The Chrome Cast

This week on The Chrome Cast, we begin the show by talking through our thoughts on the newly-released Lenovo IdeaPad Chromebook Slim 3 and as we wrap up that section, move directly into talking about the oft-goofy nature of Chromebook naming conventions. The hope is that whatever ‘Chromebook X’ or ‘Chromebook Plus’ becomes, it addresses not only build quality and specifications in Chromebooks, but also device names as well. It’s time for word salad to go away in the consumer Chromebook space.

We also touch on our thoughts on the Pixel Fold as we lead up to getting our review together. I’ve used the phone for a few weeks now, and it definitely took that amount of time to get my head wrapped around the form factor in both good and bad ways. The Pixel Fold is unique: that much is for sure. But it is a nuanced device that isn’t going to be a good fit for everyone. It has most definitely proven far more resilient than expected, and we talk a bit about that big drop to the asphalt on the show this week, too.

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This week on The Chrome Cast, we stick to one subject, and one subject only: ‘Chromebook X’. This leaked, upcoming initiative from Google surrounding a new category of Chromebooks could be a very interesting play coming by the end of the year. ‘Chromebook X’ devices should represent the best end user experiences available from Chromebook partners and hopefully will go beyond a simple spec requirement to deliver great ChromeOS hardware experiences for potential buyers.

It’s a big move by Google, for sure, and one that we won’t fully comprehend until it is here and actually available. But if it gets marketing and manufacturer support, there’s a good chance this new Google stamp of approval for Chromebooks that meet the standard could really shake up the consumer market for the better.

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This week on The Chrome Cast, we diverged into a bit of slightly-foreign territory. While the show starts with some new leaks that have surfaced surrounding the Pixel Watch 2, we switched gears on a bit of a whim to the new Apple Vision Pro and stayed on that topic for longer than we would have expected. Apple came out swinging in very Apple fashion and after considering their new AR/VR headset, we have some opinions on this device and others potentially entering the space over the next couple years.

Finally, we move back to our lane and talk through the ASUS Chromebook Vibe CX34 Flip and how ASUS has not only righted the ship in the gaming Chromebook category, but at the same time built a fantastic overall Chromebook with their latest.

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This week on The Chrome Cast, we begin our discussion by talking through the upcoming Google-made hardware that is set to release this month. The Pixel Tablet and the Pixel Fold are set to be unleashed on the world in the next few weeks, and both devices bring unanswered questions that won’t be addressed until they actually hit the market.

We also discuss a tablet that we have in the office currently and why it is we all feel that ChromeOS is so much better suited for desktop, productivity-focused activities. And with the ever-improving tablet mode on Chromebooks, there’s a case to be made that ChromeOS should be the go-to OS for any tablet with Google software on it.

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This week on The Chrome Cast, we start the show by discussing a recent video we publish that highlights all the ways ChromeOS is hiding in plain sight all around you. From call centers to trivia at Buffalo Wild Wings to medical establishments, ChromeOS is moving in all sorts of professional directions and as time goes on, we only expect to see it show up in more of those areas.

We then shift to discussing the need for better, lower-priced Chromebooks if Google is to gain a foothold in the consumer laptop space. While Chromebooks have great sales numbers, much of that success relies on education and enterprise purchases, leaving the consumer space as a still-untapped market in the larger sense. $300-$600 Chromebooks will be the place Google can win big, and the arrival of some new AMD-powered device could greatly help that cause.

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This week on The Chrome Cast, we spend the majority of the episode talking through some new hardware that has been floating around the office for a bit now. First, we begin with the Pixel 7a and some pre-review thoughts around Google’s latest phone. While it bears more than a passing resemblance to the Pixel 7, there are definitely some differences and some things you’ll want to know about this mid-range device.

For the second half, we delve into our review thoughts surrounding the affordable and solid Lenovo IdeaPad Chromebook Flex 3i. With a $349 starting price and a lot of great stuff going on both on the screen and under the hood, this Chromebook looks set to shake up the affordable ChromeOS market.

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It’s no surprise what dominates the discussion this week. As Google I/O 2023 is now in the rear-view mirror, we have a lot of new discussion surrounding Google’s moves in AI and new Pixel-branded hardware. From new tricks for Bard to other interesting ways Google is leveraging AI in their products, there much to be said for what is going on in that space.

But we are obviously more interested near-term in the new hardware, and it is pretty sweet to be able to finally talk about the star of the show – the Pixel Fold – without having to refer to rumors or leaks in order to do so. It’s an expensive piece of kit, sure, but there are some undeniably cool things about the Fold that are worth talking about: so we did.

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This week on The Chrome Cast, we spend the vast majority of the show discussing what we're expecting to see from Google at I/O 2023. With the Pixel 7a, Pixel Tablet, and Pixel Fold leaking entirely in the past couple weeks, it will be a packed event full of all sorts of software updates and many hardware devices we've been waiting quite some time for.

Fueled by Fresh Roasted Coffee! CLICK HERE to buy the special edition Chrome Unboxed bag.

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This week on The Chrome Cast, we spend much of our time discussing Google’s upcoming hardware. Where the latest leaks of the Pixel Fold tell us to expect Google’s first folding phone at Google I/O 2023, the story feels a bit less celebrative for the upcoming Pixel Tablet.

With a fun, innovative feature that largely relies on Google’s smart display efforts and the Google Assistant (it has a speaker dock that turns it into a Nest Hub, effectively), the Pixel Tablet looked to show up with a bit of an ace up its sleeve. But with the current state of the Google Assistant and Google’s smart display initiative at the moment, that fun feature doesn’t look that great these days. With the abrupt rise of Generative AI and Google’s own shift to that technology for both Bard and their own search product, has the Pixel Slate simply missed its window for release?

Fueled by Fresh Roasted Coffee! CLICK HERE to buy the special edition Chrome Unboxed bag.

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For this episode of The Chrome Cast, we decided to try something a bit different (and there’s a bit of a twist ending to it, too). Instead of taking on the week’s news and discussing it, we wanted to tackle a particular content area, and there’s none more interesting and groundbreaking than the field of Generative AI right now.

While tech hardware (phones, tablets, laptops, etc.) has lost a bit of the “wow” factor year over year, Generative AI is new, shiny, exciting, scary, and mostly mysterious at this point. So, we thought it would be a good time to sit down and discuss what this new phenomenon is, why it is great, why it is a little scary, and what we can do to handle it properly.

We’re not experts, and that’s why the title says this is an open, honest discussion about Generative AI. We clearly don’t have the answers to all these questions, and even the smartest folks in the world are left wondering a bit at this point. But we need to discuss it and we need to keep discussing it as it would seem Pandora’s Box has already been opened. Now it’s more about what we do with what’s come out of it.

Fueled by Fresh Roasted Coffee! CLICK HERE to buy the special edition Chrome Unboxed bag.

This episode is also brought to you by NordVPN. CLICK HERE to try it out and get 2 years for $3.29 per month.

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