I got just a few short minutes to use the Toshiba Chromebook 13 at last month’s Consumer Electronics Show, noting that it was the only Chromebook on the market with a 13.3-inch display. That’s still the case and I have a review unit in hand to get a closer look at this device, which retails for $299.
I’ll be using the Chromebook 13 as my full-time computing device for a few days and will follow up with more detailed thoughts, but for now, here’s a quick overview of the Chromebook, some size comparisons to other notebooks and a few benchmark tests to check basic performance. Note that I mis-spoke in the video as this particular model has 2 GB of memory, not 4 GB.
The Chromebook 13 actually processes JavaScript nearly as fast as my Chromebook Pixel; a device that costs $1,000 more than Toshiba’s Chrome OS laptop. Of course, the display isn’t as nice and the keys aren’t backlit, but when you can save a grand for comparable performance, that’s pretty compelling.
I’m most interested in how long the battery lasts on a single charge as the Pixel uses a last-generation Intel chip and tops out at 5 hours of run time. Toshiba says you can expect nearly double that — 9 hours — on one charge with the Chromebook 13. I’ll definitely be testing that claim, so stay tuned!

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