Chromebooks are popular laptop devices that have in the past used Intel or ARM processors. However, new rumors suggest that an upcoming Chromebook could be the first one in the world to be powered by an AMD chip.
Codenamed ‘Kahlee’, this Chromebook would apparently use an AMD board that uses the Stoney Ridge chipset with either a dual or quad-core 28nm processor, as well as a 3rd-generation Graphics Core Next AMD Radeon GPU.
The potential existence of Kahlee was found in a Coreboot code review, which contains references to device and the hardware it uses. Coreboot is an open source alternative to BIOS and UEFI proprietary firmware, which all Chromebooks currently use to boot.
- Otherwise you could save up for a Surface Book or Surface Pro 5
A break with tradition
There have also been other references to Kahlee in relation to Chrome OS (the operating system made by Google that all Chromebooks run) recently, but this is the first time it’s been hinted that a ‘Kahlee’ Chromebook would use an AMD processor.
Giving consumers a choice other than Intel or ARM-based Chromebooks is always welcome, and it comes at a time when AMD is gaining positive headlines, thanks to its new Ryzen CPU architecture.
By using the older Stoney Ridge APU, Kahlee would be more in line with previous Chromebooks powered by Intel and ARM chips – so expect a device that puts lower price before higher performance.
Powerful and premium Chromebooks aren’t too popular (Google killed off its pricey Chromebook Pixel last month), and as Chrome OS is less demanding than Windows or macOS, it could still perform well for day-to-day tasks.
We'll definitely want to get our hands on any AMD-powered Chromebook in the future, so if Kahlee turns out to be true, keep an eye out for our review.
- These are the 10 hottest Chromebooks you can buy in 2017
