Intel and Google on Tuesday joined several partners in launching a variety of new Chromebooks and Chrome-based desktop systems powered by fourth-generation Core i3 and “Bay Trail M”-class Celeron mobile processors, as well as entry-level Haswell-class desktop chips.
Acer, Asus, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, LG Electronics and Toshiba joined Intel and Google at a press event in San Francisco to introduce their next-generation Chrome OS-based laptops and other Chrome products, including several fanless Chromebooks sporting the new Celeron processors and promising up to 11 hours of battery life.
Google, meanwhile, announced a new Chrome app called Play Movies, which will let Chrome OS users watch movies and TV shows available through Google Play offline as well as online. Play Movies will be released in “a few weeks,” said Caesar Sengupta, vice president of product management at Google. The Internet giant also will be adding Google Now support and voice-based functionality to its Chrome operating system in the coming days, he said.
“We have been involved with Google from Day One with Chrome OS,” said Navin Shenoy, vice president and general manager of Intel’s mobile computing group. “We are now in our fifth generation of Chrome devices and our processors remain the only ones to support the 64-bit version of Chrome OS. We have a great working relationship with Google, and we will continue to invest in Chrome OS.”
Shenoy said new Bay Trail M-based Chromebooks from Asus represent the first fanless Chromebook designs and the first to provide such lengthy battery life between charges. Built on Intel’s latest low-power Celeron SoCs, the Asus C200 Chromebook and C300 Chromebook are both priced at $249 and will be available for purchase in June.
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