With new devices and now access to the entirety of the Google Play Store, the Chromebook is about to become a computer that puts a premium on productivity and practicality but without a premium price tag.
Historically, the Chromebook has been positioned as an affordable, stripped-back alternative to a traditional WinTel notebook PC. And while the basic computing of web browsing, document editing and social sharing remains at its core, at this month's CES, Samsung and Google together revealed the shape of Chromebooks to come.
The Chromebook Plus and the Chromebook Pro are both 2-in-1 devices that can pivot from tablet to notebook form factor via a 360° hinge, and both support stylus input. They also boast more potent processors and available RAM and while users, as with all Chromebooks, will be expected to make the most of web services and the cloud for software and storage, a number of features on both devices can be accessed when there isn't an internet connection.
"Since launching our first Chromebook over five years ago, we have continued to improve the product, developing a computer that not only fits into consumers' lifestyles, but makes their lives easier, more mobile and more productive," said Alanna Cotton, vice president of product marketing at Samsung Electronics America.
Still, hardware is only one half of this equation. Until now as good as the Chromebook's packaging has become and pricing has stayed, it lagged behind traditional computers in terms of available applications.
However, that has just changed. Google has confirmed that all 2017 Chromebooks that ship will come out of the box with full access to the Google Play Store, meaning if there's an app available for your Android smartphone or tablet, it now works just as well on your desktop, if it's a Chromebook desktop.
So as well as Google's own apps and those offered by the major social networks, it means everything from Office and Skype to the full Adobe suite of photo manipulation and illustration apps plus whatever mobile game happens to be trending this month.
As for those that already have a Chromebook, Google is working to make the new feature backwards compatible and will be constantly updating its list of existing Chromebooks that will be able to natively run Android apps, as development work continues. To see the list and check if your Chromebook is on it, visit The Chromium Projects site.
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