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This might be the most powerful Chromebook ever created, but how can one push its CPU to its limits?
A Panther Lake chip with 12 Xe3 core GPU has been spotted on a prototype Felino Chromebook in NBD shipping logs. This device seems designed to compete with high-performance laptops.
Typically, high-end CPUs aren’t used in Chromebooks because they don’t need much processing power; ChromeOS works well with quad-core processors, and users rely on web-based applications. While we do see some Core i5s and i7s in Chromebooks, these are usually from the ultra-power-efficient lineup with many efficient cores.
More performance cores would be beneficial but could increase costs without significant performance gains. However, this upcoming Chromebook appears unusually powerful, suggesting it aims to rival high-end laptops. A laptop maker is reportedly testing a Panther Lake SKU with stepping code Q7AP on the new Felino base board, likely from Acer as reported by Chrome Unboxed.
From the shipping logs, it’s clear that this is a 16-inch Chromebook using a Panther Lake processor and featuring 12 Xe3 GPU cores. This is unusual for a Chromebook; typically, PTL-U processors with 6 or 8 core configurations rated at 15W are used, but this one isn’t from the PTL-U family.
Only the top SKU in the PTL-H series boasts 12 Xe3 cores for the integrated GPU. Thus, the Felino Chromebook features a hybrid configuration of 4 Performance (P) Cores + 8 Efficiency (E) Cores + 4 Low-Power Efficient (LPE) Cores.
While we recently saw a Samsung Galaxy notebook testing a Panther Lake chip, likely PTL-U, the 16-core variant reserved for premium offerings like PTL-H might not provide significant benefits to a Chromebook.
