I just tried new Chromebook features and laptops that actually have me excited

Last week, Google invited yours truly and other members of the press to hear about how adding Google AI in Chromebooks brings today’s latest tech to the masses. But that’s not the important news at hand, if you ask me. I’m much more excited about a whole slew of new features that are coming to all Chromebooks (not just Chromebook Plus models) this month. Having covered computing for nearly a decade (including the last year as an electronics writer at CNN Underscored), I’m happy to report that Chromebooks are getting exciting again.

Plus, I got my hands on the new 11-inch Lenovo Chromebook Duet, the successor to one of the most popular Chromebooks to date (as Google told the assembled press). With these new features rolling out in updates over the coming weeks, and these laptops’ October 2024 release dates fast approaching, there’s no time to waste. Let’s separate the facts from the hype.

Our favorite Chromebook for students gets an update

The new Lenovo Chromebook Duet doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel, nor should it. This model has long been popular because it gives you the same detachable 2-in-1 design made famous by the Microsoft Surface Pro. The Chromebook Duet’s success thrives where the Surface Pro stumbles because of its far-more-affordable $340 price that also makes it a frontrunner in the top budget laptop category. We also rank it as one of the best Chromebooks because — unlike with the Microsoft Surface Pro — you don’t have to buy the keyboard separately.

This new model’s upgrades primarily focus on usability, as Google representatives told CNN Underscored that the keyboard has been updated for increased sturdiness and firmness to make it feel more like a laptop when docked. Since this has long been my sole issue with the detachable format, I’m very curious to test this device in my full review. In my brief time with it at the event, I got a tad optimistic. I even noticed that, when detached, the Chromebook Duet’s tablet can stand upright in the portrait orientation thanks to its included kickstand.

Additionally, and importantly — since this is a device whose users are primarily younger audiences — the new Chromebook Duet features a privacy switch for turning off the internal camera. Just don’t expect that toggle to disable the microphones as well, as previous privacy switches (such as the one in the fantastic Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x) did not.

Oh, and this Chromebook has a 2K 10.95-inch display with up to 400 nits of brightness, so your favorite shows and websites should be readable in varying situations. That said, I noticed its panel was pretty glossy when I photographed it on an overcast day. Still, I appreciated how nice Marvel’s “Thunderbolts” trailer and Charli XCX and Billie Eilish’s “Guess” remix music video looked on the panel.

Specs-wise, the Chromebook Duet is your standard-issue affordable Chromebook. It runs on a MediaTek Kompanio 838 CPU, which should be enough for basic tasks and popular Android apps, and packs up to 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Preorders will go live in the coming days.

There’s also a new OLED Chromebook from Samsung

What if you want a bigger screen without lugging around a heavy laptop? Well, you’ll probably be excited to learn about Samsung’s practically impossibly thin and light Galaxy Chromebook Plus, which measures 2.58 pounds and 0.46 inches thick. When I held it myself, I was almost taken aback by how its size and lack of heft make it even more portable.

Taking photos of it outside on the rooftop, I continued to smile at its profile, as it’s so thin it nearly disappears when viewed from the side. A red carpet video from the “Agatha All Along” premiere looked good on its OLED display, and (again) its specs are pretty standard for a Chromebook that starts at $699. You get relatively-new Intel Core i3 Raptor Lake-R CPUs, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Preorders will go live on Friday, Oct. 4.

All Chromebooks get these great features that PCs and Macs should copy

A new Quick Insert functionality coming to both regular Chromebooks and Chromebook Plus models (the Galaxy Chromebook gets a whole dedicated key for this feature) is basically the right-click button on steroids. Activate Quick Insert to get a contextual menu with emoji and GIFs, as well as the ability to attach stuff from your Google Drive, paste in the day’s date or add links to recently viewed pages from your browsing history. Future Chromebook Plus laptops will also get this key, while regular Chromebooks will just use the Launcher Key + F shortcut to open the menu.

