Intel Has Been Subsidising Chromebooks, Now It’s Going To Stop




/ 10 years ago

bay-trail-chrome

If you’ve ever wondered why Intel-based Chromebooks have been so cheap over the past year then you may be fairly surprised, or maybe unsurprised, to know it has been because Intel was subsidising them. For anyone looking at Chromebooks the obvious options are Intel based ones since ARM based ones tend to be a lot more expensive, but of course that in itself makes no sense: ARM CPUs are broadly always cheaper than Intel ones. The example in question is the newest Acer Chromebook based on an Intel Haswell Celeron which costs just $199 while Samsung’s Chromebook based on the ARM Exynos 5 processor costs $279.  Intel has apparently been offering its Haswell Celeron mobile CPUs to hardware partners, like Acer, at an “extremely cut rate” allowing vendors to create high performance Chromebook devices at a price point that “should not be possible”.

It has been nice while it has lasted but apprently the end of Intel subsidies is near. Intel is rumoured to be withdrawing its subsidy program in the near future and will try and push hardware vendors towards using its newer Bay Trail chipsets and SoCs instead. This allows Intel to offer similar price points, but obviously with much less performance. Intel’s Bay Trail platform will be competitive with similar ARM based Chromebooks but neither will be as fast as current Haswell Celeron based Chromebooks. The only benefit of Bay Trail is expected to be slightly better battery life of around 11 hours compared to the current Haswell Celeron 9.5 hour battery life. So if you’re in the market for a Chromebook, buy now before the subsidies vanish!

Source: techtainian

Image courtesy of Liliputing


Topics: , , , , ,

Support eTeknix.com

By supporting eTeknix, you help us grow and continue to bring you the latest newsreviews, and competitions. Follow us on FacebookTwitter and Instagram to keep up with the latest technology news, reviews and more. Share your favourite articles, chat with the team and more. Also check out eTeknix YouTube, where you'll find our latest video reviews, event coverage and features in 4K!

Looking for more exciting features on the latest technology? Check out our What We Know So Far section or our Fun Reads for some interesting original features.

eTeknix Facebook eTeknix Twitter eTeknix Instagram eTeknix Instagram
  • Be Social With eTeknix

    Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Reddit RSS Discord Patreon TikTok Twitch
  • Features


Send this to a friend
})