Google Powers Up ChromeOS With 'Chromebook Plus' Features

pcmag.com:

Though it lacks some of the superpowers of Windows and macOS—like support for the most demanding desktop applications and AAA games, windowing, and device compatibility—Google’s ChromeOS desktop OS has its advantages: It keeps itself up to date automatically and quickly, has no history of viruses, and starts up faster than the two more established OSes.

Today, Google is giving it even more power to go along with a new class of computers it's calling Chromebook Plus. All Chromebooks also get the Material You personalized interface design language that arrived in Android 12 in 2021.

All the features Google announced today will show up on Chromebook Plus devices (read all about them here), which double the current minimum specs for Chromebooks but still start at an affordable $399. That doesn’t mean you have to buy a new Chromebook, though. Existing computers that meet the specifications below will be automatically upgraded with these new capabilities, though they won't necessarily bear the "Chromebook Plus" moniker.

CPU: Intel Core i3 12th Gen or above, or AMD Ryzen 3 7000 series or above

RAM: 8GB or more

Storage: 128GB or more

Webcam: 1080p or higher with Temporal Noise Reduction

Display: Full HD IPS or better display

Currently, only Android users who are Google One subscribers can take advantage of this spiffy Google Photos feature. But Chromebook Plus owners will also be able to use Magic Eraser to take unwanted items out of their photos, with an AI-generated background filling in the voids. This is great for things like removing powerlines or human interlopers that take the attention away from loved ones in a picture. (In testing, however, I got better results with Photoshop’s Remove Tool.) A nifty option in Google