Clamshell, convertible, or tablet, Chromebooks come in all shapes and sizes these days. Dell, though, could possibly be working on its own ultra-premium XPS-branded Chromebook, according to a report from Chrome Unboxed.
The rumor is that Dell is working on at least three new Chromebooks for its upcoming lineup in five different form factors such as a tablet, clamshell, or 2-in-1. One of these might be an XPS device.
With there’s a chance of there being a total of six new devices, each rumored device comes from a particular “board” for which code commits can be found in the open-source Chromium Repositories. These include “Drallion,” “Deltaur,” and “Deltan,” as per the report.
Judging by what is known about the hardware from the code commits, one of these Dell devices could come with 180- and 360-degree hinges. There also is the possibility of one of them having Intel’s new 10th-gen Tiger Lake CPUs inside. The publication said that since Dell’s Inspiron and Enterprise Chromebooks are already well-represented in Dell’s lineup, everything from “Deltaur” and “Drallion” fits with what is possibly needed for convertible and clamshell XPS laptops.
The report is pure speculation, but there are some reasons to believe that an XPS Chromebook could become a reality. Samsung recently introduced the Galaxy Chromebook, which is an ultra-premium convertible device. With an all-aluminum build and a 4K resolution AMOLED display, Samsung showed that it could bring the same premium features usually associated with a Windows laptop to a Chrome OS device.
With the XPS lineup being known for its carbon fiber palm rest, slim bezel display, and its stylish features, it would make sense for Dell to do something similar to put its devices in the spotlight. Of course, there is still the possibility that Dell could simply be refreshing existing Chromebooks under these same code names.
Until then, there are still premium Chromebook offerings. including the Galaxy Chromebook, the Google Pixelbook, and even the Pixelbook Go. But there is hope that an XPS Chromebook might soon come to the masses.