14 DAY TRIAL // It’s a fact – Chromebook business is thriving, at least in the education sector. This week Google is presiding over the Global Education Symposium, a meeting that brings together education ministers from over 18 countries, so the search giant took the opportunity to boast a little, Chromebook-wise.
The company presented some numbers showing that more and more educational establishments are taking up the use of Chromebooks for their purposes, including in countries like Malaysia where the national school system is now relying completely on Chromebooks.
Schools are mostly drawn to Chromebooks’ versatility and cheap price tags, but if you think today’s Chrome OS laptops are affordable, wait until 2015 models make it out onto the market.
Lenovo is one of the first to make Chromebooks uber-cheap
Not so long ago we told you Lenovo was reported to be prepping two low-cost models which are expected to make a debut on the market in early 2015.
These two notebooks are said to be based on Rockchip low-cost chip architecture, and according to Digi Times, Lenovo is not going to be the only one serving up Chromebooks with such SoCs.
Rockchip is a first-tier application processor manufacturer from China, and as you might be aware, the company recently partnered up with Intel to develop and distribute Intel’s SoFIA chips in the country and above.
The newest Asian report now claims that since Lenovo launched a 10.1-inch Android notebook in 2014, using the Rockchip RK3188, the company’s upcoming 11.6-inch Chromebook will arrive with a RK3288 chip on the inside.
The notebook is estimated to make its way on the market towards the end of 2014 at the earliest or in the first half of 2015 at the latest.
ASUS is also said to be prepping a similar Chromebook expected to hit retail with an affordable $149 / €120 price tag. The device will boast the standard 11.6-inch Chromebook display and will probably take advantage of the same Rockchip RK3188 platform.
ASUS’s new Chrome OS laptop will be priced 25% lower than the popular Acer C720, which is priced at $199 / €159.
Super cheap Chromebooks will put further pressure on Microsoft
This trend of descending prices in the Chromebook garden, will naturally put a lot of pressure on Microsoft which just started rolling out inexpensive Windows 8.1 notebooks with specifications almost identical to Chrome OS notebooks.
However, the cheapest laptops in this category revolve around the $199 / €159 margin, which is on par with the current generation of Chromebooks. But in a few months, Microsoft will have to rethink its ultra-cheap notebook pricing strategy yet again.
