Lenovo N20 & N20p Chromebooks Bring Exciting New Potential In Chromebook

Back when the Chromebook was first coming out, there were those who figured this breed of cheap laptop was ultimately going to be scuttled by the dual forces of tablets and much more powerful laptops.  The Chromebook, however, survived those early days of scoffing and mockery and went on to become a genuine, viable alternative for many users in the market. Now, Lenovo is picking up on that demand and bringing out a pair of Chromebooks of its own in the N20 and the N20p, offering a very unique look at the idea of the Chromebook.

The N20, which retails for $279, really isn't that much of a departure from the standard breed of Chromebook, and indeed, bears plenty of similarity to its close cousin the N20p, according to reports. The word is that both models will boast a quad-core Celeron processor, as much as four gigabytes of RAM, 16 gigabytes of local storage with an extra 100 gigabytes of cloud storage from Google Drive, a pair of USB ports, and in the future, potentially 3G connectivity, though reports indicate that may not actually hit markets in the United States. Additionally, there's an 11.6 inch display showing at 1366 x 768 resolution, a front-mounted one megapixel camera for things like videoconferencing, and a battery life of around eight hours, which is pretty impressive by most any measure.

But the N20p, meanwhile, ratchets things up a notch by virtue of its unusual form factor. The N20p can operate in what's known as “stand mode,” in which the screen can flip around and fold backwards, much like a tablet on a stand. It also offers a touchscreen system, making it almost like a particularly powerful tablet. It retails at $329, making this an excellent alternative to many conventional laptops. Reports suggest that both the N20 and the N20p will be arriving in stores sometime this summer, with reports ranging from June to as late as August.

Admittedly, the Chromebook concept had a rough time getting started. But with Windows 8 starting as something of a letdown for those who preferred the old style of Windows experience, a poor economy having more users looking toward inexpensive alternatives, and more and more of a user's life being available in the browser, the Chromebook became a genuinely viable alternative to the laptop, especially for those who didn't particularly mind keeping a lot of stuff stored in the cloud and not near so much stored locally. This particular pair of Chromebooks should do nicely in the wider market, though some are a bit concerned about that whole “up to four gigabytes” of RAM part, as many Chromebooks are said to do quite well performance-wise at four gigabytes, so implying that there are models available that may well have stunted performance isn't exactly encouraging. But the Chromebook market is inherently somewhat limited, as it's more geared toward those who aren't interested in a full laptop.

Still, this pair of new Chromebooks is likely to offer the value that users will want most, and with the N20p, even offer up perhaps a bit more than expected. Only time will tell if these two releases become big sellers, but it's not out of line to suggest that Lenovo's new hardware could have some fans in the market.