Zipso.net https://zipso.net Tech. Guides & Tips Wed, 14 Jun 2023 13:45:23 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.9 Chromebook specs & performance comparison chart (2020) https://zipso.net/chromebook-specs-comparison-table/ https://zipso.net/chromebook-specs-comparison-table/#comments Thu, 20 Feb 2020 19:20:43 +0000 http://zipso.net/?p=328 chromebook-specs

Thinking of buying a new Chromebook but not sure which one to choose?

Use our comprehensive specs comparison table and buying guide to quickly see the differences between each model, and find the best Chromebook for your needs.

When Chromebooks first appeared in the summer of 2011, it looked like Google had created a computing system without being entirely sure who it was aimed at. However since then, while not yet having quite taken over the world, Chromebooks have steadily increased in popularity, and matured from something which was experimental into a mainstream device.

Why choose Chromebook?

Let’s cut to the chase here – Chromebooks are very affordable computers, and current models now have enough power to compete with a traditional Windows laptop for most tasks. Since Google has allowed manufacturers to use the Chrome OS operating system for free, this cost saving is typically passed on to the customer in the form of lower priced machines (Microsoft has also started doing something similar with their “Windows 8.1 with Bing” licenses and lock screen ads in Windows 10).

Another innovative feature pioneered by Google is hassle-free updates and maintenance.

Unlike other desktop and laptop systems, once you have a Chromebook, you’ll never have to pay for or worry about software updates, as everything is designed around the idea of working with the least amount of housekeeping.

You don’t even need to use antivirus software, since security is taken care of by automatic updates.

This approach also makes Chromebooks very appealing for schools and other establishments where IT support can take up a lot of time and money. A fast boot time of 5-10 seconds and instant-on resume are also popular features.

Specifications by release year

We’ve broken down the model specs. alphabetically by year, starting with the most recently released (or announced) models. Unless you’re looking for refurbished versions or on a limited budget, it makes sense to look at the newest models since they generally have improved CPU speed and power efficiency.

Make sure to check the notes below for hints & tips on how to interpret the different features listed. Battery life numbers are manufacturer estimates and are usually reflective of run times under typical to light usage.

We’ve also listed some product codes associated with certain models – these usually represent slightly different memory/disk/processor configurations that are available for that model.

Comparison table features:

  • Octane performance graphs – Click on the “Display” button under each table to switch to graphical charts comparing Octane benchmark performance.

    Note: Octane scores are user-reported and collected over a period of a few months. Since newer benchmark test runs tend to give slightly better scores than older ones, it should be considered that there is a margin of error of a few hundred points around each score.
  • IPS, Touchscreen, Full HD+ and Stylus selection buttons – Click on these buttons to highlight the Chromebooks which come with these features. (Stylus support may be an optional extra in some highlighted models)
  • Alternative benchmark options – You can also switch the charts to Geekbench and PassMark scores. See the Benchmarks section below for additional notes on how each benchmark is calculated. For all benchmark types, a higher score is better.
  • Sort order – You can sort entries by Octane score, display resolution, release date etc. Use the dropdown box at the top-right of each table to change the current sort method (use “Name” to go back to the original sort order).
Android apps/Google Play Store: All Chromebooks released since 2017 onward either currently have or are planned to have Android app support, according to Google. Since mid-2018, most newer models are supported without any special configuration – see the official Google compatibility list to check which models are listed as “Stable Channel”.

Note that Google mentions for some models, that “user profiles perform a one-time file-system migration in order to support Android on these older devices” – however this shouldn’t be necessary for consumer model Chromebooks which aren’t Enterprise/Education administrated.

You can enable the Android support icon display with the “Android” button underneath each chart. We’ve listed current and planned compatible Chromebooks with a green Android icon – where a Chromebook isn’t on the official Google list, but appears likely to be included, we’ve used an icon with a question mark.
Latest Update: 20th February 2020 – Added currently available and upcoming 2020 Chromebooks.

Note: To reduce visual clutter in the charts, similar Chromebook models no longer have “IPS” or “touch” notes beside the name – instead use the buttons to highlight models with these features. Android support icon now defaults to ‘off’ since all new models from 2017/2018 onward should support this out of the box.
Downloads: You can now download the Chromebook tables as a spreadsheet or .csv file.

XLS files: Chromebooks – All / Last 3 years only

You can also download the tables as a comma separated file to use in your own projects.
(You’re free to use the data on your own site, just attribute us with a link to https://zipso.net)

CSV files: Chromebooks – All / Last 3 years only(Note: disable semi-colon as a CSV separator)

Page Navigation: Chromebooks released in 2020 – 2019 – 2018 – 2017 – 2016 – 2015 – 2014 – 2013 – 2012 – 2011 – Buying Guide – Linux on Chromebooks – Upgrade storage/RAM – Comments

2020 Chromebooks

Sort by:
BrandNameMonthScreenResolutionCPU modelCPU
speed		CorePass MarkGeek BenchGeek BenchOctaneMemoryStorageBatteryWeight
lb		Weight
kg		IPSTouchscreenAndroidStylusAUE date
AcerChromebook 712 (C871)Mar12"1366x912n/an/an/an/a*n/a*n/a*n/a*4-8 GB32-64 GB12 hrn/an/ayesyes
AcerChromebook 712 (C871T)Mar12"1366x912n/an/an/an/a*n/a*n/a*n/a*4-8 GB32-64 GB12 hrn/an/ayesyesyes
ASUSFlip C436Mar14"1920x1080Intel Core i3 10110U2.1 GHz25637*9000*4600*35800*8-16 GB128-512 GB12 hr2.42 lb1.1 kgyesyesyesyes
ASUSFlip C436Mar14"1920x1080Intel Core i5 10210U1.6 GHz48479*16400*5000*n/a*8-16 GB128-512 GB12 hr2.42 lb1.1 kgyesyesyesyes
ASUSFlip C436Mar14"1920x1080Intel Core i7 10510U1.8 GHz49439*18600*5700*n/a*8-16 GB128-512 GB12 hr2.42 lb1.1 kgyesyesyesyes
CTLNL71Feb11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N40201.1 GHz2n/a*4000*2250*16850*4 GB32 GB12 hr2.5 lb1.13 kgyes
CTLNL71CTFeb11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N40201.1 GHz2n/a*4000*2250*16850*4 GB32 GB12 hr2.45 lb1.11 kgyesyesyes
CTLNL71TFeb11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N40201.1 GHz2n/a*4000*2250*16850*4 GB32 GB12 hr2.8 lb1.27 kgyesyesyes
CTLNL71TWFeb11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N41201.1 GHz4n/a*6400*2100*17100*4-8 GB32-64 GB12 hr2.85 lb1.29 kgyesyesyesyes
HPChromebook 11 G8 EEJan11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N40201.1 GHz2n/a*4000*2250*16850*4 GB16-64 GB13.5 hr2.91 lb1.32 kgyes
HPChromebook 11 G8 EEJan11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N40201.1 GHz2n/a*4000*2250*16850*4 GB16-64 GB13.5 hr2.91 lb1.32 kgyesyes
HPChromebook 11 G8 EEJan11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N40201.1 GHz2n/a*4000*2250*16850*4 GB32-64 GB13.5 hr2.91 lb1.32 kgyesyesyes
HPChromebook 11 G8 EEJan11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N41201.1 GHz4n/a*6400*2100*17100*4-8 GB32-64 GB13.5 hr2.91 lb1.32 kgyes
HPChromebook 11 G8 EEJan11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N41201.1 GHz4n/a*6400*2100*17100*4-8 GB32-64 GB13.5 hr2.91 lb1.32 kgyesyes
HPChromebook 11 G8 EEJan11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N41201.1 GHz4n/a*6400*2100*17100*4-8 GB32-64 GB13.5 hr2.91 lb1.32 kgyesyesyes
HPChromebook 11A G8 EEFeb11.6"1366x768AMD A6-9220C1.8 GHz21962*2500*1650*n/a*?-8 GB16-32 GB10 hr3.02 lb1.37 kgyes
HPChromebook 11A G8 EEFeb11.6"1366x768AMD A6-9220C1.8 GHz21962*2500*1650*n/a*?-8 GB16-32 GB10 hr3.02 lb1.37 kgyesyes
HPChromebook 11A G8 EEFeb11.6"1366x768AMD A6-9220C1.8 GHz21962*2500*1650*n/a*?-8 GB16-32 GB10 hr3.02 lb1.37 kgyesyesyes
HPChromebook 14 G6Jan14"1366x768Intel Celeron N40201.1 GHz2n/a*4000*2250*16850*4-8 GB16-64 GB13.5 hr3.39 lb1.54 kgyes
HPChromebook 14 G6Jan14"1366x768Intel Celeron N40201.1 GHz2n/a*4000*2250*16850*4-8 GB16-64 GB13.5 hr3.39 lb1.54 kgyesyes
HPChromebook 14 G6Jan14"1920x1080Intel Celeron N40201.1 GHz2n/a*4000*2250*16850*4-8 GB16-64 GB13.5 hr3.39 lb1.54 kgyesyes
HPChromebook 14 G6Jan14"1920x1080Intel Celeron N40201.1 GHz2n/a*4000*2250*16850*4-8 GB16-64 GB13.5 hr3.39 lb1.54 kgyesyesyes
HPChromebook 14 G6Jan14"1366x768Intel Celeron N41201.1 GHz4n/a*6400*2100*17100*4-8 GB32-128 GB13.5 hr3.39 lb1.54 kgyes
HPChromebook 14 G6Jan14"1366x768Intel Celeron N41201.1 GHz4n/a*6400*2100*17100*4-8 GB32-128 GB13.5 hr3.39 lb1.54 kgyesyes
HPChromebook 14 G6Jan14"1920x1080Intel Celeron N41201.1 GHz4n/a*6400*2100*17100*4-8 GB32-128 GB13.5 hr3.39 lb1.54 kgyesyes
HPChromebook 14 G6Jan14"1920x1080Intel Celeron N41201.1 GHz4n/a*6400*2100*17100*4-8 GB32-128 GB13.5 hr3.39 lb1.54 kgyesyesyes
HPChromebook x360 11 G3 EEJan11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N40201.1 GHz2n/a*4000*2250*16850*4-8 GB32-64 GB13 hr3.19 lb1.45 kgyesyesyesyes
HPChromebook x360 11 G3 EEJan11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N41201.1 GHz4n/a*6400*2100*17100*4-8 GB32-64 GB13 hr3.19 lb1.45 kgyesyesyesyes
LenovoChromebook Duet (detachable)May10.2"1920x1200MediaTek Helio P60T2.0 GHz8n/a*n/a*n/a*n/a*4 GB64-128 GB10 hr2.03 lb0.92 kgyesyesyesyes
LenovoFlex 5 ChromebookJun13.3"1920x1080n/an/an/an/a*n/a*n/a*n/a*4-8 GB32-128 GB10 hr2.97 lb1.35 kgyesyesyesyes
SamsungGalaxy ChromebookMar13.3"3840x2160Intel Core i5 10210U1.6 GHz48479*16400*5000*n/a*8 GB256 GB9 hr2.29 lb1.04 kgyesyesyesyes
Benchmark:
IPS / Touchscreen: Use the IPS/WVA and Touchscreen buttons above to highlight all models with these features. The Samsung Galaxy Chromebook is the first Chromebook with an AMOLED display, so it’s also included in the IPS/WVA category.
Stylus: ASUS Flip C436, HP Chromebook X360 11 G3 EE and Lenovo Chromebook Duet have stylus support, but the stylus itself may be an optional extra.
The CTL Chromebook NL71TW, Lenovo Flex 5 and Samsung Galaxy Chromebook come bundled with a stylus.
Education sector models: The Acer Chromebook 712 and all listed 2020 Chromebooks by CTL and HP are geared towards the educational market.
Notes: Octane scores marked with a red star are estimates based on performance of identical CPU models. Full specs for some 2020 models are pending.

2019 Chromebooks

Sort by:
BrandNameMonthScreenResolutionCPU modelCPU
speed		CorePass MarkGeek BenchGeek BenchOctaneMemoryStorageBatteryWeight
lb		Weight
kg		IPSTouchscreenAndroidStylusAUE date
AcerChromebook 13Nov13.5"2256x1504 Intel Core i5 8350U1.7 GHz48239*16000*4600*37700*8 GB64 GB10 hr3.09 lb1.4 kgyesyes
AcerChromebook 311 C721Sep11.6"1366x768AMD A4-9120C1.6 GHz21539*2300*1500*14000*4 GB32 GB12 hr3.31 lb1.5 kgyes
AcerChromebook 311 C733May11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N40001.1 GHz21465*3900*2200*16000*4 GB32 GB12 hr2.76 lb1.25 kgyes
AcerChromebook 311 C733May11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N40001.1 GHz21465*3900*2200*16000*4 GB32 GB12 hr2.76 lb1.25 kgyesyes
AcerChromebook 311 C733TMay11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N40001.1 GHz21465*3900*2200*16000*4 GB32 GB12 hr2.76 lb1.25 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook 311 C733TApr11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N41001.1 GHz42324*6200*2000*15400*4 GB32 GB12 hr2.76 lb1.25 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook 311
(CB311-9H)		Oct11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N40001.1 GHz21465*3900*2200*16000*4 GB32 GB12 hr2.34 lb1.06 kgyesyes
AcerChromebook 311
(CB311-9HT)		Oct11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N40001.1 GHz21465*3900*2200*16000*4 GB32 GB12 hr2.34 lb1.06 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook 314Oct14"1366x768Intel Celeron N40001.1 GHz21465*3900*2200*16000*4 GB32-64 GB12.5 hr3.75 lb1.7 kgyes
AcerChromebook 314Oct14"1366x768Intel Celeron N40001.1 GHz21465*3900*2200*16000*4 GB32-64 GB12.5 hr3.75 lb1.7 kgyesyes
AcerChromebook 314Oct14"1920x1080Intel Celeron N41001.1 GHz42324*6200*2000*15400*4 GB64 GB12.5 hr3.75 lb1.7 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook 314Oct14"1920x1080Intel Celeron N42001.1 GHz42033*5300*1750*11500*8 GB64 GB12.5 hr3.75 lb1.7 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook 315Mar15.6"1366x768AMD A4-9120C1.6 GHz21539*2300*1500*14000*4 GB32-64 GB10 hr3.97 lb1.8 kgyes
AcerChromebook 315Jul15.6"1920x1080AMD A4-9120C1.6 GHz21539*2300*1500*14000*4 GB32 GB10 hr3.97 lb1.8 kgyesyes
AcerChromebook 315Sep15.6"1920x1080AMD A4-9120C1.6 GHz21539*2300*1500*14000*4 GB32 GB10 hr3.97 lb1.8 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook 315Mar15.6"1920x1080AMD A6-9220C1.8 GHz21962*2500*1650*n/a*4 GB32-64 GB10 hr3.97 lb1.8 kgyesyes
AcerChromebook 315Sep15.6"1920x1080AMD A6-9220C1.8 GHz21962*2500*1650*n/a*4-8 GB32-64 GB10 hr3.97 lb1.8 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook 512Apr12"1366x912Intel Celeron N40001.1 GHz21465*3900*2200*16000*4 GB32 GB12 hr3.09 lb1.4 kgyesyes
AcerChromebook 512Apr12"1366x912Intel Celeron N40001.1 GHz21465*3900*2200*16000*4 GB32 GB12 hr3.09 lb1.4 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook 714Aug14"1920x1080Intel Pentium 4417U2.3 GHz23190*6000*3100*n/a*8 GB32-64 GB12 hr3.53 lb1.6 kgyesyes
AcerChromebook 714Aug14"1920x1080Intel Core i3 8130U2.2 GHz25326*9200*4550*33500* 8 GB64 GB12 hr3.53 lb1.6 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook 714Aug14"1920x1080Intel Core i5 8250U1.6 GHz47658*15500*4600*36400*8 GB64 GB12 hr3.53 lb1.6 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook 714Aug14"1920x1080Intel Core i5 8350U1.7 GHz48239*16000*4600*37700*8 GB64 GB12 hr3.53 lb1.6 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook 715Sep15.6"1920x1080Intel Pentium 4417U2.3 GHz23190*6000*3100*n/a*8 GB32 GB12 hr4.3 lb1.95 kgyesyes
AcerChromebook 715Sep15.6"1920x1080Intel Pentium 4417U2.3 GHz23190*6000*3100*n/a*8 GB64 GB12 hr4.3 lb1.95 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook 715Sep15.6"1920x1080Intel Core i3 8130U2.2 GHz25326*9200*4550*33500* 8 GB64 GB12 hr4.3 lb1.95 kgyesyes
AcerChromebook 715Sep15.6"1920x1080Intel Core i3 8130U2.2 GHz25326*9200*4550*33500* 4-8 GB64-128 GB12 hr4.3 lb1.95 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook 715Sep15.6"1920x1080Intel Core i5 8250U1.6 GHz47658*15500*4600*36400*16 GB64 GB12 hr4.3 lb1.95 kgyesyes
AcerChromebook 715Sep15.6"1920x1080Intel Core i5 8350U1.7 GHz48239*16000*4600*37700* 8 GB64 GB12 hr4.3 lb1.95 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook Enterprise 13Nov13.5"2256x1504 Intel Core i7 8650U1.9 GHz48838*18200*5600*43000*16 GB128 GB10 hr3.09 lb1.4 kgyesyes
AcerChromebook Enterprise 714Nov14"1920x1080Intel Core i3 8130U2.2 GHz25326*9200*4550*33500* 8 GB64 GBn/a3.31 lb1.5 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook Enterprise 715Nov15.6"1920x1080Intel Core i3 8130U2.2 GHz25326*9200*4550*33500* 8 GB64 GB12 hr4.3 lb1.95 kgyesyes
AcerChromebook Spin 13May13.5"2256x1504 Intel Pentium 4417U2.3 GHz23190*6000*3100*n/a*4 GB64 GB10 hr3.09 lb1.4 kgyesyesyesyes
AcerChromebook Spin 13Aug13.5"2256x1504 Intel Core i5 8350U1.7 GHz48239*16000*4600*37700*16 GB128 GB10 hr3.09 lb1.4 kgyesyesyesyes
AcerChromebook Spin 311Oct11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N40001.1 GHz21465*3900*2200*16000*4 GB64 GB10 hr2.65 lb1.2 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook Spin 311Oct11.6"1366x768AMD A4-9120C1.6 GHz21539*2300*1500*14000*4 GB32 GB10 hr3.31 lb1.5 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook Spin 511May11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N40001.1 GHz21465*3900*2200*16000*4 GB32 GB10 hr2.78 lb1.26 kgyesyesyesyes
AcerChromebook Spin 512Apr12"1366x912Intel Celeron N41001.1 GHz42324*6200*2000*15400*4 GB32 GB11 hr3.42 lb1.55 kgyesyesyesyes
AcerChromebook Spin 512Apr12"1366x912Intel Celeron N50001.1 GHz42452*6700*2200*16900*8 GB64 GB11 hr3.42 lb1.55 kgyesyesyesyes
AOpenChromebook Commercial TabAug9.7"2048x1536Rockchip OP11.6 GHz6n/a*3900*1600*11000*4 GB32 GB10 hr1.51 lb0.69 kgyesyesyesyes
ASUSC202XADec11.6"1366x768MediaTek M8173C2.1 GHz4n/a*2950*1450*10000*4 GB32 GB10 hr2.65 lb1.2 kgyes
ASUSC204EEJun11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N40001.1 GHz21465*3900*2200*16000*4 GB16-32 GB12 hr2.43 lb1.1 kgyes
ASUSC204MASep11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N40001.1 GHz21465*3900*2200*16000*4 GB32 GB14 hr2.65 lb1.2 kgyes
ASUSC403NAMar14"1366x768Intel Celeron N33501.1 GHz21144*2900*1650*11000*4 GB32 GB10 hr3.75 lb1.7 kgyes
ASUSC425Aug14"1920x1080Intel Core m3-8100Y1.1 GHz23461*7200*4000*30000*4-8 GB64-128 GB12 hr2.87 lb1.3 kgyesyes
ASUSCT100 (tablet)Apr9.7"2048x1536Rockchip OP11.6 GHz6n/a*3900*1600*11000*4 GB32 GB9.5 hr1.12 lb0.51 kgyesyesyes
ASUSFlip C214Apr11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N40001.1 GHz21465*3900*2200*16000*4 GB32 GB12 hr2.65 lb1.2 kgyesyesyesyes
ASUSFlip C433Oct14"1920x1080Intel Core m3-8100Y1.1 GHz23461*7200*4000*30000*4 GB64 GB10 hr3.24 lb1.47 kgyesyesyes
ASUSFlip C433Oct14"1920x1080Intel Core i5 8200Y1.3 GHz24206*8150*4500*32000*8 GB128 GB10 hr3.24 lb1.47 kgyesyesyes
ASUSFlip C434Mar14"1920x1080Intel Core m3-8100Y1.1 GHz23461*7200*4000*30000*4-8 GB64-128 GB10 hr3.2 lb1.45 kgyesyesyes
ASUSFlip C434Jul14"1920x1080Intel Core i5 8200Y1.3 GHz24206*8150*4500*32000*4-8 GB64-128 GB10 hr3.2 lb1.45 kgyesyesyes
CTLChromebook Tab Tx1
(tablet)		Jan9.7"2048x1536Rockchip OP11.6 GHz6n/a*3900*1600*11000*4 GB32 GB10 hr1.2 lb0.54 kgyesyesyesyes
DellChromebook 11 3100Apr11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N40001.1 GHz21465*3900*2200*16000*4 GB16-32 GB14 hr2.85 lb1.29 kgyes
DellChromebook 11 3100Apr11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N40001.1 GHz21465*3900*2200*16000*4 GB32 GB14 hr2.85 lb1.29 kgyesyes
DellChromebook 11 3100
(2-in-1)		Apr11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N40001.1 GHz21465*3900*2200*16000*4-8 GB32-64 GB13 hr3.1 lb1.41 kgyesyesyes
DellChromebook 14 3400May14"1366x768Intel Celeron N40001.1 GHz21465*3900*2200*16000*4 GB32-64 GB12 hr3.45 lb1.56 kgyes
DellChromebook 14 3400May14"1920x1080Intel Celeron N40001.1 GHz21465*3900*2200*16000*4 GB32-64 GB12 hr3.45 lb1.56 kgyesyes
DellChromebook 14 3400 (UK)May14"1366x768Intel Celeron N41001.1 GHz42324*6200*2000*15400*8 GB64 GB12 hr3.45 lb1.56 kgyes
DellChromebook 14 3400 (US)May14"1920x1080Intel Celeron N41001.1 GHz42324*6200*2000*15400*8 GB64 GB12 hr3.45 lb1.56 kgyesyes
DellChromebook Enterprise Latitude 5300Aug13.3"1920x1080Intel Celeron 4305U2.2 GHz2n/a*4700*2800*n/a*4-32 GB128-512 GB14 hr3.0 lb1.36 kgyesyesyes
DellChromebook Enterprise Latitude 5300Aug13.3"1920x1080Intel Core i3 8145U2.1 GHz25482*9200*4800*n/a*4-32 GB128-512 GB14 hr3.0 lb1.36 kgyesyesyes
DellChromebook Enterprise Latitude 5300Aug13.3"1920x1080Intel Core i5 8365U1.6 GHz48138*16000*5000*42200*4-32 GB128-512 GB14 hr3.0 lb1.36 kgyesyesyes
DellChromebook Enterprise Latitude 5300 (US)Aug13.3"1920x1080Intel Core i7 8665U1.9 GHz48627*18500*5800*44600*4-32 GB128-512 GB14 hr3.0 lb1.36 kgyesyesyes
DellChromebook Enterprise Latitude 5400Aug14"1920x1080Intel Celeron 4305U2.2 GHz2n/a*4700*2800*n/a*4-32 GB128-512 GB21 hr3.24 lb1.47 kgyesyes
DellChromebook Enterprise Latitude 5400Aug14"1920x1080Intel Core i3 8145U2.1 GHz25482*9200*4800*n/a*4-32 GB128-512 GB21 hr3.24 lb1.47 kgyesyes
DellChromebook Enterprise Latitude 5400 (UK)Aug14"1920x1080Intel Core i5 8265U1.6 GHz48006*16500*5000*n/a*4-32 GB128-512 GB21 hr3.24 lb1.47 kgyesyes
DellChromebook Enterprise Latitude 5400 (US)Aug14"1920x1080Intel Core i5 8365U1.6 GHz48138*16000*5000*42200*4-32 GB128-512 GB21 hr3.24 lb1.47 kgyesyes
DellChromebook Enterprise Latitude 5400 (US)Aug14"1920x1080Intel Core i7 8665U1.9 GHz48627*18500*5800*44600*4-32 GB128-512 GB21 hr3.24 lb1.47 kgyesyes
GooglePixelbook GoOct13.3"1920x1080Intel Core m3-8100Y1.1 GHz23461*7200*4000*30000* 8 GB64 GB12 hr2.3 lb1.04 kgyesyesyes
GooglePixelbook GoOct13.3"1920x1080Intel Core i5 8200Y1.3 GHz24206*8150*4500*32000*8-16 GB128 GB12 hr2.3 lb1.04 kgyesyesyes
GooglePixelbook GoDec13.3"3840x2160Intel Core i7 8500Y1.5 GHz23945*8700*4900*n/a*16 GB256 GB12 hr2.4 lb1.09 kgyesyesyes
HPChromebook 11 G7 EEMay11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N40001.1 GHz21465*3900*2200*16000*4 GB16-32 GB13 hr2.93 lb1.33 kgyes
HPChromebook 11 G7 EEMay11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N40001.1 GHz21465*3900*2200*16000*4 GB32 GB11.5 hr 2.93 lb1.33 kgyesyesyes
HPChromebook 11A G6 EEFeb11.6"1366x768AMD A4-9120C1.6 GHz21539*2300*1500*14000*4 GB16-32 GB10 hr2.8 lb1.27 kgyes
HPChromebook 11A G6 EEFeb11.6"1366x768AMD A4-9120C1.6 GHz21539*2300*1500*14000*4 GB32 GB10 hr2.8 lb1.27 kgyesyesyes
HPChromebook 14 (2019) Jan14"1366x768AMD A4-9120C1.6 GHz21539*2300*1500*14000*4 GB32 GB9 hr3.4 lb1.54 kgyes
HPChromebook 14A G5May14"1366x768AMD A4-9120C1.6 GHz21539*2300*1500*14000*4-8 GB16-64 GB9 hr3.58 lb1.58 kgyes
HPChromebook 14A G5May14"1920x1080AMD A4-9120C1.6 GHz21539*2300*1500*14000*4-8 GB16-64 GB9 hr3.58 lb1.58 kgyesyes
HPChromebook 14A G5May14"1366x768AMD A4-9120C1.6 GHz21539*2300*1500*14000*4-8 GB32-64 GB9 hr3.58 lb1.58 kgyesyes
HPChromebook 14A G5May14"1920x1080AMD A4-9120C1.6 GHz21539*2300*1500*14000*4-8 GB32-64 GB9 hr3.58 lb1.58 kgyesyesyes
HPChromebook 14A G5May14"1366x768AMD A6-9220C1.8 GHz21962*2500*1650*n/a*4-8 GB32-64 GB9 hr3.58 lb1.58 kgyes
HPChromebook 14A G5May14"1920x1080AMD A6-9220C1.8 GHz21962*2500*1650*n/a*4-8 GB32-64 GB9 hr3.58 lb1.58 kgyesyes
HPChromebook 14A G5May14"1366x768AMD A6-9220C1.8 GHz21962*2500*1650*n/a*4-8 GB32-64 GB9 hr3.58 lb1.58 kgyesyes
HPChromebook 14A G5May14"1920x1080AMD A6-9220C1.8 GHz21962*2500*1650*n/a*4-8 GB32-64 GB9 hr3.58 lb1.58 kgyesyesyes
HPChromebook 15Jun15.6"1920x1080Intel Pentium 4417U2.3 GHz23190*6000*3100*n/a*4 GB64 GB13 hr3.99 lb1.81 kgyesyesyes
HPChromebook 15Jun15.6"1920x1080Intel Core i3 8130U2.2 GHz25326*9200*4550*33500* 4 GB128 GB13 hr3.99 lb1.81 kgyesyesyes
HPChromebook Enterprise 14A G5Nov14"1366x768AMD A4-9120C1.6 GHz21539*2300*1500*14000*4-8 GB32 GB9 hr3.48 lb1.58 kgyes
HPChromebook Enterprise x360 14E G1Nov14"1920x1080Intel Pentium 4415U2.3 GHz23141*6100*3150*21300*8 GB32 GB13 hr3.55 lb1.61 kgyesyesyes
HPChromebook Enterprise x360 14E G1Nov14"1920x1080Intel Pentium 4417U2.3 GHz23190*6000*3100*n/a*8 GB32 GB13 hr3.55 lb1.61 kgyesyesyes
HPChromebook Enterprise x360 14E G1Nov14"1920x1080Intel Core i3 7130U2.7 GHz24060*7400*3750*n/a*8 GB64 GB13 hr3.55 lb1.61 kgyesyesyes
HPChromebook Enterprise x360 14E G1Nov14"1920x1080Intel Core i3 8130U2.2 GHz25326*9200*4550*33500* 8 GB64 GB13 hr3.55 lb1.61 kgyesyesyes
HPChromebook Enterprise x360 14E G1Nov14"1920x1080Intel Core i5 8350U1.7 GHz48239*16000*4600*37700*8 GB64 GB13 hr3.55 lb1.61 kgyesyesyes
HPChromebook Enterprise x360 14E G1Nov14"1920x1080Intel Core i7 7600U2.8 GHz25110*10400*5300*n/a*16 GB64 GB13 hr3.55 lb1.61 kgyesyesyes
HPChromebook Enterprise x360 14E G1Nov14"1920x1080Intel Core i7 8650U1.9 GHz48838*18200*5600*43000*16 GB64 GB13 hr3.55 lb1.61 kgyesyesyes
HPChromebook x360 11 G2 EEApr11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N40001.1 GHz21465*3900*2200*16000*4-8 GB32-64 GB11.5 hr3.24 lb1.47 kgyesyesyesyes
HPChromebook x360 11 G2 EEApr11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N41001.1 GHz42324*6200*2000*15400*4-8 GB32-64 GB11.5 hr3.24 lb1.47 kgyesyesyesyes
HPChromebook x360 12bOct12"1366x912Intel Celeron N40001.1 GHz21465*3900*2200*16000*4 GB32 GB13 hr2.98 lb1.35 kgyesyesyes
HPChromebook x360 12bOct12"1366x912Intel Celeron N50001.1 GHz42452*6700*2200*16900*4-8 GB64 GB13 hr2.98 lb1.35 kgyesyesyes
HPChromebook x360 14Feb14"1920x1080Intel Pentium 4415U2.3 GHz23141*6100*3150*21300*4 GB32 GB14 hr3.7 lb1.68 kgyesyesyes
HPChromebook x360 14Jul14"1920x1080Intel Pentium 4417U2.3 GHz23190*6000*3100*n/a*4 GB32 GB14 hr3.7 lb1.68 kgyesyesyes
HPChromebook x360 14 G1Jan14"1920x1080Intel Pentium 4415U2.3 GHz23141*6100*3150*21300*8 GB32 GB13 hr3.55 lb1.61 kgyesyesyes
HPChromebook x360 14 G1Nov14"1920x1080Intel Core i3 7130U2.7 GHz24060*7400*3750*n/a*8 GB64 GB13 hr3.55 lb1.61 kgyesyesyes
HPChromebook x360 14 G1Jan14"1920x1080Intel Core i5 8350U1.7 GHz48239*16000*4600*37700*8 GB64 GB13 hr3.55 lb1.61 kgyesyesyes
HPChromebook x360 14 G1Nov14"1920x1080Intel Core i7 7600U2.8 GHz25110*10400*5300*n/a*16 GB64 GB13 hr3.55 lb1.61 kgyesyesyes
HPChromebook x360 14 G1Jan14"1920x1080Intel Core i7 8650U1.9 GHz48838*18200*5600*43000*16 GB64 GB13 hr3.55 lb1.61 kgyesyesyes
HPChromebook x360 14bOct14"1366x768Intel Celeron N40001.1 GHz21465*3900*2200*16000*4 GB32 GB12.5 hr3.48 lb1.58 kgyesyes
HPChromebook x360 14bOct14"1366x768Intel Celeron N50001.1 GHz42452*6700*2200*16900*4 GB64 GB12.5 hr3.48 lb1.58 kgyesyes
HPChromebook x360 14bOct14"1920x1080Intel Celeron N50001.1 GHz42452*6700*2200*16900*4 GB64 GB12.5 hr3.48 lb1.58 kgyesyesyes
Lenovo100e Chromebook 2nd genOct11.6"1366x768MediaTek M8173C2.1 GHz4n/a*2950*1450*10000*4 GB16-32 GB10 hr2.68 lb1.22 kgyes
Lenovo100e Chromebook 2nd genApr11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N40001.1 GHz21465*3900*2200*16000*4 GB32 GB10 hr2.68 lb1.22 kgyes
Lenovo300e ChromebookMar11.6"1366x768MediaTek M8173C2.1 GHz4n/a*2950*1450*10000*4 GB32 GB10 hr2.89 lb1.31 kgyesyes
Lenovo300e Chromebook 2nd genMar11.6"1366x768MediaTek M8173C2.1 GHz4n/a*2950*1450*10000*4 GB32 GB10 hr2.89 lb1.31 kgyesyesyes
Lenovo300e Chromebook 2nd genJul11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N40001.1 GHz21465*3900*2200*16000*4 GB32 GB10 hr2.89 lb1.31 kgyesyesyes
Lenovo500e Chromebook 2nd genMar11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N41001.1 GHz42324*6200*2000*15400*4 GB32 GB10 hr2.89 lb1.31 kgyesyesyesyes
LenovoChromebook 14EMay14"1920x1080AMD A4-9120C1.6 GHz21539*2300*1500*14000*4 GB32 GB10 hr3.27 lb1.48 kgyes
LenovoChromebook 14EMay14"1920x1080AMD A4-9120C1.6 GHz21539*2300*1500*14000*4 GB32 GB10 hr3.27 lb1.48 kgyesyesyes
LenovoChromebook C340-11Sep11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N40001.1 GHz21465*3900*2200*16000*4 GB32-64 GB10 hr2.6 lb1.18 kgyesyesyes
LenovoChromebook C340-15Sep15.6"1920x1080Intel Pentium 4417U2.3 GHz23190*6000*3100*n/a*4 GB32 GB10 hr4.32 lb1.96 kgyesyesyes
LenovoChromebook C340-15Sep15.6"1920x1080Intel Core i3 8130U2.2 GHz25326*9200*4550*33500*4 GB64-128 GB10 hr4.32 lb1.96 kgyesyesyes
LenovoChromebook S340Sep14"1366x768Intel Celeron N40001.1 GHz21465*3900*2200*16000*4 GB32-64 GB10 hr3.02 lb1.37 kgyes
LenovoChromebook S340Sep14"1920x1080Intel Celeron N40001.1 GHz21465*3900*2200*16000*4 GB64 GB10 hr3.02 lb1.37 kgyes
LenovoChromebook S340Sep14"1920x1080Intel Celeron N40001.1 GHz21465*3900*2200*16000*4 GB32 GB10 hr3.02 lb1.37 kgyesyesyes
LenovoChromebook S345Sep14"1920x1080AMD A4-9120C1.6 GHz21539*2300*1500*14000*4 GB32 GB10 hr3.26 lb1.48 kgyes
LenovoChromebook S345Sep14"1920x1080AMD A6-9220C1.8 GHz21962*2500*1650*n/a*4 GB32-64 GB10 hr3.26 lb1.48 kgyes
LenovoChromebook S345Sep14"1920x1080AMD A6-9220C1.8 GHz21962*2500*1650*n/a*4 GB32 GB10 hr3.26 lb1.48 kgyesyesyes
LenovoYoga Chromebook C630
(2019, 4k res.)		Feb15.6"3840x2160Intel Core i5 8250U1.6 GHz47658*15500*4600*36400*8 GB128 GB10 hr4.2 lb1.9 kgyesyesyes
PCmergePCM-116C (AL116)Jan11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N33501.1 GHz21144*2900*1650*11000*4 GB16-32 GB10 hr3.09 lb1.4 kgyesyes
SamsungChromebook 4Oct11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N40001.1 GHz21465*3900*2200*16000*4-6 GB32-64 GB12.5 hr2.6 lb1.18 kgyes
SamsungChromebook 4＋Oct15.6"1920x1080Intel Celeron N40001.1 GHz21465*3900*2200*16000*4-6 GB32-64 GB10.5 hr3.75 lb1.7 kgyes
Benchmark:
IPS / Touchscreen: Use the IPS/WVA and Touchscreen buttons above to highlight all models with these features. It’s currently not very clear if there are models of the HP Chromebook 11 G7 EE and 11A G6 EE available with IPS but without touchscreen – it’s possible that they may have the same model numbers as versions that have both IPS and touch.
The default screen configuration for the Dell Latitude 5400 Chromebook Enterprise is 1920×1080 IPS non-touch. In some regions, 1920×1080 IPS touch and 1366×768 non-IPS non-touch options are available.
Battery / RAM / Storage: Battery life value for Dell Latitude 5300/5400 Chromebook Enterprise models is for the default 60/68Whr battery configuration, however there are also smaller capacity battery options available. These Dell models also have user-upgradeable RAM and SSD storage.
Stylus: The AOpen Chromebook Commercial Tab, CTL Chromebook Tab Tx1 and Lenovo 500e come bundled with a stylus. Acer Spin 13, Spin 511/512, ASUS Flip C214 and HP x360 11 G2 EE have optional stylus models.
Notes: CTL, PCmerge, HP Chromebook EE, Lenovo 300e/500e and various Acer models include features designed for the educational market. Octane scores marked with a red star are estimates based on performance of identical CPU models. Octane score for HP Chromebook 14 AMD CPU is preliminary from aboutchromebooks.com.
Geekbench 4: All Geekbench scores from 2016 and onwards have been switched to use Geekbench 4.

