Google provided planet Earth a peek into the future late last month when it announced the Chromebook Pixel. It’s not a great stretch to call it the Laptop of the Future.
First things first, though. Technically it’s not a laptop; it’s a “chromebook.” Hmmm??? “chromebook”? A chromebook is a laptop designed specifically to be used exclusively online. There’s no question that’s where we’re headed eventually; hence the Laptop of the Future.
Chromebooks aren’t new. They’ve been around for awhile now, they come in 7‐inch and 10‐inch models, and they usually run around $500, often much less. As they’re pretty much useless offline, they’re a niche product.
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Well, the 13‐inch Chromebook Pixel is even nichier. (Nichier? Did he just say nichier?) What accounts for the Pixel’s nichiness is its design, its display and its price.
It’s modern, minimalist industrial design at its very best, with its dark gray machined‐aluminum body and a sturdy silver hinge, reminiscent of what you’d find on a door. See photos.
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The multi‐touch display is simply insane. The resolution is 2560 by 1700 pixels, for a density of 239 pixels per inch. As a comparison, the state‐of‐the‐art Retina MacBook Pro display has a density of 227. The display on the Pixel is so good you simply can’t see the pixels.
And then there’s the price, which practically screams Niche Product: $1,299 for the WiFi version. 4G LTE version coming, for $1,499.
This is a lot of money to spend on an online‐only laptop when other online‐only laptops go for $250. Its closest rival, the MacBook Air, costs $100 less than the Pixel and is lighter, has four times the built‐in storage, better battery life and – above all – runs real desktop software.
So…. Why did Google make this thing? Theories abound. My guess: Because they can. Who’s gonna buy such a thing? Don’t look at me.
Spex:
- • CPU: Dual‐Core i5‐3427U
- • Memory: 4GB DDR3
- • Disk: 32GB SSD Drive
- • Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4000
- • Size 0.6 inches high, 11.7 inches wide, 8.8 inches deep
- • Weight: 3.4 lbs
They are available in‐person at Best Buy, although I’d advise calling ahead for availability.
Want more?
- • Full Review: http://cnet.co/YoFpSC
- • Gallery: http://read.bi/YE8Z5Y
- • Unboxing: http://bit.ly/12YpCAK
- • Teardown: http://tek.io/XnoeAG
