As the next-generation CPU line draws near, the laptops evolve

Apr 6, 2012 14:47 GMT  ·  By

Nothing ever really became of Chromebooks, but they are still around, drifting along the edges of the IT market and trying to get people interested in them, even if it means lunging at the new CPUs from Intel.

That's right, according to a Google submission to Coreboot (a Linux layer in Chrome that handles the hardware), spotted by Phoronix, the almost storage-free laptops are implementing support for Intel's Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge CPUs.

Obviously, the portable computers will still run the Chrome OS browser-based operating system that uses only web applications (and stores everything in the cloud).

By our reckoning, Chromebooks failed to make a name for themselves (so far) due to a combination of weak specs, lack of native storage and people's reluctance to commit everything they do to the cloud.

Whether or not the April 23-bound next-gen CPUs help their case in any measure remains to be seen.