2018 Chromebooks

Sort by:
BrandNameMonthScreenResolutionCPU modelCPU
speed		CorePass MarkGeek BenchGeek BenchOctaneMemoryStorageBatteryWeight
lb		Weight
kg		IPSTouchscreenAndroidStylusAUE date
AcerChromebook 11
(2018, CB3-132) 		Jan11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N30601.6 GHz21040*2200*1200*8800*2-4 GB16-32 GB10 hr2.43 lb1.1 kgyesyes
AcerChromebook 11
(2018, CB311-8H) 		Apr11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N33501.1 GHz21144*2900*1650*11000*4 GB16-32 GB8 hr2.43 lb1.1 kgyesyes
AcerChromebook 11
(2018, CB311-8HT) 		Apr11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N33501.1 GHz21144*2900*1650*11000*4 GB32 GB8 hr2.43 lb1.1 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook 11
(2018, CB311-8HT) 		Jul11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N34501.1 GHz41822*4900*1600*10000*4 GB32 GB8 hr2.43 lb1.1 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook 11 C732Mar11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N33501.1 GHz21144*2900*1650*11000*4 GB32 GB12 hr2.98 lb1.35 kgyes
AcerChromebook 11 C732TMar11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N33501.1 GHz21144*2900*1650*11000*4 GB32 GB12 hr2.98 lb1.35 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook 11 C732TMar11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N34501.1 GHz41822*4900*1600*10000*4 GB32 GB12 hr2.98 lb1.35 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook 13
(CB713-1W) 		Jul13.5"2256x1504Intel Pentium 4415U2.3 GHz23141*6100*3150*21300*4-8 GB64 GB10 hr3.09 lb1.4 kgyesyes
AcerChromebook 13
(CB713-1W)		Sep13.5"2256x1504Intel Core i3 8130U2.2 GHz25326*9200*4550*33500*8 GB32-64 GB10 hr3.09 lb1.4 kgyesyes
AcerChromebook 13
(CB713-1W)		Sep13.5"2256x1504Intel Core i5 8250U1.6 GHz47658*15500*4600*36400*8-16 GB64 GB10 hr3.09 lb1.4 kgyesyes
AcerChromebook 15
(2018, CB315-1H)		Jun15.6"1920x1080Intel Celeron N34501.1 GHz41822*4900*1600*10000*4 GB32 GB14 hr4.08 lb1.85 kgyesyes
AcerChromebook 15
(2018, CB315-1HT)		Jun15.6"1920x1080Intel Celeron N33501.1 GHz21144*2900*1650*11000*4 GB32 GB13 hr4.0 lb1.81 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook 15
(2018, CB315-1HT)		Jun15.6"1920x1080Intel Celeron N34501.1 GHz41822*4900*1600*10000*4 GB32 GB13 hr4.0 lb1.81 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook 15
(2018, CB515-1HT)		Jun15.6"1920x1080Intel Celeron N33501.1 GHz21144*2900*1650*11000*4 GB32 GB12 hr4.3 lb1.95 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook 514Dec14"1366x768Intel Celeron N33501.1 GHz21144*2900*1650*11000*4 GB32 GB12 hr 3.31 lb1.5 kgyes
AcerChromebook 514Dec14"1920x1080Intel Celeron N33501.1 GHz21144*2900*1650*11000*4 GB32 GB12 hr 3.31 lb1.5 kgyesyes
AcerChromebook 514Dec14"1920x1080Intel Celeron N34501.1 GHz41822*4900*1600*10000*4 GB32 GB12 hr 3.31 lb1.5 kgyesyes
AcerChromebook 514Dec14"1920x1080Intel Celeron N34501.1 GHz41822*4900*1600*10000*4 GB64 GB12 hr 3.31 lb1.5 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook 514Dec14"1920x1080Intel Pentium N42001.1 GHz42033*5300*1750*11500*8 GB64 GB12 hr3.31 lb1.5 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook Spin 11 (2018, CP311-1H/1HN) Apr11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N33501.1 GHz21144*2900*1650*11000*4 GB32 GB10 hr2.76 lb1.25 kgyesyesyesyes
AcerChromebook Spin 11
(2018, CP311-1H/1HN) 		Apr11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N34501.1 GHz41822*4900*1600*10000*4 GB32 GB10 hr2.76 lb1.25 kgyesyesyesyes
AcerChromebook Spin 11 (2018, CP311-1H/1HN) Apr11.6"1366x768Intel Pentium N42001.1 GHz42033*5300*1750*11500*4 GB64 GB10 hr2.98 lb1.35 kgyesyesyesyes
AcerChromebook Spin 13
(CP713-1WN)		Oct13.5"2256x1504Intel Core i3 8130U2.2 GHz25326*9200*4550*33500*4-8 GB64-128 GB10 hr3.31 lb1.5 kgyesyesyesyes
AcerChromebook Spin 13
(CP713-1WN)		Oct13.5"2256x1504Intel Core i5 8250U1.6 GHz47658*15500*4600*36400*8-16 GB64-128 GB10 hr3.31 lb1.5 kgyesyesyesyes
AcerChromebook Spin 13
(CP713-1WN)		Dec13.5"2256x1504Intel Core i7 8550U1.8 GHz48321*18000 *5450*42000*8-16 GB128 GB10 hr3.31 lb1.5 kgyesyesyesyes
AcerChromebook Spin 15
(CP315-1H)		Jun15.6"1920x1080Intel Pentium N42001.1 GHz42033*5300*1750*11500*4-8 GB32-64 GB13 hr4.85 lb2.2 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook Spin 15 (CP315-1H)Jun15.6"1920x1080Intel Celeron N33501.1 GHz21144*2900*1650*11000*4-8 GB64 GB14 hr4.85 lb2.2 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook Spin 15 (CP315-1H)Jun15.6"1920x1080Intel Celeron N34501.1 GHz41822*4900*1600*10000*8 GB64 GB14 hr4.85 lb2.2 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook Tab 10
(tablet)		Apr9.7"2048x1536Rockchip OP11.6 GHz6n/a*3900*1600*9700*4 GB32 GB9 hr1.2 lb0.55 kgyesyesyesyes
ASUSC223Aug11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N33501.1 GHz21144*2900*1650*11000*4 GB32 GB10 hr2.2 lb1.0 kgyes
ASUSC423Sep14"1366x768Intel Celeron N33501.1 GHz21144*2900*1650*11000*4 GB32 GB10 hr3.1 lb1.41 kgyes
ASUSC423Sep14"1920x1080Intel Celeron N33501.1 GHz21144*2900*1650*11000*4 GB32 GB10 hr3.1 lb1.41 kgyes
ASUSC423 (FR)Aug14"1366x768Intel Pentium N42001.1 GHz42033*5300*1750*11500*4-8 GB64 GB10 hr3.1 lb1.41 kgyes
ASUSC423 (CA)Sep14"1366x768Intel Pentium N42001.1 GHz42033*5300*1750*11500*4 GB32-64 GB10 hr3.1 lb1.41 kgyesyes
ASUSC423 (UK)Jul14"1920x1080Intel Pentium N42001.1 GHz42033*5300*1750*11500*8 GB64 GB10 hr3.1 lb1.41 kgyesyes
ASUSC523Sep15.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N33501.1 GHz21144*2900*1650*11000*4 GB32-64 GB10 hr3.1 lb1.41 kgyes
ASUSC523Sep15.6"1920x1080Intel Pentium N42001.1 GHz42033*5300*1750*11500*4 GB64 GB10 hr3.1 lb1.41 kgyesyes
CTLJ41Mar11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N33501.1 GHz21144*2900*1650*10100*4 GB32 GB13 hr2.54 lb1.15 kgyes
CTLNL7Apr11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N33501.1 GHz21144*2900*1650*11000*4 GB32 GB12 hr2.8 lb1.27 kgyesyes
CTLNL7T-360Apr11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N33501.1 GHz21144*2900*1650*11000*4 GB32 GB12 hr2.8 lb1.27 kgyesyesyes
CTLNL7TW-360Apr11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N34501.1 GHz41822*4900*1600*10000*4 GB32 GB12 hr2.8 lb1.27 kgyesyesyesyes
DellChromebook 11 3181Sep11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N30601.6 GHz21040*2200*1200*8650*4 GB16-32 GB10 hr3.09 lb1.4 kgyes
DellChromebook 11 3181
(2-in-1)		Sep11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N30601.6 GHz21040*2200*1200*8650*4 GB32-64 GB10 hr3.17 lb1.44 kgyesyesyes
DellChromebook 14 7486Oct14"1920x1080Intel Core i3 8130U2.2 GHz25326*9200*4550*34000*4 GB128 GB10 hr3.99 lb1.81 kgyesyesyesyes
DellChromebook 5190 eduMar11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N33501.1 GHz21144*2900*1650*10600*4 GB16-64 GB10 hr2.82 lb1.28 kgyes
DellChromebook 5190 eduMar11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N34501.1 GHz41822*4900*1600*10000* 4 GB32-64 GB10 hr2.82 lb1.28 kgyes
DellChromebook 5190 eduMar11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N33501.1 GHz21144*2900*1650*10600*4 GB16-32 GB10 hr2.82 lb1.28 kgyesyes
DellChromebook 5190 edu
(2-in-1)		Mar11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N33501.1 GHz21144*2900*1650*10600*4 GB32-64 GB10 hr3.08 lb1.4 kgyesyesyesyes
DellChromebook 5190 edu
(2-in-1)		Mar11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N34501.1 GHz41822*4900*1600*10000* 4 GB32 GB10 hr3.08 lb1.4 kgyesyesyesyes
GooglePixel Slate
(tablet, detachable)		Nov12.3"3000x2000Intel Celeron 3965Y1.5 GHz21619*3650*2150*14000*4-8 GB32-64 GB12 hr1.61 lb0.73 kgyesyesyesyes
GooglePixel Slate
(tablet, detachable)		Nov12.3"3000x2000Intel Core m3-8100Y1.1 GHz23461*7200*4000*30000*8 GB64 GB12 hr1.61 lb0.73 kgyesyesyesyes
GooglePixel Slate
(tablet, detachable)		Nov12.3"3000x2000Intel Core i5 8200Y1.3 GHz24206*8150*4500*32000*8 GB128 GB12 hr1.61 lb0.73 kgyesyesyesyes
GooglePixel Slate
(tablet, detachable)		Nov12.3"3000x2000Intel Core i7 8500Y1.5 GHz23945*8700*4900*26000*16 GB256 GB12 hr1.61 lb0.73 kgyesyesyesyes
HPChromebook 11 G6 EEFeb11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N33501.1 GHz21144*2900*1650*11000*4 GB16-32 GB13 hr2.73 lb1.24 kgyes
HPChromebook 11 G6 EEFeb11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N33501.1 GHz21144*2900*1650*11000*4 GB16-32 GB13 hr2.73 lb1.24 kgyesyesyes
HPChromebook 11 G6 EEFeb11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N34501.1 GHz41822*4900*1600*10000* 8 GB32 GB13 hr2.73 lb1.24 kgyes
HPChromebook 11 G6 EEFeb11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N34501.1 GHz41822*4900*1600*10000* 8 GB64 GB13 hr2.73 lb1.24 kgyesyesyes
HPChromebook 14 G5Feb14"1366x768Intel Celeron N33501.1 GHz21144*2900*1650*11000*4-8 GB16-32 GB10 hr3.39 lb1.54 kgyes
HPChromebook 14 G5Feb14"1366x768Intel Celeron N33501.1 GHz21144*2900*1650*11000*4-8 GB16-32 GB10 hr3.39 lb1.54 kgyesyes
HPChromebook 14 G5Feb14"1920x1080Intel Celeron N33501.1 GHz21144*2900*1650*11000*4-8 GB32 GB10 hr3.39 lb1.54 kgyesyes
HPChromebook 14 G5Feb14"1920x1080Intel Celeron N33501.1 GHz21144*2900*1650*11000*4 GB32 GB10 hr3.39 lb1.54 kgyesyesyes
HPChromebook 14 G5Feb14"1920x1080Intel Celeron N34501.1 GHz41822*4900*1600*10000* 8 GB32-64 GB10 hr3.39 lb1.54 kgyesyesyes
HPChromebook x2
(detachable)		Jun12.3"2400x1600Intel Core m3-7Y301.0 GHz23557*6800*3600*25100*4 GB32 GB10.5 hr3.07 lb1.39 kgyesyesyesyes
HPChromebook x2
(detachable, UK)		Sep12.3"2400x1600Intel Core m3-7Y301.0 GHz23557*6800*3600*25100*8 GB64 GB12.5 hr3.17 lb1.44 kgyesyesyesyes
HPChromebook x2
(detachable, France)		Nov12.3"2400x1600Intel Core i5 7Y541.2 GHz23584*7600*4200*30000*8 GB64 GB12.5 hr3.17 lb1.44 kgyesyesyesyes
HPChromebook x360 14Oct14"1920x1080Intel Core i3 8130U2.2 GHz25326*9200*4550*34400*8 GB64 GB13.5 hr3.7 lb1.68 kgyesyesyes
Lenovo100e ChromebookFeb11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N33501.1 GHz21144*2900*1650*11000*4 GB32 GB10 hr2.75 lb1.25 kgyes
Lenovo300e ChromebookFeb11.6"1366x768MediaTek M8173C2.1 GHz4n/a*2950*1450*10000*4 GB32 GB10 hr2.98 lb1.35 kgyesyesyes
Lenovo500e ChromebookFeb11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N34501.1 GHz41822*4900*1600*10000* 4-8 GB32-64 GB10 hr2.98 lb1.35 kgyesyesyesyes
LenovoChromebook C330Oct11.6"1366x768MediaTek M8173C2.1 GHz4n/a*2950*1450*10000*4 GB32-64 GB10 hr2.64 lb1.2 kgyesyesyes
LenovoChromebook S330Oct14"1366x768MediaTek M8173C2.1 GHz4n/a*2950*1450*10000*4 GB32-64 GB10 hr3.2 lb1.45 kgyes
LenovoChromebook S330Oct14"1920x1080MediaTek M8173C2.1 GHz4n/a*2950*1450*10000*4 GB32-64 GB10 hr3.24 lb1.47 kgyesyes
LenovoYoga Chromebook C630 Oct15.6"1920x1080Intel Core i3 8130U2.2 GHz25326*9200*4550*33500*8 GB64 GB10 hr4.19 lb1.9 kgyesyesyes
LenovoYoga Chromebook C630Oct15.6"1920x1080Intel Core i5 8250U1.6 GHz47658*15500*4600*36400*8 GB64-128 GB10 hr4.19 lb1.9 kgyesyesyes
Poin2Chromebook 14Mar14"1920x1080MediaTek M8173C2.1 GHz4n/a*2950*1450*10000*4 GB32 GB12 hr3.73 lb1.69 kgyesyesyes
SamsungChromebook Plus v2Jun12.2"1920x1080Intel Celeron 3965Y1.5 GHz21619*3650*2150*14000*4 GB32-64 GB10 hr2.93 lb1.33 kgyesyesyesyes
SamsungChromebook Plus v2Oct12.2"1920x1080Intel Core m3-7Y301.0 GHz23557*6800*3600*25100*4 GB64 GB10 hr2.93 lb1.33 kgyesyesyesyes
Sector 5E3 ChromebookNov11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N34501.1 GHz41822*4900*1600*10000*4 GB32 GB12 hr2.88 lb1.3 kgyesyesyes
Benchmark:
IPS / Touchscreen: Use the IPS/WVA and Touchscreen buttons above to highlight all models with these features. It’s likely, although not entirely certain that the display on the Samsung Chromebook Plus v2 is IPS.
Lenovo Chromebook S330 IPS status is not entirely clear, but it looks like the 1920×1080 model is IPS, while the 1366×768 model is TN.
Stylus: Samsung Chromebook Plus v2, CTL NL7TW-360, HP Chromebook x2, Lenovo 500E, Acer Chromebook Tab 10, Acer Chromebook Spin 13 models and Dell Inspiron Chromebook 14 come bundled with a stylus. * For Acer Spin 11, Google Pixel Slate and Dell 5190 2-in-1 models, stylus is optional.
Notes: Octane scores marked with a red star are estimates based on performance of identical CPU models.
The CTL Chromebook NL7 and Samsung Chromebook Plus v2 are also available in configurations with built-in LTE mobile data support.
Google Pixel Slate keyboard and stylus are optional extras.
The UK version of the HP Chromebook x2 has a separate entry since, apart from RAM and storage, it also seems to have slightly different weight and battery specs.

2017 Chromebooks

Sort by:
BrandNameMonthScreenResolutionCPU modelCPU
speed		CorePass MarkGeek BenchGeek BenchOctaneMemoryStorageBatteryWeight
lb		Weight
kg		IPSTouchscreenAndroidStylusAUE date
AcerChromebook 11 C771Jun11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron 3855U1.6 GHz21720*3700*2200*16000*4 GB32 GB13 hr2.98 lb1.35 kgyesyes
AcerChromebook 11 C771TJun11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron 3855U1.6 GHz21720*3700*2200*16000*4 GB32 GB13 hr2.98 lb1.35 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook 11 C771TOct11.6"1366x768Intel Core i3 6100U2.3 GHz23500*6600*3300*23300*4 GB32 GB13 hr2.98 lb1.35 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook 11 C771TOct11.6"1366x768Intel Core i5 6200U2.3 GHz23960*7550*3950*28300*8 GB64 GB13 hr2.98 lb1.35 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook 11 N7 (C731)Jan11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N30601.6 GHz21040*2200*1200*8800*4 GB16-32 GB12 hr2.98 lb1.35 kgyes
AcerChromebook 11 N7 (C731T)Jan11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N30601.6 GHz21040*2200*1200*8800*4 GB16-32 GB12 hr2.98 lb1.35 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook 11 N7 (CB311-7H)Jan11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N30601.6 GHz21040*2200*1200*8800*4 GB16-32 GB12 hr2.98 lb1.35 kgyesyes
AcerChromebook 11 N7 (CB311-7HT)Jan11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N30601.6 GHz21040*2200*1200*8800*4 GB16-32 GB12 hr2.98 lb1.35 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook 15
(2017, CB3-532)		Mar15.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N30601.6 GHz21040*2200*1200*8800*2-4 GB16-32 GB12 hr4.3 lb1.95 kgyes
AcerChromebook 15
(2017, CB3-532)		Feb15.6"1920x1080Intel Celeron N31601.6 GHz41470*3450pad]1150*8000*2-4 GB16-32 GB11.5 hr4.3 lb1.95 kgyes
AcerChromebook 15
(2017, CB515-1H)		Oct15.6"1920x1080Intel Celeron N33501.1 GHz21144*2900*1650*11000*4 GB32 GB12 hr3.79 lb1.72 kgyesyes
AcerChromebook 15
(2017, CB515-1HT)		Oct15.6"1920x1080Intel Pentium N42001.1 GHz42033*5300*1750*11500*4-8 GB32-64 GB12 hr4.3 lb1.95 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook 15
(2017, CB515-1HT)		Oct15.6"1920x1080Intel Celeron N34501.1 GHz41822*4900*1600*10000*4 GB32-64 GB12 hr4.3 lb1.95 kgyesyesyes
AcerChromebook Spin 11 (R751T/TN, CP511)May11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N33501.1 GHz21144*2900*1650*11000*4-8 GB32-64 GB10 hr3.09 lb1.4 kgyesyesyesyes
AcerChromebook Spin 11 (R751T/TN, CP511) May11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N34501.1 GHz41822*4900*1600*10000*4-8 GB32-64 GB10 hr3.09 lb1.4 kgyesyesyesyes
ASUSC101PA Flip Sep10.1"1280x800Rockchip OP11.6 GHz6n/a*3900*1600*9700*4 GB16-32 GB9 hr1.98 lb0.9 kgyesyesyes
ASUSC213 Flip (edu)Apr11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N33501.1 GHz21144*2900*1650*11000*4 GB32 GB12 hr2.75 lb1.25 kgyesyesyes
ASUSC302CA Flip Jan12.5"1920x1080Intel Core m3-6Y30900 MHz23060*5850*3200*22500*4-8 GB32-64 GB10 hr2.65 lb1.2 kgyesyesyes
ASUSC302CA Flip Aug12.5"1920x1080Intel Core m5-6Y541.1 GHz23357*6700*3600*26800*4 GB64 GB10 hr2.65 lb1.2 kgyesyesyes
ASUSC302CA Flip Feb12.5"1920x1080Intel Core m7-6Y751.6 GHz23560*7500*3900*30600*4-16 GB64 GB10 hr2.65 lb1.2 kgyesyesyes
ASUSC302CA FlipJan12.5"1920x1080Intel Pentium 4405Y1.5 GHz22260*3850*1950*14600*4 GB32 GB10 hr2.65 lb1.2 kgyesyesyes
DellChromebook 3180 EduFeb11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N30601.6 GHz21040*2200*1200*8800*2-4 GB16-32 GB10 hr2.79 lb1.27 kgyes
DellChromebook 3189 EduFeb11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N30601.6 GHz21040*2200*1200*8800*4 GB16-64 GB10 hr3.22 lb1.46 kgyesyesyes
DellChromebook 3380 EduFeb13.3"1366x768Intel Celeron 3855U1.6 GHz21720*3700*2200*16000*4 GB16-64 GB10 hr3.54 lb1.61 kgyes
DellChromebook 3380 EduFeb13.3"1366x768Intel Celeron 3855U1.6 GHz21720*3700*2200*16000*4 GB16-32 GB10 hr3.54 lb1.61 kgyesyesyes
DellChromebook 3380 EduFeb13.3"1366x768Intel Core i3 6006U2.0 GHz23100*5800*3000*20000*4 GB16 GB10 hr3.54 lb1.61 kgyes
DellChromebook 3380 EduFeb13.3"1366x768Intel Core i3 6006U2.0 GHz23100*5800*3000*20000*4 GB32 GB10 hr3.54 lb1.61 kgyesyesyes
GooglePixelbookOct12.3"2400x1600Intel Core i5 7Y571.2 GHz23900*7950*4300*31000*8 GB128-256 GB10 hr2.45 lb1.11 kgyesyesyesyes
GooglePixelbookDec12.3"2400x1600Intel Core i7 7Y751.3 GHz23763*8700*4700*32400*16 GB512 GB10 hr2.45 lb1.11 kgyesyesyesyes
HPChromebook x360 11 G1 (edu)Apr11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N33501.1 GHz21144*2900*1650*11000*4-8 GB32-64 GB10 hr3.17 lb1.44 kgyesyesyesyes
HPChromebook x360 11 G1 (edu)Apr11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N34501.1 GHz41822*4900*1600*10000*4-8 GB32-64 GB10 hr3.17 lb1.44 kgyesyesyesyes
LenovoFlex 11 ChromebookApr11.6"1366x768MediaTek M8173C2.1 GHz4n/a*2950*1450*10000*4 GB32 GB10 hr2.98 lb1.35 kgyesyesyes
LenovoN23 ChromebookJan11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N30601.6 GHz21040*2200*1200*8800*4 GB16-32 GB10 hr2.76 lb1.25 kgyes
LenovoN23 ChromebookFeb11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N31601.6 GHz41470*3450*1150*8000*4 GB16-32 GB10 hr2.76 lb1.25 kgyes
LenovoN23 ChromebookFeb11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N30601.6 GHz21040*2200*1200*8800*4 GB16-32 GB10 hr2.76 lb1.25 kgyesyesyes
LenovoN23 Yoga ChromebookApr11.6"1366x768MediaTek M8173C2.1 GHz4n/a*2950*1450*10000*4 GB32 GB10 hr2.98 lb1.35 kgyesyesyes
LenovoN42 ChromebookApr14"1366x768Intel Celeron N31601.6 GHz41470*3450*1150*8000*4 GB16 GB11 hr3.3 lb1.5 kgyes
LenovoN42 ChromebookApr14"1366x768Intel Celeron N37101.6 GHz41862*3800*1250*9000*4 GB32 GB11 hr3.3 lb1.5 kgyes
LenovoThinkPad 11e (2017)May11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N34501.1 GHz41822*4900*1600*10000*4-8 GB32 GB10 hr3.3 lb1.5 kgyes
LenovoThinkPad Yoga 11e (2017)May11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N34501.1 GHz41822*4900*1600*10000*4-8 GB32 GB10 hr3.5 lb1.59 kgyesyesyes
LenovoThinkPad 13Jul13.3"1920x1080Intel Core i3 6100U2.3 GHz23500*6600*3300*23300*4 GB16 GB10 hr3.2 lb1.4 kgyesyes
MecerXpression V2Apr11.6"1366x768Rockchip RK32881.8 GHz4n/a*2950*1050*7400*2 GB32 GB10 hr3.31 lb1.5 kgyes
PositivoCH1190Apr11.6"1366x768Rockchip RK32881.8 GHz4n/a*2950*1050*7400*2 GB16 GB8.5 hr2.47 lb1.12 kgyes
SamsungChromebook 3 (2017)Feb11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N30601.6 GHz21040*2200*1200*8800*2-4 GB16-32 GB11 hr2.54 lb1.15 kgyes
SamsungChromebook PlusJan12.3"2400x1600Rockchip OP11.6 GHz6n/a*3900*1600*9700*4 GB32 GB9 hr2.38 lb1.08 kgyesyesyesyes
SamsungChromebook ProMay12.3"2400x1600Intel Core m3-6Y30900 MHz23060*5850*3200*22600*4 GB32-64 GB9 hr2.38 lb1.08 kgyesyesyesyes
Benchmark:
IPS / Touchscreen: Use the IPS/WVA and Touchscreen buttons above to highlight all models with these features.
Stylus: Both Samsung Chromebook Pro and Chromebook Plus models come bundled with a stylus. * With Google Pixelbook, HP Chromebook x360, ASUS C213 and Acer Chromebook Spin 11, the stylus-supporting models are optional.
Notes: Octane scores marked with a red star are estimates based on performance of identical CPU models.

