Google Cr-48 Chrome OS Netbook To Feature Atom CPU, Rumors Say

Google's Cr-48 Chrome OS netbook has certainly been quite a pleasant surprise, but given the fact that the search-engine giant has kept mum on the computing systems' hardware configuration, rumors regarding the components that might be powering this thing have already started to abound, the latest claiming that at the core of the Cr-48 is none other than Intel's own Atom CPU.

Of course, this would pretty much make a lot of sense, and, according to the guys over at Fudzilla, who've come up with this rumor, that would mean a certain win for Intel, who's currently being cornered by the growing popularity of ARM-based smartphones and Internet tablets.

Unfortunately, apart from the fact that the Cr-48 might have an Intel Atom CPU inside, there's absolutely no info on the type of processor we're talking about (single or dual-core), or its operating frequency, for that matter.

As you might remember from our previous article on this topic, the Cr-48 is he device is a 12.1-inch system, featuring a full size keyboard and somewhat oversized clickpad, but the keyboard does have some peculiarities compared to a standard QWERTY, namely the fact that the function keys have been replaced by a series of Apple-kile action keys, while the Caps Lock key has been removed completely, a Search button taking its place.

Furthermore, the netbook will apparently provide an impressive battery life (more than 8 hours of active use and up to a whopping 8 days in stand-by), while other features worth mentioning include the Qualcomm Gobi 3G chip, 802.11n dual-band WiFi, a built-in webcam and flash storage, as well as the built-in USB port and VGA output.

Of course, since Fudzilla doesn't provide any source for their info (basically, we have to take their word for granted), we'll have to say that, for the time being, it's perhaps for the best to take this whole story with a grain of salt and wait either until Google goes official with this piece of information on a participant in Google's Pilot program goes somewhat of a teardown frenzy.