One of the best parts of the Google Pixelbook was its beautiful display. But with a 3:2 aspect ratio, its pixel-dense 2,400 x 1,600 panel made for black-bar-trimmed media viewing. It may be that a new king of the Chromebooks is in the works though, as a hint within the Chromium source code suggests a Chromebook with a 4K display may not be far away.
Chromebooks are typically low-cost laptops targeted at those who do most of their computing tasks within a web browser. If your main purpose is to check email and watch Netflix, Chromebooks work very well and can save you a lot of money in return. Still, as the Pixelbook proved, there’s no harm in having the odd high-end Chromebook option for those who want it and a 4K version could join in at the top end.
We don’t have anything in the way of specifications for such a system, but we do know that much in the way Chrome OS’ source code supports the Pixelbook and its 2,400 x 1,600 display, under the codename “eve” it also now supports “atlas.” Atlas is an unknown device with a display resolution of 3,840 x 2,160, more commonly known as 4K.
Although it would seem likely that atlas is a new device altogether, the fact that it doesn’t seem to have an SD card slot could mean that it represents a 4K option for the Pixelbook.
The benefits of a 4K screen on a Chromebook aren’t exactly exhaustive, but as The Verge highlights, it could be that whoever is developing this is simply looking to make a 15-inch device with comparable features to Windows counterparts. Full-screen ultra-HD Netflix support could also be a selling point, as in theory, a
The question now arises of when we’ll learn more about such a device. It may be that Google will talk up “atlas” at its upcoming I/O in May, but if it’s being produced by another manufacturer, we may have a longer wait.
For a look at some of our favorite Chromebooks, here’s a list of the best ones available right now.