2016 Chromebooks

Sort by:
BrandNameMonthScreenResolutionCPU modelCPU
speed		CorePass MarkGeek BenchGeek BenchOctaneMemoryStorageBatteryWeight
lb		Weight
kg		IPSTouchscreenAndroidStylusAUE date
AcerChromebook 11
(CB3-131)		Jan11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N28402.16 GHz21050*2200*1300*8500*2-4 GB16-32 GB9 hr2.42 lb1.1 kgyesyes
AcerChromebook 14
(CP5-471 "for Work")		Apr14"1366x768Intel Core i3 6100U2.3 GHz23500*6600*3300*23300*4 GB32 GB12 hr3.2 lb1.45 kgyes
AcerChromebook 14
(CP5-471 "for Work")		Apr14"1366x768Intel Celeron 3855U1.6 GHz21720*3700*2200*15300*4 GB16 GB12 hr3.2 lb1.45 kgyes
AcerChromebook 14
(CP5-471 "for Work")		Apr14"1920x1080Intel Core i3 6100U2.3 GHz23500*6600*3300*23300*8 GB32 GB12 hr3.2 lb1.45 kgyesyes
AcerChromebook 14
(CP5-471 "for Work")		Apr14"1920x1080Intel Core i5 6200U2.3 GHz23960*7550*3950*28300*8 GB32 GB10 hr3.2 lb1.45 kgyesyes
AcerChromebook 14Apr14"1920x1080Intel Celeron N31601.6 GHz41470*3450*1150*8000*4 GB32 GB12 hr3.4 lb1.54 kgyesyes
AcerChromebook 14Jul14"1366x768Intel Celeron N31601.6 GHz41470*3450*1150*8000*4 GB16 GB14 hr3.4 lb1.54 kgyes
AcerChromebook 14Jul14"1366x768Intel Celeron N30601.6 GHz21040*2200*1200*8800*2-4 GB16-32 GB12 hr3.7 lb1.68 kgyes
AcerChromebook R13Oct13.3”1920x1080MediaTek M8173C2.1 GHz4n/a*2950*1450*9900*4 GB16-64 GB12 hr3.28 lb1.49 kgyesyesyes
ASUSC202SA Feb11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N30601.6 GHz21040*2200*1200*8800*2-4 GB16 GB10 hr2.65 lb1.2 kgyes
ASUSC300SAApr13.3”1366x768Intel Celeron N30601.6 GHz21040*2200*1200*8800*4 GB16 GB10 hr3.1 lb1.4 kgyes
ASUSC301SAAug13.3”1920x1080Intel Celeron N31601.6 GHz41470*3450*1150*8200*4 GB32-128 GB11 hr2.98 lb1.35 kgyes
CTLJ5 Flip/TouchJun11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N30601.6 GHz21040*2200*1200*8800*4 GB32 GB10 hr3.5 lb1.59 kgyesyesyes
CTLNL61 Jul11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N31601.6 GHz41470*3450*1150*8200*4 GB32 GB14 hr3.04 lb1.38 kgyes
CTLNL61T Sep11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N31601.6 GHz41470*3450*1150*8200*4 GB32 GB14 hr3.04 lb1.38 kgyesyesyes
DellChromebook 13Jun13.3"1920x1080Intel Celeron 3215U1.7 GHz21830*3750*2200*17600*4 GB16 GB12 hr3.24 lb1.33 kgyesyes
EdxisChromebook PlusJul11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N31601.6 GHz41470*3450*1150*8200*4 GB32 GB10 hrn/an/ayes
EdxisChromebook TouchSep11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N31601.6 GHz41470*3450*1150*8200*4 GB32 GB10 hrn/an/ayesyesyes
EPIKTeqnio ChromebookDec11.6"1366x768Rockchip RK32881.8 GHz4n/a*2950*1050*7400*4 GB32 GB8 hr2.45 lb1.11 kgmaybe
HPChromebook 11 G4 (Education Edition)Jan11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N28402.16 GHz21050*2200*1300*8500*2-4 GB32-64 GB9.5 hr2.7 lb1.22 kgyesyes
HPChromebook 11 G5Jul11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N30601.6 GHz21040*2200*1200*8800*2-4 GB16-32 GB12 hr2.51 lb1.14 kgyes
HPChromebook 11 G5Jul11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N30601.6 GHz21040*2200*1200*8800*2-4 GB16-32 GB11 hr2.62 lb1.19 kgyesyesyes
HPChromebook 13 G1May13.3”3200x1800Intel Pentium 4405Y1.5 GHz22260*3850*1950*14800*4 GB32 GB8 hr2.86 lb1.29 kgyesyes
HPChromebook 13 G1Apr13.3”3200x1800Intel Core m3-6Y30 900 MHz23060*5850*3200*22800*4 GB32 GB8 hr2.86 lb1.29 kgyesyes
HPChromebook 13 G1Apr13.3”3200x1800Intel Core m5-6Y571.1 GHz23150*6750*3750*28500*8 GB32 GB8 hr2.86 lb1.29 kgyesyes
HPChromebook 13 G1Apr13.3”3200x1800Intel Core m7-6Y751.2 GHz23560*7500*3900*30600*16 GB32 GB8 hr2.86 lb1.29 kgyesyes
LenovoN22 ChromebookMar11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N30501.6 GHz2890*2100*1150*8300*2-4 GB16-32 GB10 hr2.7 lb1.2 kgyes
LenovoN22 ChromebookMay11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N30601.6 GHz21040*2200*1200*8800*2-4 GB16-32 GB10 hr2.7 lb1.2 kgyes
LenovoN22 ChromebookMay11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N30601.6 GHz21040*2200*1200*8800*2-4 GB16-32 GB10 hr2.76 lb1.25 kgyesyesyes
LenovoN22 ChromebookNov11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N37101.6 GHz41862*3800*1250*9000*4 GB32 GB10 hr2.84 lb1.29 kgyes
LenovoN42 ChromebookSep14”1366x768Intel Celeron N30601.6 GHz21040*2200*1200*8800*2-4 GB16-32 GB11 hr3.3 lb1.5 kgyes
LenovoN42 ChromebookAug14”1366x768Intel Celeron N30601.6 GHz21040*2200*1200*8800*2-4 GB16-32 GB11 hr3.3 lb1.5 kgyesyes
LenovoThinkPad 11e (2016)Mar11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N31501.6 GHz41530*3250*1100*8100*4 GB16 GB12 hr3.3 lb1.5 kgyes
LenovoThinkPad 11e Yoga (2016)Mar11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N31501.6 GHz41530*3250*1100*8100*4 GB16 GB12 hr3.3 lb1.5 kgyesyesyes
LenovoThinkPad 13Jun13.3”1366x768Intel Celeron 3855U1.6 GHz21720*3700*2200*16600*4 GB16 GB10 hr3.2 lb1.4 kgyes
LenovoThinkPad 13Oct13.3”1920x1080Intel Celeron 3855U1.6 GHz21720*3700*2200*16600*4 GB16 GB10 hr3.2 lb1.4 kgyesyesyes
LenovoThinkPad 13Jun13.3”1366x768Intel Core i3 6100U2.3 GHz23500*6600*3300*23300*4 GB16 GB10 hr3.2 lb1.4 kgyes
LenovoThinkPad 13Oct13.3”1920x1080Intel Core i3 6100U2.3 GHz23500*6600*3300*23300*4 GB16 GB10 hr3.2 lb1.4 kgyesyesyes
LenovoThinkPad 13Jun13.3”1366x768Intel Core i5 6300U2.4 GHz24300*7900*4100*29400*8 GB32 GB10 hr3.2 lb1.4 kgyes
LenovoThinkPad 13Jun13.3”1920x1080Intel Core i5 6300U2.4 GHz24300*7900*4100*29400*8 GB32 GB10 hr3.2 lb1.4 kgyesyes
LenovoThinkPad 13Oct13.3”1920x1080Intel Core i5 6300U2.4 GHz24300*7900*4100*29400*8 GB32 GB10 hr3.2 lb1.4 kgyesyesyes
MedionAkoya S2015Jun11.6"1366x768Rockchip RK32881.8 GHz4n/a*2950*1050*7400*2 GB16 GBn/a2.71 lb1.23 kgyes
nComputCX100 / CX110Jun11.6"1366x768Rockchip RK32881.8 GHz4n/a*2950*1050*7400*2-4 GB16 GB8.5 hr2.53 lb1.15 kgyesyes
PCmergePCM-116TOct11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N30601.6 GHz21040*2200*1200*8800*4 GB32 GB10 hr3.31 lb1.5 kgyesyesyes
ProwiseEntryLine ChromebookSep11.6"1366x768Rockchip RK32881.8 GHz4n/a*2950*1050*7400*2 GB16 GB10 hr2.73 lb1.24 kgyes
ProwiseProLine ChromebookSep11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N30601.6 GHz21040*2200*1200*9300*4 GB32 GB10 hr3.3 lb1.5 kgyesyesyes
SamsungChromebook 3Feb11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N30501.6 GHz2890*2100*1150*7200*2-4 GB16 GB11 hr2.53 lb1.15 kgyes
ViglenChromebook 360Mar11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N30601.6 GHz21040*2200*1200*8800*4 GB32 GB10 hr3.53 lb1.6 kgyesyesyes
Benchmark:
IPS / Touchscreen: Use the IPS/WVA and Touchscreen buttons above to highlight all models with these features.

The HP Chromebook 11 G4 Education Edition IPS display is an optional extra. 

Notes: CTL also have ‘X’ ruggedized editions of their Chromebook models (other specs remain the same) e.g. NL61X, NL61TX.
The 2016 Dell Chromebook 13 is the same as the 2015 model with the 3205U CPU changed to a 3215U.
Octane scores marked with a red star are estimates based on performance of identical CPU models.

2015 Chromebooks

Sort by:
BrandNameMonthScreenResolutionCPU modelCPU speedCorePass MarkGeek BenchGeek BenchOctaneMemoryStorageBatteryWeight
lb		Weight
kg		IPSTouchscreenAndroidStylusAUE date
AcerChromebook 11 C740Feb11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron 3205U1.5 GHz21703*2600*1490*14100*2-4 GB16 GB9 hr2.87 lb1.3 kgyes
AcerChromebook 13 C810May13.3"1366x768Tegra K1 A15 ARM2.1 GHz4n/a3098*1033*7600*4 GB16-32 GB13 hr3.31 lb1.5 kg
AcerChromebook 13 C810May13.3"1920x1080Tegra K1 A15 ARM2.1 GHz4n/a3098*1033*7600*4 GB16 GB13 hr3.31 lb1.5 kg
AcerChromebook 15 Mar15.6"1366x768Intel Celeron 3205U1.5 GHz21703*2600*1490*14200*2-4 GB16 GB9 hr4.85 lb2.2 kgyes
AcerChromebook 15 Mar15.6"1920x1080Intel Celeron 3205U1.5 GHz21703*2600*1490*14200*2-4 GB16-32 GB9 hr4.85 lb2.2 kgyesyes
AcerChromebook 15 Mar15.6"1920x1080Intel Core i3 5005U2.0 GHz22920*4500*2100*20300*4 GB32 GB9 hr4.85 lb2.2 kgyesyes
AcerChromebook 15 Mar15.6"1920x1080Intel Core i5 5200U2.2 GHz23526*5800*2900*25300*4 GB32 GB9 hr4.85 lb2.2 kgyesyes
AcerChromebook 15
(CB3-531)		Apr15.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N28302.16 GHz21016*1506*879*7600*2 GB16 GB11.5 hr4.41 lb2.0 kgyes
AcerChromebook 15 C910 Feb15.6"1366x768Intel Celeron 3205U1.5 GHz21703*2600*1490*14200*2-4 GB16-32 GB8 hr4.85 lb 2.2 kgyes
AcerChromebook 15 C910 Feb15.6"1920x1080Intel Celeron 3205U1.5 GHz21703*2600*1490*14200*2-4 GB16-32 GB8 hr4.85 lb2.2 kgyesyes
AcerChromebook 15 C910Feb15.6"1920x1080Intel Core i3 5005U2.0 GHz22920*4500*2100*20300*4 GB32 GB8 hr4.85 lb2.2 kgyesyes
AcerChromebook 15 C910 Feb15.6"1920x1080Intel Core i5 5200U2.2 GHz23526*5800*2900*25300*4 GB32 GB8 hr4.85 lb2.2 kgyesyes
AcerR11 CB5-132TSep11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N30601.6 GHz21040*1870*990*8700*4 GB16-32 GB10 hr2.76 lb1.25 kgyesyesyes
AcerR11 CB5-132TSep11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N31501.6 GHz41530*2920*870*8100*2-4 GB16-32 GB10 hr2.76 lb1.25 kgyesyesyes
AcerR11 CB5-132TSep11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N31601.6 GHz41470*3100*900*8000*4 GB32 GB10 hr2.76 lb1.25 kgyesyesyes
AcerR11 C738TNov11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N31501.6 GHz41530*2920*870*8100*4 GB16-32 GB9.5 hr2.76 lb1.25 kgyesyesyes
AcerR11 C738TNov11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N30501.6 GHz2890*1680*960*7200*4 GB16 GB9.5 hr2.76 lb1.25 kgyesyesyes
ASUSChromebook C200 (2015)Jul11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N28402.16 GHz21148*1667*954*8500*2-4 GB16-32 GB11 hr2.5 lb1.13 kgyes
ASUSChromebook C201May11.6"1366x768Rockchip RK32881.8 GHz4n/a*2500*880*7400*2-4 GB16 GB13 hr2.16 lb0.98 kgyes
ASUSChromebook C300 (2015)Jul13.3"1366x768Intel Celeron N28402.16 GHz21148*1667*954*8500*2-4 GB16-32 GB10 hr3.1 lb1.4 kgyes
ASUSChromebook Flip C100PAJun10.1"1280x800Rockchip RK32881.8 GHz4n/a*2500*880*7400*2-4 GB16 GB8 hr2.0 lb0.91 kgyesyesyes
CDIeduGear K2 / K4Jun11.6"1366x768Rockchip RK32881.8 GHz4n/a*2500*880*7400*2 GB16 GB10 hr2.46 lb1.12 kgyes
CDIeduGear M2 / M4Jun11.6"1366x768Rockchip RK32881.8 GHz4n/a*2500*880*7400*2-4 GB16 GB10 hrn/an/ayes
CDIeduGear R4Jun11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N29401.83 GHz41790*3000*930*8100*2 GB16 GB10 hrn/an/ayes
CDIeduGear CMTJun11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N30601.6 GHz21040*1870*990*8700*4 GB32 GB10 hrn/an/ayesyesyes
CTLChromebook J2/J4Apr11.6"1366x768Rockchip RK32881.8 GHz4n/a*2500*880*7700*2-4 GB16 GB9 hr2.4 lb1.09 kgyes
CTLChromebook J4 PlusAug11.6"1366x768Rockchip RK32881.8 GHz4n/a*2500*880*7700*4 GB16 GB9 hr2.46 lb1.12 kgyesyes
CTLNL6 (2015)Jul11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N29401.83 GHz41790*3000*930*8100*4 GB16 GB9 hr3.04 lb1.38 kgyes
DellChromebook 11 (2015) Feb11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N2840 2.16 GHz21148*1667*954*8500*2-4 GB16 GB10 hr2.74 lb1.25 kgyes
DellChromebook 11 (2015)Feb11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N2840 2.16 GHz21148*1667*954*8500*2-4 GB16 GB10 hr2.91 lb1.32 kgyesyes
DellChromebook 13Sep13.3"1920x1080Intel Celeron 3205U1.5 GHz21700*2600*1490*14600*4 GB16 GB12 hr3.24 lb1.47 kgyesyes
DellChromebook 13 Sep13.3"1920x1080Intel Core i3 5005U2.0 GHz22920*4500*2100*20300*4-8 GB16-32 GB12 hr3.24 lb1.47 kgyesyes
DellChromebook 13Sep13.3"1920x1080Intel Core i3 5005U2.0 GHz22920*4500*2100*20300*4 GB32 GB12 hr3.56 lb1.62 kgyesyesyes
DellChromebook 13Sep13.3"1920x1080Intel Core i5 5300U2.3 GHz23800*6100*3050*27800*8 GB32 GB12 hr3.24 lb1.47 kgyesyes
DellChromebook 13Sep13.3"1920x1080Intel Core i5 5300U2.3 GHz23800*6100*3050*27800*8 GB32 GB12 hr3.56 lb1.62 kgyesyesyes
GooglePixel (2015) Mar12.8"2560x1700Intel Core i5 5200U2.2 GHz23630*5800*2900*25000*8 GB32 GB12 hr3.3 lb1.5 kgyesyesyes
GooglePixel LS (2015) Mar12.8"2560x1700Intel Core i7 5500U2.4 GHz24055*6700*3160*28000*16 GB64 GB12 hr3.3 lb1.5 kgyesyesyes
HaierChromebook 11Apr11.6"1366x768Rockchip RK32881.8 GHz4n/a*2500*880*7400*2 GB16 GB10 hr2.54 lb1.15 kgyes
HaierChromebook 11e Apr11.6"1366x768Rockchip RK32881.8 GHz4n/a*2500*880*7400*2 GB16 GB10 hr2.76 lb1.25 kgyes
HaierChromebook 11 G2Oct11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N28402.16 GHz21148*1667*954*8500*2 GB16 GB10 hr3.8 lb1.72 kgyes
HisenseChromebook (C11/12)Apr11.6"1366x768Rockchip RK32881.8 GHz4n/a*2500*880*7100*2 GB16-32 GB8.5 hr2.54 lb1.15 kgyes
HPChromebook 11 G4Sep11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N28402.16 GHz21148*1667*954*8500*2-4 GB16-32 GB9.5 hr2.82 lb1.28 kgyes
HPChromebook 14Oct14"1366x768Intel Celeron N28402.16 GHz21148*1667*954*8500*2-4 GB16 GB8 hr3.73 lb1.69 kgmaybe
HPChromebook 14Oct14"1920x1080Intel Celeron N29401.83 GHz41790*3000*930*8200*4 GB16 GB8 hr3.73 lb1.69 kgyesmaybe
HPChromebook 14 G4Nov14"1366x768Intel Celeron N28402.16 GHz21148*1667*954*8500*2-4 GB16-32 GB9 hr3.78 lb1.71 kgyes
HPChromebook 14 G4Nov14"1920x1080Intel Celeron N29401.83 GHz41790*3000*930*8200*4 GB16-32 GB9 hr3.78 lb1.71 kgyesyes
LavaXoloMay11.6"1366x768Rockchip RK32881.8 GHz4n/a2500*880*7400*2 GB16 GB10 hr2.54 lb1.15 kgyes
LenovoN21 Mar11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N28402.16 GHz21148*1667*954*8300*2-4 GB16 GB9.5 hr2.85 lb1.29 kgyes
LenovoChromebook 100SSep11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N28402.16 GHz21148*1667*954*8900*2-4 GB16-32 GB8 hr2.6 lb1.2 kgyes
MedionAkoya S2013Dec11.6"1366x768Rockchip RK32881.8 GHz4n/a*2500*880*7400*2 GB16 GB8 hr2.54 lb1.15 kgyes
NexianChromebookMar11.6"1366x768Rockchip RK32881.8 GHz4n/a*2500*880*7400*2 GB16 GB8 hr3.3 lb1.5 kgyes
PCmergePCM-116EDec11.6"1366x768Rockchip RK32881.8 GHz4n/a*2500*880*7400*2 GB16 GB10 hr2.76 lb1.25 kgyes
Poin2Chromebook 11Aug11.6"1366x768Rockchip RK32881.8 GHz4n/a*2500*880*7400*2 GB16 GB8.5 hr2.53 lb1.15 kgyes
RGSEdu. ChromebookMar11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N28302.16 GHz21016*1506*879*7600*4 GB16 GB9.5 hr2.85 lb1.29 kgmaybe
RGSEdu. ChromebookMar11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N29301.83 GHz41710*2819*866*7400*4 GB16 GB9.5 hr2.85 lb1.29 kgmaybe
Sector 5E1 Rugged ChromebookAug11.6"1366x768Rockchip RK32881.8 GHz4n/a*2500*880*7400*2-4 GB16 GB10 hr3.3 lb1.5 kgyes
ToshibaChromebook 2 (2015)Sep13.3"1920x1080Intel Celeron 3215U1.7 GHz21830*2700*1500*17600*4 GB16 GB9 hr2.95 lb1.33 kgyesyes
ToshibaChromebook 2 (2015)Sep13.3"1920x1080Intel Core i3 5015U2.1 GHz23150*4520*2200*21400*4 GB16 GB8.5 hr2.95 lb1.33 kgyesyes
TrueIDCChromebook 11Jun11.6"1366x768Rockchip RK32881.8 GHz4n/a*2500*880*7400*2 GB16 GB8 hr2.53 lb1.15 kgyes
ViglenChromebook 11Jul11.6"1366x768Rockchip RK32881.8 GHz4n/a*2500*880*7400*2-4 GB16 GB10 hrn/an/ayes
Benchmark:
Touchscreen: Acer R11, ASUS Chromebook Flip, eduGear CMT, Google Pixel 2015 and some models of the Dell Chromebook 11 2015 and Chromebook 13 are available with touchscreen. 
Display Tech.: The Acer R11, ASUS Chromebook Flip, CTL J4 Plus, eduGear CMT, Dell Chromebook 13, Google Pixel 2015, Toshiba Chromebook 2 and full HD models of the Acer Chromebook 15/C910 and HP Chromebook 14 come with an IPS display. 
Notes: All of the Acer Chromebook C910, C740, CDI eduGear, CTL J2/J4/J4 Plus/NL6, Dell Chromebook 11, Haier Chromebook 11e, Lenovo N21, RGS and Sector 5 Chromebooks have features designed for the educational market, but are available for general sale also. “Chromebook 15” / CB5-571 is the consumer version of the C910. Octane scores marked with a red star are estimates based on past CPU model performance.

2014 Chromebooks

Sort by:
BrandNameMonthScreenResolutionCPU modelCPU speedCorePass MarkGeek BenchGeek BenchOctaneMemoryStorageBatteryWeight
lb		Weight
kg		IPSTouchscreenAndroidStylusAUE date
AcerC720 (3404, 3871) Jul11.6"1366x768Intel Core i3 4005U1.7 GHz22480*3306*1588*14600*2-4 GB32 GB8.5 hr2.76 lb1.25 kg
AcerC730Dec11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N28402.16 GHz21148*1667*954*8500*2-4 GB16-32 GB8.5 hr3.31 lb1.5 kgyes
AcerC730Dec11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N29401.83 GHz41835*2900*900*8200*2-4 GB16-32 GB8.5 hr3.1 lb1.4 kgyes
AcerChromebook 11
(CB3-111)		Sep11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N28302.16 GHz21016*1506*879*7600*2-4 GB16-32 GB8.5 hr2.43 lb1.1 kgyes
AcerChromebook 13
(CB5-311-T1UU)		Aug13.3"1920x1080Tegra K1 A15 ARM2.1 GHz4n/a*3098*1033*7600*4 GB32 GB11 hr3.31 lb1.5 kg
AcerChromebook 13
(CB5-311-T7NN)		Aug13.3"1366x768Tegra K1 A15 ARM2.1 GHz4n/a*3098*1033*7600*2 GB16 GB13 hr3.31 lb1.5 kg
AcerChromebook 13
(CB5-311-T9B0)		Aug13.3"1920x1080Tegra K1 A15 ARM2.1 GHz4n/a*3098*1033*7600*2 GB16 GB11 hr3.31 lb1.5 kg
AcerChromebook 13
(CB5-311-T9Y2)		Aug13.3"1366x768Tegra K1 A15 ARM2.1 GHz4n/a*3098*1033*7600*4 GB16 GB13 hr3.31 lb1.5 kg
AcerChromebook 13
(CB5-311P)		Sep13.3"1366x768Tegra K1 A15 ARM2.1 GHz4n/a*3098*1033*7600*4 GB16-32 GB13 hr3.31 lb1.5 kgyes
ASUSChromebook C200Jun11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N28302.16 GHz21016*1506*879*7300*2-4 GB16-32 GB11 hr2.5 lb1.13 kgyes
ASUSChromebook C300Jun13.3"1366x768Intel Celeron N28302.16 GHz21016*1506*879*7300*2-4 GB16-32 GB10 hr3.1 lb1.4 kgyes
CTLNL6Jun11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N29301.83 GHz41710*2819*866*7400*4 GB16 GB9.5 hr3.04 lb1.38 kgyes
DellChromebook 11Jan11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron 2955U1.4 GHz21555*2117*1244*11600*2-4 GB16 GB10 hr2.9 lb1.32 kg
DellChromebook 11Oct11.6"1366x768Intel Core i3 4005U1.7 GHz22480*3306*1588*15400*4 GB16 GB10 hr2.9 lb1.32 kg
EdxisEducation ChromebookSep11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N29301.83 GHz41710*2819*866*7400*2-4 GB16 GB9.5 hr2.86 lb1.29 kgyes
HexaChromebook PiJul11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N28302.16 GHz21016*1506*879*7200*4 GB32 GB10 hr2.65 lb1.2 kgyes
HPChromebook 11 G2May11.6"1366x768Exynos 5250 ARM1.7 GHz2n/a*1503*870*5800*2 GB16 GB8 hr2.95 lb1.34 kg
HPChromebook 11 G3Oct11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N28302.16 GHz21016*1506*879*7600*2-4 GB16 GB8 hr2.83 lb1.28 kgyes
HPChromebook 14 G3 Oct14"1366x768Tegra K1 A15 ARM2.1 GHz4n/a*3098*1033*7600*2-4 GB16-32 GB8 hr3.78 lb1.71 kg
HPChromebook 14 G3 (x050nr)Dec14"1920x1080Tegra K1 A15 ARM2.1 GHz4n/a*3098*1033*7600*4 GB32 GB8 hr3.77 lb1.71 kgyes
LenovoN20Jul11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N28302.16 GHz21016*1506*879*7700*2 GB16 GB8 hr2.6 lb1.18 kgyes
LenovoN20Jul11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N28302.16 GHz21016*1506*879*7700*2 GB500 HDD8 hr2.6 lb1.18 kgyes
LenovoN20pAug11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N28302.16 GHz21016*1506*879*7700*2-4 GB16 GB8 hr2.9 lb1.32 kgyesyes
LenovoN20pAug11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N29301.83 GHz41710*2819*866*7400*2-4 GB16 GB8 hr2.9 lb1.32 kgyesyes
LenovoThinkpad 11eJun11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N29301.83 GHz41710*2819*866*7400*4 GB16 GB8 hr3.1 lb1.4 kgyes
LenovoThinkpad Yoga 11eAug11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N29401.83 GHz41835*2900*900*8200*4 GB16 GB8 hr3.1 lb1.4 kgyesyesyes
M&AChromebookJun11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N28302.16 GHz21016*1506*879*7700*2 GB16 GB9.5 hr2.84 lb1.29 kgyes
M&AChromebookJun11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N29301.83 GHz41710*2819*866*7400*2 GB16 GB9.5 hr2.84 lb1.29 kgyes
SamsungChromebook 2May11.6"1366x768Exynos 5420 ARM1.9 GHz4n/a*2661*891*7000*4 GB16 GB8 hr2.65 lb1.2 kg
SamsungChromebook 2Oct11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N28402.16 GHz21148*1667*954*8500*2 GB16 GB9 hr2.65 lb1.2 kgyes
SamsungChromebook 2May13.3"1920x1080Exynos 5800 ARM2.0 GHz4n/a*2941*985*7100*4 GB16 GB8.5 hr3.09 lb1.4 kg
SenkatelEdu. Chromebook (C1101-2G)Aug11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N28302.16 GHz21016*1506*879*7700*2 GB16 GB9.5 hr2.88 lb1.29 kgyesyes
SenkatelEdu. Chromebook (C1101-4G)Aug11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron N29301.83 GHz41710*2819*866*7400*4 GB16 GB9.5 hr2.88 lb1.29 kgyesyes
ToshibaChromebookFeb13.3"1366x768Intel Celeron 2955U1.4 GHz21555*2117*1244*11800*2 GB16 GB9 hr3.3 lb1.5 kg
ToshibaChromebook 2Sep13.3"1920x1080Intel Celeron N28402.16 GHz21148*1667*954*8200*4 GB16 GB9 hr2.95 lb1.34 kgyesyes
ToshibaChromebook 2 Sep13.3"1366x768Intel Celeron N28402.16 GHz21148*1667*954*8200*2 GB16 GB11 hr2.95 lb1.34 kgyes
Benchmark:
Touchscreen: Lenovo N20p, Thinkpad Yoga 11E, HP Chromebook 14 G3 (1920×1080 edition) and
Acer Chromebook 13 CB5-311P models are touchscreen enabled. 
Display Tech.: Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga 11E, Toshiba Chromebook 2 (1920×1080 version) and Senkatel Chromebooks use an IPS type display. 
Notes: CTL NL6, Dell Chromebook 11, Edxis, M&A, PCmerge, Senkatel Chromebooks and Lenovo Thinkpad 11E / Yoga 11E are editions which are also aimed at the education market.
Full model numbers for the Toshiba Chromebook CB30/CB35 (Feb ’14) include CB30-102, CB30-A3120, CB35-A3120.
The Toshiba Chromebook 2 (Sep ’14) editions may be designated as CB35-B3330 (1366×768 version) and CB35-B3340 (1920×1080 version).

