Chromebooks aren't known for being the beefiest machines out there, but they're getting some hot new guts. Google just dropped the news that there are Chromebooks on the way rocking Intel's new 4th generation CPUs, bringing serious computing power and better battery life to the table.
The upcoming 4th gen-powered Chromebooks will be coming from OEMs who have dabbled in the devices before, like Acer and HP, and first-timers like ASUS and Toshiba as well. And while details are sparse at the moment, Google says these new Chromebooks will have twice the battery life of previous offerings, making them pretty good options for low-cost, all-day, mouse-and-keyboard web surfing.
And while it certainly doesn't hurt to have real laptop brains inside, much like the $1,300 Chromebook Pixel, but there's still the matter of finding things for it to do. There's more and more as time goes on, but Chrome OS is still no Windows or OSX.
Between this, and Google finally releasing its Chrome apps from their browser prison, Chromebooks just got an upgrade across the board. They might not be able to bring all this power to bear right from the get-go, but Google's definitely been pushing the limits of Chrome OS, and maybe it'll start dishing out challenges worthy of those big-boy guts soon. [Google]