Chromebook specs comparison & DIY upgrade table

Acer C720 Chromebook

New Chromebook specification listings added to Zipso.net

These comparison tables list all generally available Chromebooks from 2011 onwards, including some of the latest 2014 models (2014 has seen the biggest number of new Chromebook launches since they first appeared on the scene.)

The PassMark score is used to compare processors. Although this may not necessarily reflect all usage modes of a laptop or Chromebook, it’s OK in terms of making comparisons between CPU models. It take advantage of multiple cores, so a while a higher PassMark score may not necessarily result in faster operation, it does give an idea that there is more computational capacity available, which is a reasonable indicator of how system performance feels.

One problem remaining in comparing models is that PassMark doesn’t work on ARM chips. Geekbench does, but then it doesn’t have as much consistent data collected across different models compared to PassMark.

Upgrades

Another useful part of the charts, apart from general hints and explanations, is an “DIY upgradability” table for SSD and RAM. Unfortunately since many of the newer Chromebooks have moved to slimmer form factors, most of them have completely lost any RAM slots and soldered everything on to the motherboard. The situation with disk upgrades is a little better, and a fast 2014 Chromebook with upgraded SSD can make an awesome, cost-efficient Linux development laptop without the clunk of a Windows 8 install.