2013 Chromebooks

Sort by:
BrandNameMonthScreenResolutionCPU modelCPU speedCorePass MarkGeek BenchGeek BenchOctaneMemoryStorageBatteryWeight
lb		Weight
kg		IPSTouchscreenAndroidStylusAUE date
AcerC720Oct11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron 2955U1.4 GHz21555*2117*1244*11600*2-4 GB16-32 GB8.5 hr2.76 lb1.25 kg
AcerC720PNov11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron 2955U1.4 GHz21555*2117*1244*11600*2-4 GB16-32 GB7.5 hr2.98 lb1.35 kgyes
GooglePixelFeb12.8"2560x1700Intel Core i5 3427U1.8 GHz23600*4446*2186*20400*4 GB32-64 GB5 hr3.35 lb1.5 kgyesyes
HPChromebook 11Oct11.6"1366x768Exynos 5250 ARM1.7 GHz2n/a*1503*870*5800*2 GB16 GB6 hr2.26 lb1.0 kgyes
HPChromebook 14Oct14"1366x768Intel Celeron 2955U1.4 GHz21555*2117*1244*12000*2-4 GB16 GB9 hr4.07 lb1.85 kg
HPPavilion 14Feb14"1366x768Intel Celeron 8471.1 GHz2982*1565*905*7200*2-4 GB16 GB4 hr3.96 lb1.8 kg
LenovoThinkpad X131eJan11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron 1007U1.5 GHz21460*1989*1178*9800*4 GB16 GB7.5 hr3.92 lb1.78 kg
Benchmark:
Touchscreen: Acer C720P and Google Pixel models are touchscreen enabled. 
Display Tech.: HP Chromebook 11 and Google Pixel both use an IPS type display.
Notes: The Lenovo Thinkpad X131e is a ruggedised edition geared towards the education market.

2012 Chromebooks

Sort by:
BrandNameMonthScreenResolutionCPU modelCPU speedCorePass MarkGeek BenchGeek BenchOctaneMemoryStorageBatteryWeight
lb		Weight
kg		IPSTouchscreenAndroidStylusAUE date
AcerC710 (2055)Nov11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron 8471.1 GHz2982*1565*905*7300*4 GB320 HDD6 hr3.2 lb1.45 kg
AcerC710 (2457)Nov11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron 8471.1 GHz2982*1565*905*7300*4 GB16 GB3.5 hr2.6 lb1.18 kg
AcerC710 (2487)Nov11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron 8471.1 GHz2982*1565*905*7300*4 GB320 HDD4 hr3.05 lb 1.38 kg
AcerC710 (2833, 2856)Nov11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron 847 1.1 GHz2982*1565*905*7300*2 GB16 GB4 hr3.05 lb1.38 kg
AcerC710 (2834)Nov11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron 1007U1.5 GHz21459*1989*1178*10000*2 GB16 GB4 hr3.05 lb1.38 kg
AcerC710 (2847)Nov11.6"1366x768Intel Celeron 847 1.1 GHz2982*1565*905*7300*2 GB320 HDD4 hr3.05 lb1.38 kg
SamsungSeries 3Oct11.6"1366x768Exynos 5250 ARM1.7 GHz2n/a*1503*870*5800*2 GB16 GB6.5 hr2.42 lb1.1 kg
SamsungSeries 5 550May12.1"1280x800Intel Celeron 8671.3 GHz21199*1767*1030*9000*4 GB16 GB6.5 hr3.3 lb1.48 kg
Benchmark type:
Notes: The multiple Acer C710 (also known as Acer C7) models represent different configurations of processor, RAM,
storage and battery capacity.

2011 Chromebooks

Sort by:
BrandNameMonthScreenResolutionCPU modelCPU speedCorePass MarkGeek BenchGeek BenchOctaneMemoryStorageBatteryWeight
lb		Weight
kg		IPSTouchscreenAndroidStylusAUE date
AcerAC 700Aug11.6"1366x768Intel Atom N5701.67 GHz2595*925*383*3300*2 GB16 GB6 hr3.2 lb 1.45 kg
GoogleCr-48Dec12.1"1280x800Intel Atom N4551.67 GHz1290*502*364*3300*2 GB16 GB8 hr3.8 lb 1.7 kg
SamsungSeries 5Jun12.1"1280x800Intel Atom N5701.67 GHz2595*925*383*3300*2 GB16 GB6 hr3.06 lb 1.38 kg
Benchmark type:




Buying considerations

  • Screen size
    Smaller screens are more mobile, but display sizes of 12″ or lower can be difficult to work with for extended periods, especially if you’re used to a larger screen.

    13.3″ or 14″ screens are typically more productive for any type of content creation or design work, or simply a better option if you have trouble seeing or using small screens.
  • Display technology
    IPS type displays offer the best quality overall, with wider viewing angles and bright screens. These are the type of displays used by iPads and most Android devices.

    However, there is also variation in screen quality, contrast and brightness of non-IPS versions.

    Note: We’ve now included WVA (“Wide Viewing Angle” or “Vertical Alignment”) displays into the chart group with IPS, since they typically offer a similar improvement in display quality over standard TN screens.

    FullHD screens have a vertical resolution of 1080 pixels or greater, compared to the usual resolution of 768 pixels.

    This can give greater clarity and definition to text and multimedia content, although a side-effect with earlier versions of ChromeOS was that some of the desktop components such as text and icons appeared visually smaller. This was changed in a recent update, so that you can now choose lower resolutions such as 1536×864 (or simply press Ctrl-Shift-minus or plus).

    Note that these are “virtual” resolutions – the screen always stays at the highest pixel resolution itself, but the desktop text and UI components are scaled to appear at the lower resolution, so they will appear visually bigger, but still using all of the 1080p pixels.

    Even when set to lower virtual resolutions, some content such as full-screen videos will be played back at the highest possible resolution.
  • Stylus / EMR Pen
    Chromebooks with stylus support have become more popular since newer designs such as tablet, 2-in-1 and detachable devices have been introduced from 2017 onward.

    Stylus support could be used for note taking, art, or educational app purposes. Note that where we have a stylus model indicated (by pressing the “Stylus” button below each chart), it means that there is a stylus option available for some of these models – not that the exact model linked is guaranteed to have stylus digitizer support built in to the display, or come with a stylus included.

    Don’t touchscreens already support a stylus?
    Yes – any touchscreen model can work with an inexpensive capacitive touch stylus, however the new stylus options on recent Chromebook are higher performance “Wacom” AES or EMR style pens, which are typically more accurate and in some cases can react to touch pressure or pen tilt angle for example, and have better palm rejection.

    This tends to give a more natural writing or drawing experience, although performance may vary according to model.
    In 2020, many Chromebooks with pen support are now using the USI (“Universal Stylus Initiative”) standard which should give greater interoperability between different brands.

  • CPU speed / number of cores 
    The overall computing capacity of your Chromebook depends on the CPU type and speed.

    Different CPUs can have different computing capacity even when running at the same GHz speed, so benchmark scores such as Octane are used to give an overall value for CPU performance.

    Faster CPUs are useful when running demanding applications, or web/Chrome apps with a lot of multimedia content such as games. A faster CPU with more cores will also generally improve overall system responsiveness.

    Historically, CPUs made by Intel were typically better for higher performance at the expense of battery life, while ARM-based chips offered extended battery life at the expense of performance, however the gap between the two is closing now as the newest Intel CPUs are much more power efficient.

    2018 update: The older versions of the Celeron “N” series chips continue to be the weakest in the lineup, however for basic use they remain adequate. The popular N3350/3450 Apollo Lake series provides a reasonable boost over the slower N3050/3060 Braswell models, while the Celeron 3855U (Skylake) and Core CPUs fill out the higher end.

    It’s worth mentioning that if you just want a Chromebook for typical use such as browsing, using apps and watching videos, it’s not really necessary to go for the highest specced CPU. It’s also worth looking at estimated battery life as there is often a trade-off between performance and run time, although this is much improved for recent models.

    Note re. Exynos 5 Octa: This ARM chipset has a combination of 4 high-power and 4 low-power cores with different performances, so we just list the 4 high-performance cores.

  • Benchmarks
    Octane is the most popular benchmark used for measuring Chromebook performance. It’s a browser-based test created by Google,  which means it can run on any platform or CPU type. You can try it yourself here.

    The scores we have listed are compiled from a number of sources and have been rounded to the nearest 100. Note that a difference of a few hundred points between Octane scores is not really significant, since performance will tend to gradually improve over time as newer releases of the Chromium browser contain performance improvements, which results in higher scores.

    We’ve only used Octane 2.0 scores in compiling the charts, and tried to establish reasonable values thanks to members of the Chromebook community on /r/ChromeOS, and on Google+ at Chromebooks and Chromebook Users.

    For news about upcoming Chromebook models, Chrome Unboxed is a useful resource.

    Where it hasn’t been possible to obtain a direct score for a specific model, the score has been estimated by using similar models with the same CPU specs. These entries are marked with a red asterisk * after them. Octane is a benchmark that mostly reflects the single core performance of a CPU, although there is a small contribution to the score from multi-core tests.


    Octane discontinuation and Speedometer
    In April 2017, Google announced that it was “retiring” Octane and would no longer be supporting it. This led to many people looking for alternative benchmarks such as Speedometer as a replacement.

    It’s worth considering the reasons why Google announced Octane had been deprecated – part of their reasoning is that the suite of Octane tests didn’t adequately measure performance of loading modern Web frameworks for example.

    But another major part of their reasoning is that Octane encouraged a tendency for Javascript engine developers to optimize for the benchmark, instead of for real-world performance. This could be a problem when comparing Octane scores across different Javascript engines, however Chromebooks are something of a special case, since every browser benchmark will use the same Javascript V8 engine embedded in the Chrome browser.

    So despite its flaws, it’s still worthwhile measuring the Octane score on new Chromebooks, especially since there is a large pool of existing scores to compare to.

    What seems to be a bigger issue with the existing Octane results is that they are heavily biased towards single-core performance. There are now a number of Intel chips where there’s a very similar 4 core version with a slightly lower Octane score compared to the 2 core version, for example, Celeron N3060 and N3160, or N3350 and N3450.

    In these cases, it might not be a great idea to judge performance by Octane score only – switching to Passmark or Geekbench multi core shows a considerable jump in performance for the 4 core models (N3160, N3450) compared to the 2 core versions.

    For simple web browsing or lightweight use, it probably won’t make a huge difference, but for anyone looking to use their Chromebook more intensively, it’s almost certainly worth considering the overall much larger compute capacity of the 4 core versions in exchange for just a small drop in single core performance.


    Geekbench 3/4 and PassMark are alternative general purpose benchmarks. The scores are listed on the basis of CPU model. Geekbench is available in versions which test a single core, or all cores.

    Although Geekbench is advertised as a cross-platform benchmark, some people have noticed that it appears to slightly overestimate ARM performance due to quirks in some of the tests used. For this reason, it’s probably better to consider Geekbench scores within their own processor family – i.e. comparing ARM with other ARM models, and Intel with other Intel models. Update: Geekbench 4 is thought to be better in relation to cross-platform comparisons.

    Note: Geekbench 3 is used for benchmarks up to 2015, Geekbench 4 is used from 2016 and onwards. (Since these are two different benchmarks, they can not be directly compared with each other)

    PassMark is a multi-core, x86 only benchmark.
  • Graphics processor / GPU
    Most Chromebook graphics processors are integrated with the CPU chip in order to save costs and improve power efficiency. Newer CPU/GPU chipsets will typically have more powerful integrated graphics processing, which means better performance for games and applications using 3d graphics.

    For light usage such as typical web browsing and 2d graphics, the GPU performance isn’t so important. As a general rule though, models with higher CPU benchmark scores tend to have better GPU performance, so Intel Core i3 CPUs for example will usually do better compared to Intel Celerons.

    The Tegra K1 chip used in some newer ARM models features strong GPU performance and may be roughly similar to the Intel HD 4000 graphics found in some Core i3 models.
    tegra-k1

    A close-up photo of individual GPU cores on a Tegra K1 chip

  • Storage
    The storage values refer to SSD or eMMC storage unless otherwise indicated. “320 HDD” refers to a 320GB traditional disk drive.

    SSD drives are fast and light, but older models have quite limited amounts of storage space. This is not much of a concern though for the mostly online usage of Chromebooks. Note that the operating system installation will use up around 6GB of space, so for a 16GB model, there will be around 10GB available for storage.

    Bear in mind that you can also add extra storage space with USB flash drives, SD cards, or, in some models, upgrading the internal disk (see “Upgrade your Chromebook storage or RAM” section below for details on which models can be DIY upgraded).
     
    Memory card support – All Chromebooks models listed here have an SD card reader slot except for the 2013 version HP Chromebook 11 (it does, however have two USB ports).

    The 2014 HP Chromebook 11 has a normal SD card slot, and the 2014 HP Chromebook 14 has a smaller sized micro-SD slot. The 2014 Samsung Chromebook 2 also uses a micro-SD slot.
     
    Online storage using Google Drive – All Google accounts get 15GB free storage without restrictions or time limit. Additionally, each Chromebook comes with a free 100GB offer for 2 years. After this time, your files will still be available, but you won’t be able to store additional files without signing up to one of the storage plans (the basic plan costs / month).  

    The Google Pixel Chromebook comes with a free 1TB for 3 years offer instead.

    See here for more details about all of the Google Drive offers, and how to redeem them.
  • Connecting USB and other devices
    Most “generic” devices will work when plugged in to a USB port, such as keyboards & mice (both wired and wireless), external hard drives, and even data CD/DVD drives (but in read-only mode).

    The more specialised the device is, the less likely it is to work. Printers won’t usually work directly, but see the “Printing” section below. Support for transferring files to and from Android phones over a USB connection was recently added. For Chromebooks with Bluetooth support, you can also use Bluetooth keyboards and mice. Some Chromebook models offer HDMI or VGA video output.

    Need a wired Ethernet port? This inexpensive USB Ethernet adapter should do the trick, and it works right out of the box.
  • Skype, Webcams, Audio/Video 
    All Chromebooks come with a built-in webcam, stereo speakers and earphone/mic sockets (either separate or combined into one socket).

    However, although it’s perfectly possible to use YouTube, Spotify, Netflix, Chromecast and other streaming music/video services (including Flash sites), it isn’t currently possible to use Skype on a Chromebook without some changes. It can be installed when using Crouton (see Using Linux on Chromebooks section below.)

    New for 2017 onwards: With Android apps available on Chromebooks (see section below), the Android version of Skype is fully functional on supported Chromebooks!

    As of mid-2016, Skype has also added more support for voice calls to their web version – try it here: web.skype.com


    It’s also possible (although a little clunky) to use Skype and other apps via a remote desktop or VNC connection, details are here.

    Alternatively, you can use something like Google Hangouts as a Skype replacement directly on a Chromebook. Of course, you can’t make video calls to Skype users from Google Hangouts or vice versa, although Hangouts is integrated into the Gmail chat/contacts sidebar, and as a default app in newer versions of Android smartphones and tablets, so it is quite widespread.
     
    You can play HD videos on Chromebooks (at least on any models from 2012 onwards), either from the Web or local files. Use the built-in files app to simply double click on the video file, and it will open in the ChromeOS media player.

    All of the popular file formats such as .avi, .mkv, .mp4, .mp3 etc are supported (including DivX, Xvid ..), although you may occasionally find that some of the less common video (or audio) codecs are unsupported. If this does happen, uploading the video to your Google Drive will usually make it viewable again. Support for lossless audio FLAC file format playback was added in late 2013.

    iTunes – iTunes is not directly supported, however there is a workaround which involves uploading your iTunes library on your PC or Mac to Google Play. Once uploaded, they can be listened to in Google Play on your Chromebook (currently, only when online). The Music Manager software can also automatically upload any new additions to your iTunes library.

  • Heat and Noise
    Chromebooks are not usually very noisy computers, and all of the ARM based models and most of the newer Intel models are efficient at using power and will not get very hot or noisy in normal use.

    If you are concerned about heat or noise, choose an ARM model or one of the “N” prefix Celeron models (e.g. N3350, N3450), which are typically designed for use in fanless systems.
  • WiFi + cellular / mobile Internet
    All Chromebooks come with WiFi adapters (802.11 a/b/g/n). Recent 2014 models have 802.11ac wifi support, which is an evolution of the 802.11n WiFi standard to support faster speeds in proximity to a compatible wireless router. However, your local Internet connection speed is still much more likely to be a limiting factor, unless you have a 100Mbps or faster broadband package.

    Some Chromebook models offer a built-in 3G/4G LTE (WWAN) modem, usually as an optional extra. These may or may not come with data plans from mobile networks, although there are usually restrictions on the data allowance.

    You should be able to use your own data-enabled SIM in models with WWAN support, and therefore choose your own type of data plan (or perhaps use an existing one). However, be wary of Chromebooks branded with a specific mobile/cellular provider plan if you want to use your own network SIM – these models may possibly be locked to that specific carrier.

    Huawei USB mobile dongles are supported, although some other brands are also reported to work.

    If you have a Smartphone with a WiFi hotspot mode, you can use this to get Internet access (tethering) on any Chromebook while on the go. This may be an economical alternative to using a separate SIM-enabled Chromebook.
  • Chrome Store apps
    The Google Chrome Web Store contains a large collection of mostly free apps, games, productivity tools and more which can be installed on your Chromebook. You can check these out in your browser first if you’re using Google Chrome.

    Some apps support the full features of touchscreen Chromebooks – this can be useful for certain games, however there doesn’t appear to be an easy way to check for touchscreen support without actually trying the app or game.

    New: Google Play store support (see below) will mean that many more touch-compatible apps will soon become available.
    angrybirds

    The HTML5 version of Angry Birds used touchscreen support to good effect

  • Android apps 
    Android app support on Chromebooks has become a lot more stable and polished since first introduced in 2016. Most new Chromebooks will support Android apps and the Google Play store out of the box, however it’s worth checking the compatibility list to see if a specific model has current support (“Stable Channel”) or just “Planned” support.

    Touchscreen support is emulated by trackpad/mouse movements on models without a touchscreen. The Reddit ChromeOS subreddit is a useful source of further information on Android support on ChromeOS.
  • Online vs Offline use 
    Although still remaining true to the idea of an (almost) constantly connected world, Chromebooks have adapted to become more useful even when there’s no internet around. Check out the Chrome Web Store’s Offline Apps collection for an idea of what’s available (you can also filter search results in the Chrome store to show offline-capable apps).

    As well as having separate listings for offline apps in the web store, the core ChromeOS has also improved its own offline capabilities since the first Chromebooks came out. Local document editing is handled by activating the offline mode in Google Drive. This will then allow you to edit your files both online and offline, and handles syncing between the two. See here for instructions on how to enable this. 

    Google also have a page listing what you can do offline, although it’s worth pointing out that this is a continuous work in progress, and while some apps such as Gmail offline will work mostly ok, they may not be as fully-featured compared to the online versions.
  • Access controls and device management
    Apart from the standard Google user accounts, you can also setup “Supervised Users” where access to specific websites can be either whitelisted or blacklisted, and SafeSearch controls managed. Instructions for adding a supervised user can be found here. Once a user is added, the settings can be managed at the Supervised Users dashboard.

    One major drawback with this approach as it currently stands is that these users can’t access or use any Chrome apps (Issue tracking link).

    An alternative parental control solution is to simply configure something like the free OpenDNS Family Shield DNS settings. This can be setup on a Chromebook by changing the custom name servers to those provided by OpenDNS. This page has a step-by-step example of changing these settings (but make sure to use the DNS settings provided by OpenDNS instead). Note that you may want to use the OpenDNS settings on both Ethernet (wired) and Wi-fi connection settings.
     
    For schools and workplaces, Google have a separate, licensed management console programme. There’s also Google Play for Education which is currently available for K12 schools in the US.
  • Editing Microsoft Word and Office documents
    Google Docs will allow you to create, edit and open MS Word documents. It’s installed by default on ChromeOS, and works in offline mode (via Google Drive).

    You can try it out here by installing from the Chrome Store (or if you’re using GMail, you may have  seen it already when clicking on a document attachment and selecting the “Open in Google Docs” option).

    You can also edit Excel and Powerpoint files on Chromebooks (and view PDFs) – see here for more details.
     
    Microsoft also have Office Online – this allows you to edit Office docs in a web browser. It’s integrated with Microsoft’s OneDrive online storage instead of Google Drive, and doesn’t work offline.

    Update for 2016/2017: With Google Play becoming available on Chromebooks, the Android versions of Microsoft Office are now reported to be working correctly.
  • Printing 
    The official line on printing on Chromebook is to use a Google Cloud Print compatible printer. These are typically newer models with wireless capability which connect directly to the internet via a WiFi router.

    There’s a list of Cloud Print compatible printer models here.

    If you have an older model printer, you may be stuck in terms of printing directly from a Chromebook – try to connect a printer via USB cable in ChromeOS and it won’t be recognised.
    cloudprint

    Cloud Print can also be used from iOS and Android devices


    However, if you’re willing to tinker with it, it’s possible to get some directly connected printers working via Crouton. The details are here.

    Some manufacturers have features for online/remote printing such as HP ePrint. These may also work (even though they may not mention Cloud Print), but check the first link above just to make sure.
  • Running Windows software on Chromebook
    Although not the intended purpose of these machines, any Chromebook with an Intel or AMD CPU can also run a variety of Windows software via the WINE emulator. This opens up a huge amount of additional software such as Office/Productivity apps, graphics/image editing apps, games and more. You will need to use one of the Chromebook Linux setups in order to use WINE (see Using Linux on Chromebooks section below).

    Windows emulation will only work well with Chromebooks using Intel/AMD CPUs – not ARM. Also, not all Windows applications work correctly with WINE, but a lot do. You can see some of the best ones here, (includes a lot of games), or if you’re interested in using a specific Windows package, you can check the compatiblity level here. Within the WINE compatibility grading system, anything rated Platinum, Gold or Silver should work quite well.

Using Linux on Chromebooks – Crouton, Crostini and GalliumOS

chromebook-divider2

Chromebooks are a great option for anyone looking for a portable, low-priced laptop that also runs Linux. The operating system that comes with Chromebooks, ChromeOS, runs on top of Linux, but since everything is designed around the Chrome web browser, you don’t normally have access to the underlying standard Linux OS functions such as installing extra apps, using different windowing systems and changing advanced settings.

Note: An x86 based (Intel or AMD) Chromebook will generally have a better level of Linux app compatibility and range compared to an ARM based Chromebook (However between similar specced models, and ARM CPU may have a slight advantage when running Android apps on a Chromebook).

Some of the most popular options for Linux on Chromebook are Crouton, Crostini and GalliumOS –

  • Crouton – Crouton is one of the the easiest way to use Linux on Chromebooks, since you can install it and then switch seamlessly between ChromeOS and Linux without rebooting, simply by pressing a key combination.

    You can install either Ubuntu or Debian Linux with Crouton. Check out the guide here for step by step instructions on installing Crouton.

    The main Crouton page is here.

    Crouton – more than just a tasty addition to soups & salads

  • Crostini (“Linux apps”) – Crostini is an interesting new ChromeOS development that takes the Crouton approach a step further. Where Crouton is a 3rd party script running on top of the existing ChromeOS Linux kernel, and requires developer mode to use, Crostini runs its own kernel, doesn’t require developer mode setup and is in the process of being integrated into ChromeOS itself.

    In essence, it should be a more stable, straightforward and secure way to run Linux apps compared to Crouton. Note that Crostini is geared towards running individual Linux apps – not as a complete desktop environment.

    As of mid-2018, Crostini is still in development, but available on a limited number of Chromebooks – see /r/Crostini for more details and updates.
  • GalliumOS – GalliumOS is for most people, the best option to get a full Linux desktop install (current v2.1 release based on Ubuntu 16.04) working on a Chromebook. A lot of work has gone into addressing issues that might crop up due to the specific hardware of different Chromebook models, and overall the experience is very polished with supported models.

    Check the Hardware Compatibility list to see if your Chromebook (or Chromebox) is supported.

    We suggest installing a dual boot GalliumOS/ChromeOS using chrx, in order to have a fall-back to ChromeOS for maintenance and/or functionality purposes.

    After checking your model compatibility, the basic install steps are:

    1. Backup & Recovery image – First backup any files you might have on ChromeOS local storage, then make a ChromeOS recovery image on a spare USB stick or SD card.

    2. Enable Developer mode on the Chromebook – This will erase all local files stored on ChromeOS.

    Take care not to accidentally disable developer mode at boot-up (CTRL-D skips the delay, but Space will remove developer mode) since any installed files will be cleared again.

    3. Disable firmware write-protection – disabling the firmware write-protect will allow you to easily skip the white “OS verification” message every time you need to reboot (without pressing Ctrl-L to boot into “Legacy”).

    The write-protect switch is typically a physical screw on the motherboard which needs to be removed. You’ll need to check where it is for your specific model.

    Unfortunately, for newer models of Chromebooks, the write-protect is (temporarily) disabled only when the battery has been physically disconnected, so it may be worth investigating this first.

    4. Install firmware to enable boot into GalliumOS – This usually boils down to two options, the newer UEFI / Full ROM option which is more up to date, and can allow for installation of Windows, but which will completely replace the ChromeOS firmware so doesn’t support dual-booting into ChromeOS. The other option is RW_LEGACY which does allow dual-booting. If you need to dual boot, this is the one to go for, otherwise just use UEFI.

    Use the Mr.Chromebox Firmware Utility script in a ChromeOS shell to install the new firmware.

    You can also use it to set boot options (GBB flags) so that the Chromebook can automatically boot into GalliumOS, and only stay on the “OS verification” screen for a second (you can now dual-boot into ChromeOS by pressing Ctrl-D at this point of booting, otherwise it will try to boot whatever the legacy bootloader is, which will run GalliumOS).

    5. Install GalliumOS using chrx – chrx is a script which can be run in a ChromeOS terminal in order to install Linux distributions such as GalliumOS. It takes care of disk partitioning and also automatically installing the selected distribution. It’s not difficult to use – see the examples on the chrx page.

    An example usage to install GalliumOS along with Minecraft, Wine, Chrome and Steam might be:

    cd ; curl -Os https://chrx.org/go && sh go -d galliumos -H hostname -U username -p "minecraft wine chrome steam"

    Note that “hostname” and “username” are whatever you want to call your new GalliumOS install, plus a default user.

    For a UK keyboard layout, adjust as follows:

    cd ; curl -Os https://chrx.org/go && sh go -d galliumos -H hostname -U username -L en_GB.UTF-8 -p "minecraft wine chrome steam"

    See full install details on the GalliumOS install instructions page. It’s also worth checking out the /r/GalliumOS subreddit which has a lot of active discussion and informative posts.

  • Chrubuntu – Chrubuntu was one of the first attempts at making a complete install of Ubuntu on a Chromebook viable, however there’s not much reason to use it now since GalliumOS is available.
Install requirements
Both Crouton and GalliumOS can be installed on either the internal SSD or external storage such as SD card or USB stick, however since Crouton is more integrated with ChromeOS, it also needs to modify the internal ChromeOS filesystem during installation.

