The 'Most Sophisticated' Chromebook Features an AI Chip That’s Excessive for ChromeOS

What do you need your Chromebook to do for you? If you’re like most people who buy the cheaper ChromeOS-based laptops, you want it to access a browser and—if you’re feeling particularly spicy—maybe a few select Android apps. The most important elements for these lightweight clamshells are normally whether it can load webpages fast, has a long-enough battery, and if it has a quality display for your average Netflix and chill session. With its latest update, Google and Lenovo are asking consumers if they are willing to drop more money on a Chromebook that’s more powerful to potentially run a few AI apps on-device.

The $650 Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 doesn’t have your average low-end chip made for lightweight PCs. The laptop sports 16GB of RAM alongside MediaTek’s Kompanio Ultra chip. It’s an 8-core processor designed specifically for Chromebooks. On paper, the Chromebook Plus 14 has some impressive specs, including an 11-core, ray tracing-capable GPU for those few games or 3D apps on Chromebook that support enhanced, realistic lighting effects. It should also supply enough juice to support up to two 4K external displays, plus it has Wi-Fi 7 connectivity.

The Chromebook Plus 14 seems designed to compare with today’s AI PCs, specifically thanks to its NPU, or neural processing unit. It’s a portion of the chip designed to process AI-related tasks. MediaTek said the NPU hits 50 TOPS, or trillions of operations per second. That number offers a rough estimate of how well it can handle simple AI tasks. Most “AI PC” chips from companies like Intel and AMD can support 45 TOPS. As for what AI features are available at launch, that’s a little more disappointing. Lenovo’s laptop will get exclusive capabilities that automatically group your browser tabs, whether they’re your Google Docs or internet searches. It should be smart enough to consolidate your tasks into their own groups. If you’re the type to have too many tabs open simultaneously, it could prove an easy way to get them all contained.

Otherwise, the only other exclusive software feature is AI image editing in the Gallery app. It’ll let you use Magic Eraser to remove objects in an image’s background without needing an internet connection. The system is lacking any on-device Gemini chatbot. While Google didn’t confirm what was coming next for Chromebooks, it implied we could eventually see some Gemini Nano language model integration on Chromebook Plus. Is that something we’re really looking for? Considering how limp Microsoft’s Copilot has been on PC, it’s not the kind of feature we’re truly jonesing for.

All Chromebook Plus models will get a few more features to add on to last year’s updates. The recently introduced “Quick Access” key, which on some models replaced Caps Lock, can now generate AI images. Users can also access a “Help me read” function to break down a web page or document into more condensed bullet points with AI-generated text. Chromebooks, including non-Plus models, will be able to perform Google Lens image searches by either hitting the on-screen launcher button or using the screenshot tool. Google has been on an AI kick these past few years, and it’s still promoting that you’ll get a full year of Google One premium subscription with a handy 2TB of cloud storage.

These features aren’t anything we haven’t seen before on Google’s phones or other devices. Chromebooks generally don’t need anything truly special, since most people who buy one just need it for the sake of accessing browser- or cloud-based apps. Samsung’s Galaxy Chromebook Plus from last year was already too expensive at $700 despite its light frame and pretty AMOLED display. Lenovo’s Chromebook Plus 14 sports an OLED screen and what Lenovo claims is some of the longest battery life of any Chromebook—17 hours, though that’s in video streaming tests. It’s also the only Chromebook that supports Dolby Atmos audio through its quad speaker system. The Chromebook 14 Plus is the most PC-like of any Chromebook ever made, but without broader app support, it can never match the versatility of other laptops running Windows 11 or Linux. If you’re entrenched in the Google ecosystem and don’t mind cloud-based work, most modern Chromebooks of even moderate quality will serve you well. Lenovo’s latest seems to sit somewhere between great and overkill, but we’ll need to do our own tests to see whether you should want a multimedia Chromebook, especially if you don’t care a lick for Google’s AI features.