Google is designing its own Arm-based processors for 2023 Chromebooks – report Google is reportedly designing its own Arm-based system-on-chips for Chromebook laptops and tablets to be launched in 2023. The internet search giant appears to be following the same path as Apple by developing its own line of processors for client devices, according to Nikkei Asia. Google earlier said its latest Pixel 6 and …
I have an ASUS ChromeBook that uses the OP1 ARM CPU. Specific part authorised by Google for CBs for a laptop type format rather than smartphone (but based on a rebadged Rockchip RK3399). Still surprisingly capable after its purchase in 2017.
So hopefully an in-house Google custom design might/will be better than existing ARM designs from QC, Mediatek, Rockchip etc.
https://laptopmedia.com/processor/rockchip-rk3399-op1/
Sounds about the same age as mine. I just with there were more native Chrome apps that understood the desktop better than all the Android cruft. I mean, given the scale of Chromebook sales today, that's one healthy but largely untapped market.
I think I'd even prefer RISC OS if they ported it...
They aren't designing their own CPU or GPU cores like Apple is. They are licensing the same ARM designed cores that all the other Android/ARM OEMs are using.
Google isn't trying to compete on CPU or GPU performance, it is just a custom SoC that will include their Tensor AI blocks.
Why bother when they control the whole OS? If they want to, they can add a TPM unit to stop of OSes being installed but "baking in" telemetry would be an invitation to class action lawsuits.
But seeing as most people are already more than happy to give them the data, why make additional work for themselves?
The main reason for wanting to control design is time to market, with things like AI but also custom encryption or other acceleration such as codecs being key differentiators.
I have never used a Chromebook but as its basically a cut down Linux running Chrome i am assuming its probably requires you sign in with a Google account so it already sending all the telemetry data back to Google anyway via the browser, just like Chrome does on Windows if you login with a Google account.
Many of their newer Google Chrome security features require analysis across individuals where every individual is uniquely identified (with or without an account) to spot irregularities. Telemetry is a two-way street with benefits and drawbacks depending upon what you want or need.
If we all continue to aggressively block advertising and marketing features while accepting genuine uses for telemetry (e.g. legitimate analytics and performance analysis) then eventually these companies will give up.
Apple already has (largely) and it looks like Microsoft are beginning to dial back too. It is only a matter of time until Google finds enough alternative revenue sources and then the online personalised advertising industry is dead… and hopefully never coming back
Given that this is designed for tablets and laptops (not phones), the chip could easily be designed for a higher peak power draw as the larger format allows for better cooling. A configuration with 4x Cortex X2, 4 Cortex-A510 cores and Mali G710 graphics would be much more powerful than the current Qualcom 888+ and would be usable in a tablet or laptop with a larger heavier cooling system than is possible in a smartphone. (For lighter loads (eg watching YouTube) the A510 cores would easily be powerful enough - the A510 is about as powerful as the A72.)
If Google sticks to stock ARM cores then the 2023 launch date should be easy to meet.
Or somewhere in the middle, more power than a mobile chip, but less than a conventional laptop or desktop chip. They will need to tune the performance, so that it is at least as quick as the Intel parts it is replacing, otherwise it is a waste of time - and the current high-end Windows laptops often include 20+ hour battery life.
Once you get over a single "working day", the need for more battery life diminishes. Very few people need to be on their laptop for 20+ hours a day, so they can recharge overnight.
The only people who need really long battery life are those that will be travelling off the beaten track with no electricity in the vicinity.
Could be sweet! I had a Acer Chromebook 13 with NVidia Tegra K1... quad core ARM and roughly GTX650 GPU. The bad side, Acer sure new how to design it to a spec, the battery wore out, power plug got flakey, case got stress cracks, and touchpad began sagging into the case all withing about 2 weeks of each other (after about 1.5 years of use.)
The good, 22 hour battery life!! 18-20 in normal use. 10-12 if I ran video encodes on it (full load on all CPU cores.) I booted chrubuntu (stock Ubuntu with a few hardware-specific scripts and such they pulled over from chromeos.) ChromeOS and Ubuntu both ran GREAT on it.
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