The normally low-key mobile computer is equipped with mid-range hardware

Jul 22, 2014 12:10 GMT  ·  By

Most Chromebooks are low-end laptops with little to no on-board storage. However, Dell seems to think that higher-end Chrome OS laptops could find strong supporters, so it has set about making one.

The Chromebook it is working on, based on Chromebook 11, will be powered by an Intel Core i3 central processing unit. We don't know for sure if it will be a dual-core, or if a quad-core chip will be used. Maybe Dell will go with the completionist route and release both types of laptop.

Either way, the resulting Chromebook will have computing and integrated graphics performance on par with mid-range notebooks.

Alas, this is more likely to cause confusion than anything else. After all, it's not like you can play games on a Chromebook, or run locally-stored CAD software.

Setting aside the compatibility issues between the Chrome operating system and programs designed to work on Windows, there just isn't enough on-board storage space. Indeed, we mentioned this before, but when 16 GB is all you can expect to find under the hood, it bears repeating.

The whole point of Chromebooks is to be permanently connected to the Internet and perform all actions in the Cloud, using applications that are also stored and launched in the Cloud. On a remote server as it were.

This is why high-performance hardware is not only unnecessary, but a waste on a Chromebook. After all, the CPU and RAM only run the OS. Everything else is done on the computing power of the remote server you are accessing with your widgets, programs and browsers.

Nevertheless, Dell believes there could be a market for high-end Chrome OS mobile personal computers, so it is putting one together, even if odds are high that the screen will probably still be a 1366 x 768 pixels model.

Moving on, the memory will probably be of 4 GB (having 8 GB of RAM would be overkill no matter how “high-end” you want to make a Chromebook). The Core i3 CPU-powered Dell Chromebook will probably sell for $300 - $400 / €222 - €296.

An exact ETA (estimated time of arrival) has not been provided, although one model (an updated Chromebook 11) seems to have already debuted in Japan, though the price wasn't specified even there. Whether or not the trial run returns good results, the majority of Chromebooks, Dell-made or otherwise, will continue to use Intel Celeron CPUs.