If you’re installing either on USB or SD card, you might want to try to get a reasonably fast SD card, or use USB 3.0 if possible. If you have enough space on your internal SSD (or have upgraded it), you might prefer to install GalliumOS on a separate partition here for best performance, and then use USB/SD storage for large data/media files etc. With Crouton, you can follow the normal install process to install on internal SSD, or look at the “Mapping Chroot to SD Card” instructions here to put the Crouton files on SD card.

You can also try out some of these hints/tweak suggestions after installing Crouton.
The Benefits
LibreOffice (Free Microsoft Office alternative), Linux compatible Steam games, Minecraft, Thief-like game The Dark Mod (see our install guide here), Google Earth, WINE emulator for Windows apps, Arcade/console/8-bit emulators, local development environment and more..

Note: If you want to make use of Linux on Chromebooks, it’s recommended to get an Intel or AMD CPU Chromebook due to the much higher level of compatibility with various software packages and greater emulation possibilites. You might also want to look at getting a higher spec (4-8GB) RAM and storage, either in a particular model configuration or as a DIY upgrade (see below).



Upgrade your Chromebook storage or RAM

chromebook-divider3

Most Chromebooks come with a 16GB or 32GB internal SSD drive and 2GB or 4GB or RAM, which is fine for the majority of users of Chrome OS. However for more demanding users (if you keep a ton of browser tabs open at once, you will probably appreciate more than 2GB of RAM), you can upgrade some models yourself.

2018 Update: 2GB RAM is very uncommon in newer Chromebooks and shouldn’t be considered except for very light usage. New Chromebooks do not generally have DIY upgradeable RAM and very few allow storage upgrades, so unless you’re getting an older model, it’s better to assume that you won’t be able to upgrade it yourself.


We’ve listed details here where there have been reports of successful upgrades. In some cases, there is no clear information, especially for the newest models. Note that in many cases, such modifications may invalidate your warranty, and there is no absolute guarantee that replacement RAM or SSD drives will be compatible.

Where the storage upgrade is listed as “Unlikely”, it’s probably because it’s an eMMC module instead of SSD drive, and integrated into the motherboard without other expansion options.

Before upgrading your Chromebook, make sure to create a recovery image on USB or SD card by following the instructions here. You can then restore ChromeOS on to a new SSD by simply inserting the recovery image USB or SD card at the prompt after powering up.

BrandModelUpgrade RAM?Upgrade storage?Notes
AcerAC 700No - (2GB RAM CPU limitation)Yes - Half-Slim SSD
AcerC710Yes - 2 x PC3-10600 SODIMMYes - 7mm SATA SSDHowto Video
AcerC720 / C720P (2013)NoYes - 42mm M.2 SSDHowto
AcerC720 (Core i3 CPU, 2014)UnlikelyYes - 42mm M.2 SSD
AcerC740NoYes - 42mm M.2 SSDHowto Video
AcerChromebook 11 / CB3UnlikelyUnlikely
AcerChromebook 13 / CB5-311 (2014)UnlikelyUnlikely
AcerChromebook 13 / C810 (2015)UnlikelyUnlikely
AcerChromebook 15 / C910NoYes - 42mm M.2 SSDDetails
AcerR11UnlikelyUnlikely
ASUSC200 / C300NoNo
CTLNL6UncertainUncertainClosed case design, but not soldered to MB.
DellChromebook 11 (2014/2015)NoNo
DellChromebook 13NoYes - 42mm M.2 SSDDetails
GoogleCr-48No - (2GB RAM CPU limitation)Yes - mSATA driveHowto
GooglePixelNoNo
GooglePixel / Pixel LS (2015)NoNo
HPChromebook 11 (2013)NoNo
HPChromebook 11 G3(2014)UnlikelyUnlikely
HPChromebook 11 G4(2015)UnlikelyUnlikely
HPChromebook 14 (2013)NoYes - 42mm M.2 SSDHowto - requires extra disassembly
HPChromebook 14 G3(2014)UnlikelyLikelyM.2 SSD config option available
HPChromebook 14 G4(2015)UnlikelyUnknown
HPPavilion 14Yes - 1 x PC3-12800 SODIMMYes - 7mm SATA SSDHowto - requires extra disassembly, manual
LenovoN20 / N20pNoNo
LenovoN21UnlikelyUnlikely
LenovoThinkpad 11e / Yoga 11eNoNo
LenovoThinkpad X131eYes - 2 x PC3-12800 SODIMMYes - mSATA driveHardware maintenance manual
SamsungSeries 3NoNo
SamsungSeries 5NoYes - mSATA driveHowto
SamsungSeries 5 550Yes - 2 x PC3-12800 SODIMMYes - mSATA driveDetails
SamsungChromebook 2UnlikelyUnlikely
ToshibaChromebookNoNo
ToshibaChromebook 2 (2014)NoNo
ToshibaChromebook 2 (2015)NoYes - 42mm M.2 SSDDetails

Over to you..

Did you find this guide helpful or have any suggestions for improvements?

Let us know in the comments below.

Also, feel free to share your Chromebook experiences or any tips or recommendations you might have for others.

Footnotes

Specifications are accurate only to the extent of our best effort – we can’t absolutely guarantee that all specs. are correct at any given time, and they may be subject to changes by the manufacturers. Furthermore, some values such as benchmarks scores and battery life are subjective interpretations which are presented as a rough guideline to help compare models. Sources: Specs are sourced from manufacturer data where possible, otherwise specific model details have been cross-checked with a number of online vendors. Benchmarks: Except where otherwise marked, Octane scores are compiled from multiple user-reported tests for those models. Geekbench and PassMark scores are estimates based on results for specific CPU models, not entire systems. Links: We use affiliate product links – see the about page for more details.

Title image is adapted from an original photo by Barry Wise.

Thanks to Stew from the Tampa Bay Chromebook Special Interest Group!


Original post - Chromebook specs & performance comparison chart (2020)

]]> https://zipso.net/chromebook-specs-comparison-table/feed/ 175 Play Thief-like game ‘The Dark Mod’ on a Chromebook https://zipso.net/play-thief-like-game-the-dark-mod-on-a-chromebook/ https://zipso.net/play-thief-like-game-the-dark-mod-on-a-chromebook/#comments Mon, 21 Mar 2016 20:53:43 +0000 http://zipso.net/?p=1651

When the original Thief game appeared back in 1998, it first looked like just another RPG style game with some unusual twists.

However the ground-breaking stealth gameplay and production quality soon captured players into the rich atmosphere of the Thief world – soaring cathedrals, pagan creatures, underworld gangs, city guards, opulent manors and mystical sects.


The popularity of the original Thief game (also known as “Thief – The Dark Project”) spawned a number of sequels and a plethora of 3rd party missions. While the majority of these fan missions required one of the original Thief games to play, a project called “The Dark Mod” decided to recreate the Thief universe with an alternative, newer 3d engine, with improved gameplay, physics and lighting effects.

The Dark Mod became a standalone game in 2013, and includes Windows and Linux versions. There are approx. 100 missions available, all free to play.

Here we will show you how to install a working version of The Dark Mod on a Chromebook.

The process is a little more involved compared to a typical Windows or Mac desktop game install, however it’s not too difficult – we’ve done most of the heavy-lifting for you.

Although not absolutely necessary, it may be useful if you have some experience with basic Linux commands and concepts.

I don’t know this game, what’s it like?

The Dark Mod is not so much a single game, but a wide variety of missions (some of them campaign style) that share a medieval/semi-industrial/magical setting.

Although some people might not like the fact that there isn’t an overall storyline between missions as in the original game, in reality this is hardly an issue; each mission has it’s own unique character, setting and gameplay style (Mansion break-ins, Bank heists, Rival gangs, Supernatural, Prison breaks, Exploration) but the overall world is surprisingly coherent.

Additionally, there are also a number of series following the adventures of a certain protagonist (Thomas Porter, William Steele ..) and some single maps in themselves can be very large (e.g. Requiem).

We suggest looking at the Dark Mod fan missions forum to get an idea of the type of missions available, there’s also a number of Let’s Play videos on YouTube, but naturally they contain more mission spoilers.

Click on the screenshots below for larger versions.

tdm1tdm2tdm3tdm4tdm5tdm6tdm7tdm8

System Requirements

  • You’ll need a fairly new or powerful Chromebook:

    • Any Intel “Core” CPU models should work well, e.g. Core i3, Core i5
    • Broadwell Celeron models, e.g. 3205U, 3215U can work reasonably OK
    • Celeron “N” series CPUs, e.g. N2840 may not be playable unless at very low resolutions
    • ARM based Chromebooks – extremely unlikely to work
    See our Chromebook performance comparison for a detailed list of Chromebook CPU models
  • The Dark Mod itself (with two initial missions) requires about 2.7GB of disk space.
  • We’ll show you how to install Crouton in order to run Linux applications outside of ChromeOS.

    This requires about 4-5GB of disk space. So in total, you’ll need at least 9GB of free space, which is just about feasible on a 16GB Chromebook SSD without much else saved on local storage. With a 32GB (or larger) SSD, it shouldn’t be a problem.

    You can see how much free space you currently have by opening the Files app, clicking on “Downloads” and then selecting the top-right dropdown menu icon.
  • You’ll also need to put your Chromebook into Developer mode in order to install Crouton. This is straightforward on newer Chromebooks.
  • An external mouse makes it much more enjoyable to play

Step 1 – Install Crouton on your Chromebook

tdm-s1a

If you already have Crouton installed on your Chromebook (or you boot into another Linux distribution, e.g. GalliumOS), then you can skip this and go right ahead to Step 2.


Crouton is simply a script that allows you to run another Linux environment (in this case Ubuntu) side by side with your normal ChromeOS.

You’ll first need to put your Chromebook into “Developer mode”.

We recommend looking at the steps in the guide by Voltron00x here, however we’ve found that the newer “vivid” works mostly fine instead of the older “trusty”, and xfce instead of Unity appears to be an easier option, even if you have a Core version Chromebook.

The main steps are:

  • First backup anything you need on your Chromebook local storage
  • Enable developer mode, and reboot into ChromeOS
  • Download Crouton – simply click on the link https://goo.gl/fd3zc
  • Enter a shell on ChromeOS (press Ctrl-Alt-T, then type shell).

    Ensure that the shell browser tab zoom is at 100%, otherwise you may not see text that scrolls off the bottom of the page during the install.
  • Start Crouton install with preferred options.

    For this example, we’re using the command “sudo sh ~/Downloads/crouton -r vivid -t xfce”

    crosh1
  • Note that the keyboard and/or trackpad may become unresponsive during the install.

    You may need to attach an external USB keyboard and/or mouse in order to complete this part, which asks for a default username and password.

    However, there is a way around this if you have a working mouse or trackpad but not a keyboard – Go to the ChromeOS settings panel in the bottom-right of the screen, click on “Settings” and then scroll down to “Show advanced settings”.

    You can now click on the “Enable on-screen keyboard” box to give you a software keyboard instead, which can be used to complete the Crouton installation.


Once the Crouton install is finished, you can launch Ubuntu with the command “sudo startxfce4” within the ChromeOS shell prompt:

crosh2

You can then switch back and forth between Ubuntu and Chromeos using Ctrl-Alt-Shift with the left and right arrow keys (the arrows at the top-left of the keyboard).

You’ll need to re-start Crouton using the command above any time you reboot your Chromebook.

Default keyboard layout

One of the first things you might need to do in a fresh Crouton install is to set the correct keyboard layout, if you’re using a non-US keyboard.

This will be apparent if you open a Terminal window and the pipe (|) or quote (“) characters come out wrong.

Within Crouton, you’ll need to go to Application->Settings->Keyboard->Layout and uncheck the “Use system defaults” box, and add the appropriate layout.

Mouse cursor glitches

You might notice some corruption of the mouse cursor graphic in the Ubuntu desktop.

This can be avoided by pressing the Esc button while still in ChromeOS (just before switching to Crouton each time).

Step 2 – Install required packages

tdm-s3a

You’ll most likely need to install some additional packages first for The Dark Mod to work.

These are mostly related to 32-bit compatibility, sound and graphics.

You’ll need to open a terminal window in Crouton to enter any commands listed below – click on Applications and then Terminal Emulator.

Update Crouton display drivers 

First of all, if you’re using Crouton you should update the graphics drivers as detailed in the “Step 6: Update your Intel drivers” section of the Voltron00x Crouton install guide (users of GalliumOS or other Linux installs should skip this part) – however – Since we’re using vivid (15.04) instead of trusty (14.04), the commands should be as follows:

sudo apt-get install software-properties-common python-software-properties
sudo add-apt-repository https://download.01.org/gfx/ubuntu/15.04/main
wget https://download.01.org/gfx/RPM-GPG-KEY-ilg -O - | sudo apt-key add -
wget https://download.01.org/gfx/RPM-GPG-KEY-ilg-2 -O - | sudo apt-key add -
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade


This is suggested to fix some graphical glitches and also give you slightly newer 3d drivers, although we found that the graphical corruption of the mouse cursor tended to persist, unless avoided by using the Esc key method.

At this stage, you may want to install a better web browser in Crouton in order to copy and paste instructions, since the default “Netsurf” package is not ideal at displaying some website text.

You can install Firefox for example, using the following terminal command:

sudo apt-get install firefox

Now you can check the existing version of your OpenGL graphics drivers by installing the mesa-utils package. Install using:

sudo apt-get install mesa-utils

You can then see the version by typing:

glxinfo|grep "OpenGL version"

On a new install of Ubuntu Vivid, we got the result “3.0 Mesa 10.5.9”.

After following the steps to update the drivers, this went to “3.0 Mesa 10.6.0” (With Trusty, you may be stuck at an older 10.3.0 version after updating).

You will possibly need to shutdown Ubuntu at this stage and start it up again in ChromeOS in order to see the changes (shutting down Ubuntu brings you back to the ChromeOS desktop and ends the Crouton script).

Install packages 

We’re going to list the packages you need to install to get The Dark Mod working when using the Ubuntu Vivid installation described above.

If you have a different Linux distro or Crouton installation, or have installed something like Steam, you may already have some of these libraries. In that case, it won’t cause any harm using the commands below, it will simply tell you that they have already been installed.

In a terminal window, install the following packages:

sudo apt-get install libpng12-0:i386
sudo apt-get install libx11-6:i386
sudo apt-get install libxext6:i386
sudo apt-get install libxxf86vm1:i386
sudo apt-get install libgl1-mesa-glx:i386
sudo apt-get install libasound2-plugins:i386

Step 3 – Download and install the game

tdm-s2a

Now we can install the game itself. Open a terminal window in Crouton and use the following commands to create a directory, download and run the Dark Mod updater:

mkdir darkmod
cd darkmod
wget "http://www.fidcal.com/darkuser/tdm_update_linux.zip"
unzip tdm_update_linux.zip
chmod +x tdm_update.linux
./tdm_update.linux

The updater will now take some time as it downloads the game binaries, model/texture/sound packages, the Training mission and a starter mission “Saint Lucia”.

If the downloads stall (e.g. due to a break in WiFi connection), you can press Ctrl-C, then close the terminal window (if necessary) and try running it again. It should pick up where it left off with the downloading.

After it’s complete, you can create a small script to run the game and avoid display resolution issues when returning to the desktop:

echo "./thedarkmod.x86; xrandr -s 0" > tdm.sh
chmod +x tdm.sh

Now you can start the game itself:

./tdm.sh

The game should start and bring you to the main title screen.

tdm-title1

If you can’t start the game at all, your setup may be missing the 32-bit compatibility libraries.

For example, on GalliumOS (and other Ubuntu variants), you can add these as follows:

sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get install libc6:i386 libncurses5:i386 libstdc++6:i386


Display resolution changing after exiting the game

When you quit the game, if haven’t started it using the “xrandr -s 0” script above, you may notice that your desktop is kept at the game resolution.

This can be a problem if it’s set to a low or strange resolution. In this case you can either issue the “xrand -s 0” command by itself to return to the default resolution, or change it using the menu at the top, under Applications->Settings->Display.

Failure to automatically restart

Sometimes, the game may tell you it’s restarting (e.g. after installing a new mission), but it doesn’t actually do this after exiting back to the desktop. You can simply start it again using ./tdm.sh in this case and most of the time it should work fine.

Framerate and in-game resolution

One of the first things you might want to do after installing is change the game resolution (the default is 640×480).

However this can be problematic when using the in-game settings, since some resolutions, especially widescreen ones, produce black borders, or may be offset badly from the center.

Some resolutions that we have found work without major issues on a 1920×1080 16:9 display size Chromebook are:

  • 640×480
  • 800×600
  • 1024×768
  • 1152×864
  • 1280×1024
  • 1360×768 *
  • 1920×1080

For the resolution marked with a *, we recommend setting this manually in the configuration file Darkmod.cfg.

You can edit this using a command line editor such as nano – install it with “sudo apt-get install nano”.

Now launch nano to edit the file: “nano Darkmod.cfg” ..and use Ctrl-W to find the lines r_customWidth or r_customHeight.

darkmod-cfg2

You can now edit the resolution values here. Also, check that the “r_mode” value is set to -1.

Now press Ctrl-O to save the file, then Ctrl-X to exit back to the terminal.

Framerate

You can display the FPS in the game by first opening the game console (press the `  key, on the top-left of the keyboard below Esc, or Ctrl-`).

Switch the FPS counter on and off using the command com_showfps 1 or com_showfps 0

tdm-showfps

If you have a 1080p Celeron Chromebook with a 3205U or 3215U CPU (some models of the Dell Chromebook 13 and Toshiba Chromebook 2), we recommend setting the resolution to 1360×768 in the configuration file (not 1366×768).

This will give you a reasonable widescreen resolution and playable framerate for most missions – averaging between 20-30 for the outdoor parts of the St.Lucia mission, and anywhere from 20-50 for indoor parts.

If you have a Core i3 or i5 Chromebook, you can try the full 1920×1080 if your display supports it.

Of course, some missions are a little heavier on graphics processing than others (e.g. Lords and Legacy, Glenham Tower), so it’s worth bearing in mind if you try a mission and find it very slow.

According to Dark Mod forum posters, generally if the St.Lucia mission works ok, then you should be able to play most missions without a problem.

Bikerdude, one of the developers and mission creators, suggests that looking down the archery range in the Training mission may be a useful way of measuring fps across different systems.

At this location, we got about 15 fps @ 1360×768 fullscreen on a Celeron 3205U processor using GalliumOS, and 11fps @ 1920×1080. On Core i3/i5 systems, you might get something like a 50% increase on these framerates – let us know your results in the comments below!

Although this seems low, it’s one of the more graphically complex scenes, and occasional framerate dips to 15 fps are just about at the level of playability, considering the game style (most areas of the Training mission level average 20-40 fps).

When playing under Crouton, we did notice a few fps drop at this location compared to GalliumOS, even with similar graphics driver versions. We’re not entirely sure if this is simply due to the overhead of ChromeOS within Crouton, or if there are some other factors involved.

We suggest turning off the FPS counter when playing a mission, since it can become distracting.

Get back to the desktop while playing

You can get back to your desktop environment while playing, but it only seems to work in windowed mode (when “r_fullscreen” is set to 0 in Darkmod.cfg).

Simply bring up the game console using ` or Ctrl+` – this will then free up the mouse cursor to move over the desktop, or you can use alt-tab to switch between applications.

This can be useful for leaving a number of mission downloads working in the background when using slower Internet connections.

Download more missions!

tdm-s4a

Now that you’ve tried some of the pre-installed missions, the fun part is choosing more missions to download and play.

These range from small to very large missions, some are part of a series or campaign, some are classical stealth missions while others may be more focused on exploration or fighting.

We suggest browsing through the Dark Mod fan missions forum, or just pick a few from the in-game downloader at random.

A full mission list is available here, and also on the wiki page.

Using Crouton vs a dual-boot Linux install

If you’ve researched using Linux on Chromebooks a little, you may have noticed that Crouton is an easy way to get a Linux desktop on your Chromebook, but that it comes with some restrictions.

Free memory 

One of the main issues for gaming within Crouton seems to be the amount of available memory. This is especially relevant if you have a 2GB RAM Chromebook.

What happens when Crouton is running, is that ChromeOS also continues to run in the background.

The easiest way to see this is to open a terminal shell in Crouton, and use the “top” command to see what processes are using CPU and memory.

top-screenshot

You’ll notice that the “Chrome” process is present, even though you might not be using the Chrome browser in Crouton.

This is simply Chrome from ChromeOS running in the background, and if you have a lot of tabs open etc., it may be using a lot of memory.

So if you are playing games within Crouton, you may need to make sure that you don’t have too many additional applications open, since you’re already running on reduced memory from the ChromeOS overhead (the reverse is also true – lots of activity in the background in Crouton may affect ChromeOS performance).

Older software versions 

Another issue with a Crouton setup instead of a dedicated Linux install (such as GalliumOS), is that you’re largely stuck with the releases that Crouton supports, which for Ubuntu is only officially 14.04 (Trusty).

Having said that, we’ve been using 15.04 (Vivid) without significant problems (although see “Installing more games” below for an issue regarding the Ubuntu software enter), and there are some reports of people successfully installing 15.10 (Wily).

The older distributions come with more dated graphics drivers, although it probably won’t make a huge difference to in-game framerates (perhaps a few fps difference).

Developer screen at bootup 

It’s not a huge problem, however when you have your Chromebook in Developer mode, you will get a warning screen every time you bootup, and if you (or someone using your Chromebook) presses Space here instead of Ctrl-D, it can wipe your entire Crouton install.

If you decide to go dual-boot with ChromeOS and another Linux distro, this Space bar problem will only affect your ChromeOS part, so anything installed on your other Linux boot environment is safe.

para-divider-small2

Alternatively, the boot screen can be skipped if you’ve disabled the hardware write-protect switch on your Chromebook.

You can then change the “boot flags” which control the developer screen behaviour.

On a Chromebook with just ChromeOS installed, you can enable developer mode with a short boot screen delay with the following:

sudo /usr/share/vboot/bin/set_gbb_flags.sh 0x9

If you’re dual-booting, you can do the same but with a default boot into your “Legacy” (other OS) boot with the following:

sudo /usr/share/vboot/bin/set_gbb_flags.sh 0x489

More details are available here.

Note: For brevity, we’re using “Linux” to mean a Linux desktop environment based on a typical Linux distribution such as Ubuntu. ChromeOS itself also uses a branch of the Linux kernel to operate, however it hides away the additional functionality needed for running most desktop Linux apps and games.

Using WINE to play the Windows version

In terms of performance, the WINE Windows compatibility package works well with the Dark Mod Windows version and it appears to be perfectly playable. This might be an option if you’re having a lot of difficulty with the Linux version.

You’ll need to first install WINE, and then download and run the Dark Mod Windows installer. Note that saved game files between the Windows and Linux versions are apparently not compatible.

Installing more games

Once you have successfully set up either Crouton or a standard Linux distribution on your Chromebook, there are hundreds of other games available.

Apart from Chrome web store games, you can also try the GOG Linux games or Featured Linux Games on Steam.

To being with, on a fresh Crouton install, you can add the Ubuntu Software Center package in order to more easily add games and other applications:

sudo apt-get install software-center
Currently, there appears to be an authentication related issue when installing software via the Software Center on Vivid under Crouton.

You may get an “Authentication error” message when trying to install packages if you start Ubuntu Software Center from the drop-down menu.

Instead, open a terminal window and use “gksudo software-center” to start it. You can then install packages as normal.

If you’re looking for Minecraft, you can install it from their download page here (you may need to also install OpenJDK from the Software Center or Synaptic package manager).

Additionally there are a wide variety of older Windows titles that can be played using WINE.

Design your own missions

Fancy a spot of stealthy level design? DarkRadiant is the Dark Mod’s level editor, and it works on Linux too.

Troubleshooting

  • I messed up installing packages in Crouton, help! – Don’t worry about not getting the Crouton install right the first time. As long as you don’t have anything in it that you especially want to keep, you can simply delete the install and start again.

    To do this, go into the Ctrl-Alt-T “chronos@localhost” shell in ChromeOS, and use the command “sudo delete-chroot vivid” (assuming you followed the instructions above and installed Crouton with the ‘Vivid’ version of Ubuntu).

    You can now re-install Crouton with your preferred command line options.
  • I already have a “trusty” Crouton installed, I tried to install “vivid” but it goes back to the old one – You can start your vivid install from ChromeOS shell by using “sudo startxfce4 -n vivid”.
  • I’m using GalliumOS or another Linux distro and I’m getting choppy or popping sound in the game – You can try changing the sound driver line in Darkmod.cfg “seta s_driver” from “best” to “oss”. You may need to install a package such as osspd-pulseaudio.

    Also check that the  seta s_dsp “/dev/dsp” config line reflects your setup – you may need to change it to /dev/dsp1 for example.
  • My external/USB mouse isn’t working – Try plugging it out, and re-plugging it in while in Crouton, instead of ChromeOS.

 

Original post - Play Thief-like game ‘The Dark Mod’ on a Chromebook

]]> https://zipso.net/play-thief-like-game-the-dark-mod-on-a-chromebook/feed/ 8 How to upgrade or replace the SSD drive in a Dell Chromebook 13 https://zipso.net/how-to-upgrade-or-replace-the-ssd-drive-in-a-dell-chromebook-13/ https://zipso.net/how-to-upgrade-or-replace-the-ssd-drive-in-a-dell-chromebook-13/#comments Sun, 06 Mar 2016 20:10:04 +0000 http://zipso.net/?p=1591

Follow our step-by-step guide to increase the storage space in your Dell Chromebook 13.

The Dell Chromebook 13 is one of the most popular Chromebooks currently on the market, due to its combination of FullHD IPS screen, high build quality, and fast processor options (see our Chromebook Comparison Chart for an extensive list of Chromebook specs & performance). 

But like almost all other Chromebooks, local storage space is limited to either a 16GB or 32GB SSD storage option.

This is fine for most online usage, however sometimes you may want increased offline storage space for music or video collections, or especially if you’re running native Linux apps or games on your Chromebook.

Replacing the built-in storage on the Dell Chromebook 13 is straightforward – here we’ll show you the exact steps needed.

(Click on the images for hi-res versions)

Before you start

Here’s what you’ll need for this upgrade:

  • A replacement SSD drive.

    transcend-64gb

    Any of these SSD drives should work fine (42mm M.2 NGFF).

    Transcend, ZTC and MyDigital are popular brands. MyDigital had some issues with drives failing some time ago, however this appears to be less of a concern now.

    Some people had also previously reported firmware problems with the power-saving feature on Transcend drives, however this no longer appears to be an issue with current versions of these drives.

    For this example, we’ve used a 64GB Transcend SSD.
  • A 4GB or larger USB stick or SD card to act as a ChromeOS recovery disk.
  • A couple of Phillips-style screwdrivers
  • A small credit-card thickness piece of plastic to lever open the case
Note: Since we will be completely re-installing ChromeOS, if you have any files in the local storage of the Chromebook that you wish to keep, first back them up to Google Drive or removable storage.

Step 1 – Create a ChromeOS recovery disk

You’ll need to first create a recovery disk to re-install ChromeOS on your new SSD drive.

Even if you plan on replacing ChromeOS entirely with a Linux distribution, it’s worth creating the recovery disk in case you run into problems with your new install at some later stage.

Use the Chromebook Recovery Utility to create your recovery disk. It comes as a Google Chrome extension and can be installed from the Chrome Web store at this page.

After installing, start the recovery utility from your normal Chrome Store app page, and follow the instructions. You’ll also need to supply your Chromebook’s serial number.

For convenience, with the Dell Chromebook 13 it’s probably easier to use an old USB stick as a recovery disk. You can still store additional files on any remaining space after creating the disk.

Step 2 – Remove the screws from the bottom cover of the Chromebook

The bottom plate of the Chromebook 13 contains 11 screws attaching it to the body. Unscrew these with an appropriate sized screwdriver.

Before coming into contact with any exposed electronic parts, ensure that your Chromebook is detached from the power supply, and that you’re not carrying a static electric charge.

Step 3 – Lever open and remove the bottom cover

There are no cables or other attachments connecting the cover with the rest of the body – it’s simply pushed into place.

You’ll need a thin piece of plastic card or something similar to help with physically removing the cover.

In the image below, we used a little plastic card to gradually separate the back cover from the rest of the Chromebook, starting at the top-left corner and working towards the right.

After some time, you should be able to easily lift off the entire cover.

cb13-4

Step 4 – Remove the old SSD drive

Now that the back cover is off, you should be able to see the old SSD drive at the top right, just above the WiFi card (see marked image below).

The drive is kept in place with a single screw. Simply unscrew this and pull out the card.

You might also notice a warning on the battery – “Please disconnect and remove battery before accessing device”. It’s probably not entirely necessary to do this for the purpose of replacing the SSD drive, as long as you’re not poking around too much in the innards of the Chromebook.

We didn’t remove the battery in this example, however we’re not responsible for any damage that might happen in this case..!

Step 5 – * Optional * – Remove the BIOS write-protect screw

At the top-right of the board, there is a screw with the letter “WP” written beside it. This should be the Chromebook BIOS write-protect screw.

In earlier Chromebooks, you would need to remove this to install an alternative BIOS – for example, if you wanted to dual-boot into Linux as well as ChromeOS. However, on the newer Broadwell chipset Chromebooks (Dell Chromebook 13 included), you don’t need to do this to get dual boot – instead, you can just install the “Legacy” bios by running the script on the johnlewis.ie ROM download page.

With the write-protect screw in place, you are still prevented from modifying or skipping the “Developer mode” screen at boot time. If you remove the screw, you should be able to use the commands on the page here to effectively skip the developer screen at bootup.

Be a little careful if you’re going to try this though, since there is some more risk involved. We recommend getting a ChromeOS and Linux dual-boot fully working first before trying this.

If you just plan on keeping ChromeOS on your Chromebook and not dual-booting or installing another OS, then you can just ignore the above and keep the screw attached.

cb13-8a

Step 6 – Insert the new SSD

Simply push the new SSD into the slot at an angle first, and then press down and attach it with the screw.

There should only be one way of inserting the card, it will probably be the side with the “CE” etc. markings on the label.

cb13-9 

Once the new card is in, it should look something like this:

 cb13-10a

Step 7 – Replace the back cover

Re-attach the cover by first pressing it into place. You may need to check that the edges of the cover are pushed down and fit snugly into the body of the Chromebook.

