Tech article
The forgotten Chromebook that started it all - The Verge
Publisher description: On Version History: Marques Brownlee and Nilay Patel relive the release of the Cr-48, Google’s prototype laptop.
NewsAPI | Oct 4, 2026 | Victoria Barrios
Automated excerpt
Google didn’t even call the first Chromebook a “Chromebook. ” The Cr-48 had no interesting design and no bright logos – it wasn’t even designed to be a product you could buy. Instead, it was a portal to a big new idea about computers. In this week’s episode of Version History, The Verge’s Nilay Patel and MKBHD’s Marques Brownlee join David Pierce to help explain the history of ChromeOS and Chromebooks, and discuss whether Google’s approach to computer hardware was the right one.
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