For years, most chromebooks have been powered by Intel or AMD processors. Rare devices used a MediaTek chip, but they were often underpowered and cheap devices that were hard to recommend. ARM-based processors have performed extremely well in Apple’s Mac computers, and they are also being used in a growing number of Windows computers. Now Lenovo (maker of my favorite Chromebook) and Google are giving ARM a real shot with the $649 Chromebook Plus 14.
The companies claim that the MediaTek Kompanio Ultra 910 chip and its AI NPU can run up to 50 TOPS – but I’m more intrigued that Lenovo is also promising up to 17 hours of battery life. I’ll believe that claim when I see it; mediocre, at best, battery life has been a problem with almost every Chromebook I’ve used in recent years. But a switch to ARM could improve the performance of Intel-based Chromebooks in terms of both battery life and overall performance.
It’s time for the detailed specifications. Lenovo’s Chromebook Plus 14 is, as you might expect, a 14-inch laptop that looks very similar to the silver MacBook Pro. It’s definitely more stylish and sleek than Lenovo’s more utilitarian (and awkwardly named) IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook Plus. It weighs only 2.58 pounds (about a pound less than the Flex 5i) and is just over 0.62 inches thick. In addition to the Kompanio Ultra 910 chip, Lenovo offers 12 or 16 GB of RAM and up to 256 GB of storage. Lenovo also doesn’t skimp on the screen. The 14-inch OLED panel can be equipped with a touch screen and has a resolution of 1,920 x 1,200. The resolution is relatively modest, but fully in line with what you would expect at this price.
There are a few other nice touches. Lenovo’s latest innovation is the first Chromebook to feature Dolby Atmos sound through a four-speaker system that includes two downward-firing woofers. The sound quality on laptops has improved significantly in recent years, so I’m looking forward to seeing what Lenovo has to offer. The 5-megapixel webcam has a much higher resolution than most other Chromebooks, and there’s also a fingerprint scanner for secure login.
Overall, this Chromebook is more expensive compared to many other options. But if you compare its specifications and design with other Chromebooks in this price range, Lenovo’s new product looks pretty good. Of course, we need to make sure that the MediaTek chip is powerful enough and also check the battery life, but Lenovo’s track record is pretty strong and I’m looking forward to seeing if we have a new king of Chromebooks.
New artificial intelligence features
Given that Google is relentlessly working to add AI features everywhere you turn, it’s no surprise that there are a number of new AIs out there. Two of them are currently only available in Lenovo’s Chromebook Plus 14: “Smart Grouping and AI image editing in the Chromebook’s Gallery app. Google has been teasing the Smart Grouping feature for some time now: it will look at your open tabs and documents and ask if you want to organize them into a separate virtual desk. And the Gallery app has some artificial intelligence-based editing features, such as removing backgrounds or turning images into stickers.
In addition, a number of AI features are coming to all Chromebook Plus laptops, many of which will look familiar if you’ve been paying attention to what Google has released on other platforms in recent months. For example, you can now long-press the launcher and select an area of the screen to launch a search. As always, the default example is shopping – see a pair of shoes you want, highlight it, and let Google find it for you. The integration looks very nice: the results are shown in a pop-up window, so you don’t have to leave the program you’re using.
Similarly, the Text Capture feature analyzes the text in an image and suggests things like calendar appointments based on what it reads. Or, by selecting an image of a recipe, you can pull all the items you need for it from a list of Google Docs.
The Quick Insert key, which first appeared last year on the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus, can now be used to create and insert AI images anywhere the text cursor points, and it’s not limited to Google apps. Finally, Google’s Help Me Read tool has a new “simplify” option that can take complex language (such as scientific explanations) and translate it into simple language to make it easier to understand.
Anyone who buys a Chromebook Plus this year will get a solid benefit that Google first introduced last year: a full 12 months of the Google One AI Pro plan, which includes 2 TB of Google Drive storage and access to more advanced Gemini features (you can find all the exact details here). Considering that this plan costs $20 per month, it’s a solid added value – at least for the storage if you’re not really interested in Gemini.
As for Lenovo’s new hardware, I’m looking forward to trying it out soon to see if the ARM architecture can deliver the significant battery life and performance improvements the company promises. But if you want to plunk down your money right now, Lenovo’s Chromebook Plus 14 is available at Best Buy and on Lenovo’s website for pre-order today. (Note that, at least for now, Best Buy only carries the more expensive 16GB touchscreen version of the Chromebook Plus 14).
