Google might be getting ready to take on the Surface with its new Chromebook

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Microsoft this Spring announced a Windows laptop and SKU to take on Google’s ChromeOS, now Google might be about to return the favor.

The specs of this new Chromebook are currently unknown, but going by the specs of various Chromebooks Pixel, we can expect them to be impressive. Furthermore, the enthusiast site ChromeUnboxed has been tracking an in development Chromebook codenamed Eve. The site has since uncovered specs hinting at a 2400 x 1200 screen at a 3:2 ratio with support for Stylus, much like Samsung’s own recent Chromebooks and (most notably), Microsoft’s Surface line.

Android Police reported on this yesterday, speculating that Project Bison (a laptop that was to run the now defunct Andromeda) may have evolved into the Chromebook Eve as Andromeda crumbled and/or was consumed by Android and ChromeOS. It was apparently the plan that “that Bison was intended as a serious competitor to Apple’s MacBook and Microsoft’s Surface Pro, with a 12.3″ screen, 32 or 128GB of storage, 8 or 16GB of RAM, and an optional Wacom stylus that would be sold separately”.

This of course, sounds very much like Eve, which would also support double tap functionality, as well as Google assistant and voice control features that have been featuring in PCs since Apple and Microsoft decided to add Siri and Cortana to their respective operating systems.

ChromeOS itself has undergone a metamorphosis of sorts, eschewing its web-only support with extended support for Android apps on the desktop.  The desktop shell itself has evolved to incorporate more transparency, and while it isn’t as feature-packed as Windows, it is still useful for the vast majority of consumers.

While the OS hasn’t had any flagship devices lately, with the Samsung Chromebook Pro/Plus and Asus Flip filling that upper mid-range scratch, Google might just be about to reinvigorate the ChromeOS high-end market.

More about the topics: competitor, google, hardware, laptops, microsoft, Surface

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