What you need to know
- MediaTek announces two new entry-level Kompanio chipsets.
- They will power the entry-level Chromebooks in the first half of 2023.
- They feature two premium Arm Cortex-A76 CPU cores with clock speeds up to 2GHz and 2.2GHz.
MediaTek makes Kompanio chipsets with Chromebooks in mind. Like its mobile processor series, the Kompanio series is also categorized into multiple products for Chromebooks ranging from entry-level to high-tier variants like Acer Chromebook Spin 513, for example. One such catalog is the Kompanio 500 series, developed for entry-level Chromebooks and now has two new SoCs that promise to deliver fast and reliable computing experiences.
In a shared press release, MediaTek announced the Kompanio 520 and Kompanio 528 chipsets, which are said to bring upgraded computing performance and battery life for entry-level Chromebooks. It aims to allow consumers to browse, cloud games, stream, and also utilize Google Play apps on their notebooks seamlessly without worrying about battery life.
The Kompanio 520 and 528 chipsets come as upgrades to the current Kompanio 500 SoC introduced with cost-effective Chromebooks in mind. Both the new chipsets offer octa-core CPUs featuring two premium Arm Cortex-A76 CPU cores. These premium cores provide clock speeds of up to 2GHz for the Kompanio 520 SoC and up to 2.2GHz for the 528 SoC.
Besides, they also come with an upgraded dual-core graphics engine and are optimized to deliver longer battery life. The octa-core CPU promises to handle multitasking easily, and users can expect faster booting times for their Chromebooks.
These new chipsets bring numerous abilities for Chromebooks, such as support for 32MP cameras, which are said to be backed by MediaTek’s hardware imagine engine. The SoCs also promise better low-light photo and video recording abilities (up to full HD at 60fps) alongside incorporating VP9 decoding, and H.265 encoding, ensuring 2x faster performance. In addition, there is HiFi-5 DSP to handle ultra-low power microphone processing.
These chipsets-powered Chromebook users in the future can take advantage of dual external monitors as they support a 60Hz Full HD (1920 x 1080) external display. The chipsets themselves support a 60Hz Full HD+ displays as well. MediaTek says users can also connect to smart TV next to a projector for their preferred purposes.
The other highlights of the Kompanio 520 and 528 chipsets comprise MediaTek’s Filogic Wi-Fi 6 solutions for connectivity, which is beneficial for streaming and cloud gaming. The storage options support includes LPDDR4x RAM and eMMC 5.1 storage.
The Kompanio 520 and Kompanio 528-powered entry-level Chromebooks are expected to hit the market by the first half of 2023, according to MediaTek.
