The Toshiba Chromebook

Key Features: 13.3-inch 1,366 x 768 display; Runs on Chrome OS; 16GB internal memory; 2GB RAM; HD webcam; Up to 9 hour battery life

Manufacturer: Toshiba

Toshiba Chromebook review: first impressions from CES 2014

What is the Toshiba Chromebook?

The Toshiba Chromebook is the company’s first Google-powered laptop following the likes of Samsung, Acer and HP with a cloud-based laptop that won’t break the bank.

The £250 Chromebook is the first to pack a 13.3-inch display, with Intel Bay Trail innards promising all-day battery life and quick boot up times all packaged in a lightweight and portable design. 

Toshiba Chromebook: Design

Drawing clear inspiration from Samsung’s Chromebook offerings, the clamshell-style laptop with its metallic silver finish or ‘light gold’ as Toshiba refers to it, is not as exciting to look at as the Chromebook Pixel. The hinge is discreetly hidden unlike Samsung’s Series 3 Chromebook with just the Chrome logo and Toshiba name breaking up the otherwise plain exterior.

Considering the sub-£250 price it doesn’t come as much of a surprise to find that it’s constructed from plastic. Everything feels reasonably solid though and the body is reasonably slim at just 20.2mm thick. It’s also extremely light to hold weighing in at just 1.5kg, so it’s primed for carrying around all day.

In terms of physical connectivity, there’s a single HDMI port, two USB 3.0 ports and an audio jack alongside the charging port situated on other side of the body. Additionally, it supports Wi-Fi a/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0, so it ultimately matches most Chromebooks in the connectivity department. There’s a HD webcam in tow above the screen to take care of video chats and speakers situated on the bottom lid.

The chiclet-style keyboard with matte black keys creates a very familiar typing experience if you have previously used Samsung and Acer Chromebooks offering decent travel and a satisfying click. One of our biggest frustrations about Chromebook keyboards is the omission of a Caps Lock key for a Search key. Acer has since reinstated it on its latest Chromebooks, so it’s disappointing not to see Toshiba follow suit.

The keyboard is joined by a nicely sized multi-touch trackpad, again not too dissimilar from the ones that have popped up on rival Chromebooks offering a nice, flat surface to support two-finger scrolling when you are scrawling the web.

Chromebook Pixel aside, previous Google-powered laptops have not really been about looks and

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Google: What to Expect in 2014

Google had a superb year in 2013, adding around 35% to its share price and producing some fantastic devices, but where does it go from here?

Mountain View has spent much of the last year joining up its products, so 2014 will likely see more of their rhetoric becoming a reality – perhaps not through new products but features added to their current line up.

It wants to integrate its services with more aspects of your life, so climb aboard as we make ten Google-shaped predictions for 2014:

1. Beyond KitKat

The recent release of Android 4.4, codenamed KitKat, was a relatively minor update to Android, as Google sought to perfect its mobile OS – and it was a disappointment for those who were hoping for a shiny new version of Android.

However, it's now even more likely that a fresh version of Android will land mid-2014, possibly at Google I/O. What's more, as each version of Android is codenamed with a dessert or confectionary following on alphabetically from its predecessor, it creates obvious speculation about which L-based sweet it could be.

It could be "liquorice" but we'll put our money on "Lion Bar" after the recent love-in with Nestle.

Between Android 4.1 and 4.4, the look and feel of Android hasn't altered much, so expect this to be a big part of Android 5.0, perhaps echoing iOS's colourful design after year's of Android 4.0's gloomy all-black theme.

2. Chromecast for everyone

Google's had a good year with Chromecast but expect much bigger things in 2014. Aside from the obvious global roll out, Mountain View has already said that it's looking to create an open SDK, so third party developers can create their own apps and uses for Chromecast.

The result, at least in the short term, could be app streaming from a much bigger pool of core Android apps, which means you'll be able to enjoy what you see on your phone in the comfort of your living room. What's more, Android 5.0 could see app streaming features as a key improvement.

3. Google does the robot

December's purchase of Boston Dynamics, the robot-building super-brains responsible for BigDog and the Cheetah Robot might have raised a few eye-brows, but 2013 has seen it suck up a slew of small robotics businesses.

Google insiders have called this spending spree a "moonshot' headed by Andy Rubin, the brain behind Android. However, the New

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