There’s also the new Welcome Recap, a new way to ease yourself back into your computer when logging in, presenting you with a peek at what you were doing last time in case you wanted to dive back in. For example, you’ll be presented with the option to open the pages you were last viewing, reminders about upcoming video calls and even links to stories you had viewed on other devices. Of course, those looking for a clean slate can always opt to start fresh.

My personal favorite, though, is the Focus feature that helps you actually finish that one thing you keep telling yourself you’re going to do. You find Focus in the menu that pops up when you click on the clock, then set a length of time for how long you want to mute notifications for. There’s also Google Tasks integrations that let you attach one of your items, in case you get distracted and need a reminder of what you were supposed to be doing.

Need to set the mood to get stuff done? There’s ambient Focus sounds to set as your backdrop, and YouTube Music subscribers can pull in their playlists. Windows 11 offers something close, but it could use more integrations with to do lists and music. Apple’s take on focus modes needs more help, as macOS only offers a one-hour duration for its timed DND modes, and nothing more granular.

Throughout Chrome OS, you’ll now also get suggested files in the launcher and the status tray, based on what the system thinks you will want or need based on your usage. All mileage will vary on this one, but any attempt to reduce the number of clicks is better if you ask me.

Gemini AI-based Chromebook Plus perks are also coming … but still not impressive

Google will also use the Quick Insert menu to add access to Google Gemini AI-based Help Me Write and Help Me Read tools, which summarize and rewrite content for you. I still don’t get the point of these features, but maybe that’s because I’m worried people will just be using them to pretend to have read something and reply to someone who will use these tools to send more rewritten text back and forth.

Quick Insert also works with generating images using Google’s AI, but nothing was shared about that tech that made me particularly excited. Maybe I’m just old-fashioned, but we should probably be capable of reading and writing on our own. I’d much rather see your attempt at drawing or writing than a machine’s version.

Google’s live translation tools are also coming to Chromebook Plus laptops, and the company demoed the tool with a Zoom call where one person only spoke English and the other spoke both English and Spanish. This let the English-only speaker ask questions in English, while the Spanish-language speaker responded in Spanish — because it’s their preferred language — and on-screen subtitles provided translation. It all worked pretty seamlessly, but I’m still not sure about the need for this. Your mileage, of course, may vary.

And just like what I saw at the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE, there’s also a Recorder app with AI-powered transcription, summarization and speaker detection. The transcription part of this is the most exciting of all of the AI-powered features available, and is something I would need to test out at some point on my own unit.

Lastly, Google’s AI magic is working on improving your appearance and audio on webcam calls throughout all apps on Chromebook Plus laptops, not just on Google Meet. Again, this is something I need more time with to vouch for, but it’s the kind of thing many people using a built-in webcam will want — at least for the audio tools.

Oh, and expect to see a button for the Gemini chat app in the shelf at the bottom of the screen in all Chromebooks as these features roll out over October 2024.

My frustrations with the hype around generative AI are best summarized by an example given by a Google executive who used Gemini to plan out a trip to see the San Francisco Giants play with his family. The exec wanted Gemini to tell him which game of a day-night doubleheader was best to bring the family to, a query that involved weather, pitchers playing, the time it takes to get to the ballpark and how tired his kids would get considering their ages. All of this, if you ask me, is the kind of stuff that one could reason with a few online searches, and not go through the labor of feeding a bunch of information to an AI. I don’t know why you would want to do it the other way, unless you find it cool to tinker with emerging tech.

The takeaway

One thing I’ve noticed while covering computers and laptops (among other consumer tech) for nearly a decade is that Chromebooks don’t get a whole lot of attention. But now that Google’s using them as a means of distributing AI tricks, it’s starting to feel like you’re going to hear about Chromebooks — and see new models — more frequently.

Fortunately, the Chromebook software updates coming in October 2024 show that Google’s not just going to focus on AI to keep its laptops as interesting as ever. I can’t wait to test the new Lenovo Chromebook Duet out, so stay tuned for my full review.