Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

You can literally stand on the new CTL Chromebook

Add as a preferred source on Google

Need a Chromebook that’s tough? Like really tough? Like classroom full of rowdy children spilling drinks and jumping on top of it tough? Look no further, because the new CTL NL6X takes durable laptop construction to a whole new level.

CTL-NL6X-2
Image used with permission by copyright holder

While the updated Chromebook boasts a number of serious protective features, the most impressive by far is its ability to withstand weight on its lid. CTL tested the system in-house, and found that even when a 365-pound man stood on it, the system wasn’t damaged at all.

Recommended Videos

That’s not all though, as the Chromebook is also rated for drops up to 70 cm — just over two feet — with reinforced ports, hinges, and power port. The keyboard is specially designed to prevent spills from seeping their way through, and has printed keys so students can’t peel off the stickers.

CTL-NL6X-4
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Under the tough hood, the NL6X looks a lot more like a standard Chromebook offering. It’s powered by an Intel Celeron N2940, a quad-core with a 1.83GHz base clock, and 4GB of RAM. There’s also a 16GB eMMC drive for storage, plus USB 3.0, full-size HDMI, and SD card slots for connectivity and extra storage. The 11.6-inch screen has a modest 1,366 x 768 resolution, which is a typical panel for Chromebooks of its size.

As an added bonus, CTL claims the system can run for up to nine hours on a single charge. That’s long enough for an entire school day without looking for an outlet. Plus, the battery is removable, allowing an IT department to service it in-house without having to replace the whole computer.

CTL even packs in a few special features just for students. The same lid that supports up to 365 pounds is also a whiteboard surface, for sharing notes, doodling, or temporarily labeling systems. The webcam rotates a full 180 degrees for snapping photos of projects or video chatting, and there’s an optional microscope attachments for more scientific endeavors.

CTL-NL6X-3
Image used with permission by copyright holder

If those sound like features you want in your classroom, the CTL NL6X Chromebook is already available for order directly from CTL. The system starts at $269, which includes one year of free accidental damage, separate from the standard one year parts and labor warranty.

Brad Bourque
Brad Bourque is a native Portlander, devout nerd, and craft beer enthusiast. He studied creative writing at Willamette…
New open-weight AI from China is toppling the best of OpenAI and Claude Fable
Moonshot’s 2.8-trillion-parameter Kimi K3 beats Fable 5 and GPT 5.6 Sol in select benchmarks
Art, Drawing, Plant

China's Moonshot AI has launched Kimi K3, a massive 2.8-trillion-parameter model built for coding, research, reasoning, and visual tasks. Moonshot admits K3 still trails Claude Fable 5 and GPT 5.6 Sol overall. Even so, its benchmark results put it surprisingly close to both, and it finishes ahead in several tests.

How close is Kimi K3 to the best closed models?

Read more
Gemini could finally let you choose how friendly it sounds
Finally, you can stop Gemini from sounding like your HR manager
Google Gemini

Google has spent the past few months making Gemini sound more natural, expressive, and conversational. Now, it appears the company is preparing to give users far more control over how the AI speaks.

Code spotted by Android Authority's APK Insights - the latest beta version of the Google app suggests Gemini may soon allow users to customise its voice across four separate parameters: Energy, Formality, Warmth, and Speed. Instead of choosing from a fixed list of personalities, users could tweak these characteristics to create a voice that better suits their preferences.

Read more
ChatGPT will now remind teens to take breaks and give parents more controls
New parental controls include Quiet Hours, Study Mode defaults, and alerts for serious account violations.
chatgpt-teen-safety-features

OpenAI wants to make ChatGPT safer for teens, and the changes go well beyond a simple content filter. In a new update, the company laid out its stance on why teens should have access to AI in the first place, arguing that keeping them away from it entirely would leave them unprepared for one of the defining technologies of their generation.

Nearly 90% of teens already use ChatGPT weekly for learning, research, or getting organized, which is why OpenAI says access needs to come paired with real protections built for their age.

Read more