Chromebooks likely to get Windows dual-boot support, but it might not be feasible for many devices

New ChromeOS code commits reviewed by XDA-Developers have identified that Google is likely to bring Windows 10 dual-boot support for various Chromebooks. Previously there was speculation about Windows support for the Pixelbook.

However, it might not make much sense to extend this to other Chromebooks. One of their big selling points is ease of administration and handling of updates, the other is that ChromeOS runs well on low-end hardware and therefore is available at the extreme budget end of the market. These often aren't the most compelling devices outside of specific use cases (e.g. education, a second device to complement a desktop, etc).

The top-end Pixelbook comes with a 7th gen Intel i5-7Y57 or i7-7Y75 Y-series processor, 8 or 16 GB of RAM, and 128, 256, or 512 GB of storage. This is excessive for a cloud-based operating system such as ChromeOS, but the hardware — both internal and external — would be well suited to an ultraportable Windows notebook. The ability to run Windows 10 alongside ChromeOS would be useful here.

But this move makes less sense when we consider a regular Chromebook with 32 GB of eMMC storage doesn’t have space to properly run two operating systems. Unless you really want ChromeOS there isn’t much benefit to installing Windows here over buying a super-cheap Windows laptop like the similarly priced HP Stream 11 or Dell Inspiron 11 3000 2-in-1.

We like choices, so we think Windows 10 dual-boot support is a positive thing for consumers, it just doesn’t seem as logical on a regular Chromebook as it is for the Pixelbook.

Update: In the time between researching/writing this article and publishing it, there has been a new comment in the code commits that specified this would be a Pixelbook exclusive feature.