Replace and screw in the 11 screws.

Step 8 – Power up and Install ChromeOS on your new drive

Your new drive is completely blank, so you’ll need to use the recovery disk you made earlier to re-install a fresh copy of ChromeOS on to it.

After powering up, a warning message appears:

 cb-recover1

Insert your recovery disk and wait while ChromeOS is re-installed. When finished, it should display “System recovery is complete”.

You can now remove the recovery disk and the Chromebook should restart into the fresh install of ChromeOS.

Check the available space on your new disk in ChromeOS

Once you’ve logged into your new ChromeOS installation, you can go to the File Manager, select “Downloads” and click on the right-most menu option to see how much free space you now have:

 cb-recover4a

ChromeOS will take up approx 4GB – 5GB on what is probably about 55GB of usable space on a 64GB SSD, leaving just over 50GB free.

On a 128GB SSD, you should get something in the range of 105GB – 110GB free space after a fresh install.

More options

Now that you’ve increased the local storage on your Chromebook, it’s easy to either install Crouton to get a full Linux desktop side-by-side with ChromeOS, or re-partition and dual boot your new disk and install something like GalliumOS.

(The easiest way to do this is by following the chrx instructions from within a ChromeOS shell window (Ctrl-Alt-T). This will let you choose the size of your new partition, it will then set it up and do the GalliumOS install for you.)

Let us know in the comments if you’d like to see us cover either of these topics in a future post, or if you found this upgrade guide helpful.

For the moment, here’s some more pictures of the internals of the Dell Chromebook 13:

cb13-11cb13-3a

Original post - How to upgrade or replace the SSD drive in a Dell Chromebook 13

]]> https://zipso.net/how-to-upgrade-or-replace-the-ssd-drive-in-a-dell-chromebook-13/feed/ 22 Chromecast video quality https://zipso.net/chromecast-video-quality/ Thu, 19 Mar 2015 23:20:48 +0000 http://zipso.net/?p=1341

We look at what video quality you can expect when using Google’s Chromecast in different situations, with specific details including suggested WiFi link speeds, and an explanation of how video streams are sent to Chromecast from devices on your home network.

At first glance, the idea of Chromecast and similar devices is simple – watch multimedia content from your computer or tablet/phone on your TV. Even the word “cast” might lead you to believe that the main purpose is to broadcast content from one place (your device) to another (the TV).

This is not completely true however, and to understand it better (and the affect on video quality), we need to take a step back to see exactly what’s happening.

We’re going to assume that you’ve already installed the Chromecast into the HDMI socket on your TV (and added USB power), set it up, and that you’re using a local WiFi network with either a laptop or smartphone/tablet (you can cast from more than one device).

Normal streaming video

When you’re streaming a video to a laptop (or phone/tablet), it usually works something like this: casting1a There’s a single WiFi transmission from your router to your laptop (for simplicity, we’re assuming that your WiFi is directly connected to the Internet, or wired to a DSL/Cable/Fibre modem).

Chromecast – Tab casting vs. App casting

Getting something to appear on your TV screen can work in two different modes with Chromecast:
tabcast-header
Tab casting is directly mirroring the screen of a tab from within the Google Chrome browser.

After installing the Google Cast extension, you simply click on the cast-icon icon in the top-right of the browser, then select the Chromecast device to start casting the current browser tab. Instead of a single video stream coming in to your laptop, there are now three separate WiFi connections being transmitted at once:

  • The original video stream (red arrows) comes into your laptop
  • The Chromecast plugin re-encodes the video into a new stream, and sends it back to the WiFi router (green arrows)
  • The WiFi router sends this new stream to the Chromecast, where it’s decoded and displayed on TV

So now your WiFi has to support three connections at once, instead of a single one, and in addition, your laptop has to encode the contents of the tab in real-time. These two factors mean that tab casting is a lot more resource intensive compared to app casting.

Also, tab casting doesn’t pre-buffer the video stream very much, which makes it more responsive, but also more susceptible to spikes in CPU & network traffic.

Tab casting CPU requirements

Google suggest some minimum CPU requirements for tab casting:
Operating SystemTab casting quality: HighTab casting quality: Standard
Windows Vista
Windows 7, 8 & 8.1		2nd-generation Core i5 (2GHz+), 3rd/4th-generation Core i5 processor, or equivalentCore i3 or equivalent
Apple OS X 10.7, 10.8Macbook Pro 2011 or newer, Macbook Air 2012 or newerMacbook Pro 2010, Macbook Air 2011
Chrome OSChromebook Pixel, Samsung Chromebook 2, Haswell-based devicesNone
Windows XP
Linux		Limited performance when casting videoLimited performance when casting video

Although Linux support is listed as “minimal performance”, many people can tab cast without problems from Chrome in Linux, however you may need to tweak a few things, and make sure you’re using recent version of Chrome and your Linux distribution.

See “How can I use Chromecast” for some specific suggestions (geared towards Ubuntu, but also relevant for other Linux variants).

Tab casting WiFi connection speed requirements

Taking the additional wireless network overheads for tab casting into account, we’ve estimated some minimum WiFi connection rates that you might need for different quality levels:

WiFi link speedTab Casting: ExtremeTab Casting: HighTab Casting: Standard
Suggested WiFi link rate30 Mbps+18 Mbps+11 Mbps+
Actual video encoding rate~ 5 Mbps~ 2.5 Mbps~ 1.5 Mbps

Note that these are not Internet connection rates – they are wireless connection rates (link rates) between your laptop and WiFi router, and Chromecast and WiFi router.

These are just our unofficial, estimated guideline rates, and can be affected by your local environment and how many other WiFi devices are broadcasting nearby.

See “Checking WiFi connection rates using OpenWRT/DD-WRT” at the bottom of this page for more details on how to check these speeds on both your Chromecast and other devices.
appcast-header
App casting (or “Google Cast Ready”) works when you’re simply using your laptop, tablet or phone as a type of remote control for the Chromecast.

In this case, the app (or website) you want to stream content from must have Chromecast support built-in to it. This will appear as the cast button cast-icon within the app (or website) itself. Once you start casting, your device will hand off responsibility for the stream to the Chromecast, so it takes over all of the downloading and decoding of the video.

By using this technique, only a single WiFi connection is needed to stream, and you’re free to do something else on your device or laptop while the Chromecast works in the background.

Note that if you’re on a laptop and trying to cast from a supported website (e.g. Netflix), pressing the tab casting button in the top-right of the browser might work, but this can be misleading – you will see it being streamed (tab casted), but the quality will most likely be lower than it should be.

Sometimes these sites will attempt to switch you over to the higher quality app casting mode, but this doesn’t always work correctly.

  • It’s better to press the cast button within the app or website itself. This is usually located along with the other video controls such as screen size and quality setting. If the button isn’t available, it could mean that the app isn’t aware of any nearby Chromecasts to connect to.

App casting WiFi connection speed requirements

App casting can work well even with lower WiFi connection rates, since it only uses a single wireless link. We’ve estimated some minimum WiFi rates based on example video bitrates and WiFi overheads.

Many online streaming services use combinations of buffering and adaptive bitrates, so that the video doesn’t drop out entirely even if your wireless slows down temporarily. (all bitrates are stated in Megabits per second)
Video typeSuggested WiFi link rateVideo average bitrate
YouTube 360p1 Mbps+0.5 Mbps
YouTube 480p2 Mbps+0.8 Mbps
YouTube 720p5.5 Mbps+1.6 Mbps
YouTube 1080p9 Mbps+3 Mbps
Netflix1Mbps (low quality)

15 Mbps+ (high quality)
0.2 Mbps
- up to -
5.8 Mbps (1080p)
Plex 1 Mbps2 Mbps+1 Mbps
Plex 6 Mbps (eg. 720p)15 Mbps+6 Mbps
Plex 12 Mbps (eg. 1080p )30 Mbps+12 Mbps

These are best case minimum speeds without considering interference from other networks or link rate/video bitrate fluctuations.

If you’re casting from a local media server, you’ll get the best performance if that server is connected by ethernet cable to your WiFi router (either directly or via a network switch).

Otherwise, if your media server is connected wirelessly (or you’re using something like Videostream from a laptop or phone), this will significantly increase the strain and requirements on the wireless network when casting, since it will now have to support an additional simultaneous wireless data stream from media server to router.

In this case, double the link rate estimates for Plex in the table above. This can lead to the counter-intuitive situation where you might actually get better performance from casting the same content from an online or cloud file source, compared to saturating your local WiFi capacity with streaming video data being sent from one device to another.

App casting video quality 

Using Chromecast with supported apps and websites will typically result in better video quality compared to tab casting. The exact video quality will depend on the quality of the stream that the app is sending (and also your Internet connection speed). Let’s look at Netflix as an example.

  • Highest quality 1080p HD streams at 5.8Mbps. This used to be called a “Super HD” stream on Netflix, but they have discontinued using this label, now it’s just “HD”.
  • It’s been reported that Chromecast can support at least 20Mbps streams, so there should be no problem streaming the highest quality 1080p videos on Netflix.
  • Chromecast doesn’t support new 4k resolution streams – this isn’t a big problem right now, since there is very little 4k content available, and it won’t look any better on a standard 1080p HD TV.
  • You can see an example Netflix HD stream by clicking here.

    This will also display the current video resolution and bitrate (give it a few minutes to get up to speed). If you are watching this on a device such as a laptop that is less than 1080p, it will max. out at a lower resolution, so you may in fact get better quality with a Chromecast connected to a 1080p (or higher) TV, where it can automatically switch the stream to those higher resolutions.

Streaming Blu-ray quality videos from a media server

It’s possible to stream MP4 encoded or transcoded Blu Ray files (e.g. 12Mbps bitrate via Plex at 1080p which is about a 11GB file size for a 2 hour movie) from a local media server to Chromecast with good quality, but you will need to ensure that your wired & wireless setup is working properly to get the best results (see below).

  • Using something like Plex is one of the least-hassle solutions, since it will transcode high-bitrate videos down to a format that the Chromecast can handle, while also limiting high bitrate spikes in adaptive bitrate videos.

    Additionally, it provides a way to playback .mkv and other formats which Chromecast does not natively support.

    The disadvantage is that you need a Plex server box with a CPU reasonably powerful enough to handle the transcoding when necessary (they suggest a minimum of Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz). It’s been reported that Plex may have a 12Mbps limitation while streaming to Chromecast, but this is still quite an acceptable HD bitrate.
  • However, if you’re in a very heavily used WiFi area and intend to mostly stream local high-bitrate 1080p video, consider going with a wired solution instead for this purpose, or at least look at reducing the distance between router and Chromecast. See the section below for more details.

Improving casting quality

If your app or tab casting is slow, jittery or poor quality, there are some things you can look at to try to improve it:

  • Are you in a congested WiFi area?
    If you can see a lot of other WiFi networks listed when you connect to your own one, there’s a good chance that your casting may be slower due to heavy wireless traffic in the area.

    Often just changing the wireless channel that your router works on can help. You can see which channels are free (or less busy) by using a channel scanner such as inSSIDer 3 (Windows/Mac), Wifi Analyzer (Android) or similar. Unfortunately you can’t use .11a (5Ghz) channels since Chromecast doesn’t support these.
  • Are you using an older .11g router?
    It might be time to upgrade to at least a .11n router. One of the best, most cost effective at the moment is this model from TP-LINK (which can use the custom OpenWRT firmware – e.g.  this one for the most recent v9 version of the router, and also DD-WRT betas).

    It’s probably not worth upgrading to a .11ac router just for Chromecast, as the Chromecast device itself won’t take advantage of this newer standard, and a good .11n setup should work well.

    However if you’re in an area with a lot of wireless networks, it could make sense – see “Consider a dual band or .11ac router” below.
  • Is your .11n router configured to use 40MHz channels?
    This can make a big difference to your wireless connection speed. With older 802.11b/g routers, the normal wireless channel “width” was 20MHz. With .11n routers, this can be increased to 40MHz, which will give you around double the speed without any difference in WiFi range (when using devices that support .11n).

    Some .11n routers may not be setup to use this mode by default, so check on your router config page that it’s set to “20MHz/40MHz” or similar.

    You can confirm that it’s working by looking at the network display in something like inSSIDer, or checking on RX and TX rates of Associated Stations in OpenWRT (under “Network->Wifi”). Check these connection rates when streaming something over WiFi, otherwise you may not see the true connection rate.

    It’s unclear whether the Chromecast itself can make use of 40Mhz channels, however it’s still worth enabling as it may speed up the connection speed of other devices on your network. This mode does use additional wireless channels, so may be considered “greedy” in areas of high WiFi congestion, however for normal home router setups it’s less likely to be problematic.
  • Check that your wireless connection isn’t being saturated by other uses.
    This can be quite tricky to estimate correctly when there are a number of devices connecting to the same WiFi network. One thing to watch for here is background apps such as Google Drive or other file transfer networks, which can silently use up a lot of WiFi capacity.

    Another option here is when using OpenWRT or similar, check the “Realtime Traffic” (under “Status” and “Realtime Graphs”) tab to see the level of traffic on the local network. You’ll probably need to select “wlan0” to show graphs for the wireless network interface.

     realtime-traffic
  • If you’re tab casting, try lowering the quality setting
    cpu-usage3

    Windows Task Manager showing high CPU usage

    After pressing the cast-icon button in the Chrome browser, click on “Options”  and select the “Standard (480p)” option.

    Check the CPU usage on your laptop – if it’s hitting 90% or higher then it’s likely that your CPU is not powerful enough to tab cast smoothly.

    There’s not much that can be done in this case apart from either casting from a more powerful computer or trying to find the media you’re watching on a Cast-ready app or website.

  • Try using the HDMI extender that’s bundled with the Chromecast
    In each Chromecast box, there’s also a small (4″) HDMI extension cable which you can attach between the Chromecast and the HDMI socket in your TV.

    Chromecast with HDMI extender. <br class=' sb-br' />Image credit: minimachines.net

    Chromecast with HDMI extender.
    Image credit: minimachines.net

    The idea is that it by physically moving the Chromecast away from the TV, it may improve WiFi reception in cases where parts of the TV, for example the frame or bezel, are blocking the signal.

    If your Chromecast is already connecting at 72Mbps then it’s not going to make any difference. It’s likely that you might only see an improvement using this if a part of your TV protrudes between the Chromecast and the direction of your wireless router.
  • Try repositioning your router
    With WiFi, many connection problems can be solved by reducing the distance between the router and the connecting device, or avoiding large obstacles in the path between them (many walls etc.).

    Some more unusual ways of dealing with this problem include placing mirrors or tin foil sheets behind a router to act as a signal reflector, or printing out a very simple DIY antenna template, covering it with foil, and attach it to the router.
  • Consider a dual-band or .11ac router
    Dual-band routers can use both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands simultaneously. Although Chromecast doesn’t support the 5Ghz band, this may still be useful if you have an extensive wireless setup.

    By offloading some of your existing WiFi connections on to 5Ghz, it frees up capacity for devices like the Chromecast which can only use the 2.4Ghz portion. This can be especially useful in built-up areas where there is already saturation in the 2.4Ghz band.

    2.4ghz-vs-5ghz

    A wireless site survey using inSSIDer. The 2.4Ghz channels are often significantly more crowded compared to 5Ghz.


    Nearly all of the newer .11ac routers are also dual-band capable, so it’s worth looking at something like the TP-Link Archer C7 AC1750 for maximum capacity.

    You’ll still need to have .11ac compatible wireless devices to take full advantage of the increased speeds however.

Other casting options

casting-banner2 Although there are now a number of similar devices available such as the Roku or Amazon Fire sticks, Chromecast has a good combination of low cost, widespread app support, and flexible tab/screen mirroring options (from laptop and Android devices).

Not bad for a device that’s available online for less than $35.

Here are some alternative casting setups which might be worth exploring depending on what you want to watch, and where it’s stored:

  • Full-screen casting 
    You can cast your entire laptop screen from the tab casting interface. Needless to say, this is a very useful feature for anyone giving PowerPoint style presentations, for example, or classroom IT demonstrations.

    After clicking on cast-icon in the browser, click on the downward-pointing arrow on the right of the dialog box, where you can then select “Cast screen/window”.

    On Android, you can do the same by using the “Cast screen” button from the Chromecast app.

    You can’t currently mirror iPhone or iPad screens with Chromecast (at least, for non-jailbroken devices).
  • Cast local files – It’s possible to cast audio or video files that you have stored locally, by opening them directly in Chrome browser. On Windows or Mac, press Ctrl-O in the browser to open a file in a new tab. You can now tab cast this file as usual by pressing the cast-icon button.

    However there are a number of problems with this – only some basic files like .mp3 and some video files will actually play in a browser tab; other files not supported by the internal media player will simply start downloading. There’s also the additional network & CPU overheads of tab-casting mode to consider.

    A slightly better alternative is to install Plex on your laptop as if the laptop is acting as a local media server (see below).

    Another local streaming app/extension is Videostream (Chrome browser and Android), which is a more lightweight, but less polished alternative to installing Plex locally.

    For iPhone/iPad, you can try something like Photo/Video Cast.
    Android users can also check out LocalCast.
  • Cast from a local media server – You can use something like Plex to setup a local streaming media server, and connect that box directly via network cable to your WiFi router, so that you’re not using any additional wireless bandwidth when casting.

    Now simply start the cast using one of the Plex mobile or web apps, and it will hand-off the stream to the Chromecast in App casting mode, so that you’re only using a single Wifi connection when casting. Non-MP4 files may need to be transcoded by the Plex server, so it should be powerful enough to achieve this.

    Additionally, if your Plex library is installed on a WiFi-connected laptop, it may work, but will require a very solid connection, since there are now WiFi connections both from your laptop to your router, and from the router to the Chromecast.
  • Cast from a cloud file server – Android apps such as LocalCast can cast videos stored on Google Drive. For iOS, AllCast can cast from Google Drive and Dropbox, or try nPlayer as an alternative for Dropbox and other cloud casting. Chromebooks now support casting content from Google Drive.

    Another alternative for casting remote files is Plex, which works on all platforms. If you signup for Plex pass, you can use the Cloud sync feature to stream content stored on Google Drive, Dropbox etc.

    Again this uses app casting mode, so it will go directly from the cloud service to the Chromecast itself, instead of being re-transmitted through your laptop or other device.

Checking WiFi connection rates using OpenWRT / DD-WRT

mac-address-banner

  • Since the quality of your WiFi connection is a big factor in Chromecast quality, you need to be able to check exactly what’s happening with the connection between your devices and WiFi router.

    With laptops and some mobile devices, this is easy enough, as the current connection rate can often be seen by clicking/tapping on WiFi connection icons.

    Chromecast IP address from iPad app

    Chromecast details on iPad app

    However, it may not be immediately obvious how to see what speed your Chromecast is connecting to your router at. We need to look at the stats for connected devices on the wireless router for this.

  • First, you’ll need to find out your Chromecast IP and/or MAC address. You can find these details by using the Chromecast setup program or app, and scrolling down to the “Information” section.
  • Once you have your Chromecast IP or MAC address, you should be able to identify it on your routers “Associated Stations” or “Connected Devices” list. Not all router models give this info, so we’re going to use OpenWRT (version 14 – “Barrier Breaker”) as an example to check it.

    Login to your router, and scroll down to the Associated Stations list (under the “Status->Overview” tab). Now try to find the MAC address of your Chromecast (on some routers you can check for the IP address instead):

associated-stations

  • You should now be able to identify your Chromecast on the list, and confirm the rate it’s connecting at.

    In our example in OpenWrt, the Chromecast is connected at the maximum 72.2 Mbit for both sending and receiving. TX rate is from the point of view of the router – i.e. sending data to the Chromecast, so it’s more important in this case compared to the RX rate.

    If you’re tab casting, you can also check the TX and RX rates of your tab-casting devices here, taking into account the tab-casting data transfer layout described earlier.
  • Note that these speeds are simply the WiFi connection rates – they are maximum rates and don’t indicate the current amount of data being transferred. In practice, actual transfer speeds will be much lower than these rates, due to factors such as WiFi protocol overhead.

    Although it varies depending on the link rate and other settings, the actual transfer capacity can be thought of as 40% of the displayed rate, as a very rough estimate.
  • You should check these connection speeds while casting some content, otherwise the WiFi connection list on your router may appear to remain idle at a lower connection rate.

Your Chromecast setup

Maybe you have a specific way of casting that works especially well with your setup?

Or perhaps you’ve found that a different HDMI streaming stick does the job better?

Either way, let us know in the comments section below!

References – YouTube sample video bitrates – Bjoern Hassler – Google Chromecast minimum systems requirements

Original post - Chromecast video quality

]]> How to send a lot of photos over email – a step by step guide https://zipso.net/how-to-send-a-lot-of-photos-over-email-a-step-by-step-guide/ https://zipso.net/how-to-send-a-lot-of-photos-over-email-a-step-by-step-guide/#comments Fri, 30 Jan 2015 18:41:20 +0000 http://zipso.net/?p=1247

Email is still one of the easiest ways to keep in touch with someone, however it wasn’t originally designed for sending large multimedia files like photos.

Use this step-by-step guide to avoid some common problems when sending large numbers of pictures via email.

Although instant messaging services like Whatsapp are more popular than ever, email remains the universal online communications standard.

But it’s not great at everything – if you’ve tried before to send a large number of big file attachments, you might have run into difficulties such as message rejections, failed sending and more.

This problem only becomes more difficult as camera and smartphone image file sizes continue to increase. For the purpose of this article, we’re going to assume that you have a collection of image files, probably from the memory card of your compact camera.

The same suggestions can apply to any collection of images, even from iPhone/Android phones or tablets, however for a large amount of image files, we recommend transferring them to a laptop or desktop first as it makes it easier to deal with compared to using a mobile device.

1. First, check the total size of the files you want to send

Collect or copy all the photos you want to send into a single folder on your computer. If you only want to send specific photos out of a large batch, it’s worth creating a temporary folder and copying those photos into that folder, for easier management.

Now, check the total size of the files you want to send. In Windows, you can do this by selecting all the files in the folder (you can press Ctrl-A while in the File Explorer window to select all files), then right-clicking on the selection, and choosing “Properties” (for Macs, see here for how to check the total size).

  • Take a note of what the combined size is (in MB or GB), because you might need this to see if it’s over the file attachment size limits for your email provider (and you can also use it for estimating the time to upload below).

2. How long will it take to upload?

If you’re on a slow or mobile Internet connection it’s sometimes useful to know how much time the file/attachment upload will take. We’ve made a useful little calculator to work this out, but first check your upload speed at speedtest.net for example.

Now enter the total file size, and upload speed to get an upload time estimate.
(for 1GB file size, enter 1000MB etc.)

Upload time calculator

File size: MB Your upload speed:
 

Note that this is assuming that you’re connecting to an Internet mail service such as Gmail, Yahoo mail etc. – if you’re using a mail system that’s on a local network such as a corporate intranet, the upload speeds will usually be much faster.

  • If it looks like it’s going to take too long to upload, try the next step, which can effectively reduce the upload time.

3. Reduce photo size if necessary

  • If you’re not sending images that will be printed at some stage, it’s rarely necessary to send them as the original, full resolution versions.
  • Even halving the photo dimensions will not usually reduce quality that much, and in many cases can even make photos look sharper (digital cameras frequently push the limits of their sensor resolution via interpolation when using the largest photo size modes).
  • This will also significantly reduce the file size (and upload times) – you can reasonably expect files to be less than half of the original size (and up to 10 times smaller if the original was saved at too high a quality).

Resized photo file size comparison

You’ll probably want to use some software that can do this automatically for multiple images:

Note – Unless you’re familiar with the process, it’s strongly recommended to work off a copy of your original photo files when batch resizing. That way you can always get back to the originals if there is a problem with the resizing process.

Windows – A good option for batch photo resizing is Irfanview. After installing, select “Batch conversion/rename” from the File menu. There are a lot of options here, but all that needs to be done is select the image files from the file browser in the top-right, then click on “Add” to add them to the list of images to be processed (small note – there appears to be a bug in Irfanview where the “Add” button might not work when only a single file is selected. If this happens, you can instead double-click on the file to add it to the list).

irfanview-advanced2a

  • Now click on the “Use advanced options” checkbox, and then the “Advanced” button beside it. This will open a dialog with even more options, however, all that needs to be selected here is the “Resize” checkbox, then in the “Set new size as percentage of original” boxes, put in 50% (it will use this for both width and height).
  • Click OK in the Advanced settings to go back to the Batch Conversion window. Now, the only other option to point out here is “Output directory for result files”. This is where the newly resized images are placed, so change it if necessary. Now click “Start Batch” and your images will be converted.

Mac – You can easily resize images using the Preview tool, see here for details. Note that you can select “percent” instead of “pixels” to get more consistently resized images.

Chromebook – Batch image resize options are currently a bit more limited on Chromebooks, however you could try the Bulk Resize Photos free Chrome Store app.

4. Put all the images into a single file

If you have more than 5 or 6 photos to send, it’s going to be much easier to send them as a single archived file (e.g. ZIP file).

To create file archives, we’re using 7-Zip (Windows) as it’s free and high performance, however there are many options available here.

add-to-archive

After installing, simply select all of the files you want to add, right-click on the group and “Add to archive..” (image above).  It will create a single “.zip” file with all of your photos in it.

On Macs, selected the files then Control-click and select “Create Archive”. For Chromebooks, see here.

If you have previously resized the images, you may have two copies of each photo (small and large), so check that you’re only selecting the smaller versions when creating the archives.

Creating a .zip file won’t change the image quality or size, but it will try to compress the data within the files.

Since image files are usually already compressed (unless you are using raw format photos from digital SLRs), this won’t save much space, but it’s still convenient to have all of the images contained within a single archive file.

5. Send the photos

airmail

Files can be sent as attachments within an email, but there are some restrictions – it’s similar to the way that parcels & packages in the postal system have a certain amount of capacity for items sent.

Due to physical limitations on storage space and network bandwidth, email providers have upper limits on the maximum size of attachments that can be sent and/or received. For the most popular mail services, this is currently about 25MB per message, for both sending and receiving attachments.

25MB is not all that generous in terms of photo and video files, but at the same time, it becomes more difficult to handle large files when they are embedded within emails. To solve this problem, most email providers offer an alternative of uploading your large files to their online storage services (e.g. Google Drive), and then place a link to the file in the email when it has finished uploading.

Since the files themselves are not actually being sent with the email (just the link to the files is sent), this allows for much larger 100s of MB files to be shared.

Delivery failures

Be aware that even though Gmail etc. may let you send attachments up to 25MB within mails, some email services may have lower limits, even for incoming emails. This can be especially true if you’re sending mails to corporate or commercial email addresses, where there are often more restricted  limits in place.

  • If your email is over the recipient’s attachment size limit, you will in most cases receive an error message back from their mail system stating this. Note that this only means that the delivery failed to that specific addresss – if you have sent the mail to a group of other people then they most likely received it fine, and it doesn’t need to be re-sent to them.
  • In this case, you can try again but attach the file using Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive.

We’ll go through the process of attaching our .zip archive file in each of Google Mail, Outlook and Yahoo mailers:

Gmail

Google mail icon

  • Start a new mail, and click on the paperclip icon to attach files.
    The attachment size limit for Gmail is 25MB, however, if your file is larger than this, it will ask you if you want to send it using Google Drive, where the file size can be up to 10GB (10000MB).
  • If you’re sending using Google Drive, it will show you the files you have currently uploaded. So click on the “Upload” tab and select the file to upload again if necessary, and click on the blue “Upload” button below.

Uploading to Google Drive

  • You will need to leave the browser tab open in either case while uploading, however it will continue uploading in the background if you simply switch to another tab or window.
  • When the upload is finished, if you are attaching the file with Google Drive, it may ask you if you want to share this file with the recipient. Clicking on the default option here, “Share & Send” should be ok in most cases, it means that the person you’re sending the file to can see that file on your Google Drive storage area, but not any other files you may have there (unless you previously shared them).

    In this case, the recipients don’t need a Gmail or Google account to see your attachment once it’s shared, in fact they just need the link in the email. Be aware that access to your file is just like a normal attachment or image link – if the email is forwarded again, other recipients can click on and access or download the file attachment from Google Drive.
  • If you select “Send without sharing”, the recipient may have to go through a further step of requesting access to the file. This may be useful where you need to send a file link to a group of people, but you only want to grant access to someone if they then specifically request it after they click on the link. In this case, the recipient will need to login to a Google (but not necessarily Gmail) account in order to request access.

A slightly confusing new feature in Gmail is the ability to send files stored on Google Drive as a standard “Attachment” instead of “Drive Link” (see example below).

attach-google-drive

This Attachment option is largely pointless for files that are not already on Google Drive, since you can just click the paperclip icon in Gmail to upload attachments directly, however if you’re in the habit of using Google Drive to store your files (for example, Chromebook users), this might be a useful option, since normal attachments remain permanently with the email they were sent with, whereas you might delete some files on your Google Drive at some stage, which could prevent shared files from being accessible at some stage in the future.

Outlook.com (aka Hotmail)

Outlook mail icon

  • Create a new email, then click on the “Insert” option from the menu at the top. If your total file size is less than 25MB, select “Files as attachments” and upload the file.
  • If your files are greater than 25MB, it will prompt you to use OneDrive, which is Microsoft’s online storage service. It’s slightly less integrated with email compared to Google’s version, since one you arrive at the OneDrive page, you’ll need to select the file for uploading once again, so if you know the file is too big to be sent as an attachment, it’s better to select the “Share from OneDrive” option in Outlook when composing your mail.
  • After uploading, the file will appear on the OneDrive page, however now you have to go back to your email in Outlook.com, and select “Insert” and “Share from OneDrive”. You can then select the file to send with the email.
Receiving files sent via OneDrive – Like Google Drive, you can send files to people using OneDrive, and they don’t need a OneDrive account to see them or download them.

Yahoo mail

Yahoo mail icon

  • Although it was reported some time back that Yahoo had got rid of attachment limits in email, this isn’t exactly true. For files over 25MB, you’re prompted to use Dropbox to store the file before sending the email.
  • This works in much the same way as the Google and Microsoft online storage services – you can access the files later as a separate virtual drive or folder on your computer, but the recipient doesn’t necessarily need any login details to be able to open the files you send them in an email.

