Lenovo unveils two new N-series Chromebooks

Lenovo has just announced the release dates and feature sets of its two latest Chromebook iterations ahead of today’s press conference and there’s something for everyone in the offering. The new N-series of Chromebooks is comprised of the conventional clam-shell N20 and the more flexible N20P. Both offer the latest auto-updated version of Chrome OS running on Celeron processors, sport 720p 11.6-inch monitors, 4GB of DDR3L RAM, 3-second boot times, and the standard 16 GB internal solid state storage with 100GB of Google Drive space.

Chromebooks are on the rise, and Lenovo wants a bigger piece of the action. Following the unveiling of its Yoga models in April, the Chinese hardware maker is delving deeper into Google’s Chrome OS with the N20 and N20p Chromebooks, intended for schools. When targeting the education market, cost is a big factor, and the N20 is priced to move at $279. The N20p ($329), however, is in interesting up-sell, borrowing some elements of Lenovo’s well-regarded Yoga line of laptops, including a 10-point touchscreen and a hinge that lets the user fold the keyboard backward up to 300 degrees. Folding the hinge beyond 180 degrees will disable the keyboard for “Stand mode,” which can be better for watching videos and presentations. And at $329, the N20p is still cheaper than the most inexpensive Yoga Chromebook, the $349 ThinkPad Yoga 11e.