are correct, it could be a better deal except in one particular aspect.

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Although Android's and Chrome OS' open source natures allow them to be reshaped and installed on a variety of devices, Google has never really endorsed or even encouraged putting them on anything other than smartphones, tablets, Chromebooks, and a small number of boxes. Companies like Neverware have taken it upon themselves to make that happen, creating CloudReady OS, a version of Chrome OS that can be installed on a wide range of laptops, including older and unsupported Chromebooks. Now it seems that Google has acquired Neverware, opening the door to Chrome OS' greater expansion, presuming Google allows it.

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As a company deeply rooted in the Internet and Internet advertising, it isn't that surprising that Google is heavily pushing web apps, specifically Progressive Web Apps or PWAs. Even on Android where it has native mobile apps, it is still advocating for Web-based experiences that are almost as good as native. There are, however, still some things that PWAs can't do that are almost all too easy for Android apps but Google is slowly but surely bridging that divide, especially when it comes to PWAs running on Chromebooks.

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ASUS announced a new Chrome OS desktop machine today with the ASUS Chromebox 4. This device works with a 10th gen Intel processor, Google Play (with Android apps aplenty), and a compact form factor. The best part about this machine is its relatively low price - right around $290 USD.

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There is one thing that has remained unchanged in computing over the decades and that is the venerable keyboard. While there have indeed been advancements in technologies, the layout of keyboards has mostly remained the same since the earliest days when they grew out of the typewriter. That also means that many of the conventions still used in keyboards today might already be outdated. The Caps Lock key and Google is continuing its tradition of changing that key's function and name, now known simply as the Everything Button.

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Dark mode was a big thing in the computing industry in the past few years. "Was" because almost all major platforms have already implemented it, one way or another, except Google's Chrome OS. Just like with the Chrome browser itself, Chrome OS's support for light text and content over dark backgrounds has not been consistent or complete. That may no longer be the case soon as Google has started rolling out an in-progress dark mode implementation, now available to more adventurous Chrome OS users.

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Acer revealed new TravelMate laptops, a Chrome Spin, and a Chromebox machine all ready to roll for business in 2020. Three new TravelMate notebooks were revealed with with 11th Gen Intel Core processors, 4G LTE, and MIL-STD 810G military durability standards made with "commercial users" in mind. The Chromebook Spin 513 and the Chromebox CXI4 were revealed with both standard and Enterprise editions.

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