Alternatives to using email

The universal nature of email is still a huge feature compared to other services – you don’t need to ask anyone what software or system they’re on before sending files to them.

However many people find that dedicated file applications are a better option when frequently sharing files with the same recipient or group.

  • Social networks and photo sharing sites such as Facebook, Google+, Flickr, Picasa and Instagram. These sites will usually let you organise photos into albums, and set access permissions for different people. They tend to be better suited for sharing photos on a periodic, social basis, instead of sharing a lot of photos at once.
  • Messaging services such as Skype can often transfer files, however this usually requires that the other user is online at the same time.
  • Using online storage services such as Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Apple iCloud Photo Sharing and Dropbox outside of email. These services are designed to make files easily accessible, and can be very efficient when each party is using them to the full extent (for example, downloading the client program on each service in order to add a remote folder to their system).

Image credits: Waterfall photo courtesy of Gareth Thomas (Creative Commons 2.0 BY-ND license).
Microsoft Outlook icon courtesy dAKirby309.

Original post - How to send a lot of photos over email – a step by step guide

]]> https://zipso.net/how-to-send-a-lot-of-photos-over-email-a-step-by-step-guide/feed/ 23 Popular Advertising Niches on Project Wonderful https://zipso.net/popular-advertising-niches-on-project-wonderful/ https://zipso.net/popular-advertising-niches-on-project-wonderful/#respond Tue, 15 Jul 2014 17:15:18 +0000 http://zipso.net/?p=802 pw3

Project Wonderful is an online ad platform that started out in 2006. Created by Ryan North, a webcomic writer, it quickly gained popularity among webcomic site owners as a user-friendly way of advertising their new creations.

Since then, Project Wonderful has grown to be a popular ad marketplace over a range of creative niches.

Here we list some of the most popular categories of websites that offer advertising space on Project Wonderful.

If you happen to have a website in one of these areas, and want to try an alternative to Adsense or other ad platforms, Project Wonderful may offer a useful alternative.

Note to publishers: Your site doesn’t necessarily have to fit into one of these niches to be successful, however if it does, then there is typically a larger pool of advertisers who are willing to compete with each other in bidding for your ad space.

Let’s first take a quick look at how many ad spaces Project Wonderful has relative to each of their main category groups:

pw-graphPercentage breakdown

  • 56% – Comics
  • 12% – Higher Pursuits (inc. books/writing)
  • 11% – Gamers
  • 7% –  Crafts and Hobbies
  • 5% – Social Networking
  • 5% – Publishing and Books
  • 3% – Family
  • 1% – Sports

 

The strong representation of Comics and Gamers suggests a typically younger audience, with Crafts and Publishing/Writing expanding this out into wider interest groups who may also visits sites such as Etsy or Deviantart.

Note that we’re not considering page views or unique visitors (or even websites) here, just the number of individual ad slots present (as of July 2014). Still, it should give a reasonable overview of what’s available.

We’ve also edited the category groups here slightly from the defaults on the Project Wonderful search page to remove some overlaps, in particular removing the comics sub-category figures from “Gamers” and “Publishing & Books”. We’ve also left out the “Teens” category group since it covers many of the sub-categories.

Individual niches

Here’s a more detailed look at some of the popular interest areas on Project Wonderful.

  • Webcomics
    All types of webcomics, anime, manga etc. (except explicitly adult without much creative content) both advertise and offer advertising space on Project Wondeful. Suffice to say, if you run a webcomic site, you should already know about it.
  • Minecraft
    A relatively new niche that has attracted a number of sites and advertisers is Minecraft. Sites are typically related to Minecraft server lists, guides, forums etc. If you run a Minecraft-related site or want to advertise on one, you should definitely consider using Project Wonderful.
  • Games & Gaming
    Apart from Minecraft, a number of gaming fan sites are here, covering a range of online and role-playing games, and virtual item markets for them (e.g. Team Fortress 2, Eve Online etc.) as well as some browser based games like PokeFarm.
  • Writing & Fan Fiction
    Unsurpsingly, given the vast number of webcomic sites here, other styles of creative writing are also popular, such as creepypasta.com, various categories of fan fiction, humour and more esoteric topics.
  • Arts & Crafts
    There are a large number of smaller Art/Craft style sites on Project Wonderful. If you don’t want to individually search out sites to advertise on, you can use the campaign feature to target sites just in this category.

    After running a campaign for some time, you can then check to see if particular sites or ad placements are performing better than others, or leave the campaign to auto-optimize this for you.
  • Other
    There are quite a few sites present that can not be easily categorised. Just a few examples are the social chatting app Omegle, a Boston bus and subway tracker and swap-bot, a parcel/gift swapping community.

    Use the Ad Search page to search for sites covering a particular subject or category.

    Note: If you’re looking for the top sites in terms of volume of users, it’s better to select “Unique Users” instead of “Page Views” on the search page.

Advertise for free

One of the great features of Project Wonderful is that you can always find a way to try a small amount of advertising for a low price, without a fixed minimum time or money commitment. This can make it a good platform to test effectiveness of different banner ad designs.

You can even advertise for free for short periods of time, when the lowest bid price is set to $0 for a particular ad space.

In fact, if you’re starting out as a publisher, it’s recommended to set your minimum bid price for each ad slot to $0.

While this seems counter-intuitive in terms of maximising profits, what it does is give the Project Wonderful campaign algorithms a chance to evaluate your ad slot by placing various ads in it for short periods of time.

If your ad space performs well, the system will most likely recognise this and the bid values for the space should go up over time. However if you set a minimum bid price too soon, you don’t give a chance for the campaign system to gain “confidence” in your ad slot, and progress may be slower as a result.

Comparison to other Ad networks

For publishers, Project Wonderful doesn’t typically have many big-name advertisers bidding on your ad space, however if your site’s audience is a good fit in one or more of the above categories then you can expect to see some interesting and relevant ads.

For advertisers there is the opportunity to target some very specialised sites that may not be easy to access otherwise. The user friendly interface, time-based auction and campaign settings makes it easy to compare different banner ad creatives for CTR and conversion rate.

It’s worth mentioning that low-quality or spammy sites are rejected, so the platform isn’t overwhelmed with rubbish, which could easily be the case if there was no moderation. This quality control along with the time based auction system also helps prevent fraudulent activity.

You can also run Project Wonderful ads at the same time (and on the same page) as Google Adsense without breaking the terms of service of either network.

Have you found Project Wonderful to be a useful advertising resource for your website or ad campaign?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Need some more hints & tips?

Check out this blog post, Project Wonderful Tricks That You Probably Didn’t Know About

Original post - Popular Advertising Niches on Project Wonderful

]]> https://zipso.net/popular-advertising-niches-on-project-wonderful/feed/ 0 How to Find Free Stock Images for your Blog https://zipso.net/how-to-find-free-stock-images-for-your-blog/ https://zipso.net/how-to-find-free-stock-images-for-your-blog/#respond Mon, 28 Apr 2014 20:38:00 +0000 http://zipso.net/?p=257 louvre-2

We review some popular places and methods to get free photos and other images for your blog or website, and list whether you need to give attribution to the source or not.

We also touch on what you need to know about the subjects of Creative Commons commercial licenses and model releases.

Photos and graphics are almost a necessity for blogs or websites, and while they won’t make up for a lack of content, they can enormously help convey the feeling and intention that you would like to express in a post.

 

First off – attribution is displaying the credit line or authorship of a photo. There’s no specific format, however we like to use something like “Image Source:” or “Image Credit:” directly under the photo.

In some cases, you may not want to use photos that need attribution, so we’ve listed sites based on whether this is required or not.

No attribution required

  • Pixabay – There are a number of sites offering public domain photos, however Pixabay is one of the best in terms of quality and range. You do need to signup to download hi-res images,  however it’s well worth the effort.
  • morgueFile – Although not strictly public domain, this collection of photos doesn’t required attribution and can be used commercially, although you can’t resell the images themselves.
  • NGA Images – Many beautiful works of art are in the public domain. There are a number of online collections, but the US National Gallery of Art’s collection has some popular artists such as Monet and Van Gogh.
  • Clker.com – Clker is a site that stores a huge quantity of free vector clipart which can be used in compositing images. It also has a smaller collection of mostly historical photos.
  • DIY – It can seem like a lot of work, but with a few tools it’s not difficult to create your own images.

    If you’re not a born artist or designer, you can still quickly get good results by mixing and mashing up existing media that you find. This will work better when you need an abstract image as the result.

    Find an image editor that you feel comfortable using and play around with it for a while – it’s surprising what you can do once you get the hang of layering different images over each other and experimenting with different blending modes.

    Other ways of remixing  photos include collages, vignettes, defocusing and soft focus effects. Just beware of over-using filters and manipulations purely for the sake of using them – however it if adds something to the picture, go for it!

Attribution possibly required

  • Flickr – Flickr is one of the richest, most under-utilised source of free photos out there. Since it’s probably the most successful site dedicated purely to photo sharing, it has an enormous pool of images available.

    There are a number of helper sites that will let you search through Flickr’s Creative Commons collection, an example is foter.com, however we prefer to go straight to the source.

    What you’ll want to do is go to the advanced search page here, put in your search terms at the top, and then scroll down to the bottom of the page and select ““.

    flickr-creative-commons-search3
    Without selecting anything else, your search will now include all Creative Commons licensed images, even those with restrictive licenses. The other two options allow you to refine your search to exclude images which have more restrictive licenses.

    Here’s an explanation:

     – Clicking this checkbox will exclude images that require a NonCommercial license.

    Find content to modify, adapt, or build upon – This checkbox excludes images with a NoDerivs license.

    Therefore, by selecting both options, you get results with the most permissive licenses. However, this will narrow down the number of results available (see below “Creative Commons – Commercial Use or not?” ).

    Alternatively, if you do find something on Flickr that you’d really like to use, but it’s not licensed under Creative Commons, it’s often worth trying to contact the account holder to see if they will give you permission to use it.
  • Wikipedia – The Internet would be a very boring place if every blogger simply grabbed photos from Wikipedia, but the fact remains that, used sparingly, it’s a great resource for free images.

    The other great advantage in using Wikipedia (actually, WikiMedia Commons)  is that it’s incredibly easy to find relevant photos, especially if they relate to persons, places or things.

    Simply navigate to one of their subject pages and click on an image. The Licensing information will usually be displayed under the Summary box.
  • Google Image search – Google has a useful option on the image search page to filter results by license. Although this typically returns images from Flickr and Wikipedia, it can include a few other less well known sources too.

    Click on “Search tools” and “Usage Rights”, then selected your preferred license.google-image-search-permission

Attribution required

  • stock.xchng (or, sxc.hu to their friends!) is one of the more established free stock photo sites. Just be aware that when you search for a photo on their site, the top row of results you get are actually premium, non-free image results from another stock photo site.
  • Stock Free Images – Similar to Stock.Xchng, this site also returns non-free results at the top of the search results. It returned approximately the same number of image hits as stock.xchng for our test search query.
  • Getty Images – Getty Images recently made the surprising announcement that it was making millions of photos free to use.

    There’s a catch though – you have to use the code they supply, which also places their attribution and social buttons below the image. Nevertheless, it may be worthwhile for the free access to their high-quality photo library.

    Click here for details on how to use their embed feature.

 

Creative Commons – Commercial Use or not?

One of the thorniest questions when using Creative Commons media is whether the way you intend using it would be considered commercial or not.

This will affect the pool of photos you have access to, since naturally the number of images with commercial use licenses will be smaller that those not allowing commercial use.

In a search for a popular term on Compfight, we found 1.2 million matches for Creative Commons licensed images in general, but only 340k for commercial use licences (or, just about 30% of the former).

 

Many people will be wondering if having ads on their blogs or website makes them “Commercial use”

The answer – it depends on who you ask.

When Wired.com announced that they were making all future staff photos available under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial license, they clarified the acceptable use by including the following line:

We welcome editorial use by bloggers or any other publisher, but we are not authorizing commercial use, like using one of our photos in an advertisement.

This definition would appear to include typical image use on blogs, nevertheless, in a (grindingly) comprehensive 2008-2009 survey by Creative Commons, most respondents thought that use on ad-supported websites was considered commercial.

The situation is confusing simply because the declaration “Commercial” or “Non-Commerical” enforces a very absolute distinction between two different categories, yet in real-world and online use, the distinction is often much less clear-cut.

If you just have ads on your blog to pay the hosting cost (or if you don’t have control over the ads), it’s often not clear whether this really constitutes commercial usage or not, since the commercial aspect is typically only indirectly related to the usage of the photo.

If you’re uncertain, the best course of action is probably to send a quick message to the owner of the photo with a link to where you’ve used it. This gives them a chance to look at how you’ve used their photo, and most people using Creative Commons licenses are usually happy to see their work shared with a wider audience, once it’s done in a reasonable, non-exploitative manner.

Fair Use

Like the Commercial Use question for Creative Commons, the idea of Fair Use (also, “Fair Dealing” in Commonwealth countries) is a bit of a quagmire. It’s worth noting however that even copyrighted images may possibly be used if covered under Fair Use.

One of the more interesting examples of this is the vast indexing of images that popular search engines perform and display to end-users.

The EFF has an informative page on the subject.

Photos with people in them and model releases

For images with clearly identifiable people, especially where the person is the subject of the photo, you may come across the question of whether the image has an associated model release or not.

It’s a complex area, but to make a simplification – if you’re using such a photo as an advertisement, or using it in a way that could be considered an endorsement of something, then you should definitely check with the originator of the photo that this usage is allowed.

If you’re just using the photo for editorial purposes, such as illustrating a concept, place, news story or something similar, then it’s less likely that you will need one, as long as it doesn’t appear that the person (in the photo) is advocating a particular product, idea or service.

This is related to the rights of publicity or “Personality Rights” of the individual in the photo.

 

Still want to pay for higher quality images?

Find out the cheapest way to get them.

Sometimes, you just might not find what you’re looking for using any of the above methods.

If you’ve seen something you like on one of the paid royalty-free Stock photo sites, be sure to read our upcoming article How to get Cheap Stock Photos using Google Image Search before parting with your hard-earned cash!

 

Got any tips for finding free photos?

Share them in the comments section below.

Original post - How to Find Free Stock Images for your Blog

]]> https://zipso.net/how-to-find-free-stock-images-for-your-blog/feed/ 0 A Simple Touchscreen Sketchpad using Javascript and HTML5 https://zipso.net/a-simple-touchscreen-sketchpad-using-javascript-and-html5/ https://zipso.net/a-simple-touchscreen-sketchpad-using-javascript-and-html5/#comments Mon, 21 Apr 2014 20:13:30 +0000 http://zipso.net/?p=645 touchscreen

From an original image by Sean MacEntee

With the release of Windows 8, and the huge popularity of iPads and Android tablets, touchscreen is being built into more and more traditional PCs.

However, seeing dedicated touchscreen features on websites is still comparatively rare.

Here we’ll show you how to use some basic HTML and Javascript to add a simple touch-enabled sketchpad to a page.

We’re not trying to build a full-featured touchscreen app here – just a simple, very lightweight sketchpad, but it should be enough to show you some of the basic ideas behind touch support on the web.

If you are thinking of making a full HTML 5 touchscreen site or app, you might want to check out something like jQuery Mobile, however it’s worth going through the pure Javascript version here to get an understanding of the interactions between the HTML 5 canvas, and the mouse and touchscreen functions.

Compatibility note: We going to use the most common “Touch Events” approach here which is supported by all browsers on iOS and Android. Unfortunately, this won’t work directly on Windows 8 touchscreen when using Internet Explorer, however, it can be adapted relatively easily using the alternative “Pointer Events” model.

See the “Supported browsers” note towards the end of the article for more information.

Blank paper

First, we need something to draw on. Let’s start with a web-page with some text, and an area beside it for sketching. We can use the HTML 5 canvas tag to create our sketchpad area.

Edit the HTML for your page, add the canvas tag with an id name of your choice, and change the dimensions to fit your layout.

<canvas id="sketchpad" width="400" height="300"></canvas>

This creates our blank canvas. Now let’s try to make it into a working sketchpad. We can do this using the mouse first, then add touchscreen support later.

So what happens in a sketchpad?

When the cursor/pointer is over the sketchpad, and a mouse button pressed, then we want to draw something at that location.

Since our drawing action will take place when the mouse button is pressed down, we can put all of our code into a function that’s called when this happens.

We need two things:

  • A function to draw a dot (filled circle) at the specified location on the canvas
  • A way to call this function when the mouse button is being held down, and give it the current position of the mouse

Let’s try to do the drawing function first.

We need to write some small Javascript code to do this.

<script type="text/javascript">
    // Get the specific canvas element from the HTML document
    var canvas = document.getElementById('sketchpad');

    // If the browser supports the canvas tag, get the 2d drawing context for this canvas
    if (canvas.getContext)
        var ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');

    // Draws a dot at a specific position on the supplied canvas name
    // Parameters are: A canvas context, the x position, the y position
    function drawDot(ctx,x,y) {
        // Let's use black by setting RGB values to 0, and 255 alpha (completely opaque)
        r=0; g=0; b=0; a=255;

        // Select a fill style
        ctx.fillStyle = "rgba("+r+","+g+","+b+","+(a/255)+")";
        // Draw a filled circle
        ctx.beginPath();
        ctx.arc(x, y, size, 0, Math.PI*2, true);
        ctx.closePath();
        ctx.fill();
    }
</script>

Now we can draw on the canvas at a location of our choice, using the drawDot function.

When to Draw

When do we want to draw a dot on the sketchpad?

There are two cases (assuming the mouse is positioned over the sketchpad):

  • Immediately after the mouse button is pressed
  • Immediately after moving the mouse with the button held down

There is a slight complication here, since we can’t directly check if the mouse button is being held down using Javascript.

We have to keep track of when the button is pressed and released ourselves, in order to determine whether it’s currently being held down.

Tracking the mouse

track-mouse

Image credit: Sonja Trpovski

 

In fact, we have 3 useful triggers or “events” to help us keep track of the mouse:

  • mousedown event – Activated once whenever the (left) mouse button is pressed.
  • mouseup event – Activated once whenever the (left) mouse button is released.
  • mousemove event – Activated each time that the mouse is being moved, regardless of the button state.

So, we will need to keep track of the mouse button status by using the mouseup and mousedown triggers.

Additionally, we can use mousemove to do something useful when the mouse is being moved.

What happens with these events normally?

Nothing happens – We will need to add event handlers to tell the browser to do something when that specific event is triggered.

Event handlers

What each handler will do is simply call a function of our choice immediately after the event is triggered. So we should have one function for each event.

Let’s call them sketchpad_mouseDown, sketchpad_mouseUp and sketchpad_mouseMove.

We’ll also use our own getMousePos function to get the current co-ordinates of the mouse pointer when it’s moved.

<script type="text/javascript">
    // Define some variables to keep track of the mouse status 
    var mouseX,mouseY,mouseDown=0;

    function sketchpad_mouseDown() {
        mouseDown=1;
        drawDot(ctx,mouseX,mouseY);
    }

    function sketchpad_mouseUp() {
        mouseDown=0;
    }

    function sketchpad_mouseMove(e) { 
        // Update the mouse co-ordinates when moved
        getMousePos(e);

        // Draw a pixel if the mouse button is currently being pressed 
        if (mouseDown==1) { 
            drawDot(ctx,mouseX,mouseY); 
        }
    }

    // Get the current mouse position relative to the top-left of the canvas
    function getMousePos(e) {
        if (!e)
         var e = event;

        if (e.offsetX) {
            mouseX = e.offsetX;
            mouseY = e.offsetY;
        }
        else if (e.layerX) {
            mouseX = e.layerX;
            mouseY = e.layerY;
        }
    }
</script>

So now we have our 3 event handlers each performing a function –

  • sketchpad_mouseDown – registers a mouse click and also draws a pixel at the current position.
  • sketchpad_mouseUp – simply de-registers the mouse click, so we know that the button is no longer being pressed.
  • sketchpad_mouseMove – checks to see if the mouse button is currently down, and if so, draws something at the current location.
  • getMousePos – updates our mouseX and mouseY variables with the current position of the mouse.

 

All we have to do now is attach our event handlers to the events themselves.

canvas.addEventListener('mousedown', sketchpad_mouseDown, false);
canvas.addEventListener('mousemove', sketchpad_mouseMove, false);
window.addEventListener('mouseup', sketchpad_mouseUp, false);

 

You might notice that we are using addEventListener with the canvas element in the first two cases, and then with “window” for the mouseup event.

This is because for mouse downs and mouse moves, we’re only interested when these happen over our sketchpad canvas.

However, someone could click the mouse button on the canvas, then keep it held down, but move the mouse to another part of the web page. If they then release the mouse button, we won’t see this event happening if we’re just looking at the canvas, and our mouse button tracking can become confused, and not register the button being released.

In order to avoid this, we will listen in the entire window for mouse up events, so that we can track them correctly even if they happen outside of our sketchpad box.

Note: You can also use “document.body” instead of window, however since our example is being displayed in this post within an iframe, using “window” should capture the mouseup event outside of the iframe, whereas using “document.body” won’t.

Putting it all together

Here’s what our mouse-based sketchpad looks like right now (try it!):

(Look further down this article for the full touchscreen version)


… and here’s the complete web-page code for the mouse-based version:

sketchpad-mouse.html (text file)

<html>
<head>
<title>Sketchpad</title>

<script type="text/javascript">
    // Variables for referencing the canvas and 2dcanvas context
    var canvas,ctx;

    // Variables to keep track of the mouse position and left-button status 
    var mouseX,mouseY,mouseDown=0;

    // Draws a dot at a specific position on the supplied canvas name
    // Parameters are: A canvas context, the x position, the y position, the size of the dot
    function drawDot(ctx,x,y,size) {
        // Let's use black by setting RGB values to 0, and 255 alpha (completely opaque)
        r=0; g=0; b=0; a=255;

        // Select a fill style
        ctx.fillStyle = "rgba("+r+","+g+","+b+","+(a/255)+")";

        // Draw a filled circle
        ctx.beginPath();
        ctx.arc(x, y, size, 0, Math.PI*2, true); 
        ctx.closePath();
        ctx.fill();
    } 

    // Clear the canvas context using the canvas width and height
    function clearCanvas(canvas,ctx) {
        ctx.clearRect(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);
    }

    // Keep track of the mouse button being pressed and draw a dot at current location
    function sketchpad_mouseDown() {
        mouseDown=1;
        drawDot(ctx,mouseX,mouseY,12);
    }

    // Keep track of the mouse button being released
    function sketchpad_mouseUp() {
        mouseDown=0;
    }

    // Keep track of the mouse position and draw a dot if mouse button is currently pressed
    function sketchpad_mouseMove(e) { 
        // Update the mouse co-ordinates when moved
        getMousePos(e);

        // Draw a dot if the mouse button is currently being pressed
        if (mouseDown==1) {
            drawDot(ctx,mouseX,mouseY,12);
        }
    }

    // Get the current mouse position relative to the top-left of the canvas
    function getMousePos(e) {
        if (!e)
            var e = event;

        if (e.offsetX) {
            mouseX = e.offsetX;
            mouseY = e.offsetY;
        }
        else if (e.layerX) {
            mouseX = e.layerX;
            mouseY = e.layerY;
        }
     }


    // Set-up the canvas and add our event handlers after the page has loaded
    function init() {
        // Get the specific canvas element from the HTML document
        canvas = document.getElementById('sketchpad');

        // If the browser supports the canvas tag, get the 2d drawing context for this canvas
        if (canvas.getContext)
            ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');

        // Check that we have a valid context to draw on/with before adding event handlers
        if (ctx) {
            canvas.addEventListener('mousedown', sketchpad_mouseDown, false);
            canvas.addEventListener('mousemove', sketchpad_mouseMove, false);
            window.addEventListener('mouseup', sketchpad_mouseUp, false);
        }
    }
</script>

<style>
/* Some CSS styling */
#sketchpadapp {
    /* Prevent nearby text being highlighted when accidentally dragging mouse outside confines of the canvas */
    -webkit-touch-callout: none;
    -webkit-user-select: none;
    -khtml-user-select: none;
    -moz-user-select: none;
    -ms-user-select: none;
    user-select: none;
}
.leftside {
    float:left;
    width:220px;
    height:285px;
    background-color:#def;
    padding:10px;
    border-radius:4px;
}
.rightside {
    float:left;
    margin-left:10px;
}
#sketchpad {
    float:left;
    border:2px solid #888;
    border-radius:4px;
    position:relative; /* Necessary for correct mouse co-ords in Firefox */
}
</style>
</head>

<body onload="init()">
    <div id="sketchpadapp">
        <div class="leftside">
             Simple mouse-based HTML5 canvas sketchpad.<br/><br/>
             Draw something by holding down the mouse button or using single clicks.<br/><br/>
             On a touchscreen, tapping the area will register as a single mouse click.<br/><br/>

             <input type="submit" value="Clear Sketchpad" onclick="clearCanvas(canvas,ctx);">
        </div>
        <div class="rightside">
            <canvas id="sketchpad" height="300" width="400">
            </canvas>
        </div>
    </div>
</body>
</html>

Note that we have moved the initialisation of the canvas context and event handlers into a separate “init()” function that is called just after the page has finished loading (using “<body onload..>”).

We’ve also added a very simple “Clear” button which calls a function with a single line of code to clear the canvas.

Prevent nearby text being accidentally selected

You might notice that we’ve used this block of styling in the CSS of the div surrounding the sketchpad:

-webkit-touch-callout: none;
-webkit-user-select: none;
-khtml-user-select: none;
-moz-user-select: none;
-ms-user-select: none;
user-select: none;

This is due to the fact that when you have a large area on the screen that involves dragging the mouse across, the mouse cursor can sometimes stray outside of this area.

When this happens, because the mouse button is being held down, it’s interpreted by the web browser as a request to select areas of text. This produces a distracting flash of highlighting on the page.

To prevent this happening, we can just use the above user-select statements in the relevant CSS area to prevent text surrounding the sketchpad from being “selectable”.

Adding Touchscreen support

plasma-ball

Image Credit: Melanie Davies

If you just want to play around with a touchscreen interface, it might seem like a lot of effort adding all of the mouse support above.

However, the touchscreen code is very similar to the mouse-based sketchpad code, so it’s useful to understand how the mouse version works before looking at touchscreen. Also, in most cases you’ll want to have a functioning mouse version working as a fallback.

 

Touch events

If you try the current mouse-based version on an iPad, it’s not very appealing. Moving your finger over the sketchpad scrolls it, and you can just about make a blot appear if you press on a single area.

This is because we’re not yet listening to the specific events that are being triggered when the canvas area is touched.

We are getting some limited interaction with a single tap on the sketchpad – this is because the tap is also being interpreted as a mouseclick, and so it will (eventually) fire the mousedown event handler.

However, there is a 300ms delay when using the mouse events like this on a touchscreen device.

This is because the device is waiting to see if the single-tap is actually a double-tap. When we add our touch event handlers, we won’t need to worry about this quirk, since the touch events are triggered instantly after touching the screen.

Just like the mouse version, we have access to at least 3 useful touch-based events:

  • touchstart event – Activated whenever a touch is registered on the associated area.
  • touchend event – Activated whenever a touch is released from the associated area.
  • touchmove event – Activated whenever a touch movement is detected in the associated area.

 

Let’s look at the code for dealing with these events.

We’re going to keep this code separate from the mouse-handling code, which leads to some bloat, but gives a bit more flexibility in cases where you need to perform a specific action only in response to a touch event.

Also, the code is a little simpler, since we don’t need to keep track of anything like the mouse button status – when a touchmove event is fired, we can already assume the equivalent of “the mouse button is being pressed” is happening.

We also don’t really need to do anything with the touchend event in this case, however you might need to add it in a more complex application to perform an event when a finger is lifted off the screen – for example to update some values. In this case, just copy the format of the touchstart event handler.

Note also that we’re just going to deal with non-multitouch support for the moment.

If you are working with a complex multitouch site or potential HTML app, you might want to look into something like hammer.js.

Here are the functions that we’re going to trigger on touch events.

<script type="text/javascript">
    // Define some variables to keep track of the touch position
    var touchX,touchY;

    function sketchpad_touchStart() {
        getTouchPos();
        drawDot(ctx,touchX,touchY,12);

        // Prevents an additional mousedown event being triggered
        event.preventDefault();
    }

    function sketchpad_touchMove(e) { 
        // Update the touch co-ordinates
        getTouchPos(e);

        // During a touchmove event, unlike a mousemove event, we don't need to check if the touch is engaged, since there will always be contact with the screen by definition.
        drawDot(ctx,touchX,touchY,12); 

        // Prevent a scrolling action as a result of this touchmove triggering.
        event.preventDefault();
    }

    // Get the touch position relative to the top-left of the canvas
    // When we get the raw values of pageX and pageY below, they take into account the scrolling on the page
    // but not the position relative to our target div. We'll adjust them using "target.offsetLeft" and
    // "target.offsetTop" to get the correct values in relation to the top left of the canvas.
    function getTouchPos(e) {
        if (!e)
            var e = event;

        if (e.touches) {
            if (e.touches.length == 1) { // Only deal with one finger
                var touch = e.touches[0]; // Get the information for finger #1
                touchX=touch.pageX-touch.target.offsetLeft;
                touchY=touch.pageY-touch.target.offsetTop;
            }
        }
    }
</script>

Prevent screen scrolling on touch-enabled elements

A very important part of adding touch support to a page is working out which elements should be immune to scrolling the page by swiping up or down.

There are some ergonomic considerations here – you don’t want to confuse the user by having large swathes of the screen un-scrollable. The key is to have intuitive, reasonably sized areas that perform some action based on touch, that don’t also scroll the page.

To prevent scrolling on individual page elements, we need to call the Javascript preventDefault() function at the end of our touchmove handler. You can see this in the sketchpad_touchMove function above.

Remember that we still have to attach our touch handlers above to the correct elements on the page.

We can do this as follows:

canvas.addEventListener('touchstart', sketchpad_touchStart, false);
canvas.addEventListener('touchmove', sketchpad_touchMove, false);

 

Note that we’re only attaching the event listeners to the canvas element.

