HP announces Chromebox G2

Ahead of CES 2018, HP has announced yet another Chrome OS product and this time it's a pretty powerful Chromebox.

Measuring at just 5.87 x 5.87 x 1.57 inches, the HP Chromebox G2 sports — what seems to be — a sleek black aluminum casing with the standard HP and Chrome logos on top. On the front of the Chromebook G2, you'll find a headphone jack, two USB Type-A (3.0) ports, a microSD card slot, and a power LED indicator. You'll also find a kensington lock on the right side of the Chromebox. On the back of the Chromebox G2 there is an RJ-45 Ethernet port, two USB Type-A (2.0) ports, a single USB Type-A (3.0) port, a single USB Type-C port, and an HDMI port.

Inside, HP says you'll have the option of either 8th generation (Kaby Lake) Intel Celeron 3865U, Core i5-7300, or i7-8650U processors with Intel HD Graphics 610 and 620 (Core i models), respectively. The Chromebox G2 will come with either a 32GB or 64GB M.2 SSD and up to 16 GB DDR4-2400 SDRAM (2 memory slots). There's also an external 65W/90W power adapter, which helps maintain a small form-factor.

There's no word on pricing, but HP says that the Chromebox G2 will be made available in April.

#ChromeOS #Chromebox #HP

HP announces Chromebook 11 G6 EE and Chromebook 14 G5

Ahead of CES 2018, HP has announced two new Chromebooks for the education and business sector, respectively.

Both the HP Chromebook 11 G6 EE and the Chromebook 14 G5 sport similar designs, with black casings (formerly silver) to match the black keys, spill-resistant keyboards, and MIL-STD 810G military proofing. However, the HP Chromebook 11 G6 EE distinguishes itself from its bigger brother with a yellow/orange trim along the edges and a 180-degree hinge.

The HP Chromebook 11 G6 EE sports an 11.6-inch IPS display, whereas the Chromebook 14 G5 sports a 14-inch IPS display. Unfortunately both displays on the base models are at a resolution of 1366x768, but the 14-inch model will also come with a 1920x1080 option¹. There will also be non-touch and touch models available. HP says you'll have the option of either an Intel Celeron N3350 or Celeron N3450 Apollo Lake processor and 8GB of RAM. Both models have 802.11ac Wi-Fi support, two USB Type-C ports, two USB Type-A ports, and microSD card readers. Battery size and battery lifer were not listed, but, if I had to guess, I'll say that it will be around 10-12hrs.

Pricing for both models were not announced, but a release date is slated for February.

¹https://liliputing.com/2018/01/hp-introduces-chromebook-11-g6-ee-hp-chromebook-14-g5.html

#ChromeOS #Chromebooks #HP

Look out for this update if you have the compatible Chromebooks.

#Android #News #Chromebooks #ChromeOS

Will Google kill Chrome OS and Android in 2018?

(Read my column: https://goo.gl/ckJfMd )

If we learned anything in 2017, it’s this: Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.

You may have heard, for example, that Google is preparing a new unified operating system to replace Chrome OS (the operating system that powers Chromebooks) and Android (the operating system that powers most smartphones).

Facts and forecasts are often packed together to persuade you of the premise that Google intends to replace Chrome OS and Android, and soon.

Let’s unpack all this, and start by separating facts from forecasts:

https://www.computerworld.com/article/3245032/android/will-google-kill-chrome-os-and-android-in-2018.html

#chromeos #android #fuchsia

Today’s Deal is for those of you who have been looking for a Chrome OS dedicated keyboard to setup in your office or work space. The Dell Wired Keyboard KB69211 is specifically laid out with Chrome OS users in mind. It is also at a great price. Right now it is $12.99 on Amazon and includes free shipping. #ChromeOS #Chromebook

Android apps will be running in the background on Chrome OS real soon. #AndroidApps #ChromeOS #Android #ParallelTasks

Since the launch of Android apps on Chrome OS, users have experienced some bugs and odd behavior that expectedly comes with merging two different platforms. One such example of odd behavior with Android apps on Chrome OS can be shown through app pausing. Currently, if you have an Android game or another app with real-time data opened at the same time, the app's state will pause whenever you click away from that app and place the focus on another app. While this behavior may be suitable for phones, it is not suitable for the laptop form factor where users expect more degrees of multitasking. Now, it seems like the Chrome OS team have been working on a solution — "Android Parallel Tasks."

The fine folks over at Chrome Unboxed¹ were tipped off about a new feature in Chrome OS 64 Beta. If you have Android apps set up on Chrome OS 64 Beta, simply head to your Android Settings, tap on the "Developer Options" (About Device>repeatedly tap the build number if not already enabled), and you should see a new "Parallel Tasks" toggle. Once the toggle is switched on, you'll be able to run multiple Android apps simultaneously without each app pausing its state when out of focus!

You can check out the new behavior in Robby's video below. However, it's important to keep in mind, while "Parallel Tasks" is a feature that has turned up on Chrome OS Beta 64, there's no assurance that the feature will make its way into the Stable Channel.

¹https://chromeunboxed.com/news/android-parallel-tasks-incoming-chrome-os-64/

#ChromeOS #Android

An incremental update to Chrome OS has been released by the Chromium team and is starting to roll out to devices. The updated version is build 63.0.3239.116 (Platform version: 10032.75.0) and Google indicates that the majority of Chrome OS devices will get the update over the course of the next few days. #Chromebook #ChromeOS #Chrome63