Google wants to encourage more premium Chromebooks with ‘X’ brand, but should it?

Google wants to push the Chromebook as a hardcore gaming computer with its new branding idea.

Okay, maybe not that intense, but it is definitely looking to make it easier for customers to know that the Chromebook they are looking at comes packed with some more premium specs to take on some more challenging tasks. As reported by 9to5Google, the company is working on a new “Chromebook X” branding for Chromebooks meeting higher-end specifications.

So, what sets apart a Chromebook X from a Chromebook? Specs, baby. According to the report, Google will require a certain amount of RAM, a higher-end display, and a camera that meets certain levels of resolution. Basically, they won’t accept the potato cam from the old MacBook laptops. Sorry Apple, that camera was atrocious — good job fixing that with the M-Series MacBooks. Computers getting the Chromebook X branding will also reportedly need to be built on specific types of processors from Intel and AMD.

Google is also looking to differentiate the software experience for a Chromebook X computer. The report says that the company will create a specialized boot screen and wallpapers that you can only get if you have one of the X-branded computers. At this time, it sounds like these Chromebook X devices will start shipping as soon as the end of this year.

This will be a good branding move by Google for customers who want to make it easy to understand which Chromebook to buy if they need something with more power, but will this actually create a larger market for more premium Chromebooks? I honestly doubt it. It’ll be great for those who need that, but I can’t see ChromeOS picking up steam and taking over Windows or macOS for those who need to run more serious software.

That’s always been the case, and I think it’ll continue that way for the foreseeable future. I tried the Pixelbook back in the day, and while it was a lovely experience, I had to head back to my Mac as, even with Android apps now on ChromeOS, it didn’t have the apps I needed. Even with X (Chromebooks, not Elon Musk’s parent company for Twitter), I don’t see developers flocking to ChromeOS for power users because power users won’t be flocking either.

Speaking of power users and Chrome, check out some of the cool new customizations that our own Jacob Siegal made to Chrome on his computer.