If you decide to attach these listeners to a larger part of the page, or even the entire document, you would probably need to be careful in managing use of preventDefault() to stop swipe-scrolling – for example, you might only trigger it for certain touch co-ordinates or boundaries.

Also, even though we’re only capturing touchmove in relation to our canvas element, it will continue firing even if you drag outside of the canvas area, so be aware that the touch co-ordinates you get at this stage can be outside the bounds of the canvas.

Note that we’re using the most general form of retrieving the current “touch list” by using e.touches in getTouchPos().

You could also use something like e.targetTouches or e.changedTouches, which can give a slightly different list. This is more important for multi-touch applications though, compared to single-touch support.

Complete version

Now we have full touchscreen and mouse support:


… and here’s the complete code for the final version:

sketchpad-touch.html (text file)

<html>
<head>
<title>Sketchpad</title>

<script type="text/javascript">
    // Variables for referencing the canvas and 2dcanvas context
    var canvas,ctx;

    // Variables to keep track of the mouse position and left-button status 
    var mouseX,mouseY,mouseDown=0;

    // Variables to keep track of the touch position
    var touchX,touchY;

    // Draws a dot at a specific position on the supplied canvas name
    // Parameters are: A canvas context, the x position, the y position, the size of the dot
    function drawDot(ctx,x,y,size) {
        // Let's use black by setting RGB values to 0, and 255 alpha (completely opaque)
        r=0; g=0; b=0; a=255;

        // Select a fill style
        ctx.fillStyle = "rgba("+r+","+g+","+b+","+(a/255)+")";

        // Draw a filled circle
        ctx.beginPath();
        ctx.arc(x, y, size, 0, Math.PI*2, true); 
        ctx.closePath();
        ctx.fill();
    } 

    // Clear the canvas context using the canvas width and height
    function clearCanvas(canvas,ctx) {
        ctx.clearRect(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);
    }

    // Keep track of the mouse button being pressed and draw a dot at current location
    function sketchpad_mouseDown() {
        mouseDown=1;
        drawDot(ctx,mouseX,mouseY,12);
    }

    // Keep track of the mouse button being released
    function sketchpad_mouseUp() {
        mouseDown=0;
    }

    // Keep track of the mouse position and draw a dot if mouse button is currently pressed
    function sketchpad_mouseMove(e) { 
        // Update the mouse co-ordinates when moved
        getMousePos(e);

        // Draw a dot if the mouse button is currently being pressed
        if (mouseDown==1) {
            drawDot(ctx,mouseX,mouseY,12);
        }
    }

    // Get the current mouse position relative to the top-left of the canvas
    function getMousePos(e) {
        if (!e)
            var e = event;

        if (e.offsetX) {
            mouseX = e.offsetX;
            mouseY = e.offsetY;
        }
        else if (e.layerX) {
            mouseX = e.layerX;
            mouseY = e.layerY;
        }
     }

    // Draw something when a touch start is detected
    function sketchpad_touchStart() {
        // Update the touch co-ordinates
        getTouchPos();

        drawDot(ctx,touchX,touchY,12);

        // Prevents an additional mousedown event being triggered
        event.preventDefault();
    }

    // Draw something and prevent the default scrolling when touch movement is detected
    function sketchpad_touchMove(e) { 
        // Update the touch co-ordinates
        getTouchPos(e);

        // During a touchmove event, unlike a mousemove event, we don't need to check if the touch is engaged, since there will always be contact with the screen by definition.
        drawDot(ctx,touchX,touchY,12); 

        // Prevent a scrolling action as a result of this touchmove triggering.
        event.preventDefault();
    }

    // Get the touch position relative to the top-left of the canvas
    // When we get the raw values of pageX and pageY below, they take into account the scrolling on the page
    // but not the position relative to our target div. We'll adjust them using "target.offsetLeft" and
    // "target.offsetTop" to get the correct values in relation to the top left of the canvas.
    function getTouchPos(e) {
        if (!e)
            var e = event;

        if(e.touches) {
            if (e.touches.length == 1) { // Only deal with one finger
                var touch = e.touches[0]; // Get the information for finger #1
                touchX=touch.pageX-touch.target.offsetLeft;
                touchY=touch.pageY-touch.target.offsetTop;
            }
        }
    }


    // Set-up the canvas and add our event handlers after the page has loaded
    function init() {
        // Get the specific canvas element from the HTML document
        canvas = document.getElementById('sketchpad');

        // If the browser supports the canvas tag, get the 2d drawing context for this canvas
        if (canvas.getContext)
            ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');

        // Check that we have a valid context to draw on/with before adding event handlers
        if (ctx) {
            // React to mouse events on the canvas, and mouseup on the entire document
            canvas.addEventListener('mousedown', sketchpad_mouseDown, false);
            canvas.addEventListener('mousemove', sketchpad_mouseMove, false);
            window.addEventListener('mouseup', sketchpad_mouseUp, false);

            // React to touch events on the canvas
            canvas.addEventListener('touchstart', sketchpad_touchStart, false);
            canvas.addEventListener('touchmove', sketchpad_touchMove, false);
        }
    }
</script>

<style>
/* Some CSS styling */
#sketchpadapp {
    /* Prevent nearby text being highlighted when accidentally dragging mouse outside confines of the canvas */
    -webkit-touch-callout: none;
    -webkit-user-select: none;
    -khtml-user-select: none;
    -moz-user-select: none;
    -ms-user-select: none;
    user-select: none;
}
.leftside {
    float:left;
    width:220px;
    height:285px;
    background-color:#def;
    padding:10px;
    border-radius:4px;
}
.rightside {
    float:left;
    margin-left:10px;
}
#sketchpad {
    float:left;
    height:300px;
    width:400px;
    border:2px solid #888;
    border-radius:4px;
    position:relative; /* Necessary for correct mouse co-ords in Firefox */
}
#clearbutton {
    font-size: 15px;
    padding: 10px;
    -webkit-appearance: none;
    background: #eee;
    border: 1px solid #888;
}
</style>
</head>

<body onload="init()">
    <div id="sketchpadapp">
        <div class="leftside">
             Touchscreen and mouse support HTML5 canvas sketchpad.<br/><br/>
             Draw something by tapping or dragging.<br/><br/>
             Works on iOS, Android and desktop/laptop touchscreens using Chrome/Firefox/Safari.<br/><br/>
             <input type="submit" value="Clear Sketchpad" id="clearbutton" onclick="clearCanvas(canvas,ctx);">
        </div>
        <div class="rightside">
            <canvas id="sketchpad" height="300" width="400">
            </canvas>
        </div>
    </div>
</body>
</html>

Touchscreen browsers try to emulate mouse events

It’s worth clarifying an additional point at this stage – in order to try to get maximum compatibility with existing websites and their mouse event handling, browsers on touchscreen devices such as Mobile Safari will try their best to emulate a mouse when you tap on any page element that is responsive to mouse events, such as a link, or a div or canvas listening for mousedown, mouseup etc.

So unless we prevent this behaviour, we might get a double-acknowledgement when tapping on the sketchpad for example – the first event trigger will be a touchstart, followed shortly after by a mousedown.

To stop this happening, we simply use the preventDefault() call when we’re finished with our touchstart, in order to stop any further events from being triggered due to that specific touch action.

You might run into some bugs with this on older Android browsers, however, especially if you’re also using more complex interactions with touchend, so it may be worth fully testing this behaviour on a touchscreen device.

Also, only use preventDefault() in this context when you’re sure that you have completed whatever the action the user wanted.

If you listened for touchstart on the entire document page for example, and issued a preventDefault() regardless of where/what the user touched, you may find that they are no longer able to tap on links on the page, since you’ve stopped the further issuing of the “emulated” mousedown or mouseclick on the link.

So just use preventDefault() when you’re sure that you’ve covered all the potential user interaction within the touch events associated with that element.

Supported browsers/devices

The HTML 5 canvas element works in all modern browsers, including mobile/tablet. With Internet Explorer, it’s supported from version 9 upwards. The touch events (touchstart, touchmove..) work on all mobile/tablet browsers. The situation with desktop browsers is a little more involved.

IE has an alternative system called Pointer Events that is supported from IE 10 upwards. The problem here is that other browsers have yet to add support, but it’s expected to happen throughout 2014 and onward.

Firefox supports touch events, but due to a bug filed in bugzilla, they have been turned off by default in the past few releases. They can be re-enabled in the browser. Further details are here.

It’s still worth using the Touch events version now however, since it supports all current and legacy Android and iPad users for example, as well as Chromebook and other touchscreen users on desktops/laptops.

As more non-mobile users become touchscreen enabled, pressure will undoubtedly grow on browser developers to get everything working smoothly on the desktop too.

2018 update – Although most desktops browsers now support Pointer Events, mobile and especially iOS support is not there – see current browser support for more details.

Upgrades

Once you’ve got to grips with the basic framework for the sketchpad, it’s easy to add features!

Change the pen size

Replace every instance of “12” in called to the DrawDot() function with a variable of your own.

You can then add images or buttons to the page which change the value of this variable when clicked.

Change the colours or add a background

Following the same method as changing the pen size, simply modify DrawDot() to use your own RGBA (red,green,blue,alpha/opacity) values.

Change these values based on some interaction with an on-screen widget (or use a counter to give a funky rainbow effect?).

To add a background image to the canvas, simply add a “background-image:” line to the CSS code for the canvas (our example canvas is called #sketchpad)

Update:
Here’s an example of a Sketchpad with a background image and a counter for changing the hue of the pen. Instead of using the RGB colour scheme when drawing the dot, we’re now using HSL which makes it much easier to change the hue.

Check out the HSL Calculator here for a visual representation of what the different H,S and L values mean.


source code is here

…and here’s a link to the background image …have fun!

Draw connected lines instead of dots

You might have noticed that if you move the mouse or touch position too fast, the rendering can’t keep up and you get some spaces between dots.

An alternative is to create a DrawLine function, similar to DrawDot, except that it keeps track of the last x,y position as well as the current one.

Now instead of using ctx.arc to draw a circle, use ctx.moveTo to position the start of the line at the old co-ordinates, then ctx.lineTo to draw the line to the new (current) co-ordinates (example here).

This changes the look and feel of the sketchpad, so it may or may not be an improvement on the “dot” method.

Update: Here is a working example of the sketchpad using lines (source code is here).

Note that we’ve added lastX and lastY variables, and set them to -1 at the start. These will be our starting positions when we draw a line, but since we don’t know where the first line will start from, we will use the -1 value to indicate that the current position is invalid, or unknown. There is no special significance to using -1, it could be any other co-ordinate value that won’t appear in normal use.

At the start of our new DrawLine function, we check if lastX is invalid (set to -1).

This will be the case the first time a line is drawn, or if the “pen” (mouse or finger) is not touching the canvas. If so, we will just set lastX and lastY to the current position, then the next time we call drawLine, we will be able to correctly draw a line with two valid sets of co-ordinates.

This introduces a slight bit of added complexity, since we need to invalidate the lastX and lastY co-ordinates any time the pen is lifted from the canvas. Otherwise, we would continue drawing a line from the last position, even when someone has lifted the “pen” and decided to draw in a different part of the canvas.

The solution is simply to set lastX and lastY to -1 in the mouseUp function, and also in a new touchEnd function:

function sketchpad_mouseUp() {
    mouseDown=0;

    // Reset lastX and lastY to -1 to indicate that they are now invalid, since we have lifted the "pen"
    lastX=-1;
    lastY=-1;
}

function sketchpad_touchEnd() {
    // Reset lastX and lastY to -1 to indicate that they are now invalid, since we have lifted the "pen"
    lastX=-1;
    lastY=-1;
}

…and also add the new touchEnd event listener to our init() function:

            canvas.addEventListener('touchend', sketchpad_touchEnd, false);

Line style

One final point we need to look at when drawing lines is setting the line “cap” style. This is simply how the end of the line looks like, but if it’s not changed from the default setting of “butt”, the lines can look disjointed when drawing, since not enough pixels are drawn to connect adjacent lines at different angles.

We can do this in the drawLine() function as follows:

        ctx.lineCap = "round";

You can try commenting out this line to see what happens without it. You can also use “ctx.lineJoin” to change how it looks when two lines join, but it’s not relevant to our sketchpad since we are only drawing a single line each time between two co-ordinates, instead of a group of lines at once.

Want to let users submit their pictures after drawing them?

Try using the canvas toDataURL() function. This will convert the entire canvas area into a base64 encoded .PNG image.

You can then use this data in a hidden form field with a submit button to post the encoded image to your server. You’ll also need to strip out some of the extraneous formatting and convert back from base64 to a binary image on the server side.

Check out the answer here using PHP by user568021.

Also see the image saving demo code below, which implements most of the steps to get the image on to the server – you would just need to modify the PHP script to save it (using e.g. the PHP function file_put_contents() ) instead of sending it back to the user.

I just want to save the Sketchpad as an image?

This is surprisingly a little more difficult than it first appears. There are a few different ways of saving the sketchpad, but they all start with converting the sketchpad data to an image format such as PNG first.

The difficulty is in sending this image to the browser as a download. If you’re OK about first sending the image to a script on a server, then this is the best way for the end-user (apart from a small delay while uploading and downloading the image.

Here is a demo page, and here is the HTML source.

Here is the source for the PHP script (“save-image.php”) we will use.

This is what happens:

  • A “Save Image” button is added to the Sketchpad page. This button is part of a HTML form.
  • When clicked, a function is called, let’s call it saveImageRemote().
  • This function converts the canvas data into an image (PNG) format using “toDataURL”.
  • The image data is added to a hidden variable in the form (“save_remote_data”) and the form is submitted.
  • A PHP script receives the form data, and converts it into a binary image. Before sending the image back to the browser, it adds Content headers to specify that it’s a downloadable file.
  • The browser receives the data back from the script and starts downloading the image.

Why do we have to go through the strange steps of uploading the image to a server just to immediately download it again?

It’s because we can’t easily force the browser to accept an image download, unless that download comes from a remote server.

There are ways of forcing the image data into the current browser page (for example, using “window.location.href=image” in the answers here),  however it doesn’t work very well – there is no .PNG file extension added, and the end-user can’t simply click on the file to open it.

By sending our image data to a remote script, we can add the content headers that tell the browser that it should download the file, and specify other data such as filename and filetype. The disadvantage of this approach is that it doesn’t work offline, and there may be a slight delay in uploading/downloading for large sketchpad images.

Note that iOS / Mobile Safari won’t process image downloads at all – they simply display within the browser, and the end-user has to long-tap to save them regardless.

I need to be able to save it offline

Looking at the previous example, we can also add a “View Image” button which displays the Sketchpad as a plain image in a new browser tab.

Alternatively, you can provide a thumbnail image of the sketchpad that updates every time the mouseup or touchend events are triggered. We do this in the example above using the “updateImageLocal()” function.

The user can then long tap or right-click on this thumbnail to save the image (the image will be saved as the full size version).

I would like to have more than one Sketchpad on the screen

There are a number of ways of doing this. One way is to create separate Javascript objects for each sketchpad (along with addition HTML canvas elements). It’s more complicated, but doesn’t require much extra code. We will need to get rid of the global canvas and ctx variables since they only allow for a single canvas and canvas context to be defined.

We will need to move these into a new ‘sketchpad()‘ function. We will also need to move the event handlers in here.

Check out a working example here, and adjusted source code here.

In our new init() function, we’re creating one or more sketchpads using our new sketchpad() function. This will mean that each separate sketchpad gets it’s own canvas and context variables.

To make this work properly, we need to preface any variables and functions that need to be kept local to either sketch1 or sketch2 (in our example), with “this.“.

“this” is simply a reference to either sketch1 or sketch2. When we create sketch1 with the line sketch1 = new sketchpad(‘sketchpad1’) then any reference to “this” is equivalent to referencing the sketch1 object. When we create sketch2, “this” is a reference to sketch2.

This means that each set of context and canvas values don’t get shared or mixed up between sketch1 and sketch2.

The last modification needed is to add “.bind(this)” when we’re adding our event listeners. This ensures that the functions that are called when the event triggers, also use the correct value of “this“.

In other words, when we refer to “this.ctx” in the drawDot() line in sketchpad_touchStart(), it should use the same value of “this” as in the main “sketchpad()” function, and therefore refer to the correct canvas context.

The “.bind(this)” is used because when an event is triggered, we don’t normally easily have access to whatever the value of “this” is between where the event handler was added, and the function that gets called when it triggers. See here for more details. Bind is a relatively new addition to Javascript that is available in IE9 and any new browsers.

We can also now easily clear a specific canvas by simply using “sketch1.clearCanvas();” for example. Since it’s simply a normal function and not a browser event, we don’t need to deal with the bind keyword.

The canvas sketchpad should give you a good basis for understanding interactions between mouse events, touchscreen events and the canvas element, even if you decide to use an alternative framework later.

 

Did you find it useful or informative?

Were you able to use some of the ideas in projects of your own?

Let us know in the comments section below.

Original post - A Simple Touchscreen Sketchpad using Javascript and HTML5

]]> https://zipso.net/a-simple-touchscreen-sketchpad-using-javascript-and-html5/feed/ 103 Free up Disk Space in Windows – 3 Easy & Effective Tools https://zipso.net/free-up-disk-space-in-windows-3-easy-effective-tools/ https://zipso.net/free-up-disk-space-in-windows-3-easy-effective-tools/#comments Sat, 15 Mar 2014 01:40:18 +0000 http://zipso.net/?p=330 tetris-lamp2

Original photo by DaveOnFlickr

Getting the most out of your disk space means not being too concerned about using it when necessary – maybe a few extra games or a music collection would make a laptop much more useful when travelling.

However, it’s no fun attempting to copy some files over only to find out that you’ve no space left.

 

You’ll need some tools to really make it easier to find that elusive space to free up.

Here we’ll guide you through three of the most effective free applications to quickly analyse areas with unnecessary clutter.

Each tool takes a different approach to the disk space issue, so by combining all approaches, you can feel confident that you’ve squeezed as much value as you can out of your storage.

All of the apps listed here will work just fine with the free version offered, and we haven’t seen any sign of adware or any other unwanted toolbars etc bundled with the downloads.

Note: Most of the time after deleting files, you won’t see the amount of free disk space increase until after you empty the files from the Recycle Bin in Windows.

Make sure to backup any critically important files before using any of the methods listed here.

 

1 – Duplicate File Finder (Ashisoft)

Duplicate files are identical copies of a file that have exactly the same contents, but may have a different filename and date, or can be located in a different folder.

We find that duplicate files are more common with media file types such as photos, music and movies, and can often occur when you’re using a computer drive as a backup for a digital camera, or copying a lot back and forth between USB drives.

There are a number of Windows applications for finding duplicates, but we like the free Duplicate File Finder by Ashisoft for it’s simplicity and effectiveness.

duplicate-finder1

After downloading and installing, click on “Add Path” to select locations to scan for duplicates.

If you want to scan your entire disk, you should probably click on “Computer” here and select your local disk letter(s).

This can just be “Local Disk (C:)” in many cases, if you only have a single hard disk partition. All of the other options can be left at the default settings, and you can press “Start Search” to begin.

It may take a few minutes (or longer) to complete the duplicate search, depending on the speed of your system and disk.

duplicate-finder2

Once complete, the app will list all duplicates found and automatically select one or more duplicate for deletion.

However, the version it decides to keep may not be the one you would prefer to keep – it could be in the wrong folder, or have the wrong name etc. There are a few ways to approach this.

  • If you just need to quickly free up some space and want to delete the biggest duplicates, you can click on “Size” to sort the files by biggest size. Deleted a few of the largest duplicates may be enough, depending on your requirements.
  • An alternative is to simply manually scroll down through the list (originally ordered by the “Grp” tab on the far-right), and get an idea of folders which contain a lot of duplicates. 
    It’s typical to have entire folders of duplicate files, so if you do identify these, you can open Windows Explorer and delete as necessary.

Duplicate Downloads

Another target for duplicates is your Download folder, which can often contain multiple copies of the same files.

Repeat as Necessary

Once you’ve done your pruning, you can click on “New Search” on the results screen to perform a new scan and see how the situation has improved.

2 – WinDirStat

It’s unusual to find a piece of housekeeping software that is both at the same time beautiful to look at, and uniquely informative, but the unassumingly named (and completely free) WinDirStat manages both.

WinDirStat does something really simple – scanning your disk to find out how much space each file uses.

What is really useful though is how this raw information is presented.

Instead of a dry list of stats on a page, the authors have devised a unique graphical block representation of disk space usage, which is immediately easy to understand and allows you to quickly identify what programs, files, and even what types of files are taking up the most space.

windirstat-prompt1

After installing and starting WinDirStat, you’re prompted for the drive letter to analyse. We’re just going to stick to looking at the main C: drive (image above).

The pacman animations will now spend a few minutes analysing files on your disk –

windirstat-scan1

There’s not really much to see here until the scan is complete.

Now here’s the good part – multi-coloured, shiny boxes!

windirstat-results1

Each box represents a single file, and the genius here is that the size of the box is proportional to the size of the file.

Additionally, the boxes are grouped together based on their folder location, and you can hover the mouse cursor over each box to see the filename. This is an amazingly easy way to spot which files and folders are taking up disk space.

Even if you don’t need to free up disk space, but just want to learn more about how your computer works, the graphical display result of WinDirStat provides a fascinating view of how your files are organised.

Colour coding

In the example above, blue boxes represent system files, so the two big boxes are the system paging file, pagefile.sys, and a hibernation state file, hiberfil.sys. Clicking on a box highlights more data about that file in the text info window above the graphical display, so you can see the individual file size here.

Although these two files take up a large amount of space,  they’re necessary system files so can’t be deleted.

However, looking at the rest of the graphic clearly shows some media files (in green) taking up a considerable amount of space. These could be a candidate for deletion if we needed to free up some space to install programs.

You can also delete files directly from WinDirStat by using an option after right-clicking on a file name in the text info box on top.

Free Space

Note that free disk space is not incorporated into the box view – the boxes are always packed into the most compact representation, even if you haven’t filled up the disk.

3 – CCleaner (Piriform)

CCleaner is the real deal in a world of fake registry cleaners that promise the earth and end up either doing nothing useful, or imploring you to buy the full version in order to do nothing useful.

Actually, a registry cleaner is not usually a great tool for freeing up disk space, however a useful feature of CCleaner is that it can also tidy up the flotsam & jetsam of temporary files, useless log files and numerous other files left over from software and driver installs.

These can add up to a significant amount of wasted space.

ccleaner-1

CCleaner can be a bit over-zealous on the default settings though, so a little care is needed when using it.

After starting it, you’ll see that it has checkboxes for areas to scan, split into a “Windows” tab and an “Applications” tab.

If you just want to free up some disk space without affecting anything else on your system, we recommend unchecking the “Internet Explorer” group by right-clicking on the heading and selecting “Uncheck all”. We’re just going to keep the default checkboxes under “System” selected.

Now click on the “Applications” tab. You’ll see any other web browsers and other applications listed here, if you have them installed.

ccleaner-uncheck-apps

Cache files

Again, we recommend unselecting the web browser checkboxes to avoid complicating things too much. You can select the “Internet Cache” box to possibly free up some space, but it will only be a temporary gain since the cache fills up again after using the browsers.

The same is true for some other apps like Google Earth which download cached data. In this case, we also unselect Google Earth, since the data is only re-downloaded to the cache any time it’s deleted.

Applications

CCleaner will have a number of applications, utilities etc. selected by default. It’s important to point out here that just because something is selected doesn’t mean that it will be deleted – an application being selected simply means that unnecessary and temporary files related to that application are analysed.

You can now safely click on “Analyze” to see exactly what CCleaner has decided is unneeded.

ccleaner-2

In our case, CCleaner has found almost 500MB of unnecessary files mostly related to System Logs and Graphics Driver install. That’s a significant saving on an SSD drive system!

If you are concerned at this stage about any of the files found, you can right-click on a group and select “View detailed results” to see all the files contained under that heading.

Once you’re happy, click on “Run Cleaner” to delete the files. That’s all there is to it!

Registry Cleaner

CCleaner also has a number of other features such as a registry cleaner. We’re not really convinced that registry cleaners are especially useful in most cases, however on older systems it can be worth running in order to reduce invalid references to missing files.

Did it work?

We think that the above three tools represent some of the best ways to help organise your free disk space, but maybe you’ve found a different approach that works for you?

Let us know in the comments below.

Of course, if you have an older laptop, it might be easier to just replace the disk. SSD drives offer huge performance benefits and now also large enough capacities for most purposes, typically 250GB.

Check out some popular SSD drives – make sure it’s a 2.5″ version if buying for a laptop.

Links

Original post - Free up Disk Space in Windows – 3 Easy & Effective Tools

]]> https://zipso.net/free-up-disk-space-in-windows-3-easy-effective-tools/feed/ 3 How to get Cheap Stock Photos using Google Image Search https://zipso.net/how-to-get-cheap-stock-photos-using-google-image-search/ https://zipso.net/how-to-get-cheap-stock-photos-using-google-image-search/#comments Tue, 11 Mar 2014 05:24:50 +0000 http://zipso.net/?p=348 night-bench

Searching for the perfect pic for your new website or blog?

Maybe you’ve got something in mind but the cost of photos on stock sites is adding up?

We’ve got some clever tips on how to save money on high-quality images from stock photo sites.

But first…

Microstock sites – Websites that hold large collections of photos for commercial use, typically for posting online. Photo licenses are usually “royalty-free” which simply means that you don’t need to pay a royalty to the owner every time you use them. However, the photos themselves can’t be re-sold.

Traditional stock photo sites – These are photo licensing agencies such as Corbis and Getty Images that typically offer higher-tier photos and licensing for higher prices.

For the purposes of this article, we’re just going to look at Microstock sites, since they’re more affordable for general use.

However, you could use the same approach for any photo sites.

How to save money on individual photos

We’re just going to compare prices for individual photos, instead of subscription packages.

If you use a lot of stock photos, the subscriptions are often a better deal, however if you are just an occasional user it’s probably better to pay as you go.

Let’s get started.

1. Find your ideal picture on one of the sites

We suggest looking at some of the sites with a larger selection of images, such as Fotolia.com, ShutterStock.com, dreamstime.com etc.

For this technique to work, you’ll ideally want to navigate to the info/purchase page for a specific image (with larger thumbnail and download prices) before going to the next step.

2. Compare prices across different stock sites with Google Image search

So you’ve found your ideal photo on one of the sites, but before you click that ‘Buy’ button – are you getting the best deal?

What you might not know is that exactly the same photo is often available on a number of sites, and the prices can be much different.

To check where your photo is available, you’ll need to use Google Image search with the photo’s URL.

Some sites make it difficult to find the direct URL for a picture, however there are a number of tools that can help here.

We’ll look at two Google Chrome extensions as an example, but you can find similar tools for other browsers. To use these, you’ll need to be using the Chrome browser and signed in to a Google account (at least initially to install them):

Google Image Search extension

search-by-image

  • Google Image Search – This useful extension adds a way to search by right-clicking on an image and selecting ‘Search Google with this image”‘. This will then bring you to the Google Image search results (see below).
    Note however that this won’t work on all sites, especially where you can pan and zoom over the image. In this case, we need to first find the image URL (see next extension below).

 

Image Downloader extension

image-downloader

  • Image Downloader – Since we’re just interested in the photo previews on the stock sites, we don’t actually want to use the download functionality of this extension, however, it provides a way to more easily see the URL for a specific image.

    After installing, navigate to the info page for a specific photo, click on the downloader icon in the top-right beside the browser address bar.

    image-downloader-button2
    The extension will now show a list of all images on the page. Scroll down to your photo’s thumbnail, click on the URL box, then right-click, Select All and copy the URL.

    image-downloader-selection
    A slight quirk of Image Downloader is that it doesn’t show the mouse cursor when you click on the URL box, however you’re still able to select the URL text after clicking.

    You can now go to Google Image search and use this URL. Go to Google.com and click on Images. A searchbox will appear, with a small camera icon to the right.
    image-search1
  • Click on the camera icon to search by image. This will open a different box where you can paste in the image URL. The image URL will usually end in “.png”, “.jpg” or “.gif”.

image-search2a

Click on “Search by image” to see the results.

 

Google Image search results

Now that you’ve searched for your image using either of the above two methods, you can try to see if any of the results point to other stock photo sites.

You’ll want to scroll down to “Pages that include matching images“.

However, the results here may not all be stock photo sites – but there is a trick to return more relevant sites.

Simply go to the searchbox at the top and delete whatever text Google has auto-inserted as the best guess. Make sure to keep the photo icon widget there. Now replace the text with “royalty free” and search again.

royalty-free

You should now see more of the stock photo sites in the results.

 

Savings

We did a test using this photo on Fotolia and found a saving of $4 on another stock site with exactly the same photo when purchasing the 4752×3168 resolution.

Whether you will see similar savings is hard to tell since the results will vary considerably depending on the photo, however you have a much better chance of finding the best price for a given image.

See the next section for another way to save using Vector format images.

Note: For some sites, e.g. Dreamstime, you will need to be logged in first before you can see prices.

 

3. Don’t choose a high-res option if there is a vector format available

As the average device’s display resolution keeps increasing, some of the ‘small’ and even ‘medium’ size options available for download seem a bit lacking. The problem is that the price of hi-res downloads doesn’t appear to show any sign of decreasing.

However, if you need hi-res, but can use an illustration instead of a photo, you can save a lot by choosing a vector download format. A vector file is in a format such as .AI, .EPS or .SVG which is resolution independent.

You will most likely want to convert to JPG or PNG formats for use on the web – the great thing with vector formats is that you can convert the image to these formats at any resolution of your choice, without making the image blurry.

fotolia-pricing

Example of format pricing on Fotolia. Vector is much better value if you need Large res. or higher.

 

Photoshop or GIMP will open .eps files and let you save as a raster .jpg or .png.

You might not even need to convert it though – Fotolia.com also includes a hi-res JPG in the zip file when you download in vector format. And funnily enough, this option is significantly cheaper compared to selecting a hi-res download, even though you’re getting the same thing!

Do you have any tips for finding cheap stock photos?

Maybe you want to find free images instead?

Stay tuned for our upcoming article on how to find public domain and Creative Commons image sources.MWQNDJDUW6AT

Original post - How to get Cheap Stock Photos using Google Image Search

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